Latvian is less archaic than Lithuanian? It depends. In what respect? Literary Latvian retains the old pronunciation of Baltic *a:, it reflects the original Baltic intonations more faithfully than Lithuanian does .

 

Most Lithuanian dialects of Aukštaitija retain this *a: as well (just drive 50 km. to the north of Vilnius to get convinced). Colloqiual Latvian has completely neutralized all the intonations and can be considered as a stress language now (just come to Riga).

 

Sergei