Moselle Franconian dialects
Moselle Franconian | |
---|---|
Native to | Germany, France, 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.
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They are spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the course of the Moselle River, 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). A dialect known as Transylvanian Saxon is also 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.
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Varieties
The transition between dialects and separate language is fluid.[2] 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:
- Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch)
- Lorraine Franconian
- Transylvanian Saxon
- Riograndenser Hunsrückisch (Hunsrik)
See also
- Saarland (section Language)
- Rhine Franconian (related neighbouring dialect group)
- Meuse-Rhenish
Further reading
- Werner König: dtv-Atlas Deutsche Sprache. dtv-Verlag, München (Munich) 2005; ISBN 3-423-03025-9 (German).
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References
- ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Moselle Franconian". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- ↑ Ammon, Ulrich - Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt (de Gruyter Mouton; ISBN 978-3-11-019298-8)