Language policy in Latvia
Encyclopedia
Articles 4 and 114 of the Constitution of Latvia
form the foundation for language policy in Latvia, declaring Latvian
to be the official state language and affirming the rights of ethnic minorities to preserve and develop their languages. Latvian, the Latgalian
, and the extinct
Livonian language
are considered indigenous and all other languages foreign, including Russian
(the first language
for more than one third of the population). Other significant minority foreign languages include Belarusian
, Ukrainian
, Lithuanian
, Polish
, and Romani
.
The preamble to the State Language Law includes as its goals "the integration of national minorities into Latvian society while respecting their right to use their mother tongue or any other language; [and] the increase of the influence of the Latvian language in the cultural environment of Latvia by promoting a faster integration of society."
(valsts valoda, literally state language) in Latvia is Latvian; this status has been explicitly defined since 1988. In 1992, amendments to the 1989 Law on Languages strengthened the position of Latvian. All other languages, except the extinct
Livonian language
, are defined as foreign languages in Section 5 of the State Language Law of 1999.
Since 1998, the official status of the Latvian language has been written into the Constitution
(Article 4); and since 2002, MPs have been asked to promise to strengthen Latvian as the only official language in order to take their seats (Article 18). In the Constitution's chapter on human rights, rights to get answers from authorities in Latvian are specified since 2002 (Article 104). The current State Language Law was not amended since its adoption in 1999.
In 1995, Latvia signed, and in 2005 ratified the Council of Europe
's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
. When ratifying it, the Latvian Saeima
(Parliament) made two declarations (worded as reservations) limiting the implementation of Articles 10 and 11. As at 2008, Latvia did not plan to sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
.
Language policy is implemented by a number of institutions: the State Language Commission (under the President) prepares proposals in this field; the State Language Centre
(under the Ministry of Justice) executes control, imposes fines for administrative violations and trasnslates documents of international significance, the Latvian Language Agency (under the Ministry of Education and Science) provides consultations and opportunities for learning the Latvian language, analyses the language situation.
Before the losses of the Latvian government in the cases Podkolzina v. Latvia
(ECHR
) and Ignatāne v. Latvia
(UN HRC
), a certain level of command in Latvian was asked for eligibility to Parliament and local councils. In practice, this had led to re-examinations of various candidates, at least sometimes unexpected, which prevented Ignatāne and Podkolzina (representatives of the Equal Rights
party in the 1997 local and 1998 parliamentary elections) from participation. As of 2011, candidates do not need to prove language proficiency, but elected members of Saeima and local councilors can be deprived of mandate for insufficient command of Latvian.
Names and surnames in Latvian-issued documents are formed in Latvianized form, according to Section 19. These provisions were subject in ECHR cases Kuhareca v. Latvia and Mencena v. Latvia (both declared inadmissible in 2004), since the Latvian Constitutional Court had found them constitutional in 2001. An analogous application was submitted to UN HRC in 2007 and won by the applicant on grounds of privacy (Raihman v. Latvia
).
Toponyms are formed in Latvian language only (on the Livonian coast
- in Livonian as well), according to Section 18 of the State Language Law.
The Electronic Mass Media Law orders to use only Latvian language in the first channels of public radio and television, and basically Latvian language in their second channels (Section 66).
The government of Latvia in its policy documents refers to Latvia as a (democratic) nation state, constructing societal integration on the basis of the Latvian language, while respecting the diversity of languages. "Unity" block, comprising most of the governing coalition as of 2011, also describes Latvia as a nation state. The idea of the nation state, where "language = nation", is seen as the core and main engine of the language policy of the Latvian state. Critics draw parallels between measures of the Latvian government and the assimilation of linguistic minorities in various countries.
One critic, James Hughes, Reader in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, has pointed out that Russian-speakers in Latvia constitute one of the largest linguistic minorities in Europe, therefore he considers Latvia's language laws to be denying Russophones their language rights, and thus they are contrary to international practice in the field of minority rights. Nataliya Pulina in Moskovskiye Novosti
asserts that Latvia's Russophones are by percentage actually the largest linguistic minority in the EU whose language has no official status. Regarding the demographic arguments for Russian language rights in Latvia, the BBC
's Angus Roxburgh reported in 2005:
Among the political parties, ForHRUL offers in its programme to grant co-official status to Russian, Latgalian and possibly others languages in municipalities where these are native for more than 20% of population. In a draft of its political programme, HC
offers to grant co-official status to Latgalian and Russian in printed media, public sphere and education (for Russian, in communication with authorities, as well), stressing its support for the sole state language. Both these parties are in permanent opposition on the state level.
On the other hand, TB/LNNK, a member of governing coalition between 2006 and 2010, is demanding that Latvian be made the sole language of instruction, even in minority schools.
