Belgium
104-544: Tessenderlo ( Dutch pronunciation: [təˈsɛndərˌloː] ; Limburgish : Loei ) is a municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg . It is where the three Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and Antwerp meet at the front gate of the Averbode Abbey . The municipality Tessenderlo encompasses the villages of Tessenderlo proper, Schoot , Engsbergen , Hulst and Berg . On January 1, 2006, Tessenderlo had
208-652: A regional language (Dutch: streektaal ) in the Netherlands . As such, it receives moderate protection under chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . However, some linguists have argued that this recognition was highly politically motivated and done more on sociolinguistic than purely linguistic grounds. In 1999, the Dutch Language Union , the de facto language authority which asserted that it had not been asked for advice, opposed
312-453: A High German variety as one that has taken part in any of the first three phases of the High German consonant shift. It is nevertheless most common in linguistics to consider Limburgish as Low Franconian. The traditional terminology can be confusing as the differences between the historical groupings Old West Franconian and Old East Franconian (which mainly concern certain vowel variations and
416-592: A Limburgian-Ripuarian context. Regardless of the exact definition used, the term Limburgish itself is specific to the Netherlands and Belgium, where it used by linguists and speakers alike and is strongly connected to the cultural and regional identity of the inhabitants of both Belgian and Dutch Limburg. This regional identity is notably absent from the speakers of closely related Low Franconian dialects in adjacent parts of Germany, who do not refer to their local dialects as Limburgish . In German linguistic discourse too,
520-549: A Middle Limburgish dialect. Especially in the Netherlands, the cultural meaning of the language is also important. Many song texts are written in a Limburgish dialect, for example during Carnival . Jack Poels writes most of his texts for Rowwen Hèze in Sevenums, a local dialect. To what degree Limburgish actually is spoken in Germany today remains a matter of debate. Not depending on the city in these parts of Germany, less than 50% of
624-416: A dialect of German or even Dutch has been a point of contention. Although Low German is mostly regarded as an independent language linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criterion to decide the question. Scholarly arguments have been put forward for classifying Low German as a German dialect. As stated above, the arguments are not linguistic but rather sociopolitical and revolve mainly around
728-409: A following among the more rurally oriented inhabitants, launching Low Saxon as a sub-culture. They inspired contemporary dialect artists and rock bands, such as Daniël Lohues [ nl ] , Mooi Wark [ Nl ] , Jovink en de Voederbietels [ Nl ] , Hádiejan [ Nl ] Nonetheless, the position of the language is vulnerable according to UNESCO. Low Saxon
832-582: A homogeneous language, but a retrofit definition based on the region where Dutch is currently an official language. German and French dialectology considers Limburgish part of the Rhenish Fan . Sometimes it is also called a variety of Meuse-Rhenish , especially among German dialectologists. Belgian/Dutch linguistics considers it in the context of Limburgian-Ripuarian, together with the Ripuarian varieties. The early medieval Limburgish writer Heinrich von Veldeke
936-553: A language for its computer desktop environment, as does the GNOME Desktop Project. Open-source software has been translated into Low German; this used to be coordinated via a page on SourceForge, but as of 2015, the most active project is that of KDE. In the early 20th century, scholars in the Netherlands argued that speaking dialects hindered language acquisition, and it was therefore strongly discouraged. As education improved, and mass communication became more widespread,
1040-592: A little south of the area between the villages of 's-Gravenvoeren and Sint-Martens-Voeren in the Belgian municipality of Voeren . Limburgish is spoken in a considerable part of the German Lower Rhine area. This area extends from the border regions of Cleves , Viersen and Heinsberg , stretching out to the Rhine river. Modern linguists, both in the Netherlands and in Germany, now often combine these distinct varieties with
1144-520: A low degree of mutual intelligibility . Eastern Low German and Plautdietsch are classified as part of Greater East Low German, while Eastphalian, Westphalic, and the North Low Saxon languages, German Northern Low Saxon and Gronings, are classified as part of West Low German. Low German has been recognized by the Netherlands and by Germany (since 1999) as a regional language according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Within
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#17331142714451248-450: A marked Brabantian influence, first among the western (i.e. spoken up to Genk ) Limburgish dialects and then also among the eastern variants. Currently Limburgish – although being essentially a variety of Low Franconian – still has a considerable distance from Standard Dutch with regards to phonology, morphology and lexicon. Standard Dutch, which developed mostly from West Low Franconian dialects such as Flemish and Brabantic , serves as
1352-771: A more refined classification. Dutch linguists use the term Oost-Limburgs ( East Limburgish ) for the form of Limburgish spoken in an area from Belgian Voeren south of Maastricht in the Netherlands to the German border. For them, West-Limburgs ( West Limburgish ) is the variety of Limburgish spoken in Belgium in the area east of the Uerdingen line, for example in and around Hasselt and Tongeren . It includes areas in Dutch Limburg (like Ool , Maria Hoop and Montfort ) and Dutch Brabant. The border of West-Limburgs and Oost-Limburgs starts
