Language/Prussian/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Old Prussian - Alphabet and Pronunciation

Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid confusion with the German dialects of Low Prussian and High Prussian.

After mastering this lesson, these related pages might interest you: Say Hello and Greetings in Prussian.

Phonology

The following description is based on the phonological analysis by Schmalstieg (1974):

Consonants

		Labial		Dental/		Post-		Velar		Glottal
				Alveolar		alveolar
		plain	pal.	plain	pal.	plain	pal.	plain	pal.
Plosive	voiceless	p	pʲ	t	tʲ			k	kʲ
	voiced	b	bʲ	d	dʲ			ɡ	ɡʲ
Fricative	voiceless	f*		s	sʲ	(ʃ)	(ʃʲ)			h*
	voiced	v	vʲ	z	zʲ	(ʒ)	(ʒʲ)
Nasal		m	mʲ	n	nʲ
Trill				r	rʲ
Approximant				l	lʲ	j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	eː		oː
Low		a aː

Diphthongs

	Front	Back
Mid	ei
Open	ai	au

The epigram of Basel

Oldest known inscription in Prussian language and Baltic language in general, middle of 14th century:

Source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Prussian_language