South Guelderish

Position of South Guelderish as defined by Jo Daan (colour: liverish) among the other minority languages, regional languages and dialects in the Benelux

South Guelderish (Kleverlands and Ost Bergisch) as spoken in Germany and The Netherlands

South Guelderish (Dutch: Zuid-Gelders, German: Kleverländisch) refers to a group of dialects of the Dutch language which are spoken along the Nederrijn in the Netherlands and around the city of Cleves in Germany. They are sometimes included within Brabantic, a more widely spoken dialect of Dutch to which South Gelderish is most closely related.

Within the Netherlands, the dialect is spoken in particular in the following regions: the Veluwezoom National Park, Rijk van Nijmegen, Land van Maas en Waal, the Bommelerwaard, the Tielerwaard, the Betuwe and Liemers.

Status

The status of the dialect differs greatly between the Netherlands and Germany. In the Netherlands, South Guelderish dialects are subject to the standardized form of Dutch. Since it is a Dutch dialect, it is already very similar to the standard language, so it has been relatively uninfluenced. In Germany, however, (beginning in 1713, when Prussia took control of the area) the dialect is subject to the German standard language, to which it is only distantly related; this has left marks on the dialect, mainly in vocabulary.

Furthermore, large-scale industrialization of the Cleves/Duisburg area in Germany (and resulting immigration) during the late 19th and 20th century has greatly reduced its use today, leaving very few native speakers. For example, in Duisburg (though traditionally within the South Guelderish area) it has virtually died out.

As noted before, South Guelderish is sometimes included within Brabantian. This is done because there exists no tight isogloss bundle between the Brabantian and South Guelderish dialects. Instead, change occurs in two individual steps: the alt-oud isogloss between Groesbeek and Nijmegen and the ies-ijs isogloss west of Nijmegen.

A dialect of South Guelderish origin spoken in the United States is Pella Dutch.

See also

• Meuse-Rhenish