Talk:Latvian alphabet

Obsolete / historic letters

I would like to hear more about the letters which are no longer used in Latvian. Here's a relevant article by the way: http://latviansonline.com/index.php/news/article/3302/ — 121.210.52.106 10:40, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

What exactly do you want to know ? Ch and Ŗ represent sounds that are not used in modern Latvian - Ch was loan from German and Ŗ has became allophone of R----Xil...sist! 13:44, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Right, but it has only become an allophone because of that spelling reform that removed the letter—and not vice versa. Chortos‑2 (talk) 12:43, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Oh, and <ch> is not just a loan from German. <ch> was used to represent [x], while <h> was used to represent [h]. Chortos‑2 (talk) 12:54, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Before 1950 (this includes 1930 and 1940) ch was used there where these days is used just h. Ch, if used these days, is used as replacement for č, where this letter is not available or not available reliably (email, sms, embedded systems). Many people these days does not recognize difference between r and ŗ (so cannot use ŗ)(although, if there is used ŗ in texts, it dows not damages readability, too much). Letter o in latvian may have 3 pronounciations and ō would reduce ambiguity, however this affects readability more. Also, difference between o and ō (versus uo), usually, is not very significant. -Yyy 14:40, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

If readability is concerned, the other letters with diacritical marks should be removed as well. Do you not agree? :) Chortos‑2 (talk) 12:44, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

<ch> and <h> represented different phonemes (see my comment above). Chortos‑2 (talk) 12:54, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Well, i have never seen letter h alone in books published before 1950 (there were always ch). If there is a difference between ch and h, then in that case, sound which corresponds to h does not exists in latvian language. Actually, it seems, that h (ch) occurs only in loanwords. Removal of other diacritical marks will not improve readability, because text will become very ambiguos. -Yyy (talk) 12:07, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

What exactly is/was the distinction between r and ŗ? ~~ Lothar von Richthofen (talk) 23:05, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

O

In present-day Latvian, the letter O is used used for two sounds: the diphthong "uo", and a simple "o", particularly in loan words (e.g. telefons). Can this be information be added, with the necessary IPA pronunciation? — Zalktis 11:26, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

For three sounds BTW --Xil...sist! 13:44, 17 October 2007 (UTC)