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Gronings (; or Grönnegs), is a collective name for some Low Saxon dialects spoken in the province of
Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...
and around the Groningen border in
Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...
and
Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...
. Gronings and the strongly related varieties in
East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...
have a strong East Frisian influence and take a remarkable position within
West Low German 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 ...
. Its typical accent and vocabulary differ strongly from the other Low Saxon dialects.


Area

The name ''Gronings'' can almost be defined geographically, as can be seen on the map below. This is especially true for the northern part of Drenthe (number 8 on that map). ''Drents'', spoken in the north of the province of
Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...
( Noordenveld) is somewhat related with the Groninger language, but the core linguistics is ''Drents''. For the dialects in the southeast, called '' Veenkoloniaals'', it is a bit different on both sides of the Groningen-Drenthe border, as the dialect spoken there is much more related to ''Gronings''. In the easternmost part of the Frisian municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân, the western dialect called '' Westerkwartiers'' is also spoken, as well as a separate Groningen dialect called '' Kollumerpompsters''. The latter is spoken in the Frisian village of Kollumerpomp and has more West Frisian influences, while most Groningen dialects have a strong influence from the
East Frisian language East Frisian is one of the Frisian languages. Its last surviving dialect is Saterland Frisian spoken in Saterland in Germany. There once were two main dialects, ' and ''Weser''. Weser, including the Wursten, Harlingerland and Wangerooge d ...
.


Dialects

Gronings can be subdivided into eight dialects: #''Kollumerpompsters'' #''Westerkwartiers'' #''Stadjeders'' #''Hogelandsters'' #''Oldambtsters'' #''Westerwolds'' #''Veenkoloniaals'' #''Noord-Drents''


Example

Though there are several differences between the dialects, they form a single dialect group. Most words are written the same way, but the pronunciation can differ. The examples, all using the sentence "The only thing we're not doing is giving out sweets", show the pronunciation. *''Westerkertiers'': t Eenege dat wie niet doun is slik uutdeeln. *''Stadsgrunnegs'' (city): t Oinege dat wie noit doun is baaltjes oetdailn. *''Hoogelaandsters'': t Ainege dat wie nait dudden is slik oetdijln. *''Westerwoolds'': t Einege dat wie nich dun is slikkerij uutdeiln. *''Veenkelonioals'': t Ainege wat wie nait dudden is slikke uutduiln. *
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 ...
: Dat eenzige, dat wi neet doon is Slickeree utdelen. * North German Low Saxon: Dat eenzige, dat wi nich doot, (dat) is Snabbelkraam uutdeeln. *Standard Dutch: Het enige wat we niet doen is snoep uitdelen. *Standard
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
: Das einzige, was wir nicht machen "was wir nicht ''tun''" ist Süßigkeiten austeilen.


Classification

There are many uncertainties about the classification and categorization of Gronings. Words used in classifying it are often more political than linguistic, because it encompasses a large group of very differing varieties. Some linguists see it as a variety 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" ...
, also called ''Nedersaksisch'' in the Netherlands, but there is controversy surrounding whether all the dialects that have been called Low German are similar enough to be placed in one category. Other linguists, especially in Germany, see Gronings–East Frisian as a separate group of
German dialects German dialects are the various traditional local varieties of the German language. Though varied by region, those of the southern half of Germany beneath the Benrath line are dominated by the geographical spread of the High German consonant s ...
. The East Frisian influence, the sounds ''ou'', ''ai'' and ''ui'' and the typical accent are part of that distinction. Other linguists categorize all Gronings–East Frisian dialects as part of North Low German. When that is the case, all the other Low German varieties in the Netherlands are categorized as Westphalian. Dutch linguists in particular have classified Gronings as
Dutch Low Saxon Dutch Low Saxon ( or ''Nederlaands Nedersaksies''; ) are Low Saxon dialects from the Low German language that are spoken in the northeastern Netherlands and are mostly, but not exclusively, written with local, unstandardised orthographies base ...
. In this case the Dutch influence is seen as an essential factor contrasting with the greater influence of
High German languages The High German languages (, i.e. ''High German dialects''), or simply High German ( ) – not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German" – comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Ben ...
found in the dialects on the other side of the national border. These influences concern especially the vocabulary: for example the Dutch word "" is "" in Gronings, while the East Frisian dialects use ''"biespööl"'', related to the High German word "". From this point of view the separation is not between Westphalian and Groningen–East Frisian (or North Low Saxon), but rather between Groningen on one side and East Frisian on the other, with the national border also functioning as the linguistic border.


