Southern Low German

^{[citation needed]}

• Eastphalian
  • Göttingisch-Grubenhagensch
  • Elbostfälisch
  • Heideostfälisch
  • Central Eastphalian
  • ostfälisch-nordniederdeutscher Interferenzraum
  • ostfälisch-westfälischer Interferenzraum
• Westphalian
  • South Westphalian
  • East Westphalian

• Wilhelm Busch

South Westphalian:

• Wilhelm Bleicher
• Wilhelm Bröcker
• Theodor Ellbracht
• Walter Höher
• Carl Hülter
• Fritz Kuhne
• Fritz Linde
• Horst Ludwigsen
• Franz Nolte

In Germany, the terms Low German, which does not include Low Franconian, and High German, which includes the common colloquial language on the Lower Rhine, are often wrongly used. Mölmsch is a Low Franconian dialect, i.e. a dialect of a language other than High German. Ruhr German, on the other hand, is counted among High German, as is the colloquial language that can be heard today in Mülheim/Ruhr. Low Rhenish and so-called Ruhr German, like Jürgen von Manger spoke, do not go together at all. There are different dialects in the Rhenish part of the Ruhr area. Jürgen von Manger and Hanns Dieter Hüsch came from different cities in the Ruhr area, which was noticeable. In Ruhr German, the Low Franconian influence is present, especially in the (former) Low Franconian language area.

At that time, when translating the Bible, Luther-based himself on the tendencies for standardization, on southern dialects. Those who spoke the new language most uniformly and least with accents of local dialects were the often Lutheran North Germans, namely in the area of South Low German, who had to learn a new "second language", in contrast to the South Germans (The emerging standard differed significantly less from the southern German dialects). High German as a colloquial language only became established in parts of northern Germany after the Second World War. It is also correct that their old dialects were closer to Low Franconian than to Bavarian or Alemannic or even to the standard language, but to conclude from this that they were only since recently "linguistic Germans" is wrong and that until then they were more closely related to the Dutch. The North Germans (i.e. people in the Low German-speaking area) have only recently become "High Germans". Despite the closer relations of the idiom chosen by Luther, which was to become today's High German, the standard language, in some of the Low German language areas no variety of the respective (Low German) dialect is used as a colloquial language today, but in the Low German areas a variety of the actual Standard language with Low German influences is in use. Now it is correct that most North Germans gave up their dialects and adopted the standard language, the German language does not only consist of the standard language, but is primarily a tight tangle of closely related local dialects. The difference was significant because the standard language is in fact based on Central German dialects.

German is not a purely linguistic term, but also a political one. From the state of Low German today can be seen that High German is a real danger to Low German. Reading a Standard German text in Low German means translating. Had North Germans become Dutch or something of their own, the language would survive and not be understood by most South Germans at all. Southern Germans tend to have much greater regionalism, although culturally speaking they have less to fear from Germany in terms of a decline in their own regional culture. The most prominent Low German feature of German is its pronunciation, which has been considered exemplary since the 19th century - until the 18th century, the Central German Saxon pronunciation was considered exemplary. There are also many cases in the vocabulary where Low German words are preferred to High German, such as "Treppe" ("stairs") instead of or zu "Hause" ("at home") instead of "daheim". Compulsory schooling was introduced for the general population in Prussia in the 18th century. Meissen Kanzleideutsch was the school language, which is also an important source of the New High German standard German. The previous colloquial language is hardly written down, as it was mostlysimply spoken by illiterate people. Native speakers rolled tongue R (as in Spanish), unlike the High German throat R. The pronunciation of the word "speak" (s-prrrechen/ s-prechen/ schprechen) also revealed a few things. The change in sound from [aɪ̯] to [aː] is characteristic of Eastphalian (especially in comparison to other Low German dialects), especially in the central and southern part of the Eastphalian dialect area. This development has not been completed to this day, includes more and more words and also spreads to the local High German colloquial language, mockingly emphasized with sayings like "mit baad'n Baan'n in den Hildeshaama Wassa-aama" "with both feet in the Hildesheim water bucket" (Eastphalian: mē bā'n Bān'n in'n Hilmssă Wåtă-ammă). There used to be inter alia the following prpnounciations in the regiolect of the city of Hanover: pronunciation of High German [aː] as /äö/ ("Konraad, sprich ein klaares Aa! – Jäö, Vadda, jäö!" for Standard German "Konrad, sprich ein klares A! – Ja, Vater, ja!", meaning "Konraad, speak a clear [aː] – Yes, daddy, yes!"), [s] as [ʃ] ("s-tolpan üba’n s-pitz'n S-taan" for Standard German "über spitzen Stein stolpern" meaning "stumble over the pointed stone") and the pronunciation of /r/ before voiceless plosives as [x] ("is doch gochkaan Themäö" instead of Standard German "ist doch gar kein Thema" for "is not an issue at all"). Nowadays in Hanover Region still "s-tolpern" "über'n s-pitzen S-tein" is said. The ö-heavyness of the colloquial language is characterized in the municipality of Uetze (between Wolfsburg and Hanover) with the sentence: "Sonntach-s um ölf (or: "ölwe") nach der Körche, wenn der Hörsch röhrt!" for Standard German "Sonntags um ölf nach der Kirche, wenn der Hirsch röhrt!" meaning "Sundays at twelve after church, when the stag roars!"