1456-522: A part of western Lithuania , and the German communities in Estonia and Latvia, most notably their Hanseatic cities. German speakers in this area fled the Red Army or were forcibly expelled after the border changes at the end of World War II. The language was also formerly spoken in the outer areas of what is now the city-state of Berlin , but in the course of urbanisation and national centralisation in that city,
1560-419: A strong cultural and historical value and was the native language of students in northern Germany, it had a place in the classroom. On the other hand, High German was considered the language of education, science, and national unity, and since schools promoted these values, High German was seen as the best candidate for the language of instruction. Initially, regional languages and dialects were thought to limit
1664-539: A third possibility. In this case, it means "bye-bye" ["good day"]). In the preceding example, the difference is grammatical, but not lexical. An example of a lexical difference caused only by tone is the word [biː˦˨] biè which is articulated with a push tone and means "bee", which forms a tonal minimal pair with [biː˦˨˧] biẽ , which is articulated with a dragging tone and means "at". This contrastive pitch accent also occurs in Central Franconian dialects spoken to
1768-575: A total population of 16,811. The total area is 51.35 km which gives a population density of 327 inhabitants per km. The name Tessenderlo means " (the open place in) the forest of the Taxandrians ". It is along the Albert Canal and the European route E313 , the highway between Antwerp and Liège , one of the reasons it was the place for the first Belgian "Industrial Zone of National Importance" in
1872-537: Is Southern Meuse-Rhenish as spoken in Belgium, the Netherlands and the German Lower Rhine. The Northern Meuse-Rhenish dialects as spoken in the Netherlands and in Germany (a little eastward along the Rhine) are unambiguously Low Franconian. As discussed above, Limburgish straddles the borderline between "Low Franconian" and "Middle Franconian" varieties. These Southern Meuse-Rhenish dialects are more-or-less mutually intelligible with
1976-455: Is a West Germanic language . It is documented from the 9th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German . It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany by Saxon peoples . It is closely related to Old Anglo-Frisian ( Old Frisian , Old English ), partially participating in the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law . Only a few texts survive, predominantly in baptismal vows
2080-656: Is a distinction between the German and the Dutch Low Saxon/Low German situation. After mass education in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries, the slow decline which Low German had been experiencing since the end of the Hanseatic League turned into a free fall. The decision to exclude Low German in formal education was not without controversy, however. On one hand, proponents of Low German advocated that since it had
2184-566: Is a part of the continental West Germanic dialect continuum . To the West, it blends into the Low Franconian languages , including Dutch . A distinguishing feature between the Low Franconian varieties and Low German varieties is the plural of the verbs. Low German varieties have a common verbal plural ending, whereas Low Franconian varieties have a different form for the second person plural. This
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#17331142714452288-566: Is a standardized example) have historically been spoken south of those lines. Like Frisian, English, Dutch and the North Germanic languages , Low German has not undergone the High German consonant shift , as opposed to Standard High German , which is based on High German dialects . Low German evolved from Old Saxon (Old Low German) , which is most closely related to Old Frisian and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) . The Low German dialects spoken in
2392-660: Is because northwestern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands were the area of settlement of the Saxons ( Old Saxony ), while Low German spread to northeastern Germany through eastward migration of Low German speakers into areas with an originally Slavic-speaking population. This area is known as Germania Slavica , where the former Slavic influence is still visible in the names of settlements and physiogeographical features. It has been estimated that Low German has approximately 2–5 million speakers in Germany, primarily Northern Germany (ranging from well to very well), and 2.15 million in
2496-504: Is claimed by the tradition of both Dutch and German dialectology. From the end of the 20th century on, Limburgish has developed a sense of autonomy from the traditional Dutch-German dipole as Limburgish linguists and functionaries consider it explicitly distinct from Dutch and German, as affirmed by the Covenant of the Limburgish language which politically decouples Limburgish from Dutch in
2600-471: Is complicated in that in most Low Franconian varieties, including standard Dutch , the original second-person plural form has replaced the singular. Some dialects, including again standard Dutch, innovated a new second-person plural form in the last few centuries, using the other plural forms as the source. To the South, Low German blends into the High German dialects of Central German that have been affected by
2704-490: Is due in part to the grouping stretching mainly across two different countries and to it being a collection of varieties rather than a standardised language. There are different uses of the term "Low German": In Germany, native speakers of Low German call their language Platt , Plattdütsch , Plattdüütsch , Plattdütsk , Plattdüütsk , Plattduitsk (South-Westphalian), Plattduitsch (Eastphalian), Plattdietsch (Low Prussian), or Nedderdüütsch . In
