The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany , between approximately Oberhausen and Krefeld in the East and the Dutch border around Kleve in the West. As the region can be defined either geographically, linguistically, culturally, or by political, economic and traffic relations throughout the centuries, as well as by more recent political subdivisions, its precise borders are disputable and occasionally may be seen as extending beyond the Dutch border.
34-669: A cultural bond of the German Lower Rhine region is its Low Franconian language, specifically the Kleverlandish dialect (German: Kleverländisch , Dutch: Kleverlands ), which includes the Dutch dialects just across the border. In the region's southeastern portion Bergish is spoken. Other typicalities of the area include the predominantly Catholic background as well as the Rhenish Carnival tradition. The area basically covers
68-479: A different manner than simple consonants, indicating that West Germanic gemination predated it; the gemination is usually dated to the 5th century CE. Additionally, Latin loanwords adopted into the language prior to the 6th century display the shift, whereas those adopted from the 8th century onward do not. The relative chronology of the different changes remains poorly understood. It is usually argued to have begun with /t/, then moved to /p/, then to /k/. Although
102-524: A doublet of German Pferch , both from Latin parricus ), Modern Standard German has retained unshifted /p t k/ only after a fricative (e.g. Stein , English stone ) or in the combination /tr/ (e.g. treu , English true ). Another change, the shift of /þ/ ( /θ/ ) to /d/, is sometimes seen as related to the High German consonant shift. However, it also comes to encompass the other continental West Germanic languages. The relation of this change to
136-512: A period of Francisation under the auspices of the French government. Similarly, in the Lower Rhine region, local literary Low Franonian varieties were employed in official use until the 17th century, but were subsequently replaced by standard German in most parts, except for Upper Guelders and Cleves (both since 1701 part of Prussia ), where standard Dutch prevailed as literary language. Following
170-608: A synonym of Low Franconian at its earlier historical stages, thereby signifying the category's close relation to Dutch, without using it as a synonym. Low Franconian is sometimes, and especially was historically, grouped together with Low Saxon , referred to as Low German . However, this grouping is not based on common linguistic innovations, but rather on the absence of the High German consonant shift . In fact, in nineteenth century literature this grouping could also include English , another West Germanic language that did not undergo
204-491: A word. A related change, the devoicing of the voiced stopped consonants /d/, /b/ and /g/, was less widespread, with only the devoicing of /d/ being found in most dialects. There is no consensus on when the High German consonant shift occurred; it probably began between the 3rd and 5th centuries and was complete before the first written examples in Old High German , the earliest recorded stage of High German, were produced in
238-632: Is a linguistic category used to classify a number of historical and contemporary West Germanic varieties closely related to, and including, the Dutch language . Most dialects and languages included within this category are spoken in the Netherlands , northern Belgium ( Flanders ), in the Nord department of France, in western Germany ( Lower Rhine ), as well as in Suriname , South Africa and Namibia . Low Franconian
272-453: Is a purely linguistic category and not used as a term of self-designation among any of the speakers of the Germanic dialects traditionally grouped within it. Within the field of historical philology , the terminology for the historical phases of Low Franconian is not analogous to the traditional Old High German / Middle High German and Old Low German / Middle Low German dichotomies, with
306-512: Is also found in all other High German dialects, and the characteristic pitch accent , which is exclusively shared with Ripuarian and Moselle Franconian . Until the Early Modern Period , all speakers of varieties of Low Franconian used Middle Dutch or Early Modern Dutch as their literary language and Dachsprache . There was a marked change in the 19th century, when the historically Dutch-speaking region of French Flanders underwent
340-527: Is based mostly on East Central German dialects and thus features many but not all of the shifted forms. In particular, of the Medienverschiebung consonants, only the shift of /d/ to /t/ is found in almost all instances in the modern standard. The shift results in characteristic differences between modern standard German and other Germanic languages, such as: Excluding loanwords from Low German and foreign borrowings (e.g. Park from French parc ,
374-649: Is either defined by the onset of the Second Germanic consonant shift in Eastern Frankish, the assimilation of an unattested coastal dialect showing North Sea Germanic features by West Frankish in the late 9th century, or a combination of both. Old Low Franconian is, on its turn, divided into two subgroups: Old West Low Franconian (spoken in Flanders, Brabant and Holland) and Old East Low Franconian (spoken in Limburg and