Missingsch (still) ekes out at most a niche existence in everyday conversation in Hanover. In such surveys, people regularly describe themselves as dialect speakers who at best speak the dialect superficially. Secondly, there are numerous areas in Germany where respondents are not sure what is meant by "dialect". It sounds strange, but this ambiguity is also often found in newspaper articles and even in statements by linguists. In large parts of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg and partly in Westphalia, written Low German was abandoned much earlier. When Low German was abandoned in the population centers of Lower Saxony (Hanover, Braunschweig, etc.) in favor of High German, rural areas (East Friesland, Kleve, parts of Westphalia) leaned towards the written standard of the Netherlands a long time (simply because High German was alien to them). Low German was only officially by then used in the Netherlands. For a long time, High German and Low German competed in rural areas for the favor of the schools in Northern Germany, which only finally switched to High German as a result of increasing centralization in the 19th century. In the cities, High German was the only school and educational language. There was never a "Low German standard language" at any time, but there were more or less closely related dialects. There was a supra-regional compensatory language, as we find it today in Germany and to some extent among the younger generation in Austria, i.e. a language that is based on the same grammar, the same vocabulary and increasingly on a leveled accent in most larger cities more than a hundred years due to the lack of electronic media and low mobility. Dialect was spoken everywhere, in educated circles at most a dialect-colored written German. In northern Germany, unlike in southern and central Germany, the standardization of the written language made considerable progress. As early as 1550, one can speak of a uniform written language used nationwide Dutch (Nederdytsch or Nederduytsch), which was widespread in both the "Low Franconian" and "Low Saxon" areas. This written language became more and more the "spoken standard" in the urban bourgeoisie, apart from the sometimes very different pronunciation. The local dialects survived in the rural population, which was not or hardly literate, although in the urban areas an adjustment to the written compensatory language took place very quickly. With traders, scholars and travelers it is not surprising that the craftsmen also took part in this development together that a common lingua franca was established, which was soon understood and cultivated everywhere. The close trade network of the northern German cities did the rest. The name of the common Low German language used at that time remained in the Netherlands until the end of the 19th century and occasionally beyond.

Linguistically, the areas were highly segmented, and a supra-regional written High German language only emerged in the late 16th century and was not yet uniform at that time. It practically only existed in various regional office languages, which in turn were only used in administration and historiography (early Middle High German was actually a dialectal poetic language, the vast majority of sources come from the Bavarian-speaking area). Gradually, the Saxon office language became the basis of a unified High German literary language (Luther Bible). This Early New High German has phrases and neologisms that can also be found again and again in Dutch, an indication that Dutch and Standard German had a strong influence on each other (especially High German on Dutch). At that time there were a number of written languages in the Holy Roman Empire, which in principle only represented different, in some cases metropolitan variants of the regional dialects, but over time influenced one another through correspondence and the increasing spread of belletristic and didactic literature. Some older terms and High German special forms have either disappeared or have phonetically adapted special formations. At that time there was a common German cultural language (common written use), but adapted to the sound level of the respective region.

Westniederdeutsch is spoken in areas some of which are often referred to as Westphalian-speaking. Others are often considered to speak Northern Low German. The County of Bentheim is referred to as a transition area in its entirety with other smaller areas. Historically, the part of Westphalia bordering the Netherlands and predominantly the part of Lower Saxony bordering the Netherlands is defined as speaking Westniederdeutsch.^[1] Westniederdeutsch is spoken up to and including Cloppenburg and Vechta districts, but excluding East Friesland and the Ruhr area.^[1] Possibly it extends into the Netherlands. Westniederdeutsch is also the High German term for West Low German, mostly called Low Saxon. In Germany, as a minority opinion, Dutch is also mistakenly included under Westniederdeutsch. "The Lower Rhine dialects (along with a part of Westniederdeutsch spoken in North Rhine-Westphalia) form both the smallest (geographically) and most heterogeneous (linguistic) cluster of the five main clusters within Germany” relates only to pronunciation. It's not just that Low Rhenish, which is combined into a cluster with some parts of Westphalia and other parts of Germany bordering to the Netherlands. This classification is based on a comprehensive basis by the German Language Atlas (Deutscher Sprachatlas) regarding Germany. A similar division was made by Bremer and Wrede in the 19th century. Furthermore, the study by Lameli is also quite recent. Between German and Dutch, because at least in the case of written texts, a certain degree of mutual intelligibility is retained. Low Saxon is called "Nedersaksisch" in Dutch. Here, too, an isogloss is usually used as a language boundary, which limits the spread of the Low Saxon unitary plural to -(e)t. However, the influence of the two standard languages on the dialects meant that the state border developed into a dialect border in the 20th century.

Dutch Low Saxon arbitrarily lumps together dialects often seen as Westphalian and dialects often seen as Northern Low Saxon varieties (the latter with Frisian influences) just because they are spoken within the borders of the Netherlands and have been influenced by Standard Dutch (or non-standard Hollandic varieties) over time - as if the neighboring Low Saxon varieties in Germany were not influenced or completely replaced by Standard German either. It is unclear whether Gronings (genuine Gronings, not Gronings Tussentaal, or Gronings Nederlands if you want) is closer to dialects possibly being part of Westniederdeutsch in the Netherlands or to East Frisian Low Saxon despite all the Standard Dutch influences on the former. Perhaps it should be grouped with the latter, instead of labelling it "Northern Low Saxon". It is possible that the doubtful nature of the "Dutch Low Saxon" label is precisely because of Gronings. If Gronings did not exist in the first place (or if it'd been so influenced by Frisian that it could no longer be recognized as a Low Saxon variety), "Dutch Low Saxon" would possibly simply mean "Westphalian dialects of Low Saxon spoken in the Netherlands", It seems that in many places the initial has devoiced, lenited and (slightly) backed to (a post-velar fricative with a uvular trill component, the same as in Northern Standard Dutch), so that Grunnegs is pronounced ˈχrʏnəχs, or similar. Uvular varieties of [/r/] have developed independently (or semi-independently) on both sides of the border in Low Saxon and standard languages (Dutch and High German) alike so that probably should not be mentioned. Dark [/l/] in the coda and in other positions are used in the Netherlands. Sibilants probably are more retracted/low-pitched in the Netherlands (but probably in Denmark as well, due to Standard Danish influence) than in the related Low Saxon varieties in Germany. Also, in some of Dutch Low Saxon there seems to be no [/ʊ-ɔ/] and perhaps also [/ʏ-œ/] opposition. That, probably, is Dutch influence, and it has been observed in some dialects of Limburgish as well. The phonemicity of open front, central and back vowels æ, æː, a, aː, ɑ, ɑː (also ɒː wherever it occurs) should also be discussed and whether the [/ɔː-ɑː/] opposition is stable or whether it collapses to ɒː~ɔː in some dialects.