According to research conducted by the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences in 2004, the majority (77%) of ethnic Latvians opposed (56%) or mostly opposed (21%) granting Russian status as a second official language, while the majority (87%) of Russians supported (59%) or mostly supported (28%) such status, while a majority (75%) of other ethnicities also supported (40%) or rather supported (35%) such status.
(Sample size was 1,018 respondents, with 51% supporting or rather supporting official status for Russian and 44% opposing or rather opposing it.)
According to Section 6 of State Language Law, levels of skills in Latvian are defined for various professions, which concern legitimate public interest. Totally, there are six levels and two lists of professions (longer for public sector and shorter for private sector), classified by needed level. For those who didn't get education in Latvian and aren't disabled, an examination is needed to define their skills in Latvian, to work in these professions. Those who fail to show needed level during inspections, can be fined. Labour market shows high demand for skills in Latvian, Russian and English languages.
According to Section 11 of State Language Law, organizers of public events have to provide in Latvian information, which concerns legitimate public interest (defined in Section 2 — public safety, health care et cetera). The same affects posters, billboards and signboards, according to Section 21. Previously, according to the Law of languages as amended in 1992 (Section 5), organizers of any public event had to provide translation into Latvian in their conferences. An exemption had existed for organizations of ethnic minorities and religious organizations; 1997 Law on Meetings, Processions and Pickets has foreseen free choice of language in meetings, pickets and processions, too (Section 19).
There is also increasing number of minority children attending Latvian-language schools.
According to Education law, as adopted in 1998, the language of instruction in public secondary schools (Forms 10-12) had to be only Latvian since 2004. This has mostly affected Russian schools, some existing in Latvia without interruption since at least 1789. After wide protests in 2003 and 2004
, the law was amended allowing to teach up to 40% of curricula in minority languages (Transition Rules) and allowing orphans to continue their education not only in Latvian, but also in the language he or she began it (Section 56).
In 2005, one judgment of the Constitutional Court (upon request of ForHRUL, NHP and LSP MPs) has declared unconstitutional the ban of public co-funding for private minority schools, another has declared the proportion "60:40" constitutional.
According to the same 1998 Education Law, the tertiary education in public colleges and universities has to be in Latvian only since 1999 (it had to be basically in Latvian since the second year, according to 1992 Law on Languages, Section 11). In fact, there still exist programmes with education in English for foreigners (Riga Technical University
) or according to special laws (Riga Graduate School of Law
). There is a demand for tertiary education in Russian, too: it is used, for example, in Baltic International Academy.
Latvian residents who have completed a full educational course (Forms 1-12) in Latvian, may register themselves as Latvian citizens without the usual procedure of naturalization (Section 2 of the Citizenship Law).
, Latin
and German
were the dominant languages of education and administration. German kept this position under subsequent periods of rule by Poland
, Sweden
and, initially, under the Russian Empire
. German was the language of instruction in the first institution of tertiary education on the territory of Latvia (Riga Polytechnicum, founded in 1862). In Latgale
, the Polish language gained some influence, beginning from 16th century.
From the mid-19th century, Latvian started to rise in influence. At the end of 19th century, tsar Alexander III
instigated a policy of Russification
in non-Russian areas of the Empire. As a result, language of administration, that of Riga Polytechnicum and most schools was changed from German to Russian, and some German toponyms in eastern Latvia were Russianized (e.g., Dünaburg became Dvinsk). After the 1905 revolution, possibilities for schooling in Latvian increased.
The pro-Bolshevik
revolutionary soviet
, Iskolat
, declared on 4 January 1918 that Latvian should be the primary language of administration on the territory of Latvia.
Under the short-lived Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
in 1919, Latgalian enjoyed co-equal status with both Latvian and Russian as an official language of administration.
The Republic of Latvia (founded in 1918) was initially liberal in its language policy: while Latvianizing toponyms (e.g., Dvinsk became Daugavpils
), it also allowed to use Russian and German languages in Parliament along Latvian, acknowledged minorities' rights to learn in schools in their mother tongues and, despite switching public tertiary education to Latvian, did not forbid private post-secondary education in minority languages. State had acknowledged public use of Latgalian. After the 1934 Ulmanis
coup d'état the policy changed, and many minority high schools were closed. Particularly hard hit were the Belarusian primary schools, all but 5 of which were closed. Belarusian schoolteachers and other intellectuals in Latvia were suspected of having a pro-Soviet agenda harmful to national security.
During World War II, German community of Latvia was mostly moved to Germany, and the Jewish community was destroyed (hit first by the Stalinist deportations in 1941, then by the Holocaust). Due to that, these groups' respective schools disappeared.