2808-463: Is especially in the Dutch province of Limburg that Limburgish is used not only in everyday speech, but also often in more formal situations and on the local and regional radio. According to a study by Geert Driessen, in 2011 Limburgish was spoken by 54 percent of the adults and 31 percent of the children. Limburgish has no real written tradition, except for its early beginnings. Hendrik van Veldeke wrote in
2912-883: Is final devoicing of obstruents, as exemplified by the words 'good' and 'wind' below. This is a characteristic of Dutch and German as well and involves positional neutralization of voicing contrast in the coda position for obstruents (i.e. t = d at the end of a syllable.) This is not used in English except in the Yorkshire dialect , where there is a process known as Yorkshire assimilation . For instance: water [wɒtɜ, ˈwatɜ, ˈwætɜ] , later [ˈlɒːtɜ, ˈlaːtɜ, ˈlæːtɜ] , bit [bɪt] , dish [dis, diʃ] , ship [ʃɪp, skɪp, sxɪp] , pull [pʊl] , good [ɡou̯t, ɣɑu̯t, ɣuːt] , clock [klɔk] , sail [sɑi̯l] , he [hɛi̯, hɑi̯, hi(j)] , storm [stoːrm] , wind [vɪˑnt] , grass [ɡras, ɣras] , hold [hoˑʊl(t)] , old [oˑʊl(t)] . The table below shows
3016-462: Is realized as [oə] before alveolar consonants. /eɪ/ can be realized as [eə] or [ejə] . In the dialect of Geleen , /eː/ is realized as [iɛ] and /oː/ as [ɔː] . In many dialects such as that of Maastricht and Sittard, the long vowel /aː/ in Dutch cognates is most of the time realized as [ɒː] , as in nao ("after", "to, towards"). The Standard Dutch equivalents are na [naː] and naar [naːr] . In about 50 Belgian Limburgish dialects,
3120-734: Is spoken in the Western hemisphere, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Belize, Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. In some of these countries, the language is part of the Mennonite religion and culture. There are Mennonite communities in Ontario , Saskatchewan , Alberta , British Columbia , Manitoba , Kansas and Minnesota which use Low German in their religious services and communities. These Mennonites are descended from primarily Dutch settlers that had initially settled in
3224-596: Is still spoken more widely than in Northern Germany. Efforts are made in Germany and in the Netherlands to protect Low German as a regional language . As with the Anglo-Frisian and North Germanic languages , Low German has not been influenced by the High German consonant shift except for old /ð/ having shifted to /d/ . Therefore, a lot of Low German words sound similar to their English counterparts. One feature that does distinguish Low German from English generally
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3328-466: Is tenuous in many places, and has died out in many places where assimilation has occurred. Members and friends of the Historical Society of North German Settlements in western New York ( Bergholz, New York ), a community of Lutherans who trace their immigration from Pomerania in the 1840s, hold quarterly "Plattdeutsch lunch" events, where remaining speakers of the language gather to share and preserve
3432-510: Is the occurrence of a lexical pitch accent ( Franconian tone accent ), which is shared with the adjacent Central Franconian dialects of German. The name Limburgish (and variants of it) derives only indirectly from the now Belgian town of Limbourg ( Laeboer in Limburgish, IPA: /ˈlæːbuʁ/), which was the capital of the Duchy of Limburg during the Middle Ages . More directly it is derived from
3536-408: Is the only one with both forms ik and mich/dich . All dialects in the Dutch province of Limburg spoken north of the tonality border are Kleverlandish in linguistic respect. The dialects spoken in the most southeastern part of the Dutch province of North Brabant (i.e. in and around Budel and Maarheeze ) also have many Limburgish characteristics. An important difference between these dialects and
3640-815: The High German consonant shift . The division is usually drawn at the Benrath line that traces the maken – machen isogloss . To the East, it abuts the Kashubian language (the only remnant of the Pomeranian language ) and, since the expulsion of nearly all Germans from the Polish part of Pomerania following the Second World War, also by the Polish language . East Pomeranian and Central Pomeranian are dialects of Low German. To
3744-551: The Italian ones (with only Venetian communities in areas of highly Venetian presence conserving Talian , and other Italian languages and dialects fading out elsewhere). The language grouping of Low German is referred to, in the language itself as well as in its umbrella languages of German and Dutch, in several different ways, ranging from official names such as Niederdeutsche and Nederduits to more general characterisations such as "dialect". The proliferation of names or characterisations
3848-481: The Netherlands , characterized by their distance to, and limited participation in the formation of, Standard Dutch . In the Dutch province of Limburg , all dialects have been given regional language status, including those comprising ″Limburgish″ as used in this article. Limburgish shares many vocabulary and grammatical characteristics with both German and Dutch . A characteristic feature of many dialects of Limburgish
3952-601: The Vistula delta region of Prussia in the 16th and 17th centuries before moving to newly acquired Russian territories in Ukraine in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and then to the Americas in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The types of Low German spoken in these communities and in the Midwest region of the United States have diverged since emigration. The survival of the language
4056-421: The accent and some grammatical and pronunciation tendencies derived from Limburgish. This "Limburgish Dutch" is confusingly also often referred to simply as "Limburgish", although in Belgium such intermediate languages tend to be called tussentaal ("in-between language"), no matter the exact dialect/language with which standard Dutch is combined. In March 1997 the Dutch government recognised Limburgish as