Dutch Low Saxon is not the main linguistic classification of the Low Saxon dialects in the Netherlands. It possibly is not a dialect classification but just a term to include all variants of Low Saxon in the Netherlands. The Dutch in Dutch Low Saxon does not classify the Low Saxon variants as part of Dutch, but indicates that these variants or spoken in the Netherlands, and therefore the geographical reference Dutch. "Dialects in the Netherlands" are not the same as "Dutch dialects". These are not always dialects of the Dutch language, but they are mainly characterized by their similarity and are spoken in most cases on Dutch territory. The similarity arose mainly through language contact and the "Dutch-Low German-German" dialect continuum of the West Germanic languages. The West Frisian language, spoken in the Netherlands, is fully separate from Dutch. Low Saxon dialects are spoken in north-eastern parts of the Netherlands as well as in western northern Germany, but they make part of Low German and are therefore also considered as a separate language.

The West Veluwe is characterized by the absence of numerous Dutch markers and has some distinct Low Saxon characteristics. Low Franconian has forms that coincide with the infinitive ("hij kijkt" or "he kiekt"). This isogloss also runs roughly along the IJssel. If Veluws (which has -en plural) historically had unit plural, that would be a Low Saxon feature. However, West-Veluws (which has the -en plural and shows agreement between the 3rd person and the infinitive) is also often counted as Low Saxon. This then happens because of an isogloss bundle that includes, among other things, the kiekt/kijkt isoglosse. This bundle of isoglosses, terminating in the Eem estuary, is undoubtedly a very important boundary. Western dialects classify as Dutch without much doubt. To the east, the Hollandisms are greatly reduced. However, the Saxonisms only become so clear with the IJssel line that one can classify the dialects as Low Saxon with some certainty. Linguistically, the West Veluwe is somewhat questioned. West-Veluws has historically unitary plural. The 2nd person singular is "jie maken" (you make), where the Dutch equivalent is "jij maakt".

Since this form represents the original 2nd person plural, Veluws had "wi maken", "ji maken", "ze maken". In other words, the Low Saxon unit plural, in the form that typically occurs in colonized areas in -en, which can also be found where Saxons overlaid the language of Slavs, Jutes or Frisians. (Whether the -en plural in parts of Hesse is based on Saxon superimposition on Franks previously resident there or on more recent innovation, is unclear.)

Here, too, an isogloss is usually used as a language boundary, which limits the spread of the Low Saxon unitary plural to -(e)t. It is one of several possibilities to draw a border between Low Saxon and Low Franconian. More relevant than the concrete form (-(e)t or -en) is the question of whether there is a unit plural at all. Historically, Dutch has no unit plural. Today's unit plural was only introduced by recent innovations. If Veluwian (which has -en plural) historically had unit plural, that would be a Low Saxon hallmark. However, the current forms do not allow any statement about this due to the innovation. Another important isogloss is that of the irregular 3rd person present singular. While Low Saxon has irregular forms (such as he kickt with a short i), Low Franconian has forms that coincide with the infinitive (hij kijkt or he kiekt). This isogloss also runs roughly along the IJssel. However, West-Veluwian (which has the -en plural and shows agreement between the 3rd person and the infinitive) is also often counted as Low Saxon. This then happens because of an isogloss bundle that includes, among other things, the kiekt/kijkt isoglosses. This bundle of isoglosses, terminating in the Eem estuary, is undoubtedly a very important boundary. Western dialects can be classified without much doubt as Central Dutch. To the east, the Hollandisms are greatly reduced. However, the Saxonisms only become so clear with the IJssel line that one can classify the dialects as Low Saxon. West-Veluws has historically unitary plural. The 2nd person singular is jie maken (where Dutch has jij maakt). Since this form represents the original 2nd person plural, the Veluws had wi maken, ji maken, ze maken. In other words, the Low Saxon unit plural, in the form that typically occurs in colonized areas in -en, which can also be found where Saxons overlaid the language of Slavs, Jutes or Frisians. Since this form represents the original 2nd person plural, the Veluws had wi maken, ji maken, ze maken. In other words, the Low Saxon unit plural, in the form that typically occurs in colonized areas in -en, which can also be found where Saxons overlaid the language of Slavs, Jutes or Frisians. Whether the -en plural in parts of Low German Hesse is based on Saxon superimposition of Franks previously resident there or on more recent innovation, is unclear.

The sharp division between Dutch and Low German is not an "achievement" of the 20th century. Before the (High) German language spread all over the north, a linguistic gap developed far beyond the dialect boundaries. Because the Low German written language was no longer used anywhere and real Low German is spoken less and less, a language border was created in addition to the state border. In fact, the eastern boundary of Low Saxon in the Netherlands was also less arbitrary than the southern one. The swampy, sparsely populated areas, such as the Hondsrug in Drente, had always served as a natural border. The political development in the Middle Ages had also meant that the eastern landscapes were oriented more to the west than to the German hinterland. During the existence of the republic this process has continued with particular force. Just under the preponderance of the county of Holland the eastern regions were quickly and vigorously integrated. They were more closely linked to the West in terms of transport and were often economically dependent on goods that were imported via Hollandic ports. Culturally they were under a permanent Hollandic influence, which pushed back the Low Saxon dialects in favor of the Dutch language and steadily gained ground through the widespread Reformed church organization. The Hollandic influence even extended far beyond the German borders. Above all in East Friesland, in the County of Bentheim and in the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, Dutch became the written language and lingua franca of the Reformed Church and the upper class, only to then slowly but surely lose ground again in the 18th century. There was little or no political or cultural counter-pressure from the German states. Holland was an independent language center and was in no way influenced by Low German (inexactly= North German) languages or dialects.