In the postwar Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, the proportion of Latvian-speaking population decreased due to large losses in World War II and mass deportation, while the Russian-speaking population increased due to the presence of military forces and mass immigration of labour to implement the Soviet Union's industrialization policy (still, due to low birth rate, population of Latvia has grown by 27.4% between 1959 and 1989 censuses, while that of the whole USSR — by 36.8%). Consequently, the use of Russian language increased and it started to dominate in the areas integrated on federal level (state security, railway etc.). As concerns tertiary education, in some faculties, the language of instruction was only Latvian, in some – only Russian, in some there were two language "streams". Under Stalinism, Polish schools were closed and after Arvīds Pelše
's 1959 victory over the "national communists" (Eduards Berklavs
et al.), the last Latgalian newspaper was closed.
Latvian was declared the state language of the Latvian SSR by a decree of the republican Supreme Soviet
on 6 October 1988. Nevertheless, citizens could still choose to communicate with state authorities in Russian, and all correspondence with the USSR's federal bodies was to be in Russian.
in 2000, 1,311,093 persons in Latvia reported Latvian as their mother tongue, representing the vast majority of the estimated 1.5 million Latvian speakers worldwide.
In the year 2000, Livonian
was a moribund language spoken by some 35 people, of whom only 10 were fluent. In the first decade of the 21st century, it was estimated that Livonian was the native tongue of 4 people in Latvia, all of whom were older than 70.
Viktor Berthold, the last native speaker of Livonian, died on February 28, 2009.
Latvia's current territory is a close approximation to the range of Latvian habitation since the Latvian people emerged. As such, Latvian and Livonian are native only to Latvia.
In the 2000 census, 891,451 respondents listed Russian as their mother tongue, representing 37.5% of the total population, whereas Latvian was recorded as the mother tongue for 58.2%. Latvian was spoken as a second language by 20.8% of the population, and 43.7% spoke Russian as a second language. At that time, in age groups up to 10–14 years, a greater proportion of Russians could speak Latvian than ethnic Latvians could speak Russian. In age groups over 15 years, however, more Latvians expressed proficiency in Russian than vice-versa. In total, 71% of ethnic Latvians said they could speak Russian, and 52% of Russians could speak Latvian.
Of all districts and cities in Latvia, the highest command of Latvian was in Talsi District
(98.8%), while the lowest was in Daugavpils (41.4%). In Daugavpils was also the highest percentage of people speaking Russian (95.7%), and in Kuldīga District
the lowest (57.6%). There was a similar breakdown with regards to mother tongue: 94.6% in Talsi District and for 11.6% in Daugavpils for Latvian, 80.4% in Daugavpils and for 3.0% in Talsi District for Russian.
In the previous 1989 census, conducted while Latvia was still part of the USSR, Latvian was reported as the native language for 52.0% of the population, Russian for 42.1%; 62.4% of population could speak Latvian, and 81.6% could speak Russian.
It should be noted that Latgalian
was not considered a language separate from Latvian in any census, whether during the Soviet period, or since the restoration of independence. Therefore no specific data on the number of its native speakers are available.
Other than native speakers of Latvian and Russian, the numbers of speakers of different mother tongues recorded in the 2000 census were:
found Latvia's new language law to be "essentially in conformity with Latvia's international obligations and commitments". In 2000, he stated that the government regulations were "essentially in conformity with both the Law and Latvia's international obligations", but that "specific matters will have to be reviewed upon Latvia's anticipated ratification of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities". The ratification took place in 2005.
International organizations have recommended to Latvia on various occasions to:
Constitution of Latvia
The Constitution of Latvia is the fundamental law of the Republic of Latvia. It was adopted by, as it states itself, the people of Latvia, in a freely elected Constitutional Assembly, on 15 February 1922 and came into force on 7 November 1922. It was influenced by ideas of the Weimar Constitution...
form the foundation for language policy in Latvia, declaring Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
to be the official state language and affirming the rights of ethnic minorities to preserve and develop their languages. Latvian, the Latgalian
Latgalian language
Latgalian language can mean one of the following:#It was a language spoken by Latgalians in a great part of the area which is now Latvia. Latgalian was a member of the Baltic group of the Indo-European language family. Historically the Latvian language is derived from Latgalian Latgalian language...
, and the extinct
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
Livonian language
Livonian language
Livonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. It is a nearly extinct language, with one of its last native speakers having died in February 2009. It is closely related to Estonian...
are considered indigenous and all other languages foreign, including Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
(the first language
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
for more than one third of the population). Other significant minority foreign languages include Belarusian
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
, Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, and Romani
Romani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
.
The preamble to the State Language Law includes as its goals "the integration of national minorities into Latvian society while respecting their right to use their mother tongue or any other language; [and] the increase of the influence of the Latvian language in the cultural environment of Latvia by promoting a faster integration of society."
