Editing Sudovian language (section)

==Classification==
Sudovian was an Indo-European language belonging to the Baltic branch. There are several proposals for the classification of the Sudovian language within the Baltic family.
* Bezzenberg postulated that Sudovian was a southern Lithuanian dialect.{{r|Dini|page=302}}
* Otrębski claimed it to be a transitional language between East and West Baltic.<ref>{{cite book|last=Otrębski|first=Jan Szczepan|chapter=Namen von zwei Jatwingerstämmen|year=1963|title=Slawische Namenforschung, Vorträge auf der II. Arbeitskonferenz|trans-chapter=The names of two Yatwingian tribes|publisher=Akademie Verlag|place=Berlin|pages=204–209}}</ref>
* Some consider it a distinct West Baltic language close to [[Old Prussian language|Old Prussian]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mažiulis|first=Vytautas|author-link=Vytautas Mažiulis|year=1966|title=Jotvingiai|trans-title=The Jatvingians|language=lt|journal=Mokslas Ir Gyvenimas|place=Vilnius|volume=11|pages=32–33}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Zigmas|last=Zinkevičius|author-link=Zigmas Zinkevičius|page=267|series=Lietuvių kalbos istorija|trans-title=The origin of the Lithuanian language|title=Lietuvių kalbos kilmė|volume=1|year=1984| publisher=Mokslas|place=Vilnius|isbn=978-54-2000-102-8}}</ref>
* Others view it as an Old Prussian dialect.<ref>{{cite book|first=Kazimieras|last=Būga|title=Kalba ir senovė|trans-title=Language and the Antiquity|language=lt|publisher=Švietimo Ministerijos leidinys|volume=1|place=Vilnius|year=1922|pages=78–83}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Festschrift Bezzenberger|chapter=Zur Sprache der Sudauer-Jatwinger|language=de|trans-chapter=About the Language of the Sudovians-Yatwingians|first=Georg|last=Gerullis |year=1921|place=Göttingen|publisher=Vandenhoek & Ruprecht|pages=44–51}}</ref>

Historical sources state that Sudovian was very similar to and mutually intelligible with the archaic [[Old Prussian language]], e.g. in the introduction to the first Old Prussian Catechism (printed in [[Königsberg]] in 1545, the first book in a Baltic language):

<blockquote>{{lang|de|Die Sudawen aber wiewol ihre rede etwas nyderiger wissen sich doch inn diese preüßnische sprach : wie sie alhie im Catechismo gedruckt ist auch wol zuschicken und vernemen alle wort.}}<ref>{{citation|title=Catechiſmus jn Peüßniſcher ſprach|place=Königsberg|year=1545|page=3|publisher=Hans Weinreich|language=de|trans-title=Catechism in Prussian language}}</ref><ref name="Klussis">{{cite book|title=Old Prussian Written Monuments: Text and Comments|author-last=Palmaitis|author-first=Mykolas Letas|publisher=Lithuanian's World Center for Advancement of Culture, Science and Education|location=Kaunas|year=2007|url=http://donelaitis.vdu.lt/prussian/Kat.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220021620/http://donelaitis.vdu.lt/prussian/Kat.pdf |archive-date=2006-02-20 |url-status=live|isbn=978-9986-418-42-9}}{{rp|pages=107; 149}}</ref> <br>– "But the Sudovians, although their speech is somewhat lower, understand this Prussian language, as it is printed in the Catechism, and they express themselves well and understand every word".</blockquote>

In addition to similarities in the scarce material in the Western Baltic languages, this leads most linguists to the conclusion that Sudovian belongs to the Western Baltic branch.{{r|Dini|page=300}} Sudovian along with Old Prussian was later influenced by [[Gothic language|Gothic]], while most of the East Baltic languages had more contact with Finnic languages.<ref name="Gimbutas">{{cite book|first=Marija|last=Gimbutas|author-link=Marija Gimbutas|date=1963|title=The Balts|series=Ancient peoples and places|place=London|publisher=Thames and Hudson}}</ref>{{rp|page=19}}