Written and office languages developed from the heterogenuous West Germanic dialects. The modern German language arose from the High (Central and Upper German) dialects, but not the modern Dutch language from Low German. Linguistically, it is very doubtful that Dutch emerged from the written language of Middle Low German. Modern Dutch developed from Middle Dutch, which was related to Middle Low German. The names of the languages in some cases are irrelevant, there were definitely differences back then, e.g. B. oude - olde, en - un(de). These differences can be found in the sea books (nautical aids in northern Europe) of the time, and Dutch books were even translated into Low German. Most dialects West of the IJssel are not included in Low German (inexactly translated as "Nedersaksisch"). But today this uniform plural line has been weakened to such an extent that most dialects west of the IJssel are not attributed to Low Saxon ("Nedersaksisch") . However it does refer to the areas of East and West Veluws, which are now considered part of Low Saxon and not of Low Franconian. These lie west of the unit plural line. "Frankish" of Merovingian Franconia had at times even reached Friesland. The fact that East Frisian also adopted many Dutch-Low Franconian expressions is due to the fact that Dutch ("Nederduitsch") in the Netherlands functioned as a written variant of the spoken dialects for a long time and had an effect on them. Due to its border location, the area was strongly geared towards the Netherlands, East Frisians studied in Holland's cities and Dutch doctors, priests and teachers settled in the area. At that time no dividing line was drawn between the Low German of the Netherlands and the language variants of Germany.

The Low Saxon dialects, which are not far geogragraphically from the Low Franconian dialects, also gave way to the written language early on. The essential distinguishing criterion of the two "dialect landscapes" was the quite different pronunciation (in Low Franconian: l-stretching, g/ch-resolution, vowel ending). But it hardly contributed to the emergence of the modern standard language. Modern Dutch has evolved from the elevated city language of Holland, with important influences from Brabant. The largest share comes from Hollandic and Brabantian. The north-eastern (Low Saxon) dialects and the West Frisian language made a smaller contribution. As the history of the language has already revealed, historical Dutch language ("Nederduitsche Taal") is not to be equated with the dialects of the Randstad and did not belong to Middle Low German. The question of descent does not change the fact that Dutch was called "Duits" and "Nederduits" in addition to "Nederlands". But Dutch studies and the Dutch have been using the term Nederduits in a more limited (more accurate) meaning for decades: "Nederduits" in modern usage is the language of northern Germany (and the north-east of the Netherlands). ui/uy is the Low Franconian, diphthongized pronunciation form (somewhere between "äui" and "öi"), y (=ü) the "Nedersassian". Because Low Saxon consistently uses monophtongs, e.g.: huus, tied instead of huis and tijd a language boundary is marked, not onlya phonetic deviation between dialects. Nederduitsch (or Nederduytsch, for that matter) functioned as a generic term, but not least as a designation of the uniform written language. The diphthongization is peculiar to certain Brabantian and Hollandic dialects and the modern standard language. The diphthongization is thus a sign that these dialects have had a decisive influence on the modern standard Dutch language. So huis (with the Brabantic-Hollandic öj, [œɪ]) instead of Middle Dutch huus (with ü, [yː]). Parallel to this "tijd" (with the Brabantic-Hollandic äj, [ɛɪ]) instead of "tied". Especially the (mostly Low Franconian, in particular) dialects of the Netherlands were so strongly influenced by the written language over the centuries that there is a decreasing gap between the written language and the local dialects ("streektalen"), also including marginal dialects like Limburgish, which has been designated as an independent language - but here, too, the pull of the written language is significant.

The regional language variants, especially the colloquial language of the Dutch cities, naturally already had an effect on the written everyday and media language (some phrases, idioms, abbreviations, dialect terms, slang). The casual slang spoken in the Netherlands is much more "slang" than in Germany. The fact that, especially in dictionaries until the 1950s, "Middle Low German/ Middle Dutch" was used as an idiom was intended to suggest to he linguistic layman that it was one and the same language. Historically, it is not just about the old Low German, which was not only politically defined. In the post-war period, the word Low German as a false category was used primarily for sources written in Dutch. But that does not change the fact that "Middle Dutch" and "Middle Low German" are linguistic and literary terms with a historical basis. After all, the history of the language was researched separately within two different language areas, the Dutch were primarily concerned with sources from their sovereign territory and most German linguists had no connection to Low Franconian. In the course of its development, the written language was repeatedly adapted to the pronunciation. In most Dutch dialects, for example, Low German al was pronounced like German au, which is why the written adaptation occurred (halden - houden). Historically, it is not Old Low German, though in the post-war period the word was used mainly for sources from what is now Dutch territory on both sides of the border. However, this does not change the fact that "Middle Dutch" and "Middle Low German" are linguistic and literary terms, less historical and political.

In the course of its development, the written language was adapted several times to the pronunciation. The border between the Low Franconian and the Low Saxon dialect groups runs in the Netherlands from the border at Isselburg (where it intersects the German-Dutch state border in a north-north-west direction to the east bank of the IJsselmeer near Kampen and in a west-north-west direction towards Hilversum so that it runs south of the IJsselmeer. Low Franconian is the direct successor of Old Franconian, possibly the nucleus of the High German language. The Franks spread south along the Rhine, Main and Moselle and mixed with the tribes living there - gradually the "German people" emerged from this.

 

 

 

In Germany, sometimes Westniederdeutsch is wrongly said to include the Low Franconian varieties, in particular those of Germany. However, Westniederdeutsch and Southern Low German border to Low Franconian varieties. The entire distribution of Low German does not include the Low Franconian language area in northern North Rhine and the neighboring Netherlands. including the limitedly linguistically and culturally associated Flemish-speaking parts of Belgium north and west of theBenrath line, which defines the partly fluid, partly razor-sharp separation between neither Low German nor Central German language area, which is solely the case for parts of Germany. The last piece before the IJsselmeer is not the only area where there are legitimate doubts about the language border.

Bergish, for example is very different from Westgetelands, but they are both or entirely South Low Franconian according to the definition using Benrath and Uerdingen Lines. In terms of linguistic history, the Bergish dialects developed from the Middle Dutch language of the 13th century. The Bergish Hanseatic cities belonged to the same quarter of the Hanseatic League as parts of the Netherlands. However, limited mutual intelligibility is by no means a criterion for the Uerdinger line that was created according to Low German ik and the standard German ich.

^[1] has the area of Low Franconian without, for example, Wuppertal. Middle Franconian neither as Low German nor as High German/Middle German.^[1] However, limited mutual intelligibility is by no means a criterion for the Uerdinger line that was created according to Low German ik and the standard German ich. Ek and ech are subsidiary forms of the former. Wenker called this line ik/ich and not ek/ech line. He could have done it, but the main forms are ik (Low Franconian) and Ich (Ripuarian, where the word is pronounced ish here). In short: the forms ik and ich are more common. In Limburgish proper the word is iech/ich, though it could be mentioned that the forms ech are used in Southern Low Franconian (the German Limburgish) and ek in East Bergish (which is indeed to be divided between Limburgish, Kleverlandish and Westphalian) in Northern Rhineland. Being quite similar to local dialects, the written Dutch language was also widespread in the northern Rhineland, but was gradually replaced, including in "Kleverland".

