Latgalian

Latgalian is a language spoken in Latgale, a region in eastern Latvia. It is a member of the Eastern Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. Latgalian is closely related to the Lithuanian language, but it is not mutually intelligible with it. Latgalian is one of the two official languages of Latgale, along with Latvian. It is used in education, media, and government. In 2012, Latgalian was added as a protected language in Latvia. Latgalian has two main dialects: High Latgalian and Low Latgalian. High Latgalian is spoken in the northern and central parts of Latgale, while Low Latgalian is spoken in the south. The Latgalian language has been influenced by Lithuanian, Russian, and Latvian. Latgalian has also borrowed words from German, Polish, and Belarusian. The Latgalian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the letters Ā, Č, Ē, Ģ, Ī, Ņ, Š, Ū, and Z. Latgalian is a synthetic language, meaning that words are built from smaller parts called morphemes. For example, the word for "book" is grāmata, made up of the morphemes grā- (meaning "to write") and -ata (meaning "object"). Latgalian has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. There is also a neuter gender, but it is used only for inanimate objects. Latgalian has three grammatical cases: nominative, genitive, and dative. Latgalian is a stress-timed language, which means that the stressed syllable in a word is pronounced with more force than the other syllables. This can make Latgalian sound fast-paced and energetic.