4160-458: The palatalization and assibilation of / k / (compare palatalized forms such as English cheese , Frisian tsiis to non-palatalized forms such as Low German Kees or Kaise , Dutch kaas , German Käse but Low German Sever/Sebber while German Käfer ) However, since Anglo-Frisian features occur in Low German and especially in its older language stages, there is a tendency to prefer
4264-516: The platteland (Dutch: "countryside") and can in effect sometimes mean simply "slang" in the sense of any very informal, rustic or locally unique words or expressions. The term Limburgish can refer to all varieties spoken within either the Belgian or Dutch province of Limburg, the South-East of Flemish Brabant , the North-East of Liège as well as in combination with the adjacent Rhineland region in
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4368-407: The 1960s. Tessenderlo was the scene of an infamous industrial disaster during World War II, when a stock of 150 tonnes of ammonium nitrate at the chemical plant of Produits Chimiques de Tessenderloo (now Tessenderlo Group ) - located near the centre of town - exploded on April 29, 1942, killing 189 people at the plant and in the town. Tessenderlo is part of a small western zone of Limburg where
4472-469: The Belgian Limburgish dialect of Borgloon , the dragging tone itself is bitonal, while it has also been proved that this is not the case in the adjacent Limburgish dialects of Tongeren and Hasselt . Other research has indicated that the push tone has a steeper fall in the eastern dialects of Limburgish (e.g. those of Venlo, Roermond and Maasbracht) than it has in western dialects. In addition, both
4576-568: The Cleves dialects ( Kleverländisch ). This superordinating group of Low Franconian varieties (between the rivers Meuse and Rhine) is called Meuse-Rhenish ( Rheinmaasländisch ). Both Limburgish and Low Rhenish belong to this greater Meuse - Rhine area, building a large group of Low Franconian dialects, including areas in Belgium, the Netherlands and the German Northern Rhineland . The northwestern part of this triangle came under
4680-889: The Continental West Germanic dialect continuum . As usual inside dialect continua, neighboring languages have a maximum of similarities, and speakers being used to the rather small individual lingual differences in their immediate neighborhood perceive them as close, and familiar, while more distant ones become gradually harder to understand with distance. That ends, in the Dutch–German continuum at least, most often with incomprehensible dialects. Isoglosses are so dense in this area that practically every village or town has its own distinct dialect of Limburgish. Large cities such as Mönchengladbach , Krefeld , and Düsseldorf have several local dialect varieties. The named cities have in common, that they are large enough to in part extend outside
4784-582: The Dutch border to the Bergisches Land Region near Düsseldorf east of the Rhine ). Goossens (1965) distinguished the following subdialects: There is no standardized form of Limburgish, nor is there an official standard spelling for the individual Limburgish dialects. The dialect association Veldeke Limburg developed an advisory spelling in 2003 that is endorsed by the Limburgish Language Council and aims at uniformly representing all
4888-413: The German authorities and Nedersaksisch (Nether or Low Saxon) by the Dutch authorities. Plattdeutsch , Niederdeutsch and Platduits , Nedersaksisch are seen in linguistic texts from the German and Dutch linguistic communities respectively. In Danish it is called Plattysk , Nedertysk or, rarely, Lavtysk . Mennonite Low German is called Plautdietsch . "Low" refers to
4992-514: The Ingvaeonic classification instead of the Anglo-Frisian one, which also takes Low German into account. Because Old Saxon came under strong Old High German and Old Low Franconian influence early on and therefore lost many Ingvaeonic features that were to be found much more extensively in earlier language states. The question of whether today's Low German should be considered a separate language or
5096-555: The Limburgish Language Council adopted a standard orthography for Limburgish. On the basis of this standard orthography the Limburgish Academy Foundation ( Stiechting Limbörgse Academie ) is creating Limburgish-Dutch, Limburgish-English, Dutch-Limburgish and English-Limburgish dictionaries. Limburgish is spoken by approximately 1.6 million people in the Low Countries and by many hundreds of thousands in Germany . It
5200-451: The Limburgish dialects are generally considered to be more endangered than in the Netherlands. Since Limburgish is still the mother tongue of many inhabitants in Dutch and Belgian Limburg, Limburgish grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation can have a significant impact on the way locals speak Dutch in public life. Within the modern communities of these provinces, intermediate idiolects are also very common, which combine standard Dutch with
5304-408: The Low German dialects of Denmark can be considered moribund at this time. Dialects of Low German are spoken in the northeastern area of the Netherlands ( Dutch Low Saxon ) by approximately 1.6 million speakers. These dialects are written with an unstandardized orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. The position of the language is, according to UNESCO, vulnerable. Between 1995 and 2011
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#17331142714455408-508: The Low Saxon dialects further declined, although decline has been greater in urban centres of the Low Saxon regions. When in 1975 dialect folk and rock bands such as Normaal and Boh Foi Toch [ nl ] became successful with their overt disapproval of what they experienced as "misplaced Dutch snobbery" and the Western Dutch contempt for (speakers of) Low Saxon dialects, they gained
5512-614: The Netherlands (ranging from reasonable to very well). It has been estimated that Low German has approximately two to five million speakers (depending on the definition of 'native speaker') in Germany, primarily in Northern Germany. Variants of Low German are spoken in most parts of Northern Germany , for instance in the states of Lower Saxony , North Rhine-Westphalia , Hamburg , Bremen , Schleswig-Holstein , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , Saxony-Anhalt , and Brandenburg . Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon-speaking too. Historically, Low German
