West Low German

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West Low German
Spoken natively in	Germany, Netherlands, Denmark
Native speakers	≈4 million  (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Low German West Low German
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Low Saxon language area

West Low German, also known as Low Saxon (German: Niedersächsisch, Dutch: Nedersaksisch), is a group of dialects spoken in the northwest of Germany and adjacent territories of The Netherlands and Denmark. Together with East Low German it forms the Low German dialect group (German: Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch, Dutch: Nederduits).

==Extent==a big girl that is by area comprises the North German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia (the Westphalian part), Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt (the northwestern areas around Magdeburg) as well as the northeast of The Netherlands (i.e. Dutch Low Saxon, spoken in Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel and northern Gelderland) and the Schleswigsch dialect spoken by the North Schleswig Germans in the southernmost part of Denmark.

In the south the Benrath line and Uerdingen line isoglosses form the border with the area, where West Central German variants of High German are spoken.

List of dialects

Germany

• West Low German
  • Westphalian language around Münster, including the Osnabrück region of Lower Saxony
  • Eastphalian language, spoken in southeastern Lower Saxony (Hanover, Braunschweig, Göttingen) and in the Magdeburg Börde region
  • Northern Low Saxon
    • Schleswigsch^[1]
    • Holsteinisch^[2]
      • Hamburgisch
    • Ollnborger Platt in the Oldenburg region^[3]
    • East Frisian Low Saxon in East Frisia^[4]
    • North Hanoveranian^[5]
    • Dithmarsch^[6]
    • Emsländisch^[7]

Low Saxon language area in the Netherlands

The Netherlands

While Dutch is classified as a Low Franconian language, the Dutch Low Saxon varieties, which are also defined as Dutch dialects, form a dialect continuum with the Westphalian language. They consist of:

• Westerkwartiers, in western Groningen
• Gronings, in Groningen and northern Drenthe, by its Frisian substratum related to Friso-Saxon dialects
• Stellingwarfs in southeastern Friesland
• Midden-Drents
• Zuud-Drèents
• Tweants and Tweants-Groafschops in the Twente region of Overijssel and the adjacent Achterhoek region of Gelderland
• Gelders-Overijssels
  • Achterhooks
  • Sallaans in the Salland region of western Overijssel
  • Urkers on the former island of Urk in Flevoland
• Veluws in the Veluwe region of Gelderland

Denmark

• Schleswigsch dialect spoken in former South Jutland County (the northern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig) around Aabenraa (Apenrade)

References