Legal framework
The official languageOfficial language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
(valsts valoda, literally state language) in Latvia is Latvian; this status has been explicitly defined since 1988. In 1992, amendments to the 1989 Law on Languages strengthened the position of Latvian. All other languages, except the extinct
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
Livonian language
Livonian language
Livonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. It is a nearly extinct language, with one of its last native speakers having died in February 2009. It is closely related to Estonian...
, are defined as foreign languages in Section 5 of the State Language Law of 1999.
Since 1998, the official status of the Latvian language has been written into the Constitution
Constitution of Latvia
The Constitution of Latvia is the fundamental law of the Republic of Latvia. It was adopted by, as it states itself, the people of Latvia, in a freely elected Constitutional Assembly, on 15 February 1922 and came into force on 7 November 1922. It was influenced by ideas of the Weimar Constitution...
(Article 4); and since 2002, MPs have been asked to promise to strengthen Latvian as the only official language in order to take their seats (Article 18). In the Constitution's chapter on human rights, rights to get answers from authorities in Latvian are specified since 2002 (Article 104). The current State Language Law was not amended since its adoption in 1999.
In 1995, Latvia signed, and in 2005 ratified the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was signed on February 1995 by 22 member States of the Council of Europe ....
. When ratifying it, the Latvian Saeima
Saeima
Saeima is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years,...
(Parliament) made two declarations (worded as reservations) limiting the implementation of Articles 10 and 11. As at 2008, Latvia did not plan to sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a European treaty adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe...
.
Language policy is implemented by a number of institutions: the State Language Commission (under the President) prepares proposals in this field; the State Language Centre
Latvian State Language Center
The Latvian State Language Center is the language regulator of the Latvian language. It was created in 1992 and it is based in Riga. Center's functions include fining for violations in the field of use of languages. Since 2009, the Center of Terminology and Translation was included into SLC....
(under the Ministry of Justice) executes control, imposes fines for administrative violations and trasnslates documents of international significance, the Latvian Language Agency (under the Ministry of Education and Science) provides consultations and opportunities for learning the Latvian language, analyses the language situation.
Official use of languages
Since the State Language Law came into force in 2000, submitting documents to government (local included) and state public enterprises is allowed in Latvian only, except in cases specially defined in the law (emergency services, foreign residents etc.), according to Section 10. From 1992–2000, authorities had to accept documents in Russian, German and English, too, and were allowed to answer in the language of application.Before the losses of the Latvian government in the cases Podkolzina v. Latvia
Podkolzina v. Latvia
Podkolzina v. Latvia was a case argued before the European Court of Human Rights and decided in 2002.-Facts:Mrs. I. Podkolzina, member of Equal Rights party was included in the list of the candidates of the National Harmony Party for 1998 parliamentary elections, submitted in July...
(ECHR
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
) and Ignatāne v. Latvia
Ignatāne v. Latvia
Ignatāne v. Latvia was a case decided by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2001.-Facts and proceedings:...
(UN HRC
Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year for four-week sessions to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by 162 UN member states on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,...
), a certain level of command in Latvian was asked for eligibility to Parliament and local councils. In practice, this had led to re-examinations of various candidates, at least sometimes unexpected, which prevented Ignatāne and Podkolzina (representatives of the Equal Rights
Equal Rights (Latvia)
Equal Rights was a political party in Latvia, mainly supported by the Russian minority.ER was founded on the basis of the "Equal Rights" faction of the Supreme Soviet as an NGO in 1993. The Equal Rights faction had been founded in April, 1990, after the Latvian parliamentary election, 1990.The...
party in the 1997 local and 1998 parliamentary elections) from participation. As of 2011, candidates do not need to prove language proficiency, but elected members of Saeima and local councilors can be deprived of mandate for insufficient command of Latvian.
Names and surnames in Latvian-issued documents are formed in Latvianized form, according to Section 19. These provisions were subject in ECHR cases Kuhareca v. Latvia and Mencena v. Latvia (both declared inadmissible in 2004), since the Latvian Constitutional Court had found them constitutional in 2001. An analogous application was submitted to UN HRC in 2007 and won by the applicant on grounds of privacy (Raihman v. Latvia
Raihman v. Latvia
Raihman v. Latvia was a case decided by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2010 .-Facts and proceedings:...
).
Toponyms are formed in Latvian language only (on the Livonian coast
Livonian coast
Livonian Coast is a territory of Latvia inhabited by Livonian people. It is located in Northern Courland and encompasses twelve Livonian villages...
- in Livonian as well), according to Section 18 of the State Language Law.