Benrath, Uerdingen and "machen/machet" lines meet (these dialects are philologically inconsistent with regard to the isoglosses), concerning the Bergish dialects. In nearly all Limburgish dialects, Rhenish tonality predominates more or less. Bergish has this Rhenish sing-song everywhere, even in Velberter Platt. The Bergish dialects possibly have language status according to the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. On the other hand, according to the "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" (www.coe.int/de/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/148), see "Reservations and Declarations" or " Reservations and declarations to Treaty No.148 - European Charter for Regional or Minority languagesin Germany: "a regional language within the meaning of the Charter in the Federal Republic shall be the Low German language. [....] Part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages shall be applied [...] to the regional language Low German in the territory of the Länder Brandenburg, North-Rhine/Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt [...]" Limburgish, which includes Bergish, are neither mentioned in the gaps, so Limburgish including Bergish is not protected in Germany as Low German in a broad sense. in the Netherlands: "Part II of the Charter will be applied to the Limburgish language used in the Netherlands." Limburgish in the Netherlands is protected, Low Franconian in North Rhine-Westphalia possibly is included with Low German in the sense of the charter. In the Netherlands: "Part II of the Charter will be applied to the Limburgish language used in the Netherlands." Limburgish in the Netherlands is protected, Low Franconian in North Rhine-Westphalia possibly is included with Low German in the sense of the charter. Being quite similar to local dialects, the written Dutch language was also widespread in the northern Rhineland, but was gradually replaced, including in "Kleverland". Bergish goes beyond the Uerdinger line, also in Oberhausen, Remscheid and Barmen.^[5] There the Uerdingen line is not the decisive border. Up until the beginning of the 20th century, Dutch was the school language and the lingua franca in Kleverland. The writing standard of the Dutch language was used, which was also in use in the neighboring Netherlands. Low German was unusual in Kleverland. At that time one spoke the Dutch language in the Low Franconian Rhineland, but not in Western Lower Saxony, where this was often not even a second language.

Kleverlandish is at least partly coextensive with South Guelderish and possibly Limburgish. It concerns the definition of South Low Franconian which is simply done on the basis of isoglosses. It is not nearly to be equated with the dialect of Upper Guelders, which is not nearly equal to North Limburg. The term "Limburgs" has a number of conflicting definitions. In Limburg, a different dialect is spoken every 5 km, and there are many methods to classify that continuum: Levenshtein distance is one of them, isoglosses another, arrow method yet another. Limburgish is an unclearly defined term, Kleverlandish and South Low Franconian are defined by isoglosses. Broekhuizen, but not Swolgen are among the places speaking Limburgish.^[7]

^[1] has a statistically substantiated map of Germany on page 19. There is 3.1 for the Kleve and Duisburg districts, but the Viersen and Mettmann districts and also the city of Düsseldorf have 3.2.^[1] On page 22 it reads for 3.1 Niederfränkisch and for 3.2 Mittelfränkisch.^[1] Southern Low Franconian indeed has Middle Franconian components such as tone language. The problem of any transitional group of dialects such as Southern Low Franconian is that the division is arbitrary, one study is not enough for a complete restructuring of the division of the dialects. The method of Daan 1969 is based on opinions of the general population. Although due to the political demarcation of the Limburg area into Dutch (after the formation of the Kingdom of the United Netherlands) and German (after the annexation of the eastern part to the Kingdom of Prussia), there is a strong influence of the Dutch and German literary language respectively in them, mutual understanding on both sides of the border remains in some cases.

Wenker, upon whose work the study by Lameli is based, used to work more than 100 years ago.

 

The total number of speakers of Limburgish is estimated at 1.6 million in the Netherlands and Belgium and probably under a hundred thousand in Germany. In the Netherlands and Belgium, Limburgish is the language of everyday communication in small places with a compact distribution, giving way to Dutch in official and written fields. According to estimates (A. Schunck, 2001), Limburgish is spoken by 50 to 90% of the local population, depending on the location. The extent to which Limburgish is widespread in Germany remains a matter of debate. In the Netherlands, Limburgish is recognized as one of the regional languages (Dutch "streektaal"), in Belgium and Germany it possibly has no status as it is considered a dialect of Dutch and German respectively. However, Limburgish does not have uniform modern spelling. Heinrich von Veldeke, a medieval writer from this region, was an early writer in Dutch including Limburgish. In modern German philology, Meuse-Rhenish is used as a term for the medieval dialects in the Rhine-Maas triangle. In the case of Belgium, stopping at the border is complete nonsense. Moselle Franconian and Ripuarian dialects are spoken in East Belgium, with Standard German as the Dachsprache. Ripuarian borders to Limburgish, partly with French as a Dachsprache. To end at a national border would be just as nonsensical as ending at the border from Bavaria to Austria. Dialects that transition to Ripuarian can also be found on the southern tip of Dutch Limburg. The dialects of the northern part of the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, starting from Venlo in the north, are close South Guelderish and, without belonging to Brabantic dialect, form according to some sources North Limburgish dialect, and to other sources Kleverlandish.

Due to the mismatch of mich- and ik- isoglosses, some of this area is called mich-Quartier or inexactly ik-Quartier. Limburgish is a direct development of the eastern variant of Old Low Franconian, heavily influenced by Hollandic and smaller, possibly West Central German dialects and French. The continuation of the Western variant of Old Low Franconian is not only Hollandic. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Europe was reorganized. The new frontier was drawn east of the Meuse near Venlo, the western part (including today's Belgium) joined the "Kingdom of the United Netherlands" and the Rhineland ceded to Prussia. Some of the areas near Kleve or Geldern spoke Kleverlandish/South Guelderish before they were combined by France in the Roer (department) In Venlo, Limburgish is still spoken today.

