Aspects of the Yotvingian language

Sudovians (Yotvingians) did not leave any written sources, thus there are various theories concerning their language. The German historians M. Toeppen and K.H. Lohmeyer as well as the linguist A. Bessenberger regard them as Lithuanians. V Gaigalaitis claims that Sudovians are Dzūkai, meanwhile the Polish linguist J. Rozwodowski thinks that Sudovians are eastern Lithuanians. There are less serious theories regarding Sudovians as Gipsy tribes. The thorough analysis of Yotvingian proper names was carried out by the linguists in the 20th century (J. Gerulis, K. Būga). They came to the conclusion that the Yotvingian language was closely related to Old Prussian. The question whether Yotvingian is a separated language or a dialect of Old Prussian is still under discussion. The author of the article analyses Yotvingian proper names and presents the sources in which the territory is called Sudovia, Jotva, and Dainava