Eastern Low Prussian (, lit. ''dialect of the Eastern territory'') is a

subdialect Subdialect (from Latin , "under", and Ancient Greek , ''diálektos'', "discourse") is a linguistic term designating a dialectological category between the levels of dialect and idiolect. Subdialects are basic subdivisions of a dialect. Subdialect ...

of Low Prussian that was spoken around Angerburg (now

Węgorzewo Węgorzewo (until 1946 ; ) is a tourist town on the Angrapa River in northeastern Poland, within the historical region of Masuria. It is the seat of Węgorzewo County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship and is located not far from the border ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

), Insterburg (

Chernyakhovsk Chernyakhovsk (; German: Insterburg) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, and the administrative center of Chernyakhovsky District. Located at the confluence of the Instruch and Angrapa rivers, which unite to become the Pregolya river bel ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

), Memelland (

Klaipėda County Klaipėda County () is one of ten counties in Lithuania, bordering Tauragė County to the southeast, Telšiai County to the northeast, Kurzeme in Latvia to the north, and Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia to the south. To the west is the Baltic S ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

), and

Tilsit Sovetsk (; ) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. History Early history Tilsit, which received civic rights from Albert, Duke of Prussia in 1552,''Sło ...

(

Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast Sovetsk (; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. History Early history Tilsit, which received German town law, c ...

) in the eastern territories of

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

in the

former eastern territories of Germany In present-day Germany, the former eastern territories of Germany () refer to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany, i.e. the Oder–Neisse line, which historically had been considered German and which were annexed b ...

. Many speakers of this subdialect were

Prussian Lithuanians The Prussian Lithuanians, or Lietuvininkai (singular: ''Lietuvininkas'', plural: ''Lietuvininkai''), are Lithuanians, originally Lithuanian language speakers, who formerly inhabited a territory in northeastern East Prussia called Prussian Lithuan ...

Geography

Eastern Low Prussian had borders with Ostsamländisch,

Natangian Natangian () was a Low Prussian dialect, Low Prussian dialect, spoken in Natangen, East Prussia. Geography It was spoken in Natangen around Zinten, Bartoszyce, Bartenstein, Pravdinsk, Friedland, Srokowo, Drengfurt and Kętrzyn, Rastenburg. Nat ...

, and

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...

Lithuanian language Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of t ...

was spoken within its area.

Phonology

In difference to varieties to the West, it had no vocalization of /r/. Its alveolar /r/ probably counts among its influences from Lithuanian. Werdersch has an alveolar as well. Like in Werdersch, it has ''du motst'' meaning ''you have to''. Eastern Low Prussian has a greater phonetic affinity to

than Samlandic. The /ai/ of Samlandic is given as /ei/ with long /e/. It has features common with Nehrungisch. It has major High German influence, a Lithuanian substrate, even numerous words having undergone

High German consonant shift In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development (sound change) that took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic languages, West Germanic dialect continuum. The ...

. High German influence is, though not exclusively, by

Salzburg Protestants The Salzburg Protestants () were Protestantism, Protestant refugees who had lived in the Catholic Archbishopric of Salzburg until the 18th century. In a series of persecutions ending in 1731, over 20,000 Protestants were expelled from their homel ...

. It has ''dorx'' (with the ''ach''-Laut) for High German ''durch'', English ''through''.

Grammar

There was a diminutive ending -l around Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast (Gumbinnen), explained by

Upper German Upper German ( ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (). History In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High German time, East F ...

influence.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Bible excerpt in Eastern Low Prussian
Low Prussian dialect German dialects Languages of Lithuania Languages of Russia {{Germanic-lang-stub