The Electronic Mass Media Law orders to use only Latvian language in the first channels of public radio and television, and basically Latvian language in their second channels (Section 66).
The government of Latvia in its policy documents refers to Latvia as a (democratic) nation state, constructing societal integration on the basis of the Latvian language, while respecting the diversity of languages. "Unity" block, comprising most of the governing coalition as of 2011, also describes Latvia as a nation state. The idea of the nation state, where "language = nation", is seen as the core and main engine of the language policy of the Latvian state. Critics draw parallels between measures of the Latvian government and the assimilation of linguistic minorities in various countries.
One critic, James Hughes, Reader in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, has pointed out that Russian-speakers in Latvia constitute one of the largest linguistic minorities in Europe, therefore he considers Latvia's language laws to be denying Russophones their language rights, and thus they are contrary to international practice in the field of minority rights. Nataliya Pulina in Moskovskiye Novosti
Moskovskiye Novosti
Moskovskiye Novosti will be a daily newspaper in Russia to be relaunched in 2011.It was previously a long-established weekly newspaper aimed at an educated, elite audience. In 2005-2008 it was owned by Arcadi Gaydamak. It is published in the Russian language...
asserts that Latvia's Russophones are by percentage actually the largest linguistic minority in the EU whose language has no official status. Regarding the demographic arguments for Russian language rights in Latvia, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Angus Roxburgh reported in 2005:
Among the political parties, ForHRUL offers in its programme to grant co-official status to Russian, Latgalian and possibly others languages in municipalities where these are native for more than 20% of population. In a draft of its political programme, HC
Harmony Centre
Harmony Centre is a political alliance in Latvia. It was formed in 2005 and its member parties are the Social Democratic Party "Harmony" and the Socialist Party of Latvia Harmony Centre (abbreviated SC; ) is a political alliance in Latvia. It was formed in 2005 and its member parties are the...
offers to grant co-official status to Latgalian and Russian in printed media, public sphere and education (for Russian, in communication with authorities, as well), stressing its support for the sole state language. Both these parties are in permanent opposition on the state level.
On the other hand, TB/LNNK, a member of governing coalition between 2006 and 2010, is demanding that Latvian be made the sole language of instruction, even in minority schools.
According to research conducted by the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences in 2004, the majority (77%) of ethnic Latvians opposed (56%) or mostly opposed (21%) granting Russian status as a second official language, while the majority (87%) of Russians supported (59%) or mostly supported (28%) such status, while a majority (75%) of other ethnicities also supported (40%) or rather supported (35%) such status.
(Sample size was 1,018 respondents, with 51% supporting or rather supporting official status for Russian and 44% opposing or rather opposing it.)
Private use of languages
The Law on Electronic Media prescribes that films aired in any channel should be dubbed in Latvian or to have original soundtrack and Latvian subtitles; TV broadcasts in languages other than Latvian, except news, live events, language learning broadcasts and retranslated content, must be subtitled in Latvian.(Section 28). The same concerns movie theatres, according to Section 17 of State Language Law. Until a judgement of the Constitutional Court upon request of 24 ForHRUL MPs (delivered in 2003), broadcasting in minority languages was limited for private TV and radio (originally within 30%, since 1998 within 25%).According to Section 6 of State Language Law, levels of skills in Latvian are defined for various professions, which concern legitimate public interest. Totally, there are six levels and two lists of professions (longer for public sector and shorter for private sector), classified by needed level. For those who didn't get education in Latvian and aren't disabled, an examination is needed to define their skills in Latvian, to work in these professions. Those who fail to show needed level during inspections, can be fined. Labour market shows high demand for skills in Latvian, Russian and English languages.
According to Section 11 of State Language Law, organizers of public events have to provide in Latvian information, which concerns legitimate public interest (defined in Section 2 — public safety, health care et cetera). The same affects posters, billboards and signboards, according to Section 21. Previously, according to the Law of languages as amended in 1992 (Section 5), organizers of any public event had to provide translation into Latvian in their conferences. An exemption had existed for organizations of ethnic minorities and religious organizations; 1997 Law on Meetings, Processions and Pickets has foreseen free choice of language in meetings, pickets and processions, too (Section 19).
