Franconian languages

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Franconian is a linguistic marker for a number of West Germanic languages and dialects spoken in part of the former core of the Frankish Empire: the Low Countries (The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg), far north and far northeastern France (the arrondissement of Dunkirk and parts of Moselle and Bas-Rhin), and western Germany (around Aachen, Cologne and Trier) ^[1]. Within this groups there are a number of well known languages and dialects, such as Dutch and Afrikaans but also the Pennsylvania German language spoken in North America.

Contents 1 Misconceptions 2 Three groups 2.1 Low Frankish 2.2 West Central German dialects 2.3 Transitional High German dialects 3 References 4 Bibliography 5 See also

[edit] Misconceptions

Though all named after the Franks, only Low Frankish (i.e. Dutch) dialects and languages (through Old Dutch) are commonly accepted to be a descendant of Old Frankish^[2], that is, the proposed common ancestor and language of the Franks.

This because the Franks, even though the power and influence of their leaders would eventually stretch across Western Europe, as a tribe/people, settled only the Low Countries. The West Central and Upper German dialects, though indeed located in an area under Frankish control, Aachen even being what comes close to a Frankish capital do not derive from Old Frankish.

The name of the group is explained by the general tenure of 19th Century German linguistics, in which linguists sought to name various Germanic dialects within a certain geographical range after various Germanic tribes or tribal lands formerly (or allegedly) located on it; even though there was no evidence for any linguistic relation or continuation at the time, or, as is the case with the Franconian languages, at present.

[edit] Three groups

[edit] Low Frankish

Low Frankish, also called Low Franconian, consists of Dutch, Afrikaans and their dialects. They are spoken in the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Namibia, the western tip of Germany, Suriname, the Caribbean as well as in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

With a total of over 40 ^[3]million speakers this is the most numerous of the 3 groups, as well as most spread globally and the only group that has members which are official, national and standard languages.

Sometimes, Low Franconian is grouped together with Low German. However, since this grouping is not based on common linguistic innovations, but rather on the absence of the High German consonant shift and Anglo-Frisian features, there are linguistic reference books that do not group them together.^[4] A transitional zone between Low Frankish and Central Franconian is formed by the Meuse-Rhenish Franconian varieties, which are to be found in Belgium, the Netherlands, and in German Lower Rhineland. ^[5]

• Dutch
  • Brabantian
  • Zuid-Gelders (part of Meuse-Rhenish Franconian, variants also spoken in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
    • Pella Dutch
  • West Flemish
  • East Flemish
  • Zealandic
  • Hollandic
  • Limburgish (part of Meuse-Rhenish Franconian, variants also spoken in Germany)
  • Low Dietsch (in the northeast of the Belgian province of Liege)

• Afrikaans

[edit] West Central German dialects

The West Central German dialects (also known as "Middle Franconian dialects") are spoken in the German states of South-Western North Rhine-Westphalia, most of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, northern Baden-Württemberg, southern Hesse, northern Bavaria, in the bordering French département Moselle, in Luxembourg, by the Transylvanian Saxons in Romania, and by the Pennsylvania Germans in North America. It is estimated that these dialects have about 17,000,000 native speakers ^[6]

• Central Franconian
  • Ripuarian Franconian
    • Kölsch (region of Cologne)
  • Limburgish (part of Meuse-Rhenish Franconian, variants also spoken in the Belgian and Dutch provinces of Limburg and in the Belgian province of Liege)
  • Moselle Franconian
  • Lorraine Franconian
  • Luxembourgish
  • Transylvanian Saxon in Romania

• Rhine Franconian
  • Palatinate German dialects
  • Hessian dialects
  • Baden dialects (northern Baden-Württemberg)
  • East Franconian German (northern Bavaria)
  • Pennsylvania German (more commonly known as Pennsylvania Dutch) in North America)

Moselle Franconian, Luxembourgish, Transylvanian Saxon, Ripuarian Franconian are also known as "Central Franconian dialects" - Palatinate German, Pennsylvania German, Central Hessian, East Hessian, Lower Hessian and the Rhinehessian dialect (in Rhenish Hesse around Mainz, Bingen, Bad Kreuznach and in Hessen in the Rheingau area and in Wiesbaden) are also known as "Rhine Franconian dialects".

[edit] Transitional High German dialects

High German dialects are spoken in the transition area between Central and Upper German dialects. An estimated 700,000 people speak these dialects, most of them are located in Eastern France (in northern Alsace, in the region of Strasbourg) and South-West Germany. ^[7]

• East Franconian German
  • Main-Franconian
• South Franconian German

[edit] References

1. ^ The tribal settlement of the Franks between 260 and 537 saw them expand slowly from the border of the Rhine to the south and west. By 480 they occupied lands almost totally unrelated to their original holdings, although by 537 there was again some overlap with the original boundaries of their lands. The driving forces for their migrations have not been recorded, however if we apply the principle of uniformitarianism it seems probable that it had something to do with the weather. Accompanying image
2. ^ "Old Dutch came forth from Old Frankish" (Dutch)
3. ^ The total of speakers of all Low Franconian dialects and languages, based on ethnologue gives a number of over 40 million speakers: 22 million Dutch speakers, 16 million Afrikaans speakers and the various dialects of these 2 languages (Flemish for example, has 1 million speakers) creates a number around, and probably over 40 million speakers.
4. ^ Glück, H. (ed.): Metzler Lexikon Sprache, pages 472, 473. Stuttgart, Weimar: Metzler, 2000 (entries Niederdeutsch and Niederfränkisch)
5. ^ Welschen, Ad : Course Dutch Society and Culture, International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam 2000-2005.
6. ^ When taking all West Central German dialects as listed by ethnologue the number 15.350,000 appears, 2 dialects have no speaker data, however considering the area in which they are spoken and the demographics of the area as well as comparable dialects an estimate of about 4,000,000 can be made.
7. ^ Very little data is available about these speakers but considering the population of the area (about 1,500,000) a general assumption (as with many German dialects in heavily industrialised post World War II areas) can be made that about half of the population speaks the dialect.

[edit] Bibliography

• Feulner, Hans-Jürgen et al. (1997). Wie såchd denn Ihr dezu?: Ein fränkisches Mundart-Wörterbuch für den Landkreis Kronach. Schirmer Druck, Mitwitz. ISBN 3-9803467-3-0. 
• Munske, Horst Haider and Hinderling, Robert (1996). Bavarian Linguistic Atlas (Linguistic Atlas of Bavaria-Swabia, Linguistic Atlas of Middle Franconia, Linguistic Atlas of Lower Franconia, Linguistic Atlas of North East Bavaria, Linguistic Atlas of Lower and Upper Bavaria). University Press, Heidelberg. ISBN 3-8260-1865-6. 
• Munske, Horst Haider and Klepsch, Alfred (2003, updated in 2004). Linguistic Atlas of Middle Franconia. University Press, Heidelberg. 
• van der Horst, J. M. (2002). Introduction to Old Dutch. University Press, Leuven. 
• Wells, Chris (1985). German. A Linguistic History to 1945. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 

[edit] See also

• Franconian
• Frankish language
• Low Franconian language
• Low Dietsch
• East Central German