The low-Prussian sometimes referred to simply as the Prussian is a dialect of German. It is part of the sub-group of dialects of Low German Oriental , which are, themselves, the group of dialects of Low German.

History

This dialect was formed in East Prussia , after the founding of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights and the colonization of the eastern territories that followed by the Germans. Insofar as these settlers came mainly from northern Germany and the Netherlands , the basis of dialect is related to Low German. However, East Prussia was largely populated by Baltic , originally indigenous languages - including Old Prussian - have influenced the evolution of this dialect. The low-Prussian is the official language of government and the elite and the majority of the population with the arrival of successive German settlers, it gradually replaced, among the rest of the population, the old-Prussian who eventually disappear in the ^seventeenth century. The arrival of German settlers in southern Germany in the late ^seventeenth century and early ^eighteenth century led to the introduction of words from dialects of High German.

Low Prussian dialect was spoken in East Prussia and West , as well as Danzig , until in 1945. Boundary changes, which followed the end of the Second World War and the expulsion of German-speaking population of Central and Eastern Prussia to the new Germany , led to a dispersion of the speakers of this dialect, and consequently , its gradual disappearance.

The low-Prussian is moribund today. Only variant Plautdietsch is spoken by communities Mennonites scattered throughout the world, continues to be practiced widely.

Vocabulary and grammar

The table below shows the influence of the Baltic languages , through the Old Prussian , the low-Prussian.

External link

• Plautdietsch freunde - The website of Friends of Plautdietsch

• Portal Germanic languages
• Germany portal

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