Education
Since the beginning of 1990s, some Polish language schools were created besides the existing schools with Latvian and Russian language of instruction. Certain schools (e.g., Riga Dubnov Jewish Secondary school, founded in 1989, and Riga Ukrainian Secondary School, founded in 1991, which had originally used Ukrainian as language of instruction, but switched to Latvian in 1993/1994) now include in their curriculum lessons in respective minority languages. The number of Russian schools, however, is decreasing, partly due to natural demographic decline and partly due to emigration, as the following table demonstrates, with some schools with apparent viability closed.| Number of students by language of instruction (Ministry of Education and Science) | |||||||||
| School year | 95-96 | 99-00 | 00-01 | 01-02 | 02-03 | 03-04 | 04-05 | 05-06 | 06-07 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latvian | 203,607 | 239,163 | 242,475 | 242,183 | 237,425 | 230,212 | 214,855 | 205,189 | 194,230 |
| Russian | 132,540 | 120,925 | 116,009 | 108,454 | 101,486 | 95,841 | 84,559 | 77,471 | 70,683 |
| Others | 1513 | 1344 | 1344 | 1352 | 1397 | 1305 | 1253 | 1287 | 1198 |
| Total | 337,660 | 361,432 | 359,818 | 351,989 | 340,308 | 327,358 | 300,667 | 283,947 | 266,111 |
| % learning in Latvian | 60.3 | 66.2 | 67.4 | 68.8 | 69.8 | 70.3 | 71.5 | 72.3 | 73.0 |
There is also increasing number of minority children attending Latvian-language schools.
According to Education law, as adopted in 1998, the language of instruction in public secondary schools (Forms 10-12) had to be only Latvian since 2004. This has mostly affected Russian schools, some existing in Latvia without interruption since at least 1789. After wide protests in 2003 and 2004
Russian School Defense Staff
Russian School Defense Staff or Headquarters for the Protection of Russian Schools — movement in Latvia for protection of public secondary education in Russian...
, the law was amended allowing to teach up to 40% of curricula in minority languages (Transition Rules) and allowing orphans to continue their education not only in Latvian, but also in the language he or she began it (Section 56).
In 2005, one judgment of the Constitutional Court (upon request of ForHRUL, NHP and LSP MPs) has declared unconstitutional the ban of public co-funding for private minority schools, another has declared the proportion "60:40" constitutional.
According to the same 1998 Education Law, the tertiary education in public colleges and universities has to be in Latvian only since 1999 (it had to be basically in Latvian since the second year, according to 1992 Law on Languages, Section 11). In fact, there still exist programmes with education in English for foreigners (Riga Technical University
Riga Technical University
Riga Technical University is located in Riga, Latvia.- Riga Polytechnical Institute, 1862-1918 :...
) or according to special laws (Riga Graduate School of Law
Riga Graduate School of Law
The Riga Graduate School of Law in Riga is a graduate law school established in 1998 through an international agreement between the Governments of Sweden and Latvia and the Soros Foundation. The Law School is an academically independent institution within the University of Latvia . Current...
). There is a demand for tertiary education in Russian, too: it is used, for example, in Baltic International Academy.
Latvian residents who have completed a full educational course (Forms 1-12) in Latvian, may register themselves as Latvian citizens without the usual procedure of naturalization (Section 2 of the Citizenship Law).
Historical background
In the medieval Livonian ConfederationLivonian Confederation
Terra Mariana was the official name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia which was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade in the territories comprising present day Estonia and Latvia...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
were the dominant languages of education and administration. German kept this position under subsequent periods of rule by Poland
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
, Sweden
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
and, initially, under the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. German was the language of instruction in the first institution of tertiary education on the territory of Latvia (Riga Polytechnicum, founded in 1862). In Latgale
Latgale
Latgale is one of the four historical and cultural regions of Latvia recognised in the Constitution of the Latvian Republic. It is the easternmost region north of the Daugava River...
, the Polish language gained some influence, beginning from 16th century.
From the mid-19th century, Latvian started to rise in influence. At the end of 19th century, tsar Alexander III
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
instigated a policy of Russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
in non-Russian areas of the Empire. As a result, language of administration, that of Riga Polytechnicum and most schools was changed from German to Russian, and some German toponyms in eastern Latvia were Russianized (e.g., Dünaburg became Dvinsk). After the 1905 revolution, possibilities for schooling in Latvian increased.
The pro-Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
revolutionary soviet
Soviet (council)
Soviet was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union....
, Iskolat
Iskolat
The Iskolat |Soviet]] of Workers, Soldiers, and the Landless in Latvia, Исполнительный комитет Совета рабочих, солдатских и безземельных депутатов Латвии) was established in Riga on July 29 – 30, 1917, O.S...
, declared on 4 January 1918 that Latvian should be the primary language of administration on the territory of Latvia.
Under the short-lived Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
The Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic was a short-lived socialist republic formed during the Latvian War of Independence. It was proclaimed on 17 December 1918 with the political, economic, and military backing of Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik government in the Russian SFSR...
in 1919, Latgalian enjoyed co-equal status with both Latvian and Russian as an official language of administration.
The Republic of Latvia (founded in 1918) was initially liberal in its language policy: while Latvianizing toponyms (e.g., Dvinsk became Daugavpils
Daugavpils
Daugavpils is a city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. Daugavpils literally means "Daugava Castle". With a population of over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some...