5616-515: The Netherlands are mostly referred to as Low Saxon , those spoken in northwestern Germany ( Lower Saxony , Westphalia , Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg , Bremen , and Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe ) as either Low German or Low Saxon, and those spoken in northeastern Germany ( Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Brandenburg , and Saxony-Anhalt east of the Elbe) mostly as Low German, not being part of Low Saxon. This
5720-511: The Netherlands, failed in the Belgian parliament due to Flemish opposition. Because in Belgium political power is divided according to linguistic lines, recognizing Limburgish as an official language would have had considerable constitutional implications and undermine the small majority Flemish speakers hold over Walloon speakers in the Belgian State. Subdialects of Limburgish in Dutch and Belgian Limburg are: The Limburgish group belongs to
5824-523: The Netherlands, native speakers refer to their language as dialect , plat , Nedersaksisch , or the name of their village, town or district. Officially, Low German is called niederdeutsche Sprache or plattdeutsche Sprache (Nether or Low German language), Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch (Nether or Low German) in High German by the German authorities, nedderdüütsche Spraak (Nether or Low German language), Nedderdüütsch or Plattdüütsch (Nether or Low German) in Low German by
5928-617: The North and Northwest, it abuts the Danish and the Frisian languages . In Germany, Low German has replaced the Danish and Frisian languages in many regions. Saterland Frisian is the only remnant of East Frisian language and is surrounded by Low German, as are the few remaining North Frisian varieties, and the Low German dialects of those regions have influences from Frisian substrates. Most linguists classify
6032-469: The North in the Dutch province of Limburg . These dialects share many features with both the Kleverlandish and Brabantian dialects and are closer to Standard Dutch than the more southern language varieties (see e.g. Hoppenbrouwers 2001). The term Noord-Limburgs is used by Jo Daan for the entire province north of the Uerdingen line, whereas other linguists use it only for the part that has tonality,
6136-626: The Ripuarian dialects, but have not been influenced by the High German consonant shift except in isolated words (R. Hahn 2001). South Low Franconian ( Südniederfränkisch , Zuidnederfrankisch ) is the term used by dialectologists in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands to describe the dialect group that encompasses the Limburgish varieties of Belgian and Dutch Limburg, and also the closely related dialects in adjacent areas in Belgium (e.g. Eupen in Liège Province ) and Germany (stretching from
6240-596: The Saxons were required to perform at the behest of Charlemagne . The only literary texts preserved are Heliand and the Old Saxon Genesis . The Middle Low German language ( Mittelniederdeutsch ) is an ancestor of modern Low German. It was spoken from about 1100 to 1600. The neighbouring languages within the dialect continuum of the West Germanic languages were Middle Dutch in the West and Middle High German in
6344-625: The South, later substituted by Early New High German . Middle Low German was the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League , spoken all around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea . It had a significant influence on the Scandinavian languages and other languages around the Baltic Sea. Based on the language of Lübeck , a standardized written language was developing, though it was never codified. There
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#17331142714456448-401: The adjacent ones in the Dutch province of Limburg is, however, that the second-person pronoun gij is here used instead of doe , as in "purely" Brabantian dialects. Centraal-Limburgs ( Central Limburgish ) includes the area around Maastricht , Sittard , Roermond , the eastern half of Belgian Limburg, and the Belgian Voeren area, and stretches further Northeast. Belgian linguists use
6552-1026: The area of the dialect group. Thus each has one or more quarters outside, having vernacular languages belonging to adjacent groups, such as Kleverlandish or Ripuarian. A few sample dialects are: Dremmener Platt of Dremmen near Heinsberg , Breyellsch Platt of Breyell in Nettetal , Jlabbacher Platt of central Mönchengladbach , Jriefrother Platt of Grefrath , Viersener Platt of Viersen , Föschelner Platt of Fischeln in Krefeld, Krieewelsch of central Krefeld , Ödingsch of Uerdingen in Krefeld , Düsseldorver Platt of northern and central Düsseldorf , Rotinger Platt of Ratingen , Wülfrother Platt of Wülfrath , Metmannsch Platt of Mettmann , Solinger Platt of Solingen , Remscheder Platt of Remscheid , and many more. The group combines Low Franconian properties with some Ripuarian properties, such as tonal accents,
6656-420: The city of Cologne , resulting in certain High German features being absorbed by these varieties. It is the adoption of these phonological traits that resulted in Limburgish being classified as East Low Franconian. In the past, all Limburgish varieties were therefore sometimes seen as West Central German , part of High German. This difference is caused by a difference in definition: the latter stance defines
6760-404: The close of the 19th century. People from Limburg usually call their language plat , similar as Low German speakers do. This plat refers simply to the fact that the language is spoken in the low plains country, as opposed to the use of "High" in " High German ", which are derived from dialects spoken in the more mountainous southerly regions. The word "plat" is therefore associated both with
