Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages
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Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages (Nederduitse talen, Nedderdüütsche Spraken) are any of a variety of West Germanic languages spoken in northern Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Surinam. It also includes Afrikaans, which is spoken in South Africa, and Plautdietsch, which is spoken by Mennonite communities in North and South America. Middle Low German was the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League.
Since this group of varieties is not based on common linguistic innovations, there are linguistic reference books that do not mention it, but only its constituents Low Franconian and Low Saxon.Glück, H. (ed.): Metzler Lexikon Sprache, pages 472, 473. Stuttgart, Weimar: Metzler, 2000 (entries Niederdeutsch and Niederfränkisch)
The term Low German was more widely used in the past, but this is no longer considered politically correct as people in the Netherlands generally do not like to be associated as being German. As Low Saxon-Low Franconian, the name avoids sovereign national associations with either the Netherlands or Germany.
The concept Low German was first pioneered by German linguists, who found that German dialects in the North of Germany were quite different from dialects in the South of the country (see High German consonant shift), as they continued their research, they found that dialects of Dutch, and the Dutch language had a large number of things in common with the dialects in Northern Germany, and subsequently placed them in the Low German group.Later 2 subgroups of Low German (which was now the supposed ancestor of the 2 subgroups) were created: Low Saxon, mainly Low German dialects in Germany, and Low Franconian, mainly Low German dialects in the Netherlands and Flanders. To this day no evidence is found on Low Saxon and Low Franconian ever having a common ancestor, and in linguistics the term Low German is mainly used to indentify West Germanic language who have not experienced the High German consonant shift, or the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law.
Characteristics
The Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages are not characterized by a common linguistic innovation, but they are the West Germanic languages that have neither been affected by the High German consonant shift nor by the Anglo-Frisian palatalizations.In the High German consonant shift, /k/, /p/, /t/ became /(k)x/, /pf/, /ts/ in initial positions and /x(x)/, /ff/, /ss/ in medial and final positions, though most High German varieties have not completed all of these shifts. In Low Saxon and in Low Franconian, the old /k/, /p/, /t/ remain unshifted, as in Dutch beter vs. German besser (English better).
| Dutch Low Saxon: | Ku'j my verteln wat disse zinne beteakent? Ik verstoa naemelik gin Leegduutse taeln. |
| German Low Saxon, North Saxon dialect: | Kannst (du) mi (maal) vertellen (~ seggen), wat düsse Satz bedüüdt? Ik verstah näämlich keen nedderdüütschen Spraken (~ Talen). |
| East Low Saxon, Molotchna Mennonite dialect (Plautdietsch): | Kjenne jie mie (mol) saje, waut dise Sautz bediet? Ekj vestone nämlich kjeen Nadadietsche Sproake. |
| Dutch: | Kunt U mij vertellen wat deze zin betekent? Ik versta namelijk geen Nederduitse talen. | Afrikaans: | Kan jy my vertel wat dit sin beteken? Ek verstaan naamlyk geen Nederduitse tale nie |
| Standard German (High German): | Können Sie mir sagen, was dieser Satz bedeutet? Ich verstehe nämlich keine niederdeutschen Sprachen. |
| Eastern Yiddish (High German): | Kenstdu mir sogen woss der saz bedeit? Ich verschtei leider nischt [nit] kein niderige Deitsche schprachen. |
| (.קענסטו מיר זאגן וואס דער זאטץ באדייט? איך פארשטיי ליידער נישט [ניט] קיין נידעריג-דייטשע שפראכעןֿ) | |
| Scots (not Scottish English! Anglo-Frisian): | Can ye tell us whit the meanin o this sentence is? Ah canna unnerstaund Leich Germanic leids, mynd. |
| English (Anglo-Frisian): | Could you tell me what this sentence means? I don't understand Low German languages you see. |
Family tree
Note that divisions between subfamilies of Germanic are rarely precisely defined; most form continuous clines, with adjacent varieties being mutually intelligible by listeners and more separated ones not.
In particular, there is not thought to have been any single Proto-language of Low Saxon and Low Franconian. The earliest recorded form is known as Old Low Franconian (Old Dutch), a member of Low Franconian.
- Low Franconian
- * Hollandic (in the Netherlands)
- * West Flemish (in West Flanders and nearby areas of Belgium, Zeeland in the Netherlands, and France)
- * East Flemish
- * Brabantic in Belgium and the Netherlands
- * Limburgish (in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium) including Limburgs
- * Zuid-Gelders (in Germany and the Netherlands)
- * Afrikaans (in South Africa and Namibia)
- * Surinaams in Surinam (in South-America)
- Low Saxon
- * West Low Saxon
- ** Westphalian (in Westphalia, in Germany)
- ** Northern Low Saxon (in East Frisia / Eastern Friesland and other parts of Germany)
- ** Eastphalian language
- ** Dutch Low Saxon
- *** Gelders-Overijssels en Urks
- **** Achterhoeks (in Gelderland, in the Netherlands)
- **** Sallands (in central Overijssel, in the Netherlands)
- *** Midden-Drents (in Drenthe, in the Netherlands)
- *** Zuid-Drents (in Drenthe, in the Netherlands)
- *** Gronings (in Groningen, in the Netherlands)
- **** Westerwolds (in eastern Groningen, the Netherlands)
- *** Stellingwerfs (in Stellingwerven, in Friesland, in the Netherlands)
- **** Veenkoloniaals (in eastern Groningen, the Netherlands)
- *** Twents (in eastern Overijssel, in the Netherlands)
- *** Veluws (in Gelderland, in the Netherlands)
- **** North Veluws
- **** Oost-Veluws
- *** Kollumerlands
- * East Low Saxon
- ** Mecklenburgisch-Pommersch (in Mecklenburg)
- ** East Pomeranian (in Brazil)
- ** Brandenburgisch (in Brandenburg)
- ** Low Prussian
- ** Plautdietsch
Notes
External links
- [Building blocks of Low Saxon] — English
- [Building Blocks of Low Saxon] — with German/English choice
- [Welcome to "Plat(t) Online"]
- [Low Saxon/Low German Language and Culture Far and Wide]
- [A few words about Low Saxon]
- [Low Saxon in the Netherlands]
- [Plattmaster's home page] — in Plattdeutsch
- [De Plattfööt]
- [Ethnologue report for Low Saxon-Low Franconian]
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