Latgalian language
Latgalian is spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia. It is debated whether it is a separate language or a distinct dialect of Latvian. Nevertheless, its standardized form is recognized and protected as a "historical variety of the Latvian language" "(vēsturisks latviešu valodas paveids)" by Latvian law. The 2011 Latvian census established that 8.8% of Latvia's inhabitants, or 164,500 people, speak Latgalian daily. 97,600 of them live in Latgale, 29,400 in Riga and 14,400 in the Riga region.
Language policy in Latvia
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. Livonian language is recognized as "the language of the indigenous (autochthon) population" in the Official Language Law, but Latgalian written language is protected as "a historic variant of the Latvian language." All other languages are considered foreign by the law on state languages. Latvia provides national minority education programmes in Russian (the first language for more than one third of the population), Polish, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Estonian, Lithuanian, and Belarussian.