6864-442: The consonant clusters sp , st , sl , sm , sn and zw . The same sound is realized as [ s ] elsewhere (e.g. sjtraot / straot , "street"). This is not the case, however, in the dialects of for example Venlo, Weert, Maastricht, Echt, Montfort and Posterholt. The diphthongs /iə ø eɪ æɪ uɪ ɔɪ aɪ ou/ occur, as well as combinations of /uː ɔː ɑː/ + /j/ . /aɪ/ only occurs in French loanwords and interjections . /ou/
6968-454: The dialect of Maasbracht no diphthongization takes place, so keze means the same here. This difference has been examined in particular by Ben Hermans and Marc van Oostendorp. Other examples include plural Low German [REDACTED] Germany [REDACTED] Bolivia (70,000) [REDACTED] Paraguay (30,000) Low German is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and
7072-406: The dialect. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Belize, and Chihuahua , Mexico, have made Low German a "co-official language" of the community. East Pomeranian is also spoken in parts of southern and southeastern Brazil, in the latter especially in the state of Espírito Santo , being official in five municipalities, and spoken among its ethnically European migrants elsewhere, primarily in
7176-541: The dialects of Low German together with English and Frisian as the North Sea Germanic or Ingvaeonic languages. However, most exclude Low German from the group often called Anglo-Frisian languages because some distinctive features of that group of languages are only partially preserved in Low German, for instance the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law (some dialects have us , os for "us" whereas others have uns , ons ), and because other distinctive features almost do not occur in Low German at all, for instance
7280-408: The eyes of the Dutch government. Limburgish developed from Old East Low Franconian , which had evolved itself from earlier Weser–Rhine Germanic , a language which had been spoken in the Low Countries on both sides of the Roman limes since at least the 4th century . During the High Middle Ages , the dialects which would result in Limburgish were influenced by the High German dialects spoken around
7384-401: The fact that Low German has no official standard form or use in sophisticated media. The situation of Low German may thus be considered a "pseudo-dialectized abstand language " (" scheindialektisierte Abstandsprache "). In contrast, Old Saxon and Middle Low German are generally considered separate languages in their own right. Since Low German has strongly declined since the 18th century,
7488-600: The flat plains and coastal area of the northern European lowlands , contrasted with the mountainous areas of central and southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, where High German (Highland German) is spoken. The colloquial term Platt denotes both Low German dialects and any non- standard Western variety of German ; this use is chiefly found in northern and Western Germany and is not considered to be linguistically correct. The ISO 639-2 language code for Low German has been nds ( niedersächsisch or nedersaksisch, neddersassisch ) since May 2000. Low German
7592-485: The functional limits of the language that may still be cited as objective criteria for a mere dialect (such as the virtually complete absence from legal and administrative contexts, schools, the media, etc.). At the request of Schleswig-Holstein , the German government has declared Low German as a regional language . German offices in Schleswig-Holstein are obliged to accept and handle applications in Low German on
7696-764: The home, but not in formal schooling. In their opinion, it simply did not match the nationally unifying power of High German. As a result, while Low German literature was deemed worthy of being taught in school, High German was chosen as the language of scholarly instruction. With High German the language of education and Low German the language of the home and daily life, a stable diglossia developed in Northern Germany. Various Low German dialects are understood by 10 million people, but many fewer are native speakers . Total users of Low German (nds) are approximately 2.5 million, with 300,000 native speakers in Brazil and 1,000 in Germany as of 2016. The KDE project supports Low German (nds) as
7800-588: The influence of the Dutch standard language, especially since the founding of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. At the same time, the southeastern portion became part of the Kingdom of Prussia , and was subject to High German language domination. At the dialectal level however, mutual understanding is still possible far beyond both sides of the national borders. The Meuse-Rhenish dialects can be divided into Northern and Southern varieties. Hence, Limburgish
7904-439: The intellectual ability of their speakers. When historical linguists illustrated the archaic character of certain features and constructions of Low German, this was seen as a sign of its "backwardness". It was not until the efforts of proponents such as Klaus Groth that this impression changed. Groth's publications demonstrated that Low German was a valuable language in its own right, and he was able to convince others that Low German
8008-619: The language has vanished (the Berlin dialect itself is a northern outpost of High German , though it has some Low German features). Today, there are still speakers outside Germany to be found in the coastal areas of present-day Poland (minority of ethnic German East Pomeranian speakers who were not expelled from Pomerania , as well as the regions around Braniewo ). In the Southern Jutland region of Denmark there may still be some Low German speakers in some German minority communities, but
8112-452: The language north of this region then being considered Kleverlandish . The north border of the Limburgish tonality zone lies a little north of Arcen and Horst aan de Maas and just above the meej/mich isogloss, also known as the "mich-kwartier". This makes this Limburgish isogloss the northernmost of all. Venlo lies between the meej/mich isogloss and the Uerdingen line, so the Venlo dialect