Belgium became independent in 1830. After the Treaty of Versailles in 1920, the German-speaking area of Eupen-Malmedy-St. Vith was added to the state of Belgium. Despite the drawing of new borders, the dialects in this language area have not changed quickly. Krefeld, Mönchengladbach, etc. are neither in Limburg nor in Bergisches Land. Peter Wiesinger has examined the vowel systems of the German dialects and, based on this, brought them into a congruent system (Die Einteilung der deutschen Dialekte.^[8] is probably the most convincing, since on structure based on a uniform criterion that exists.^[9] confirmed most of Wiesinger despite a completely different approach. According to Wiesinger, the northern part of Kleverland belongs to Low Franconian and the southern part to a transition area between Low Franconian and Ripuarian.^[10] The transition area mentioned (roughly between Geldern and Düsseldorf) is cut through by several isoglosses, resulting in five areas.^[10] The map has between the northern border of the accentuation and the Uerdingen Line, an intersection of the ei line on the left bank of the Rhine. Another area is Mülheim and Oberhausen, there is also the Düsseldorf/Wuppertal area, then Remscheid/Solingen and a larger area on the left bank of the Rhine around Krefeld and Mönchengladbach.^[10] According to that source, the north-eastern edge is to be replaced by the Bergisches Land. Wiesinger and Lameli have classifications that take dialects/languages into account as an overall system and not to the vernacular or neogrammarian ones, which are often based on single criteria or even extra-linguistic.

Ripuarian-Low Franconian transition area without the North Bergish area is a broad term that is not limited to Germany, but does not cover all of Limburgish speaking Germany. Unterbarmen should still have features of obsolete category East Bergish. The dialect of Low Franconian towns was picked out and written down and made the official language of the Netherlands. This did not destroy the continuum, because the Low Franconian dialects continued to be spoken, but the Dutch no longer participated in the development of the common standard German language.

The Dutch designation of "Noord-Limburg" is geographical and not linguistic. The Benrath line runs well south of Heinsberg, and most of the entire surrounding area still has Limburgish dialects. Mönchengladbach is at least mainly in the Limburgish language area, some parts of the southern area of the city, which mostly belong to Rheydt, possibly are Ripuarian. Some Northern parts of Krefeld, such as Hüls, but not Uerdingen, which includes Hohenbudberg, have no Kleverlandish dialects, despite being north of the Uerdingen line, and still are strongly influenced by Hollandic, which was still the official and school language in the Prussian era before the founding of the Reich and in the Reformed churches on the Lower Rhine was retained until around 1900. The various municipal reorganizations and mergers were made largely without sensitivity to language borders, which makes references to today's place names problematic and imprecise. Düsseldorfer Platt has a strong difference to the Limburgish of the Netherlands. The Kleverland accent is already spoken in Ruhrort, Meiderich, Hamborn and Buschhausen.^[11] It is well known that today's Duisburg consists of parts that once belonged to Kleve and other dominions. Therefore, Duisburg and Moers belong to the Limburgish-speaking area. Half of today's Duisburg lies in the Kleverland dialect area, Duisburg-Ruhrort being north of the centre of Moers.

 

That map shows as distinct a lot of varieties that are generally acknowledged to be dialects of the same language rather than distinct languages (e.g. South Hollandic and Utrechts). Bergish is spoken in the north and South Bergish in the south of the old Duchy of Berg. The doubtful concept of East Bergish includes Limburgish varieties. Moers and Venlo have predominantly Limburgish features, so they speak Limburgish despite the eck/ick. Low Franconian is no longer understood in its entirety as Dutch, but some of its parts as German dialects. Southern Low Franconian is spoken also in Krefeld, Mönchengladbach, Viersen, Heinsberg as well as in the northern part of Rhein-Kreis Neuss, a district. The parts of Oberhausen that used to belong to the district of Mülheim, before that to the Lordship of Broich and thus to the Duchy of Berg: Alstaden and also Unterstyrum and Unterdümpten spoke Bergish. Southern Low Franconian as a term has a very restricted use. It does not include all varieties as spoken in the southern parts of the Netherlands and the entire Flemish (Dutch speaking) Belgium. In the Middle Ages there was a uniform written language in the international Lower Rhine, which can be described as neither German nor Dutch. ^[12] From the 12th century, this Meuse-Rhenish gained great importance for medieval literature, and later for legal texts and chronicles. ^[12] This Rhine-Meuse triangle was limited in the south by the border of the Romance languages and the Benrath line; in the east by the Rhein-Issel line (unit plural line); in the west to the Brabantic dialect area (Diest-Nijmegen line).^[12] There are other language borders within international Lower Rhine, of which Uerdingen Line (north of Linn) is the most important. This language border imprecisely divides the Rheinmaasland into a northern "Kleverlandish/North Meuse Rhenish" and a southern "Southern Low Franconian" part. Only in the 16th century did the Brabantian-influenced Dutch written language and the High German written language spread in the Rhine-Maas triangle. The South Guelderish variants in South Gelderland include Nijmeegs, Arnhems, Zevenaars and Waals, which possibly do not belong to Kleverlandish. Meuse-Rhenish borders on Brabantian. It is part of Low Rhenish. The term was chosen so as not to classify these writing dialects as German or Dutch. Meuse-Rhenish is used linguistically for the written and official language of the late Middle Ages to the early modern period, geographically in the (Dutch-German) Rhine-Maas triangle, the area in which mainly Low Franconian dialects were spoken (partly yet to be).

