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.
Language policy in Latvia
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 were available until the 2011 census. Then, 8.8. % of the population indicated they use Latgalian, described as a variety of Latvian.
Other than native speakers of Latvian and Russian, the numbers of speakers of different mother tongues recorded in the 2000 census were: