Northern Low Saxon (in Standard High German: ', also ', lit. ''North(ern)

Low Saxon Low Saxon (), also known as West Low German () are a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of the German-speaking minority). It is one of two di ...

/German''; in

Standard Dutch Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the third most spoken Germanic language. In Europe, Dutch is the nati ...

: ') is a subgroup of

dialects of

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

. As such, it covers a great part of the West Low German-speaking areas of

northern Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

, with the exception of the border regions where South Low Saxon ( Eastphalian and Westphalian) is spoken, and

Gronings dialect Gronings (; or Grönnegs), is a collective name for some Low Saxon, Low Saxon dialects spoken in the province of Groningen (province), Groningen and around the Groningen border in Drenthe and Friesland. Gronings and the strongly related varie ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Dialects

Northern Low Saxon can be divided into Holsteinian (), Schleswigian (),

East Frisian Low Saxon East Frisian Low Saxon, East Frisian Low German or simply called East Frisian is a Northern Low Saxon dialect spoken in the East Frisian peninsula of northwestern Lower Saxony. East Frisian Low Saxon remains in everyday use among segments of t ...

, Dithmarsch (), North Hanoveranian (), Emslandish (), and Oldenburgish () in Germany, with additional dialects in the Netherlands such as Gronings. ' is spoken in

Holstein Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

, the southern part of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, in

Dithmarschen Dithmarschen (, ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; ; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the ...

, around Neumünster,

Rendsburg Rendsburg (, also ''Rensborg'', , also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the Eider (river), River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Eckernfoerde, Rends ...

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

and

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

. ' () is spoken in

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been di ...

, which is divided between

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It is mainly based on a

South Jutlandic South Jutlandic or South Jutish ( South Jutish: ; ; ) is a dialect of the Danish language. South Jutlandic is spoken in Southern Jutland (''Sønderjylland''; also called Schleswig or Slesvig) on both sides of the border between Denmark and Germ ...

substrate. Therefore, it has some notable differences in pronunciation and grammar with its southern neighbour dialects. The dialects on the west coast of Schleswig (Nordfriesland district) and some

islands This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water, and by other classifications. For rank-order lists, see the #Other lists of islands, other lists of islands below. Lists of islands by count ...

show some North Frisian influences. ' is spoken around the city of Oldenburg. It is limited to Germany. The main difference between it and

, which is spoken in the Frisian parts of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, is the lack of an East Frisian substrate. ''Oldenburgisch'' is spoken in the city of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

as ''" Bremian"'', which is the only capital where ''Oldenburgisch'' is spoken.

Overviews

a) * * * * * ( East Frisian) * b) * ( East Frisian) * * * * (Hamburg, Elbmarschen) * * c) * Dithmarsch * Schleswigsch / Schleswigian * Holsteinisch / Holsteinian * Oldenburgisch * Emsländisch * Nordhannoversch Emsländisch and Oldenburgisch are also grouped together as ''Emsländisch-Oldenburgisch'', while Bremen and Hamburg lie in the area of Nordhannoversch (in a broader sense).Jan Wirrer, ''Sprachwissen – Spracherfahrung: Untersuchungen zum metasprachlichen Wissen sprachwissenschaftlicher Laien'', (series: ''Deutsche Dialektgeographie'' 116), Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, 2021, p. 10

Characteristics

The most obvious common character in grammar is the forming of the perfect participle. It is formed without a prefix, as in all

North Germanic languages The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...

, as well as English and Frisian, but unlike

standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...

, Dutch and some dialects of Westphalian and Eastphalian Low Saxon: *''gahn'' (to go): ''Ik bün'' ''gahn'' (I have gone/I went), Standard German: ''gehen''; ''ich bin'' ''gegangen''/''ich'' ''ging'' *''seilen'' (to sail): ''He hett'' ''seilt'' (He (has) sailed), Standard German: ''segeln''; ''er ist'' ''gesegelt''/''er'' ''segelte'' *''kopen'' (to buy): ''Wi harrn'' ''köfft'' (We had bought), Standard German: ''kaufen''; ''wir haben'' ''gekauft''/''wir '' ''kauften'' *''kamen'' (to come): ''Ji sünd'' ''kamen'' (You (all) have come/You came), Standard German: ''kommen''; ''ihr seid'' ''gekommen''/''ihr'' ''kamt'' *''eten'' (to eat): ''Se hebbt'' ''eten'' (They have eaten/They ate), Standard German: ''essen''; ''sie haben'' ''gegessen''/''sie'' ''aßen'' The

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

(''-je'') (Dutch and East Frisian Low Saxon ''-tje'', Eastphalian ''-ke'', High German ''-chen'', Alemannic ''-le'', ''li'') is hardly used. Some examples are ''Buscherumpje'', a fisherman's shirt, or ''lüttje'', a diminutive of ''lütt'', little. Instead the adjective ''lütt'' is used, e.g. ''dat lütte Huus'', ''de lütte Deern'', ''de lütte Jung''. There are a lot of special characteristics in the vocabulary, too, but they are shared partly with other languages and dialects, e.g.: *Personal pronouns: ''ik'' (like Dutch ik, standard German form ''ich''), ''du'' (like German Du, standard German form ''du''), ''he'' (like Dutch hij, standard German form ''er''), ''se'' (like Dutch zij, standard German form ''sie''), ''dat'' (Dutch dat, standard German form ''es/das''), ''wi'' , ''ji'' (similar to English ye, Dutch jij, standard German forms ''wir'', ''ihr''), ''se'' (standard German form ''sie''). *Interrogatives (English/High German): ''wo'' , ''woans'' (how/''wie''), ''wo laat'' (how late/''wie spät''), ''wokeen'' (who/''wer''), ''woneem'' (where/''wo''), ''wokeen sien'' / ''wen sien'' (whose/''wessen'') *Adverbs (English/High German): ''laat'' (late/''spät''), ''gau'' (fast/''schnell''), ''suutje'' (slowly, carefully/''langsam'', ''vorsichtig'', from Dutch ''zoetjes'' ‘nice and easy’, adverbial diminutive of ''zoet'' ‘sweet’), ''vigeliensch'' (difficult, tricky/''schwierig'') *Prepositions (English/High German): ''bi'' (by, at/''bei''), ''achter'' (behind/''hinter''), ''vör'' (before, in front of/''vor''), ''blangen'' (beside, next to, alongside/''neben''), ''twüschen'' (betwixt, between/''zwischen''), ''mang'', ''mank'' (among/''unter'')

References

External links

Plattmakers' Northern Low Saxon dictionary
{{Authority control Dutch dialects German dialects Northern Low Saxon dialects Low German

Dialects

Overviews

Characteristics

See also

References

External links