Northern Low German

Northern Low German (Standard High German: nördliches Niederdeutsch) is a variety of Low German in Germany, distinguished from Southern Low German.[1]

Westniederdeutsch is quite atypical for dialects in Germany in general.

There are radio stations mainly speaking Northern Low German in Paraguay, Brazil and Canada. In Germany, it is spoken about until the Ruhr area. It is spoken in several states of Germany. It is far more used in Frisia than in other areas, where it is spoken. Noawdays, most people in the area of Northern Low German do not speak this variety. In television in Germany, various varieties of Northern Low German are used. There are items in Northern Low German in daily newspapers.

North Hanoveranian is spoken from Hamburg to North Rhine-Westphalia. From a structural point of view, a division into Northern and Southern Low German at the border of kept and lost Middle Low German -e would be conceivable.[2] The concept of East Low German is refuted. [3] Northern Low German in Germany is divided in Marchian versus the three varieties mentioned below. [4]

Varieties and borders

The varieties of Northern Low German in today's Germany are:[1]

Northern Low German varietyIncluded dialectsArea (roughly)Remark
Westniederdeutsch (lit. West Low German) Westmünsterländisch, Münsterländisch, partly Emsländisch and the dialects of the Grafschaft Bentheim und the Landkreise Cloppenburg und Vechta South-western Lower Saxony, north-western North Rhine-Westphalia
Nordniederdeutsch (lit. North Low German) Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen, northern Lower Saxony Roughly corresponding to Northern Low Saxon but not with entire Emsländisch
Nordostniederdeutsch (lit. North-East Low German) Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch and Central Pomeranian Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and north-eastern Brandenburg
Brandenburgisch northern part of Brandenburg without the north-east

In Germany, it borders to Low Franconian, High German and Southern Low German (südliches Niederdeutsch, i.e. Westphalian and Eastphalian).[1] East Pomeranian dialect and Low Prussian are part of Northern Low German.

Status

Most people in the area of Northern Low German do not speak this variety. In television in Germany, various varieties of Northern Low German are used. There are items in Northern Low German in daily newspapers.

Transitional areas

There was a transitional area of Eastphalian and Brandenburgisch around Magdeburg.[5] A transitional dialect of Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch and Central Pomeranian was spoken around Neubrandenburg.[5] There was a Low German speaking transitional area between North Upper Saxon/South Markish and Brandenburgisch around Storkow, Brandenburg.[5] Another, however High German speaking transitional area between North Upper Saxon/South Markish and Brandenburgisch around Frankfurt (Oder) used to exist.[5] There is or used to exist a minor transitional area of Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch and Brandenburgisch.[5] A transitional dialect area of Northern Low Saxon and Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch includes or used to include parts of Lübeck.[5] A transitional dialect area of Brandenburgisch and Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch includes or used to include Dannenberg (Elbe).[5] A transitional dialect area of Northern Low Saxon and Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch includes or used to include Lüneburg.[5] There is or used to be a dialect area transitional to Eastphalian including Wunstorf.[5] There is or used to be an area of transition to Eastphalian North of Celle.[5] A transitional dialect area of Eastphalian and Brandenburgisch is or used to be North of Wolfsburg.[5] Another transitional dialect area of Central Pomeranian and East Pomeranian roughly from Wolin (town) and Szczecin to about the border of the former Province of Posen used to exist.[5] A transitional dialect area of Central Pomeranian and Brandenburgisch including Schwedt used to exist.[5] East Pomeranian and Low Prussian dialect had a transitional area of each other. Places within this area included Bytów (Bütow), Lębork (Lauenburg), Bydgoszcz (Bromberg), Toruń (Thorn) and Przechówko.[5] Within the respective area of Northern Low Saxon, East Pomeranian, Brandenburgisch and the transitional area of East Pomeranian and Low Prussian there was one language island each, respectively being (around) Saterland, Wilhelmine-Coccejendorf (Wilkowice, West Pomeranian Voivodeship and Radosław Sławieński), Berlin and Chełmża.[5] Central Pomeranian had the language islands of Viereck and Hoppenwalde within its area.[5]

References
  1. Alfred Lameli: Raumstrukturen im Niederdeutschen: Eine Re-Analyse der Wenkerdaten. 2016 "(PDF) Raumstrukturen im Niederdeutschen Eine Re-Analyse der Wenkerdaten | Alfred Lameli - Academia.edu".
  2. Alfred Lameli, Strukturen im Sprachraum. Analysen zur arealtypologischen Komplexität der Dialekte in Deutschland., Berlin, Boston 2013, p. 148
  3. Alfred Lameli, Strukturen im Sprachraum. Analysen zur arealtypologischen Komplexität der Dialekte in Deutschland., Berlin, Boston 2013, p. 188
  4. Alfred Lameli, Strukturen im Sprachraum. Analysen zur arealtypologischen Komplexität der Dialekte in Deutschland., Berlin, Boston 2013, p. 195
  5. "Dialekt-Karte_neu « atlas-alltagssprache". Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-02-20. Annotated with: „Abb. 20: Die Gliederung der deutschen Dialekte (Wiesinger)“
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