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#1733085987964408-515: Is known as the Rhenish fan , a gradual reduction of which consonants are shifted, as one moves north. In most accounts, the High German consonant shift consists of two related changes: All High German dialects have experienced at least part of the shift of voiceless stops to fricatives/affricates. The shift of voiceless stops to fricatives/affricates has traditionally been used to distinguish different German dialects: Upper German dialects experienced
442-624: The South Low Franconian dialect area, with the Uerdingen line as its northern border. The shift of /p/ to /f/ after consonants (e.g. helpan > helfen 'help') sets off Moselle Franconian dialects from Ripuarian dialects with the latter having retained unshifted /p/. The shift of /t/ to /s/ in wat , dat > was , das etc. characterizes Rhine Franconian. The shift of root-initial and historically geminated /p/ to /pf/ ( Pund > Pfund 'pound', Appel > Apfel 'apple') marks
476-466: The 8th century. There is also no consensus on where or how the shift proceeded. The degree of shift varies within High German. Dialects that experienced the most shift are referred to as Upper German , whereas those that only experienced some are referred to as Central German . Different dialects within Upper and Central German also received different levels of shift, with West Central German exhibiting what
510-487: The Middle High German period, Bavarian only consistently writes /p/ for single /b/ in word-initial position - the state preserved in modern southern Bavarian dialects. There is no agreement about the time period in which the High German consonantal shift took place. Its completion is usually dated to just before the earliest attestations of Old High German (8th century CE). The change affects geminate consonants in
544-687: The Rhineland). Old West Low Franconian "is the ancestor ultimately of Dutch". Low Franconian includes: South Low Franconian occupies a special position among the Low Franconian subgroups, since it shares several linguistic features with Ripuarian dialects spoken to the southeast, such as the conditioned split of the West Germanic diphthongs *ai and *au (e.g. in Roermonds *ai splits to /eː/ and /ɛi/, *au to /oː/ and /ɔu/), which apart from Ripuarian
578-490: The boundaries of the dialects have shifted since the Old High German period, the degree to which dialects underwent the High German consonant shift continues to form the basis for differentiating the different modern German dialects , and, in particular, for the division between Central German dialects, which have fewer shifted consonants, and Upper German dialects, which have more. The gradually increasing application of
612-586: The castle " Schloss Moyland " in Bedburg-Hau or the Catholic pilgrimage town of Kevelaer . [REDACTED] Media related to Lower Rhine region at Wikimedia Commons This North Rhine-Westphalia location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 51°34′40″N 6°34′09″E / 51.57778°N 6.56917°E / 51.57778; 6.56917 Low Franconian In historical and comparative linguistics , Low Franconian
646-455: The consonant shift. The term Frankish or Franconian as a modern linguistic category was coined by the German linguist Wilhelm Braune (1850–1926). He divided Franconian which contained both Germanic dialects which had and had not experienced the Second Germanic consonant shift into Low, Middle and High Franconian , with the use of Low signifying that this category did not participate in
680-485: The dialects generally being accepted to be the most direct descendants of Old Frankish. As such, Old Dutch and Middle Dutch , together with loanwords in Old French , are the principal languages used to reconstruct Old Frankish using the comparative method . Within historical linguistics, Old Low Franconian is synonymous with Old Dutch. Depending on the author, the temporal boundary between Old Dutch and Old Frankish
714-451: The districts of Kleve , Wesel , Viersen and Neuss as well as the independent cities of Duisburg , Mönchengladbach and Krefeld . While disputable, Oberhausen and Düsseldorf may also be seen as part of the Lower Rhine region. The Lower Rhine region's landscape is mostly flat green grassland with wide views of the horizon. Sights include the historic town centers of Kleve and Xanten , as well as Xanten's Roman archeological museum,
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#1733085987964748-487: The greatest degree of shift, whereas Central German dialects only experienced a partial shift (other West Germanic languages experienced no shift). Only southern dialects experience the shift of voiced to voiceless stops, with the shift of /d/ to /t/ found in Upper German and in some Central German dialects, while the shift of /b/ to /p/ and /g/ to /k/ is only found consistently in (Old) Bavarian. Modern standard German