Origin

The Gronings dialects are a kind of mix between two languages:
Old Frisian Old Frisian was a West Germanic language spoken between the late 13th century and the end of 16th century. It is the common ancestor of all the modern Frisian languages except for the North Frisian language#Insular North Frisian, Insular North ...
( East Frisian) and Middle Low German. East Frisian was spoken in the '' Ommelanden'' (surrounding lands of the city of
Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...
), while the city, the surrounding rural area called and the eastern lordship of Westerwolde were Low Saxon. When the city of Groningen developed an important position in the Ommelanden, a switch from East Frisian to Saxon occurred, although it was not a complete switch because there are many East Frisian influences in the "new" Groningen language. Many East Frisian words and grammatic features are still in use today. In less than one century, the same process also started in
East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...
, from the city of Emden, which was influenced by the
Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...
. This explains the strong relation between both varieties. In the second half of the 16th century Gronings started to evolve towards
Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...
because of the strong influence of the new standard language. But because of the political, geographical and cultural isolation of Groningen, a strong provincialism in the first half of the 19th century caused Gronings to develop itself in a significant way. The sounds that are used today were formed in this period.


Usage


Daily life

Today, according to an investigation among the listeners to the regional broadcasting station (''Radio Noord''), approximately 65% of them can speak and write Gronings. Perhaps, if the larger cities and villages of
Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...
, Hoogezand-Sappemeer, Veendam, Stadskanaal,
Delfzijl Delfzijl (; ) is a city and former municipality (which now belongs to the municipality of Eemsdelta) with a population of 25,651 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Delfzijl was a sluice between the Delf and the Em ...
and
Winschoten Winschoten (; ) is a city with a population of 18,518 in the municipality of Oldambt (municipality), Oldambt in the northeast of the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the region of Oldambt (region), Oldambt in the province of Groningen (prov ...
are excluded from this count, the percentage would rise to about 80%. Of course, this is not a representative picture of the linguistic capacity of the inhabitants of Groningen province. Most of the older people use Gronings as their main language. Until the second half of the 20th century, Gronings was more important in Groningen than Dutch. Younger people also speak the language, however in a regiolectical mixed way, because many pure Gronings words are lost. The youngest generation passed to Dutch. Since the second half of the 20th century, the usage of the language is declining. Because of globalization, other languages like Dutch and English are becoming more important. Parents today choose to raise their children in the Dutch language.


Media

In the media Gronings is used frequently. For example, on the local radio station ''Radio Noord'', Gronings is used by the presenters and listeners. On local television Gronings is used less, but the weather forecast is always presented in Gronings. The news is always presented in Dutch, since not all viewers understand Gronings. In the second half of 2007, the local television broadcast a series in Gronings called . Another program that is in and about Gronings is ''Grunnegers'', which is actually some kind of education in Gronings. Examples of Gronings magazines are (language and signs) and , which actually means
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
. There are many Gronings dictionaries as well. The first official dictionary was the "Nieuw Groninger Woordenboek" and was put together by
Kornelis ter Laan Kornelis ter Laan (Gronings: ''Knelis ter Loan'') (8 July 1871 – 6 March 1963), also referred to as Kees ter Laan and Klaas ter Laan, was a Dutch politician and linguist. He published as K. ter Laan. Biography Ter Laan was born on 8 July 1871 ...
. This dictionary and the writing system used in the book became the basics of each dictionary and writing system ever since. More recent is "Zakwoordenboek Gronings – Nederlands / Nederlands – Gronings" by , which is a little less specific. K. G. Pieterman wrote a dictionary of Gronings
alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...
s which is titled ''Gezondhaid en Groutnis'' (sanity and greetings).


Education and culture

Although Gronings, as part of Low Saxon, is an official language, it is not a mandatory subject in schools. Still, many primary schools in Groningen choose to give attention to the regional language. This attention varies from inviting storytellers to teaching about the language. In secondary schools Gronings does not receive much attention. At the
University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...
it is possible to study the language. In October 2007 Gronings became an official study within the faculty of ''letteren'' (language and literature). Another possible way to learn Gronings is taking classes. In the last few years the trend of people taking courses has risen. More and more people, also people from outside who come to live in the area in which Gronings is spoken, are interested in the language and are willing to take courses. There are two types of courses. The first one is understanding and the second one is understanding and speaking. Every year around March Het Huis van de Groninger Cultuur ( English: House of the Groningen Culture) organises a writing contest in every municipality in Groningen. Everyone can participate and send in a poem or some prose. The winners of the different ages succeed to the provincial round.


Music

Notable Groningen musical artists include Wia Buze, Alje van Bolhuis, Alex Vissering, Eltje Doddema, Pé Daalemmer & Rooie Rinus, Burdy, Wat Aans!, Hail Gewoon, Erwin de Vries, and Ede Staal (†). Every year the supply of successful artists in regional languages in the Netherlands is rising.


Frisian substratum

Some linguists classify Gronings to North Low Saxon, to which also
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 ...
belongs. Both related dialects are characterized by an East Frisian influence. Hence other linguists classify Gronings-East Frisian as a separate group of Northwest Low Saxon or Friso-Saxon dialects. The most important similarities are grammar features and the vocabulary. The most important differences are the writing system and the loanwords. The East Frisian writing system is based on High German while Gronings uses many Dutch features. For example, the word for “ice skate” is in Gronings “scheuvel” and in East Frisian “Schöfel”, while the pronunciation is almost alike. Here are a few examples of words compared to West Frisian, East Frisian Low Saxon, German, Dutch and English. The East Frisian combination oo (for example in ''Bloot/Blood'' = blood) is pronounced like ow in the English word “now” ( ʊ ('' laʊt'; Gronings: ''blowd''). In some parts of the Rheiderland they say ''blyowt'', which is a leftover of Frisian in this area. The East Frisian combination aa (for example in ''quaad'') is pronounced like a in the British English word “water” ( ː. In Gronings this sound is written like oa. The word water would be written like “woatah” in Gronings. The pronunciation of the word “quaad” is similar to the Gronings word “kwoad”, which means “angry”. The East Frisian combination ee and eei (for example in ''neet'') are pronounced like the y in the English word “fly” ( ɪ ('' aɪt'; Gronings: ''nyt'')*.