8216-451: The local dialect is not the Limburgian dialect , but Brabantic . Limburgish language Germany Limburgish ( Limburgish : Limburgs [ˈlɪm˦bʏʀ(ə)xs] or Lèmburgs [ˈlɛm˦-] ; Dutch : Limburgs [ˈlɪmbʏr(ə)xs] ; also Limburgian , Limburgic or Limburgan ) refers to a group of South Low Franconian varieties spoken in Belgium and
8320-455: The more modern name of the Province of Limburg (1815–39) in the Kingdom of the Netherlands , which has been split today into a Belgian Limburg and a Dutch Limburg . In the area around the old Duchy of Limburg the main language today is French, but there is also a particular cluster of Limburgish (or Limburgish-like, depending on definitions) dialects. The use of Limburgish is first attested at
8424-488: The nationalism of their ancestors, being more likely to accept marriages of its members with Brazilians of origins other than a Germanic Central European one than to assimilate with Brazilians of Swiss , Austrian , Czech , and non-East Pomeranian-speaking German and Prussian heritage – that were much more numerous immigrants to both Brazilian regions (and whose language almost faded out in the latter, due to assimilation and internal migration) , by themselves less numerous than
8528-601: The northeastern Netherlands . The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. Low German is most closely related to Frisian and English , with which it forms the North Sea Germanic group of the West Germanic languages. Like Dutch , it has historically been spoken north of the Benrath and Uerdingen isoglosses , while forms of High German (of which Standard German
8632-609: The numbers of parent speakers dropped from 34% in 1995 to 15% in 2011. Numbers of child speakers dropped from 8% to 2% in the same period. According to a 2005 study 53% speak Low Saxon or Low Saxon and Dutch at home and 71% could speak it in the researched area. The total number of speakers is estimated at 1.7 million speakers. There are speakers in the Dutch north and eastern provinces of Groningen , Drenthe , Stellingwerf (part of Friesland ), Overijssel , Gelderland , Utrecht and Flevoland , in several dialect groups per province. There are also immigrant communities where Low German
8736-431: The official terminology defined in the charter, this status would not be available to a dialect of an official language (as per article 1a), and hence not to Low German in Germany if it were considered a dialect of German. Advocates of the promotion of Low German have expressed considerable hope that this political development will at once lend legitimacy to their claim that Low German is a separate language, and help mitigate
8840-402: The other. With specific regards to Limburgish, these two accents are traditionally known as sjtoettoen ("push tone") and sjleiptoen ("dragging tone"). For example, [daːx˦˨˧] daãg with a dragging tone means "day" in Limburgish, while in many Limburgish dialects [daːx˦˨] daàg with a push tone is the plural form, "days" (in addition, [daːx] can also be articulated in a neutral tone as
8944-508: The perceived similarities with High German or Dutch may often be direct adaptations from the dominating standard language, resulting in a growing inability by speakers to speak correctly what was once Low German proper. Others have argued for the independence of today's Low German dialects, taken as continuous outflow of the Old Saxon and Middle Low German tradition. Glottolog classifies six varieties of Low German as distinct languages based on
9048-439: The phonetic realisation and the syllable-based distribution of the contrasts between push and dragging tone seem to be mora -bound in the eastern dialects only. This has been examined especially by Jörg Peters. Moreover, in some dialects such as that of Sittard and Maastricht, especially the mid and high vowels tend to diphthongize when they have a push tone. So in the dialect of Sittard keize means "to choose" while in
9152-449: The population speak a local or regional form of Limburgish. Depending on the city in these parts of Belgium, according to A, Schuck (2001) 50% to 90% of the population speak a local or regional form of Limburgish, which seems to be a clear overestimation. Moreover, research into some specific variants seems to indicate a gradual process of development towards the national standardised Dutch, especially amongst younger generations. In Belgium,
9256-488: The presence of Ingvaeonic features ) is different from the modern modern dialectal dichotomy between Western and Eastern Low Franconian, which is based on the presence or absence of High German features in Low Franconian, which did not occur until the advent of the Middle Dutch period. The period of High German influence lasted until the 13th century, after which the Duchy of Brabant extended its power, which resulted in
9360-490: The pronoun "I" translates as ech or iech , the word "but" most often as awwer , all like Ripuarian. Contrasting, "time" is translated as tied , "to have" mostly as hebbe , "today" as vandag , all typical for Low Franconian. Noord-Limburgs (also called ik-Limburgs ) is the Dutch term for a group of dialects spoken north of the Uerdingen line , i.e. from just south of Venlo upward to
9464-443: The recognition. From the Limburgish side it has been argued that the arguments put forth against the recognition of Limburgish were not based on linguistic considerations, but rather a concern for maintaining the dominance of the Dutch language. On the other hand, Limburgish is not recognised by the German and Belgian national governments as an official language. An attempt at recognition, made after Limburgish had been recognised in
