- Southeast Limburgish
language
name= SouthernMeuse-Rhenish
states=Netherlands ,Belgium andGermany
region=Limburg ,North Rhine-Westphalia , Province of Liege
speakers=1,600,000 (est.)
familycolor=Indo-European
fam2=Germanic
fam3=West Germanic
fam4=Low Franconian
iso2=gemSoutheast Limburgish, also to be defined as Southern Meuse-Rhenish, is a subdivision of what recently has been named
Meuse-Rhenish . Both terms denote a rather compact grouping of Low Franconian varieties, spoken in theLimburg and LowerRhineland regions, near the common Dutch/Flemish (Belgium ) and Dutch/German borders. These dialectal varieties differ notably from Dutch and Flemish at the one side, and no less from German at the other. In the Netherlands and Belgium this group is often included in the generic term Limburgish.Limburgish was recently recognised as aregional language ("streektaal") inthe Netherlands and as such it receives moderate protection under chapter 2 of theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages .The linguitic border of the Limburgish varieties to the South is theBenrath line , to the North it is theUerdingen line . This means, Southeast Limburgish is different in nature from the other Limburgish varieties.Subdialects of Limburgish
A lot of subgroupings can be made here.
*"Centraal Lower Limburgish" is a variety of Limburgish aroundMaastricht andHeerlen in theNetherlands andGenk inBelgium . "Central Limburgish" is a concept used in Germany, which includes the area aroundMaastricht and stretches further North. In Germany there is also a concept of a variety of Limburgish aroundGenk , and another of Limburgish betweenGenk andHasselt .
*"East Limburgish-Ripuarian transitional zone" is a concept used in Germany to describe the linguistic area in Belgium aroundEupen , includingWelkenraedt ,Lontzen andMoresnet , in theNetherlands betweenUbach andBrunssum and a large area in Germany includingMönchengladbach . In the Netherlands, this variety is referred to as "Southeast Limburgish" (see separate section below). "East Limburgish" as a concept is also used in Germany, which includes an area from BelgianVoeren South ofMaastricht in the Netherlands, to an area in Germany includingDülken and centralKrefeld .*"West Lower Limburgish" is the variety of Limburgish spoken around
Hasselt andVeldeke inBelgium . In Germany "West Limburgish" is a concept including the Limburgish spoken around Hasselt and Veldeke inBelgium and including areas in Dutch Limburg and Dutch Brabant. The border of "West Limburgish" and "East Limburgish" starts few South of the area between the villages of 's-Gravenvoeren and Sint-Martens-Voeren in the Belgian municipality ofVoeren .*The at least to the largest extent non-tonal varieties of "East Getelandish", "West Getelandish" and "Bilzerlandish" are considered as being parts of Southern Meuse-Rhenish. "East Getelandish", which is spoken around St Truiden in
Belgium is considered a variety of Southern Meuse-Rhenish. "West Getelandish" spoken up to theUerdingen Line , which reaches the Dutch-Walloon linguistic border atBierbeek inBelgium also is considered a variety of Southern Meuse-Rhenish. The other varieties considered variants of Southern Meuse-Rhenish, are "Bilzerlandish" spoken aroundGenk inBelgium and "Tongerlandish" spoken aroundTongeren inBelgium .outheast Limburgish around
Aachen Southeast Limburgish is spoken around
Kerkrade ,Bocholtz andVaals in theNetherlands ,Aachen inGermany andRaeren andEynatten inBelgium . InGermany it is sometimes considered as Ripuarian, not always as Limburgish. This explains why it is not distinctly marked on both maps (at right and below). These pictures however, have to be finetuned for the transitional zone between Limburgish and Ripuarian. In Belgium, the south-eastern boundary between Meuse-Rhenish or (French) "francique rhéno-mosan" and Ripuarian is formed by the so-calledLow Dietsch (in Limburgish: "Platduutsj") language area. According to a contemporary vision, all varieties in a wider half circle some 20 KM around Aachen, including 2/3 of Dutch South Limburg and also theLow Dietsch area betweenVoeren andEupen in Belgium, can be taken as a group of its own, which recently has been named "Limburgish of the Three Countries Area" (Dutch: "Drielandenlimburgs", German: "Dreiländerplatt"), referring to the place where Holland, Belgium and Germany meet. (Welschen 2005, Frins 2005, 2006). This variety still possesses interesting syntactic idiosyncrasies, probably dating from the period in which the oldDuchy of Limburg existed.Relation to Ripuarian
If only tonality is to be taken as to define this variety, both
Southeast Limburgish and Ripuarian belong to a broader class of Meuse-Rhenish varieties in a wider sense. This tonal language group stretches rather deep intoGermany , even across the Rhine up toSiegen . In Germany, it is consensus to class both varieties as belonging to High German varieties. But this is a little over-simplified. In order to include this variety properly a more encompassing concept is needed. The combination of Meuse-Rhenish and Ripuarian, including their overlapping transitional zones ofSoutheast Limburgish andLow Dietsch , will do.
400px|right|thumb|Distribution of the native speakers of major continental ">West Germanic dialects today (Dialects of the following standard languages: Dutch, German and Frisian). The colours in this map do not reflect the actual relationship between the languages or dialects.Classification
* Indo-European
** Germanic
***West Germanic
****Low Franconian
*****Meuse-Rhenish
****** Southern Meuse-Rhenish orSoutheast Limburgish ee also
*
Meuse-Rhenish
*Low Rhenish
*Limburgish
*Low Dietsch ource
*Ad Welschen 2000-2005: Course "Dutch Society and Culture", International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam
References
*Georg Cornelissen 2003: "Kleine niederrheinische Sprachgeschichte (1300-1900) : eine regionale Sprachgeschichte für das deutsch-niederländische Grenzgebiet zwischen Arnheim und Krefeld" [with an introduction in Dutch] . Geldern / Venray: Stichting Historie Peel-Maas-Niersgebied, ISBN 978-90-807292-2-3
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.