West Low German

Spoken in

  • Indo-European language family Germanic Languages West Germanic languages Low German language low Saxon

Nds

The Lower Saxony or West Low German is part of the Low German language, whose proper name is Low German. Speaker of the Lower Saxony call their dialect usually as " Platt". In the north- east of the Netherlands, the Lower Saxony Nedersaksies is called. In ISO 639-2, the Lower Saxony the ISO code received nds.

Structure

The Lower Saxony is divided into the rule as follows:

  • The Westphalian (Westfalen -Lippe without Siegen-Wittgenstein and Southern Weser- Ems region )
  • The Ostfälische (east of the Weser - eastern and western Lower Saxony Saxony -Anhalt)
  • The northern Lower Saxony (northern Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Bremen and Schleswig -Holstein)

This dialect associations are divided into several smaller regional and local dialects whose assignment may vary depending on the criteria used. The Lower Saxon dialects in the Netherlands ( Nedersaksisch ) can be said historically associated with the Northern Lower Saxon and Westphalian, linguistics treats today but generally separated from them.

Demarcation

Within the continental West Germanic dialect continuum there are no hard language boundaries and only smooth transitions between the varieties. This also applies to the transitional areas between High German, Low German and Low Franconian dialects. The Linguistics borders the three groups by certain isoglosses from each other, which are not always without controversy. Also for the West Low German such isoglosses are assumed to be limits.

In the east, the Lower Saxony is the isogloss between the Western plural present tense to - (e) t and the eastern in-e ( n ) ( mak ( e) versus t make ( s) ) separated from Ostniederdeutschen. This isogloss is also usually seen as the limit of the Saxon Altland to the areas that have been " colonized " by the German Ostsiedlung linguistically

In the south of Lower Saxony (West Low German ) language area is separated by the so-called Benrather line of the High German varieties, so that eg the Westphalian to northern Hesse and the Ruhr area extends.

In the West, the Lower Saxony borders on the Lower Franconian. In a diachronic perspective also includes the north east of the Netherlands to the Lower Saxon language area. The dialects are called there Nedersaksisch. Here is a isogloss is used as a language border is usually also what the distribution of Lower Saxony unit plurals - limited ( e) t. The dialects in the Netherlands usually have a close resemblance to their counterparts on German territory. However, the influence of the two standard languages ​​on the dialects in the 20th century led to the fact that the border developed into a dialect boundary. Some linguists have therefore gone over to regard the dialects known as Nedersaksisch as a Dutch dialect group ( Ostniederländisch ). In this synchronous view, the German - Dutch border is to the Lower Rhine language area and the western border of Lower Saxony.

In the north the line Eckernförde treene Eider formed the historic border to the Danish and North Frisian. Since the late Middle Ages, the northern boundary of the Lower Saxony shifted into Schleswig and spread almost throughout, now part of Germany part of the country South Schleswig. Only in very few areas near the present boundary and partly on Sylt, Fohr and Amrum the Lower Saxon has not next Frisian and Jütisch can establish Danish /.

Problems of terminology

The reproduced in this article definition includes the now usual definitions of the terms used here synonymously Low Saxon and East Low German as a Western language area of the Low German language with or without Ostniederländisch and without Low Franconian. Over time, the terms Low Saxon and East Low German, however, were filled with very different definitions, so that appropriate attention is appropriate in dealing with the research literature.

Hans took Taubken 1990, the definitions used in the research history together. The term Low Saxon is therefore in different works for

  • The entire Low German (East and West Low German )
  • West Low German without the Ostniederländische,
  • West Low German including Ostniederländisch,
  • For the Northern Low Saxon without Ostfriesisch, Schleswigsch and Holsteinisch and
  • For the Low German dialects in the federal states of Lower Saxony and Bremen.

The term thus includes West Low German, depending on the time and author

  • The " Altland " the unshifted continental West Germanic dialects ( Low Saxon and Low Franconian in contrast to Ostniederdeutschen )
  • The Lower Saxony including the Ostniederländischen,
  • The Lower Saxony without Ostniederländisch,
  • Low Saxon dialects without Ostniederländisch including but Niederrheinisch and
  • The Lower Saxony with the Altmark.

Pictures of West Low German

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