Latvian language
The Middle dialect is spoken in central and Southwestern Latvia. Kursenieki language, which used to be spoken along Curonian Spit, is closely related to the varieties of middle dialect spoken in Courland. The dialect is divided into the Vidzeme variety, the Curonian variety and the Semigallian variety. The Vidzeme variety and the Semigallian variety are closer to each other than to the Curonian variety, which is more archaic than the other two. There are three intonations in the Middle dialect. In the Semigallian variety, "ŗ" is still used. Standard Latvian is based on the middle dialect.
Russian language in Latvia
Russian became the language of State business, and administrative positions were largely filled by ethnic Russians. In addition to that, Russian served as the language of inter-ethnic communication among the increasingly urbanized non-Russian ethnic groups, making cities major centers for the use of Russian language and made functional bilingualism in Russian a minimum necessity for the local population.