Premise: The Kuršininkai (Curonians; German: "Kuren" ; Lithuanian: "kuršininkai, kuršiai" ; Latvian: "kursenieki, kurši" ; Polish: "kuronowie pruscy" ) are a nearly extinct Baltic ethnic group living along the Curonian Spit. "Kuršininkai" refers only to inhabitants of Lithuania and former East Prussia that speak a dialect of Latvian.
Hypothesis: The Curonians were linguistically influenced by the Latvians.