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.
Latvian grammar
Unlike, for example, Romance languages where conjugation classes are assigned based on thematic vowels (e.g., "-are", "-ere", "-ire" forming, respectively, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd conjugation in Italian) Latvian verbs are classified in conjugations regardless of whether they end in "-āt", "-ēt", "-īt", "-ot" or "-t". The classification depends on whether the verb stem has a thematic vowel, and if so, whether it is retained in present tense.