Editing Latvian language (section)

== Classification ==
Latvian belongs to the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language family. It is classified as a part of the [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] branch of the family. It is one of two living Baltic languages with an official status, the other being [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages have retained many features of the nominal morphology of [[Proto-Indo-European]], though their phonology and verbal morphology show many innovations (in other words, forms that did not exist in Proto-Indo-European),<ref>For example the Latvian debitive verb form (man ir jāmācās “I must study” or “it is necessary for me to study”) and the Lithuanian frequentative past (jie eidavo “they used to go”).[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baltic-languages/Comparison-of-Lithuanian-and-Latvian Baltic languages - Comparison of Lithuanian and Latvian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025220812/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baltic-languages/Comparison-of-Lithuanian-and-Latvian |date=2021-10-25 }}, Encyclopedia Britannica</ref> with Latvian being considerably more innovative than Lithuanian. However, Latvian has mutual influences with the [[Livonian language]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.livones.net/en/valoda/mutual-influence-between-livonian-and-latvian|title=Livones.net - Mutual influence between Livonian and Latvian}}</ref>