), it also allowed to use Russian and German languages in Parliament along Latvian, acknowledged minorities' rights to learn in schools in their mother tongues and, despite switching public tertiary education to Latvian, did not forbid private post-secondary education in minority languages. State had acknowledged public use of Latgalian. After the 1934 Ulmanis
Karlis Ulmanis
Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis was a prominent Latvian politician in pre-World War II Latvia during the Latvian period of independence from 1918 to 1940.- Education and early career :Ulmanis studied agriculture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and...
coup d'état the policy changed, and many minority high schools were closed. Particularly hard hit were the Belarusian primary schools, all but 5 of which were closed. Belarusian schoolteachers and other intellectuals in Latvia were suspected of having a pro-Soviet agenda harmful to national security.
During World War II, German community of Latvia was mostly moved to Germany, and the Jewish community was destroyed (hit first by the Stalinist deportations in 1941, then by the Holocaust). Due to that, these groups' respective schools disappeared.
In the postwar Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, the proportion of Latvian-speaking population decreased due to large losses in World War II and mass deportation, while the Russian-speaking population increased due to the presence of military forces and mass immigration of labour to implement the Soviet Union's industrialization policy (still, due to low birth rate, population of Latvia has grown by 27.4% between 1959 and 1989 censuses, while that of the whole USSR — by 36.8%). Consequently, the use of Russian language increased and it started to dominate in the areas integrated on federal level (state security, railway etc.). As concerns tertiary education, in some faculties, the language of instruction was only Latvian, in some – only Russian, in some there were two language "streams". Under Stalinism, Polish schools were closed and after Arvīds Pelše
Arvids Pelše
Arvīds Pelše ; , Iecava, Bauska District, Latvia – May 29, 1983, Moscow) was a politician and functionary in the Soviet Union, an historian in his profession- Career :...
's 1959 victory over the "national communists" (Eduards Berklavs
Eduards Berklavs
Eduards Berklavs was a Latvian politician.Eduards Berklavs was born in the Kuldīga District. During his youth, he was active in labour and communist organizations. In 1930s, he was arrested and served a prison sentence for his communist activities...
et al.), the last Latgalian newspaper was closed.
Latvian was declared the state language of the Latvian SSR by a decree of the republican Supreme Soviet
Supreme Soviet
The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...
on 6 October 1988. Nevertheless, citizens could still choose to communicate with state authorities in Russian, and all correspondence with the USSR's federal bodies was to be in Russian.
Demographic background
In the first post-Soviet censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
in 2000, 1,311,093 persons in Latvia reported Latvian as their mother tongue, representing the vast majority of the estimated 1.5 million Latvian speakers worldwide.
In the year 2000, Livonian
Livonian language
Livonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. It is a nearly extinct language, with one of its last native speakers having died in February 2009. It is closely related to Estonian...
was a moribund language spoken by some 35 people, of whom only 10 were fluent. In the first decade of the 21st century, it was estimated that Livonian was the native tongue of 4 people in Latvia, all of whom were older than 70.
Viktor Berthold, the last native speaker of Livonian, died on February 28, 2009.
Latvia's current territory is a close approximation to the range of Latvian habitation since the Latvian people emerged. As such, Latvian and Livonian are native only to Latvia.
In the 2000 census, 891,451 respondents listed Russian as their mother tongue, representing 37.5% of the total population, whereas Latvian was recorded as the mother tongue for 58.2%. Latvian was spoken as a second language by 20.8% of the population, and 43.7% spoke Russian as a second language. At that time, in age groups up to 10–14 years, a greater proportion of Russians could speak Latvian than ethnic Latvians could speak Russian. In age groups over 15 years, however, more Latvians expressed proficiency in Russian than vice-versa. In total, 71% of ethnic Latvians said they could speak Russian, and 52% of Russians could speak Latvian.
Of all districts and cities in Latvia, the highest command of Latvian was in Talsi District
Talsi District
Talsi District was an administrative division of Latvia, located in Courland region, in the country's west. It was one of the former 26 rural districts of Latvia and it consisted of 20 local communities.These included three towns:...
(98.8%), while the lowest was in Daugavpils (41.4%). In Daugavpils was also the highest percentage of people speaking Russian (95.7%), and in Kuldīga District
Kuldiga District
Kuldīga District was an administrative division of Latvia, located in Courland region, in the country's west. It was organized into a city and thirteen parishes, each with a local government authority. The main city in the district was Kuldīga....
the lowest (57.6%). There was a similar breakdown with regards to mother tongue: 94.6% in Talsi District and for 11.6% in Daugavpils for Latvian, 80.4% in Daugavpils and for 3.0% in Talsi District for Russian.
