Low Franconian

Low Franconian

1. A group of continental West Germanic languages and dialects; spoken chiefly in the Netherlands, Flanders, and the Lower Rhine area of Germany.
   • 1974, M. O'C. Walshe, A Middle High German reader: with grammar, notes, and glossary, Oxford University Press, p. 3 (cp. p. 2):

     Low Franconian, adjoining Middle Franconian on the Lower Rhine, is historically a branch of LG [= Low German], but today forms the main basis of Dutch, which developed as a separate national language.

   • 1983, C.A.M. Noble, Modern German Dialects, page 97:

     The only problematic area is the south west, where (cf. the beginning of this chapter) Low Franconian straddles the Benrath Line and the Urdingen Line, but is usually included in Low German, though, strictly speaking, only North Low Franconian has none of the sound shifts.

• Note that Low Franconian is not spoken in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken), where, as in virtually all of Franconia, an Upper Franconian dialect is used. The linguistic term refers to the historic Franks, not the modern region.

• Low Frankish

• Dutch = Netherlandish, Netherlandic
  • Hollandic
  • Zeelandic, Zealandic
  • Brabantian, Brabantic, Brabantish
  • Flemish
• East Low Franconian (unommon) = South Low Franconian (rare)
  • Limburgan, Limburgian, Limburgic, Limburgish
• Kleverlandish (rare)

• Low German

• Old Low Franconian
• Middle Low Franconian

• West Low Franconian (adjective)