Central Franconian

Calque of German Mittelfränkisch.

Central Franconian

1. one of two main subgroups of the West Central German dialects; spoken in the north-western half of Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western North Rhine-Westphalia, easternmost Belgium, and southeasternmost Limburg (Netherlands); distinguished from Rhine Franconian by the use of dat (“that”) and wat (“what”), and the consistent pronunciation of Germanic -β- as a fricative (i.e. [v], or [f] when now in coda position).

• Note that Central Franconian is not spoken in the Bavarian region of Central or Middle Franconia (Mittelfranken), where, as in virtually all of Franconia, an Upper Franconian dialect is used. The linguistic term refers to the historic Franks, not the modern region.
• Luxembourgish is traditionally included in this group, but is now usually regarded as a separate branch, which is also the case in this dictionary.

• West Germanic
  • High German
    • Central German
      • West Central German

• Moselle Franconian
• Ripuarian

• Rhine Franconian

• Wiktionary's coverage of Central Franconian terms