Linguistic distance from Standard Dutch

After
Limburgish Limburgish ( or ; ; also Limburgian, Limburgic or Limburgan) refers to a group of South Low Franconian Variety (linguistics), varieties spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands, characterized by their distance to, and limited participation ...
, Gronings is the dialect with the farthest distance from Standard Dutch. Reasons for this are vocabulary and pronunciation. The Gronings vocabulary is quite different from Dutch, for example: :Gronings: ''Doe hest n hail ìnde luu dij scheuvellopen kinnen'', :Dutch: ''Jij hebt heel veel werknemers (werklui) die kunnen schaatsen'', :English: ''You have a lot of employees who can ice skate'' The pronunciation differs from the writing system. The -en ending of many words is pronounced like (ə or ən) in most varieties of Dutch. In Gronings and many other
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 ...
dialects these words are pronounced with a
glottal stop The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...
, thus making the words ending in , or . The Groningen people speak quite fast compared to the Dutch people, with the result that a lot of words are pronounced together as one word. Gronings is also a dialect with many unique expressions. One third of the language consists of these expressions. In the example sentence ''n hail ìnde'' is an example of those expressions. Many of these are given in the 'Nieuwe Groninger Woordenboek' by K. ter Laan published in 1977, (1280pp). Because of this far distance from Standard Dutch and the official status of the neighbouring West Frisian, Gronings is considered as a separate language by some of its native speakers, while linguists consider it part of
Dutch Low Saxon Dutch Low Saxon ( or ''Nederlaands Nedersaksies''; ) are Low Saxon dialects from the Low German language that are spoken in the northeastern Netherlands and are mostly, but not exclusively, written with local, unstandardised orthographies base ...
.


Phonology


Consonants

* // occurring before and after rounded vowels is pronounced as a labio-velar approximant . *// only occurs in the word-medial position. *// may also be heard as voiceless [] in free variation. *Other word-final consonants occur as syllabic, as a variant of a schwa sound // before a consonant (e.g. [] ~ []).


Vowels

* The starting point of varies from back to front .


Example

Lord’s Prayer :Os Voader in Hemel, ''(litt. Our Father in Heaven)'' :dat Joen Noam haailegd worden zel, ''(litt. May Thy name be hallowed)'' :dat Joen Keunenkriek kommen mag, ''(litt. May Thy kingdom come)'' :dat Joen wil doan wordt ''(litt. May Thy will be done)'' :op Eerd net as in hemel. ''(litt. On earth, like in heaven)'' :t Stoet doar wie verlet om hebben ''(litt. The bread we need so badly)'' :geef os dat vandoag, ''(litt. give it to us today)'' :en reken os nait tou wat wie verkeerd doun, ''(litt. And do not blame us for the things we do wrong)'' :net zo as wie vergeven elk dij os wat aandut. ''(litt. As we forgive those who trespass against us)'' :En breng os nait in verlaaiden, ''(litt. And lead us not into temptation)'' :mor wil van verlaaider ons verlözzen. ''(litt. But deliver us from the tempter)'' :Den Joe binnen t Keunenkriek, ''(litt. Because Thou art the kingdom)'' :de Kracht en de Heerlekhaid. ''(litt. the Power and the Glory)'' :Veur in aiweghaid. ''(litt. For eternity)'' :Amen


Vocabulary

The Gronings vocabulary is strongly related to East Frisian Low Saxon, Saterfrisian and West Frisian. However, today the Gronings vocabulary is in decline. More and more Gronings words are being replaced by Dutch words that have been "Groningized". For example, the word "stevel" (boot, German "Stiefel") is sometimes replaced by the word "leers" (Dutch "laars"). Although most people do know the Gronings words, they are less and less used, for example because people think others will not understand them or because they are too long and the Dutch word is much easier. An example of the latter is the word for sock, which is "Hozevörrel" in Gronings. The Dutch word "sok" is much easier, so it is more often used than hozevörrel. Some often used Gronings words are listed below:


References


Further reading

*


External links


www.dideldom.comGroninganaKursus Grunnegs
Course in Gronings
Kursus Grunnegs
Course in Gronings on line *Press releas
Simon Reker has become Regular Chairholder for Gronings at Groningen University
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
*Press releas
New teaching materials for younger pupils
YouTube

{{Authority control Northern Low Saxon dialects Languages of the Netherlands Frisian languages Culture of Drenthe Culture of Friesland Culture of Groningen (province) Noardeast-Fryslân