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
In 1989 Russian was the native language to 42% inhabitants, including 8% of population who were non-Russians, while 39% inhabitants spoke it fluently as a second language. From 1989 to 1990 an average of 47.5% pupils had enrolled in schools with Russian as the language of tuition, and the number was even higher (69.3%) in urban centers, suggesting that not only an overwhelming majority of non-Latvians, but also some Latvians had enrolled in Russian-language schools.