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This article is a part of the
Dutch dialects series.

Low Franconian

Low Franconian/Ripuarian

Low Saxon
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Traditionally recognised Low Franconian language area with West Meuse-Rhenish: ([5] and [6])

Low Rhenish (German: Nieder-Rheinisch) is the collective name for the regional Low Franconian language varieties spoken along the Lower Rhine in the west of Germany and the adjacent regions in the Netherlands. Low Franconian is a language or dialect group that has developed in the lower parts of the Frankish Empire, northwest of the Benrath line. From this group both the Dutch and later the Afrikaans standard languages have arisen. The differences between Low Rhenish and Low Saxon are smaller than between Low Rhenish and High German. Yet, Low Rhenish does not belong to Low German, but to Low Franconian. Therefore it could properly be called German Dutch.

Today, Low Franconian dialects are spoken mainly in regions to the west of the rivers Rhine and IJssel in the Netherlands, in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, but also in Germany in the Lower Rhine area. Only the latter have traditionally been called Low Rhenish, but they can be regarded as the German extension or counterpart of the Limburgish regiolects in the Netherlands and Belgium (marked as 6 on the map at right), and of Zuid-Gelders (South Guelderish) in the Netherlands (marked as 5).

Contents

The traditional view

According to the traditional view, Limburgish as spoken in the Netherlands would be something of its own. That is suggested by the fact that Limburgish is recognised as a regional language in the Netherlands and as such it receives moderate protection under chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The area in which Limburgish is spoken roughly fits within a wide circle from Venlo (NL) to Düsseldorf (D) to Aachen (D) to Maastricht (NL) to Hasselt (B) and back to Venlo. In Germany, it is common to consider the Limburgish varieties as belonging to the Low Franconian languages; in the Netherlands and Belgium however all these are traditionally seen as West Central German, part of High German. This difference is caused by a difference in definition: the linguists of the Low Countries define a High German variety as one that has taken part in any of the first three phases of the High German consonant shift. In German sources, the dialects linguistically counting as Limburgish spoken east from the river Rhine are often called "Bergish" (after the former Duchy of Berg). West of the river Rhine they are called "Low Rhenish", "Limburgish" or "Ripuarian". Limburgish is not recognised by the German government as an official language. Low Rhenish is considered as a group of dialects in Germany. Together all these varieties belong to a greater continuum. This superordinating group is called Meuse-Rhenish, as suggested by the Amsterdam linguist Ad Welschen. These insights are rather new among dialectologists at both sides of the national Dutch-German border.

The extension of Low Rhenish

The German Lower Rhine region
(East Meuse-Rhenish dialect area)
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with the East Meuse-Rhenish dialectal area covering the entire Düsseldorf Region. Still to be added in the southwest: the Heinsberg District.

In Germany, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, important cities at the Lower Rhine and in the Rhine-Ruhr area, including the entire region of Düsseldorf, are part of it, among them

and

This language area stretches towards the southwest along districts and cities such as

and the

It extends across the German-Dutch border into the Dutch province of Limburg, passing cities east of the Meuse river (called Maas in both Dutch and German) such as

and

and then again crosses the Meuse between the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg, encompassing the cities of

Low Rhenish differs considerably from High German. The more to the north it approaches the Netherlands, the more it sounds like Dutch. As it crosses the Dutch-German as well as the Dutch-Belgian borders, it becomes a part of the language landscape in three neighbouring countries. In two of them Dutch is the standard language. Thus a mainly political-geographic division can be made into western (Dutch and Belgian) and eastern (German) Low Rhenish. This whole region between the Meuse and the Rhine was linguistically and culturally more coherent during the period of the so-called Early Modern History (1543-1789), though politically more fragmented.

Meuse-Rhenish

The close relation between Limburgish and Bergish is parallelled with that between Zuid-Gelders and Kleverlandish-East Bergish, which are even more clearly belonging to Low Franconian. Both Limburgish and Low Rhenish belong to the greater Meuse-Rhine area, a triangle-shaped region containing a larger group of southeastern Low Franconian dialects, including areas in Belgium, the Netherlands and the German Northern Rhineland. By including Zuid-Gelders-Kleverlandish-East Bergish in this continuum, we are enlarging the territory and turn the wide circle of Limburgish into a triangle with its top along the line Arnhem - Kleve - Wesel - Duisburg - Wuppertal (along the Rhine-IJssel Line). The Diest- Nijmegen Line is its western border, the Benrath line (from Eupen to Wuppertal) is a major part of the southeastern one.

Within the Dutch speaking area, the Western continuance of Low Rhenish is divided into Limburgish (spoken in the Belgian and Dutch provinces of Limburg, marked as [6] on the map above, and Zuid-Gelders, marked as [5]. Together they belong to the greater Meuse-Rhine area, a large group of southeastern Low Franconian dialects, including areas in Belgium, the Netherlands and the German Northern Rhineland. The northwestern part of this triangle came under the influence of the Dutch standard language, especially since the founding of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. The southeastern part became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia at the same time, and from then it 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.

Classification

Source

  • Ad Welschen 2000-2005: Course Dutch Society and Culture, International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam (permission granted)

References

  • Georg Cornelissen: Kleine niederrheinische Sprachgeschichte (1300-1900). Eine regionale Sprachgeschichte für das deutsch-niederländische Grenzgebiet zwischen Arnheim und Krefeld : met een Nederlandstalige inleiding. Stichting Historie Peel-Maas-Niersgebied, Geldern / Venray 2003, ISBN 90-807292-2-1
  • Irmgard Hansche 2004: Atlas zur Geschichte des Niederrheins (= Schriftenreihe der Niederrhein-Akademie 4). Bottrop/Essen: Peter Pomp (5th ed.). ISBN 3893552006
  • Uwe Ludwig, Thomas Schilp (eds.) 2004: Mittelalter an Rhein und Maas. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Niederrheins. Dieter Geuenich zum 60. Geburtstag (= Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur Nordwesteuropas 8). Münster/New York/München/Berlin: Waxmann. ISBN 383091380X
  • Mihm, Arend 2000: Rheinmaasländische Sprachgeschichte von 1500 bis 1650, in: Jürgen Macha, Elmar Neuss, Robert Peters (eds.): Rheinisch-Westfälische Sprachgeschichte. Köln etc. (= Niederdeutsche Studien 46), 139-164.
  • Helmut Tervooren 2005: Van der Masen tot op den Rijn. Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der volkssprachlichen mittelalterlichen Literatur im Raum von Rhein und Maas. Geldern: Erich Schmidt. ISBN 3503079580

See also
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