In the previous 1989 census, conducted while Latvia was still part of the USSR, Latvian was reported as the native language for 52.0% of the population, Russian for 42.1%; 62.4% of population could speak Latvian, and 81.6% could speak Russian.
It should be noted that Latgalian
Latgalian language
Latgalian language can mean one of the following:#It was a language spoken by Latgalians in a great part of the area which is now Latvia. Latgalian was a member of the Baltic group of the Indo-European language family. Historically the Latvian language is derived from Latgalian Latgalian language...
was not considered a language separate from Latvian in any census, whether during the Soviet period, or since the restoration of independence. Therefore no specific data on the number of its native speakers are available.
Other than native speakers of Latvian and Russian, the numbers of speakers of different mother tongues recorded in the 2000 census were:
- BelarusianBelarusian languageThe Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
: 18,265 - UkrainianUkrainian languageUkrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
: 17,301 - LithuanianLithuanian languageLithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
: 13,187 - PolishPolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
: 11,529 - RomaniRomani languageRomani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
: 5,637 - TatarTatar languageThe Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
: 867 - YiddishYiddish languageYiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
and HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: 825 - EstonianEstonian languageEstonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
: 720 - GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: 541 - Others: 6,055
International recommendations
In 1999, OSCE High Commissioner on National MinoritiesHigh Commissioner on National Minorities
Created on July 8, 1992 by the Helsinki Summit Meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the High Commissioner on National Minorities is charged with identifying and seeking early resolution of ethnic tension that might endanger peace, stability or friendly relations between...
found Latvia's new language law to be "essentially in conformity with Latvia's international obligations and commitments". In 2000, he stated that the government regulations were "essentially in conformity with both the Law and Latvia's international obligations", but that "specific matters will have to be reviewed upon Latvia's anticipated ratification of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities". The ratification took place in 2005.
International organizations have recommended to Latvia on various occasions to:
- revisit language policy, aiming to better reflect the multilingual character of society;
- facilitate use of minority languages in written correspondence between people belonging to the national minorities and authorities;
- be flexible in introduction of bilingual education;
- give priority to constructive and non-obligatory measures, encouraging the Russian-speaking population to learn and use Latvian.
Further reading
- Chance to survive. Minority Rights in Estonia and Latvia. Moscow - Paris - Tallinn: 2009. ISBN 978-9949-18-818-5. pp. 163–166, 203-219
- Dorodnova J. Challenging Ethnic Democracy: Implementation of the Recommendations of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities to Latvia, 1993—2001 Hamburg, 2003 (pp. 96–128 concern the State Language Law)
- Druviete I.Ina DruvieteIna Druviete was the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia in 2004-2006.Ina Druviete graduated from the University of Latvia in 1981 with a degree in the Latvian language and literature. Her first political party was Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
Language Policy and Protection of the State Language in Latvia, Noves SL 2001 - Djačkova S. Latvian Language Proficiency and the Integration of Society Riga, 2004
- Euromosaic on Latvia, 2004 or 2005
- Hansson U. The Latvian Language Legislation and the Involvement of the OSCE-HCNM: The Developments 2000-2002, 2002
- Kelleher S. Defending Minority Language Rights in Quebec and Latvia, 2005
- Latvijas tiesību vēsture (1914—2000) — Rīga: Fonds Latvijas Vēsture, 2000. ISBN 9984-643-14-X — 228.-229., 437.-438. lpp.
- Martišūne S. Language use in Latvian radio and television: legislation and practice, 2004
- Poggeschi G. Language policy in Latvia, 2004
- Poleshchuk V. Estonia, Latvia and the European Commission: Changes in Language Regulation in 1999-2001, 2002
- Raihman L. Media Legislation, Minority Issues, and Implications for Latvia Riga, 2003
- Romanov A. The Russian Diaspora in Latvia and Estonia: Predicting Language Outcomes, Boulder (CO), 2000
- Tsilevich B.Boriss CilevičsBoriss Cilevičs is a Latvian politician. He was born in Daugavpils. He is a member of the Harmony Centre party and a deputy of the Saeima . He began his current term in parliament on November 7, 2006...
Development of the Language Legislation in the Baltic states, 2001
External links
- Institutions:
- Laws and policy documents:
- 1999 State Language Law(no amendments made as of May, 2010)
- Law on Languages, 1992 edition
- 1989 Law on Languages
- 1935 Law on State Language
- 1921, 1932, 1934 acts on state language
- 1918, 1919, 1921 etc. acts on state language
- 2002 Draft concept of State Programme of Latvian Language Development (includes historical overview of Latvian language policy)
- Programme of the State Language Policy for 2006-2010