__NOTOC__

Rhenish Franconian or Rhine Franconian (german: Rheinfränkisch ) is a

dialect chain A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

West Central German West Central German (german: Westmitteldeutsch) belongs to the Central, High German dialect family of German. Its dialects are Franconian and comprise the parts of the Rhinelandic continuum located south of the Benrath line isogloss, including ...

. It comprises the varieties of German spoken across the western regions of the states of

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

, northwest Baden-Württemberg, and

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

in Germany. It is also spoken in northeast France, in the eastern part of the of Moselle in the

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

region, and in the north-west part of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

. To the north, it is bounded by the

Sankt Goar line In German linguistics, the Sankt Goar line, line, or line is an isogloss separating the dialects to the north, which have a ''t'' in the words (English ''that'') and (English ''what''), from the dialects to the south (including standard Germ ...

(or '' line'') which separates it from

Moselle Franconian __NOTOC__ Moselle Franconian (german: Moselfränkisch, lb, Muselfränkesch) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish. It is spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the ...

; to the south, it is bounded by the Main line which is also referred to as the ''Speyer line'' which separates it from the

Upper German Upper German (german: Oberdeutsch ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (). History In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High ...

dialects.

Subgroups

Cornelia Stroh: ''Sprachkontakt und Sprachbewußtsein: Eine soziolinguistische Studie am Beispiel Ost-Lothringens.'' Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen, Tübingen, 1993, p. 34 * or Hessian * ** or Palatinate German ** or Lorraine Franconian

Bibliography

* Hughes, Stephanie. 2005. Bilingualism in North-East France with specific reference to Rhenish Franconian spoken by Moselle Cross-border (or frontier) workers. In Preisler, Bent, et al., eds. ''The Consequences of Mobility: Linguistic and Sociocultural Contact Zones''. Roskilde, Denmark: Roskilde Universitetscenter: Institut for Sprog og Kultur. .

References

Central German languages German dialects Rhineland Lorraine-German people {{Germanic-lang-stub

Subgroups

See also

Bibliography

References