782-546: The incoporation of Upper Guelders and Cleves into the Prussian Rhine Province , there was extensive Germanisation , and Dutch was replaced by German for official use, and its use discouraged in favor of German in the public sphere, leading to a rapid decline in the use of standard Dutch. Vernacular Low Franconian varieties continue to be spoken in the Lower Rhine region to this day, but many speakers have switched to local colloquial forms of German ( Umgangssprache ) since
816-404: The second consonant shift, as well as that of another change, that of initial /x/ to /h/, is disputed. Braune and Reiffenstein discount a connection entirely. The result of the shift of the voiceless stops /p t k/ depends on their position in the word. The degree to which the stops are shifted also shows considerable variation between Upper German and Central German dialects. In particular,
850-426: The second half of the 20th century due to increased mobility and wider access to mass media. In addition, the historically Dutch-speaking Brussels Capital Region is officially bilingual, but now largely francophone. High German consonant shift In historical linguistics , the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development ( sound change ) that took place in
884-464: The shift from north to south is most extensive in the west. Here, the isoglosses defined by the occurrence of individual shifts are spread out in a fan-like manner, forming the Rheinischer Fächer (' Rhenish fan '). The northern border for the occurrence of the shift of /t/ to /(t)s/ in all positions (except in absolute final position in pronouns like dat , wat and the neuter ending -t ) and
918-510: The shift of /d/ to /t/; this is the change with the widest spread and the only one that was not partially reversed in the Old High German period. On the other hand, while early Bavarian and Alemannic both show a shift of /g b/ to /k p/, by the 9th century in Alemannic reverts to writing /g/ and /b/ except for the geminated stops (/kk/ and /pp/ rather than /gg/ and /bb/), and in the 10th century, Bavarian also begins to write /g/ and /b/ more often. By
952-497: The shift of /p/ and /k/ in initial position is subject to dialectal variation. /p t k/ remained unshifted in all dialects when following the fricative consonants /s/, /f/, and /x/ (examples: OHG spinnan Engl. 'spin', OHG stein Engl. 'stone, OHG naht Engl. 'night'). /t/ likewise remained unshifted in the combination /tr/ (examples: OHG tretan Engl. 'tread', OHG bittar Engl. 'bitter' [from West Germanic *bitra ]). In
986-501: The shift of /p/ and /k/ to /f/ and /x/ in intervocalic and root-final position is the Benrath line that separates the High German dialects to the south from the Low Saxon and Low Franconian dialects to the north. Further north, the consonant shift is only found with the adverb auch 'also' and a handful of pronouns that have final /k/ shifted to /x/ ( ich 'I', dich 'thee', mich 'me') in
1020-435: The so-called Medienverschiebung , the voiced consonsants /d b g/ devoice to /t p k/. Like the shift to the voiceless stops, the shift to the voiced stops varies by dialect and to some degree by position in the word. In those Upper German dialects that shifted all three stops, there was likely no longer any distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants. The effects of the Medienverschiebung are most visible in
1054-606: The sound shift. Despite the name, the diachronical connection to Old Frankish , the unattested language spoken by the Franks , is unclear for most of the varieties grouped under the broad "Franconian" category, mainly due to the heavy influence of Elbe Germanic / High German features in the Middle and High Franconian varieties following the Migration Period . The dialects of the Low Franconian grouping form an exception to this, with
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1088-463: The southern parts of the West Germanic dialect continuum . The shift is used to distinguish High German from other continental West Germanic languages, namely Low Franconian (including standard Dutch ) and Low German , which experienced no shift. The shift resulted in the affrication or spirantization of the West Germanic voiceless stop consonants /t/, /p/, and /k/, depending on position in
1122-464: The terms Old Dutch and Middle Dutch commonly being preferred to Old Low Franconian and Middle Low Franconian in most contexts. Due to the category's strong interconnection with the Dutch language and its historical forms , Low Franconian is occasionally used interchangeably with Dutch , though the latter term can have a broader as well as narrower meaning depending on the specific context. English publications alternatively use Netherlandic as
1156-571: The transition from the West Central German to the Upper German dialects. East Central German is separated from West Central German through having shifted initial p (the "Pund-Fund" line); only far southern East Central German dialects retain initial /pf-/, whereas other East Central German dialects have simplified it to initial /f-/. The shift of root-initial and historically geminated /k/ to /kx/ (and further to /x/, as in Kind > Chind ) occurs in
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