Moselle Franconian dialects

Moselle Franconian
Native to Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Romania
Region North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Lorraine, Liège
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
Glottolog mose1248[1]
Area where Moselle Franconian and Luxembourgish are spoken with the isogloss between usage of "op" and "of" (Standard German: auf) shown

Moselle Franconian (German Moselfränkisch) is a group of West Central German dialects, part of the Central Franconian language area.

Central German language area, Moselle Franconian shown in yellow

They are spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the course of the Moselle, in the Siegerland in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, throughout western Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, in the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium and in the neighbouring French département of Moselle (in Arrondissement of Boulay-Moselle). The Transylvanian Saxon dialect is spoken in the Transylvania region of Romania, as a result of the emigration of numerous "Transylvanian Saxons" between 1100 and 1300, primarily from areas in which the Moselle Franconian dialect was spoken at that time.

Varieties

The transition between dialects and separate language is fluid.[2]

Distribution of the Franconian dialects of the dialect continuum in the Lower (yellow), Central (green) and Upper German (blue) language regions

The Linguasphere Register[3] lists five dialects of Moselle Franconian (code 52-ACB-dc) with codes -dca to -dce:

  • Trierisch (Rhineland-Palatinate, Luxembourg, northwestern Saarland)
  • Eifelisch (Rhineland-Palatinate, East Belgium, Luxembourg, southern North Rhine-Westphalia)
  • Untermosellanisch (Rhineland-Palatinate)
  • West-Westerwäldisch (Rhineland-Palatinate)
  • Siegerländisch (North Rhine-Westphalia)

Also considered part of the Moselle Franconian language are the variants of Lorraine Franconian, Luxembourgish[4] and Transylvanian Saxon dialect.

Some Moselle Franconian dialects have developed into standardized varieties, which can be considered separate languages, especially due to the limited intelligibility of some dialects for pure Standard German speakers:

See also

Further reading

  • Werner König: dtv-Atlas Deutsche Sprache. dtv-Verlag, München (Munich) 2005; ISBN 3-423-03025-9 (German).

References

  1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Moselle Franconian". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. ↑ Ammon, Ulrich - Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt (de Gruyter Mouton; ISBN 978-3-11-019298-8)
  3. ↑ Linguasphere Register, 1999/2000 edition, p. 430
  4. ↑ http://www.luxembourg.public.lu/catalogue/fr-generalites/ap_histoire/ap_histoire_2008_DE.pdf%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D „Im Alltag sprechen die Luxemburger ihren Dialekt, eine moselfränkische Mundart, die sie selbst noch bis Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts als "Lëtzebuerger Däitsch" ("Luxemburger Deutsch") bezeichneten.“
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