Kursenieki language (Kursenieki: ''kursisk valuod'', german: Nehrungskurisch; lv, kursenieku valoda; lt, kuršininkų kalba) or Curonian language of the Curonian isthmus (german: kurische Sprache der Kurischen Nehrung) is a dialect of the

Latvian language Latvian ( ), also known as Lettish, is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well as ...

spoken by the

Kursenieki The Kursenieki ( lv, kursenieki, kāpenieki, german: Kuren – 'Curonians'; lt, kuršiai; pl, Kuronowie pruscy – 'Prussian Curonians') are a nearly extinct Baltic ethnic group living along the Curonian Spit. "Kuršiai" refers only to inhabi ...

of the

Curonian Spit The Curonian (Courish) Spit ( lt, Kuršių nerija; russian: Ку́ршская коса́ (Kurshskaya kosa); german: Kurische Nehrung, ; lv, Kuršu kāpas) is a long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Balti ...

, a thin strip of land stretching between southwestern Lithuania and the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia. In the process of various migrations of the 14th–17th centuries,

Curonians :''The Kursenieki are also sometimes known as Curonians.'' The Curonians or Kurs ( lv, kurši; lt, kuršiai; german: Kuren; non, Kúrir; orv, кърсь) were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in what are now the western p ...

(already speaking a Latvian dialect) settled along the Curonian Spit in

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

and became known as

Influences and vocabulary

The Kursenieki language was influenced by

Old Prussian Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

and the Samogitian dialect successively, and by the end of the 18th century new Curonian dialects had formed, with the dialect of the Curonian Spit being notably distinct, due to its isolation from the mainland. A Kursenieki vocabulary published in 1927 shows that 60% of Curonian words were the same as Latvian, 26% were loanwords from German, from either

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

, and 13% from Lithuanian dialects. The Kursenieki language was

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

with Latvian, especially its southwestern dialects.

History

Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Kursenieki language was a

sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, an age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisi ...

of Curonian fishermen of the Curonian Spit. In other spheres of everyday life, Kursenieki used German of their surrounding environment. The events of the first half of the 20th century and the Soviet annexation of East Prussia led to the near extinction of the language, making it severely endangered. Several remaining native speakers live in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, having been expelled in the ethnic cleansing that took place in East Prussia after

Several pages of sample texts in Kursenieki language are included in the 1888 monograph ''Über die Sprache der preussischen Letten'' by

Adalbert Bezzenberger Adalbert Bezzenberger (14 April 1851 – 31 October 1922) was a German philologist. He was born at Kassel and died at Königsberg. He is considered to be the founder of Baltic philology.Toblach Toblach (; it, Dobbiaco ) is a ''comune''/''Gemeinde'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located in the Puster Valley about northeast of the city of Bolzano, on the border with Austria. Geography As of November 30, 2010, it had ...

(Italy) under the patronage of

Europa Nostra Europa Nostra (Italian for "Our Europe") is a pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage, representing citizens' organisations that work on safeguarding Europe's cultural and natural heritage. It is the voice of this movement to relevant intern ...

References

External links

Audio recording of a conversation with a Kursenieki language speaker
East Baltic languages {{ie-lang-stub

Influences and vocabulary

History

See also

References

External links