Kursenieki language
| Kursenieki | |
|---|---|
| kursineeki wahloda | |
| Region | Curonian Spit (historically), Germany (nowadays) |
| Ethnicity | Kursenieki |
Native speakers | 2 full, 3 partial, a few passive speakers (2016) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | curo1234 |
The area of Kursenieki language speakers in 1649 | |
The Kursenieki language (Kursenieki: kursineeki wahloda; Latvian: kursenieku valoda; German: Nehrungskurisch; Lithuanian: kuršininkų kalba) or Curonian language of the Curonian isthmus (German: kurische Sprache der Kurischen Nehrung) is a dialect of the Latvian language spoken by the Kursenieki of the Curonian Spit, 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, partially assimilated Curonians who were already speaking a Latvian dialect settled along the Curonian Spit in East Prussia and gradually developed a distinct identity becoming known as Kursenieki.