# Golyad language

Golyad or East Galindian (Russian: Голя́дский язык) is a poorly attested extinct Baltic language of the Balts living in the Protva basin in present-day Russia. The Golyad people are believed to have descended from the Moshchiny culture and are only known ethnonyn for the Dnieper-Oka language. Due to there being no written documents of the Golyad language, the language is poorly known. The language went extinct in the 12th century due to Slavic conquest and assimilation. It is believed the vernaculars of the Finno-Ugrians and Volga Finns adopted loanwords from East Galindian.

## Phonology

Based on Baltic substratum and hydronomy in the Protva Basin, the following phonology can be reconstructed:

### Consonants

| | | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Dental/ Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Velar |
| | | Labial | plain | pal. | Post- alveolar | Velar |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | nʲ | | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʲ | tʃ | k |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | dʲ | | ɡ |
| Fricative | voiceless | | s | | ʃ | |
| Fricative | voiced | v | z | | ʒ | |
| Trill | Trill | | r | rʲ | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | l | lʲ | j | |

### Vowels

| | Front | Front | Central | Central | Back | Back |
| | short | long | short | long | short | long |
| High | i | iː | | | u | uː |
| Mid | | eː | | | | oː |
| Mid-low | ɛ | | | | | |
| Low | | | a | aː | | |

## Lexicon

There are some Russian words from the Portva Basin region suspected to be of Baltic origin:
| Russian | Transliteration | Translation | Proposed Baltic cognates |
| алáня | alánja | 'beer' | Lithuanian: alìnas 'special type of beer', Lithuanian: alùs, Latvian: aliņš |
| кромсáть | kromsát' | 'to break something into pieces' | Lithuanian: kramsė́ti, Latvian: kramstīt |
| нóрот | nórot | 'fishing gear' | Lithuanian: nérti, Latvian: nērt 'to sink' |
| пикýлька | pikúl'ka | 'type of weed' | Lithuanian: pìkulė 'sisymbrium' |
It is believed that the rivers Lama, Yauza, Nudol and Churilikha have Baltic origins. Specifically, the Churilikha's name has origins in the Lithuanian languege's name for narrow and other names for the Churilikha such as Goledyanka have origins from the Golyad's themselves. It is also believed that the name of the two villages of Golyadi has their names originate from the Golyads.

## Proposed relation with West Galindian

Golyad and West Galindian have been proposed by scientists to have had a common origin that is based on two ancient authors using the common name of Galindian for both of them. In order to prove this hypothesis, they investigate common features between Prussian/West Galindian and Golyad.
Marija Gimbutas suggested that both the Golyads and West Galindians name could both originate from the name for end or borderland in Lithuanian (gãlas) and Latvian (gàls). There has also been a suggestion that the West Galindians name comes from the Prussian word for death (gallan). This name could have come from the Golyad being the furthest Baltic tribe in the east.
Some theories that propose a relationship between West Galindian and Golyad are that the West Galindians migrated from their homeland in Prussia towards the Provta basin. People believe this migration would have been one in the Migration Period and would have occurred between the 5th and 7th centuries. In this theory, another group who also migrated West during this period, the Goths, are believed to have also inspired language and culture of the Golyads. Another theory is that Golyads were West Galindians that were captured during wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Russian duchies, but this is unlikely as local Slavs wouldn't have replaced their own names for regions for names from their POWs.