West Low German

For other uses, see Low German (disambiguation) and Low Saxon.

West Low German
German: Niedersächsisch or German: Westniederdeutsch
Native to	Germany, Netherlands, southern Denmark (North Schleswig)
Native speakers	4 million (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Low German West Low German
Language codes
ISO 639-2	nds
ISO 639-3	Variously: wep – Westphalian nds – (partial) frs – Eastern Frisian gos – Gronings stl – Stellingwerfs drt – Drents twd – Twents act – Achterhoeks sdz – Sallands vel – Veluws
Glottolog	None
Low Saxon language area

West Low German, also known as Low Saxon (German: Niedersächsisch or German: Westniederdeutsch; literally: Nether-saxon; Low German: Nedersassisch, Nedersaksies, Platduuts, Plat(t); Dutch: Nedersaksisch; ) is a group of Low German (also Low Saxon; German: Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch, Dutch: Nederduits) dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by the German minority). It is one of two groups of mutually intelligible dialects, the other being East Low German dialects.

Extent

The language 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
    • Holsteinisch
      • Hamburgisch
    • Ollnborger Platt in the Oldenburg region
    • East Frisian Low Saxon in East Frisia
    • North Hanoveranian
    • Dithmarsch
    • Emsländisch

Low Saxon language area in the Netherlands

The Netherlands

Main article: Dutch Low Saxon

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)