If Latvian isn't a language, what would you call it? A creole? A dialect of Latgalian? Just because a language draws from languages outside its immediate lan

If Latvian isn't a language, what would you call it? A creole? A dialect of Latgalian? Just because a language draws from languages outside its immediate language family doesn't mean it's not a language (or else you'd have to take English off the map as well). Defining what makes a language a language is a very political issue, but there are some standard ways to judge. The half-joking criteria is whether it has an army and navy. Another is mutual intelligiblity—can speakers of a different "language" understand it and be understood by native speakers?