In Germany, too, the number of speakers of Limburgish is decreasing, but because of the large difference between written High German and Rhinelandic Low Franconian, there is hardly any danger of the dialects being "falsified" or "diluted", unlike in the Netherlands. Speakers of the "Low Franconian Platt" Bergish speak more similar to Colognian. The words are mostly similar, Low Franconian descends from Old Dutch, which is only documented to a very limited extent, despite centuries of Frankish rule. Low Franconian never was Low German. It was much more a language of its own. The cultural connection was not lost with the Peace of Westphalia. It is clear that the attribute "German" in the Middle Ages did not refer to everything that lay within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. The European historical displacement in this language context was because of the central kingdom of Middle Francia (Regnum Lotharii) between West and East Franconia from the North Sea to the Papal States was a forerunner of the Burgundian Empire. Low Franconian would be called without justification the main language of the Hanseatic area despite its connections in the Hanseatic period, a dialect culture in the North Sea and Baltic Sea area which had Low German as merchant language. Town Frisian is a Hollandic-West Frisian mixed language. Town Frisian is orthographically close to West Frisian and to Hollandic in terms of basic vocabulary. Therefore, this language variant cannot be called Hollandic. Speakers of Dutch and hear spoken Town Frisian, then you will understand most (there are West Frisian words and phrases). Neusser Platt is also Low Franconian, and the language border to the Ripuarian with the Erft and its former swamp area ran South of Neuss city center. Rhinelandic includes the varieties of Kleverlandish, Limburgish, Ripuarian and Moselle Franconian spoken in Germany. There also are intermediate levels of them and the standard language spoken there, Rhenish for the Ripuarian and Mosel-Franconian varieties. The Rhenish fan, including Kleverlandish and Moselle Franconian, joins. Kleverlandish clearly is closer to the South Gelderland and Northeast Brabant.

One source has the dialects of said varieties spoken in Germany as "westdeutsch" ("West German") divided into Low Franconian and Middle Franconian.^[1] This term "West German" is German(y)-centric; such a classification possibly would only be practicable if only the dialects within Germany were examined. Kleverlandish is a name for the Low Franconian dialect of Kleve area and (in Goossens' definition) as the Low Franconian dialect of Kleve+ the area between Venlo as well as including and beyond Nijmegen. A common problem that non-standard languages are basically a collection of dialects. Of course, Middle Dutch was not standardized (like Modern Dutch is today), but that probably also applies to Middle High German, Middle Low German, Old Norwegian and many other old language forms. Nevertheless, Middle Dutch is the forerunner of Modern Dutch. Urban Hollandic, with clear Brabantian influences, is the basis for today's standard language. The cities of the province of Holland (especially Amsterdam) were economic and political leaders in the Republic of the Netherlands. They asserted their language as the language that set the tone. However, that was not the language of the farmers and fishermen, but the language of the upper classes. And they were clearly influenced by refugees from the south of the Low Countries, e.g. from Antwerp. These refugees spoke Brabantian dialects and brought Brabantian elements into the standard modern language. On the phonetic level, for example, the diphtongization of mnl. uu > nnl. ui and from mnl. i > nnl. ij as well as the transition from mnl sc to sch (scriven > schrijven) ^[13] The Dutch dialect landscape is predominantly of Low Franconian character, accordingly the written language has not been derived from the version of Low German that was used as an innational lingua franca. This has also resulted in changes in Dutch dialects. After all, the written language has dominated the dialect since time immemorial and forces it to adapt through standardization. No linguist disputes that in the Netherlands around 1600 a different writing standard was in force than in northern Germany. that Dutch is neither based on Low German nor its written heritage. The Low Franconian dialects have always been closely interrelated with the standard Dutch language and enriched its vocabulary. Nevertheless, there is no closed Low Franconian dialect, rather there were a large number of different regional dialects with several characteristic, especially phonetic features, but they did not have a uniform vocabulary that would have been typical only for this dialect group. Instead, there were locally narrowly defined dialect expressions, terms that were also found in the Middle Rhine, many Low German expressions that made their way into the dialects in particular through Middle Low German, and a lot of general vocabulary. Despite everything, the history of a unified written Dutch language only began in the second half of the 17th century.

Both Jo Daan (South Guelderish) and Jan Goossens (Kleverlandish) have the Liemers dialect as part of their definition. In Germany it is even more complicated: This classification is based on Wenker's sentences from 1877, but since then the dialect in Germany has been subject to severe erosion. In large parts, hardly any dialect is spoken. Wenker's original rhenish fan is reducing to regiolects and formal Luxembourgish. All discussions about detailed dialect boundaries in Germany are now becoming purely historical and academic. Daan's study dates from 1969. They were asked how the general population perceives their own and other dialects. Jan Goossens published a study in 1965 in which he used rigid single isoglosses as a basis. ^[14] Giebers 2008 also has Kleverlands with the South Guelderish. The latter mentioned studies are based on several characteristics. In both Germany and Belgium, the use of dialects has declined sharply since 1970, where young people do not speak dialect, possibly regiolect. However, Limburgish used to be often assigned to the West Central German dialect group, which is part of the High German subgroup. This discrepancy was caused by differing definitions: in the latter case, any dialect in which at least one of the steps of the High German (second) consonant movement occurred was considered High German. According to this, the Limburgish area lies between the isoglosses ik/ich (Uerdinger line, its northern limit) and maken/machen (Benrath line, southern limit), which coincide further to the east. Based on a comprehensive analysis of other isoglosses, today only the second isogloss is regarded as the border of High German, and only from the Rhineland and Westphalian border to the east. Whether Limburgish is Low Franconian or Middle Franconian dialects is a matter of debate in today's linguistics. At least in the case of written texts, a certain degree of mutual intelligibility between German and Dutch is retained. Here, too, an isogloss is usually used as a language boundary, which limits the spread of the Low Saxon unitary plural to -(e)t. The influence of the two standard languages on the dialects, follows in the 20th century that the state border extends into a dialect border.