9568-601: The relationship between Low German consonants which were unaffected by this chain shift and their equivalents in other West Germanic languages. Contemporary Swedish and Icelandic shown for comparison; Eastern and Western North Germanic languages, respectively. The table below shows the relationship between Low German consonants which were unaffected by this chain shift and their equivalents in other West Germanic languages. Contemporary Swedish and Icelandic shown for comparison; Eastern and Western North Germanic languages, respectively. Notes : Like English and Frisian, Low German
9672-475: The rounded front vowels /y, yː, ø, øː, œ, œː, œy/ are unrounded to /i, iː, ɪ, eː, ɛ ~ æ, ɛː, ɛi/ in most native words. They are retained in French loanwords such as dzjuus /dʒys/ . The pitch accent means having two different accents used in stressed syllables. The difference between these two accents is used for differentiating both various grammatical forms of a single lexeme and minimal tone pairs one from
9776-486: The same footing as Standard High German applications. The Bundesgerichtshof ruled in a case that this was even to be done at the patent office in Munich , in a non–Low German region , when the applicant then had to pay the charge for a translator, because applications in Low German are considered not to be written in the German language. Old Saxon ( Altsächsisch ), also known as Old Low German ( Altniederdeutsch ),
9880-507: The sounds that occur within the Limburgish dialects in writing. Although this spelling also does not have official status, it is used within this dialect association as well as for the spelling of bilingual place name signs. The sound inventory below is based on the variety of West-Limburgs spoken in Montfort. Overall, Limburgish dialects tend to have more consonants than Dutch. They also tend to have more vowels. According to Peter Ladefoged ,
9984-801: The southeast of Limburgish. Other Indo-European pitch accent languages that use tone contours to distinguish the meaning of words that are otherwise phonetically identical include Lithuanian , Latvian , Swedish , Norwegian , Standard Slovene (only some speakers), and Serbo-Croatian . This feature is comparable to tone systems as found e.g. in Chinese or many languages of Africa and Central America, although such "classical" tone languages make much more use of tone distinctions when compared to Limburgish. Historically, pitch accent in Limburgish and Central Franconian developed independently from accent systems in other Indo-European languages. While contrastive accent can be reconstructed for Proto Indo-European , it
10088-529: The standard language (or Dachsprache ) for the Limburgish varieties spoken in the Netherlands and Belgium. The speakers of Limburgish or South Low Franconian dialects in Germany use Standard German as their Dachsprache. Limburgish is far from being homogeneous. In other words, it has numerous varieties instead of one single standard form . Between 1995 and 1999, a uniform standard form called AGL ( Algemein Gesjreve Limburgs , "Generally written Limburgish")
10192-562: The states of Rio de Janeiro and Rondônia . East Pomeranian-speaking regions of Southern Brazil are often assimilated into the general German Brazilian population and culture, for example celebrating the Oktoberfest , and there can even be a language shift from it to Riograndenser Hunsrückisch in some areas. In Espírito Santo , nevertheless, Pomeranian Brazilians are more often proud of their language, and particular religious traditions and culture, and not uncommonly inheriting
10296-407: The term is uncommon with German linguists instead tending to use Southern Low Franconian (German: Südniederfränkisch ) to refer to the same dialect grouping. The classification of Limburgish is contended by different national traditions. Within the context of historical linguistics, Limburgish is regarded as one of the five main dialects of Middle Dutch , although this is not considered to be
10400-413: The vowel inventory of the dialect of Weert is perhaps the richest in the world. It has 28 vowels, among which there are 12 long monophthongs (three of which surface as centering diphthongs), 10 short monophthongs and 6 diphthongs. In most of the Limburgish dialects spoken to the southeast of Panningen —for example those of Roermond, Sittard and Heerlen— [ ʃ ] appears at the beginning of words in
10504-556: Was also spoken in formerly German parts of Poland (e.g., Pomerania and Silesia ), as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic provinces (modern Estonia and Latvia . The Baltic Germans spoke a distinct Low German dialect, which has influenced the vocabulary and phonetics of both Estonian and Latvian. The historical sprachraum of Low German also included contemporary northern Poland, East Prussia (the modern Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia),
10608-571: Was completely lost in Proto-Germanic . Its reemergence in Limburgish (and Central Franconian ) was phonetically triggered by vowel height , vowel length , and voicing of a following consonant, and became phonemic with sound changes that must have occurred after 1100 CE such as lengthening of short vowels in open syllables, loss of schwa in final syllables, devoicing of consonants in final position, and merger of vowels that had been distinct before. It has been proven by speech analysis that in
10712-505: Was developed and proposed, but found too little support. Today the so-called "Veldeke-spelling" which was first applied in the 1940s is most of the time used to write in a specific Limburgish dialect. In 2000 the parliament of the province of Dutch Limburg enacted a measure establishing the Limburgish Language Council (Raod veur 't Limburgs), a committee which advises the Parliament of Dutch Limburg on measures in relation to Limburgish. In 2003
10816-400: Was suitable for literary arts and was a national treasure worth keeping. Through the works of advocates like Groth, both proponents and opponents of Low German in formal education saw the language's innate value as the cultural and historical language of northern Germany. Nevertheless, opponents claimed that it should simply remain a spoken and informal language to be used on the street and in
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