Rūke-Dravina V. The Standardization Process in Latvian: 16th Century to the Present

Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1977. — 130 p.The book has two main purposes.
First and foremost it seeks to give—in broad outline—a survey of the developmental process of a Baltic language from its beginning, starting with the earliest written records, until today. The development of Standard Latvian encompasses several sociolinguistically interesting changes reflecting the numerous and different cultural and political currents in the Baltic area.
From a general linguistic point of view it will follow the dominance of one or another neighbouring culture and the influence of foreign languages, as well as the purification tendencies which have been rather strong in some periods and in certain literary circles, and have furthered the processes of dynamic changes in Latvian.
Second, it aims to present the summary facts about the present state of Standard Latvian as well as guiding principles for future development.