Today, Low Franconian is no longer regarded as Dutch in its entirety, but some of it as German dialects. ^[1] has the Limburgish of Germany, at least mostly not in Low Franconian. There is no question that the term “Middle Dutch” is used innumerably more often than “Middle Low Franconian”. These statements of the type "Low German is spoken in Duisburg and basically also in Amsterdam" are wrong on any basis. Flevoland is, with the exception of Urk, dialect-free in the sense that it has no natural dialect. In Almere (about 50% of the inhabitants of the province), the Amsterdam city dialect but also other Dutch varieties. In the Noordoostpolder and Ostflevoland, however, the settlers were in many cases farmers from Zeeland, South Holland, Friesland, Drenthe and Groningen. The original dialects were spoken in the family, but only Standard Dutch was spoken in public. In Voeren standard Dutch is the umbrella language, and in Land of Eupen it is not. There are lists with more than 10 entries to include the varieties from the Netherlands, as well as the Frisian and Low Saxon ones there, as well as the Low Franconian ones from Belgium. Among the Low Franconian varieties spoken outside the Netherlands, at least the Surinamese and Caribbean ones as well as those belonging to Afrikaans are missing. Bergish e. g. is very different from Westgetelands, but oth are mostly or entirely Southern Franconian according to the definition. It has a border between districts speaking Low Franconian and Central Franconian.^[1] Central Franconian is to include at least most of Limburgish/South Low Franconian of Germany according to this study. It has Central Franconian as outside both Central German and High German.^[1] Furthermore, other studies see Limburgish as Low Franconian. Linguistically, Limburgish represents Middle German dialects, using the traditional criterion of partial participation in the consonant shift. For political reasons Dutch and Belgian scientists subsumed them all under Low Franconian. Linguistically Limburgish at least nearly entirely is not Central German, in spite of its partial participation in the consonant shift. Kleverlands is neither South Guelderish nor Limburgish. The issue is the definition of South Low Franconian which is simply done using isoglosses. South Guelderish is the dialect of Upper Guelders or northern Limburg according to a number of authors. The term "Limburgish" has a number of conflicting definitions. . South Low Franconian is spoken also in Krefeld, Mönchengladbach, Viersen, Heinsberg as well as in the northern Rheinkreis Neuss, a district in Germany. Southern Low Franconian as a term has a very restricted use, if any. If it should include all varieties as spoken in the southern parts of the Netherlands and the entire Flemish (Dutch speaking) Belgium..

Each place in the area of Southern Low German used to have an overall majority of one of the three Christian denominations of Continental Reformed Protestantism, Protestant Lutheranism or Roman Catholic Church. Wenden dialect is or was spoken in Altenkleusheim. Essen, Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Hamm, Hagen and Langewiese were among the Southern Low German speaking places with changing or heterogenuous religious allegiance.

• Herne
• Lippstadt
• Dortmund
• Dortmund-Holthausen
• Dortmund-Lindenhorst
• Dortmund-Brackel
• Dortmund-Wickede
• Dortmund-Holzen
• Asseln
• Hörde
• Wichlinghofen
• Barop
• Bittermark
• Brünninghausen
• Eichlinghofen
• Hombruch
• Menglinghausen
• Rombergpark-Lücklemberg
• Persebeck-Kruckel-Schnee
• Kirchhörde-Löttringhausen
• Syburg
• Wambel
• Hacheney
• Wellinghofen
• Brechten
• Eving
• Aplerbeck
• Berghofen
• Schüren
• Sölde
• Sölderholz
• Borgholzhausen
• Gütersloh
• Benninghofen
• Halle (Westfalen)
• Versmold
• Breckerfeld
• Ennepetal
• Gevelsberg
• Dortmund
• Hattingen
• Herdecke
• Schwelm
• Bielefeld
• Sprockhövel
• Wetter (Ruhr)
• Witten
• Plettenberg
• Lüdenscheid
• Iserlohn
• Altena
• Werdohl
• Soest
• Lippstadt
• Welver
• Bünde
• Enger
• Herford
• Löhne
• Spenge
• Vlotho
• Hiddenhausen
• Kirchlengern
• Rödinghausen
• Göttingen
• Hanover
• Salzgitter
• Wolfsburg
• Lennep
• Lüttringhausen
• Freienhagen (atypical Southern Low German)
• Langerfeld
• Unna
• Schwerte
• Kamen
• Lemgo
• Garschagen
• Dörperhöhe

• Hagen-Hohenlimburg
• Krombach
• Wiblingwerde
• Hilbeck
• Hückeswagen

• Bottrop
• Beyenburg
• Arnsberg
• Brilon
• Hallenberg
• Marsberg
• Medebach
• Meschede
• Olsberg, Germany
• Schmallenberg
• Sundern
• Winterberg
• Bestwig
• Eslohe
• Verl
• Schloss Holte
• Stukenbrock
• Dilldorf (parts of the place speaking Southern Low German)
• Wipperfürth
• Letmathe

• Oberschledorn
• Hochfeld
• Hoheleye
• Mollseifen
• Siebeneick
• Struck
• Tönisheide
• Kleinumstand
• Breitscheid
• Erkrath
• Mettmann
• Breitscheid
• Gruiten
• Wülfrath
• Velbert
• Heiligenhaus
• Vohwinkel [de]
• Wermelskirchen
• Cronenberg
• Remscheid
• Ronsdorf
• Solingen
• Höhscheid
• Gräfrath
• Wald
• Ohligs
• Barmen
• Heckinghausen
• Oberbarmen
• Elberfeld
• Uellendahl
• Katernberg
• Aue (Bad Berleburg)
• Helberhausen
• Liesen
• Wingeshausen
• Zinse
• Berghausen (Gummersbach)
• Derschlag
• Hillmicke
• Neuenothe
• Niederseßmar
• Nochen
• Strombach
• Vordermühle
• Wiedenest
• Dreibäumen
• Osthelden
• Birkelbach
• Hahn (Engelskirchen)
• Heid
• Littfeld
• Neuenkleusheim
• Ottfingen
• Römershagen
• Schönau (Westfalen)
• Beyenburg
• Liesen
• Braunshausen
• Nieder-Schleidern
• Obensiebeneick

• figures 8 and 9 are on classification of dialects in the Netherlands, Belgium and French Flanders
• A-dendrogram-derived-from-the-distance-matrix-based-on-unweighted-Manhattan-distance
• Classifying Dutch dialects using a syntactic measure: The perceptual Daan and Blok dialect map revisited

Figure 5 is a map on syntactic variation in the Netherlands, Belgium and French Flanders.

• De analyse van uitspraakverschillen in Nederlandse en Friese taalvariëteiten
• Outdated classification of Dutch dialects
• TITUS Didactica: German Dialects (map)
• Gebiedsindeling van de zuidelijk-Nederlandse dialecten
• Phonetic variation of dialects in the Netherlands and Belgium

R. Belemans; J. Kruijsen; J. Van Keymeulen (1998). "Gebiedsindeling van de zuidelijk-Nederlandse dialecten". Taal en Tongval. 50 (1).