Latvian alphabet

The Latvian alphabet (Latvian: latviešu alfabēts) is based on the Latin script and consists of 33 letters. 22 of them are from the Latin alphabet; the remaining 11 are obtained from Latin letters by using diacritic marks. The letters are:

a, ā, b, c, č, d, e, ē, f, g, ģ, h, i, ī, j, k, ķ, l, ļ, m, n, ņ, o, p, r, s, š, t, u, ū, v, z, ž

A, Ā, B, C, Č, D, E, Ē, F, G, Ģ, H, I, Ī, J, K, Ķ, L, Ļ, M, N, Ņ, O, P, R, S, Š, T, U, Ū, V, Z, Ž

Historical letters

Historically the letters CH, Ō and Ŗ were also used in the Latvian alphabet. On 5 June 1946, the Latvian SSR legislature passed a regulation on language reform that officially replaced the letter Ŗ with R in print.^[1] Similar reforms replacing CH with H, and Ō with O were enacted over the next few years.

The letters CH, Ō and Ŗ continue to be used in print throughout most of the Latvian diaspora communities, whose founding members left their homeland before the post-World War II Soviet-era language reforms. An example of a publication in Latvia today, albeit one aimed at the Latvian diaspora, that uses the older orthography—and hence, also the letters CH, Ō and Ŗ—is the weekly newspaper Brīvā Latvija.

The letter "O"

In present-day Latvian, the letter O is used for three vowel sounds: the diphthong "uo", and a simple "o" (both long and short), particularly in loan words (e.g. telefons).

Some modern authors and publishers choose to use "Ō" — on a consistent or ad hoc basis — to disambiguate and reflect long o sounds [o:] in the Latvian spelling of foreign proper names and loanwords, for example, those originating from Japanese.

Letter names and pronunciation

Letters f and h appears only in loanwords.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ↑ LPSR AP Prezidija Ziņotājs, no. 132 (1946), p. 132.

See also

• Latvian orthography