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Limburgish ( or ; ; also Limburgian, Limburgic or Limburgan) refers to a group of
South Low Franconian South Low Franconian is a group of transitional dialects between Low Franconian and Ripuarian, part of the so-called Rhenish fan, a much larger transitional area between Low Franconian and Rhine Franconian. Linguists hold different opinions abou ...
varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
spoken in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
and 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 ...
, characterized by their distance to, and limited participation in the formation of,
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 ...
. In the Dutch province of Limburg, all dialects, despite their differences, have been given collectively a
regional language * A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area. Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority La ...
status, including those comprising "Limburgish" as used in this article. Limburgish shares many vocabulary and grammatical characteristics with both
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 ...
and
Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...
. A characteristic feature of many dialects of Limburgish is the occurrence of a
lexical Lexical may refer to: Linguistics * Lexical corpus or lexis, a complete set of all words in a language * Lexical item, a basic unit of lexicographical classification * Lexicon, the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge * Lexical ...
pitch accent A pitch-accent language is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain syllables in words or morphemes that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting pitch (music), pitch (tone (linguistics), linguistic tone) rather than by vol ...
(
Franconian tone accent A pitch-accent language is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain syllables in words or morphemes that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting pitch (music), pitch (tone (linguistics), linguistic tone) rather than by vol ...
), which is shared with the adjacent
Central Franconian Central or Middle Franconian () refers to the following continuum of West Central German dialects: * Ripuarian (spoken in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in eastern Belgium, and the southeastern tip of Dutch Limburg) * Moselle Fr ...
dialects of German.


Etymology

The name ''Limburgish'' (and variants of it) derives only indirectly from the now Belgian town of
Limbourg Limbourg (; German and Dutch: ''Limburg''; ) or Limbourg-sur-Vesdre is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2008, Limbourg had a total population of 5,680. The total area is 24.63 k ...
(''Laeboer'' in Limburgish, IPA: /ˈlæːbuʁ/), which was the capital of the
Duchy of Limburg The Duchy of Limburg or Limbourg was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire. Much of the area of the duchy is today located within Liège Province of Belgium, with a small portion in the municipality of Voeren, an Enclave and exclave, excla ...
during the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. More directly it is derived from the more modern name of the
Province of Limburg (1815–39) Limburg Province may refer to: *Limburg (Belgium) * Limburg (Netherlands) *Province of Limburg (1815–1839) Limburg (, ) was one of the provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and later Belgium. The province existed for the duratio ...
in the
Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...
, which has been split today into a Belgian Limburg and a Dutch Limburg. In the area around the old Duchy of Limburg the main language today is French, but there is also a particular cluster of Limburgish (or Limburgish-like, depending on definitions) dialects. The use of ''Limburgish'' is first attested at the close of the 19th century. People from Limburg usually call their language ''plat'', similar as
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" ...
speakers do. This ''plat'' refers simply to the fact that the language is spoken in the low plains country, as opposed to the use of "High" in "
High German 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 ...
", which are derived from dialects spoken in the more mountainous southerly regions. The word "plat" is therefore associated both with the ''platteland'' (Dutch: "countryside") and can in effect sometimes mean simply "slang" in the sense of any very informal, rustic or locally unique words or expressions.


Terminology

The term ''Limburgish'' can refer to all varieties spoken within either the Belgian or Dutch province of Limburg, the South-East of
Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( ; ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also ...
, the North-East of
Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
as well as in combination with the adjacent Rhineland region in a Limburgian-Ripuarian context. * In everyday speech, ''Limburgish'' refers to the varieties spoken in Dutch and Belgian Limburg. It is likewise legally defined through the Dutch recognition of Limburgish as a regional language under the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, t ...
. * In traditional Dutch and Belgian dialectology, ''Limburgish'' is roughly defined as comprising the dialects between the
Uerdingen line The Uerdingen Line (, ; named after Uerdingen by Georg Wenker) is the isogloss within West Germanic languages that separates dialects which preserve the ''-k'' sound in the first person singular pronoun word "ik" (north of the line) from dialec ...
and the
Benrath line In German linguistics, the Benrath line () is the isogloss: dialects north of the line have the original in (to make), while those to the south have the innovative (). The line runs from Aachen in the west via Benrath (south of Düsseldorf) ...
spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands. * Flemish linguist Jan Goossens suggested to expand the definition of ''Limburgish'' to include all
Low Franconian In historical linguistics, historical and comparative linguistics, Low Franconian is a linguistic category used to classify a number of historical and contemporary West Germanic languages, West Germanic Variety (linguistics), varieties closely r ...
varieties positioned between the
Uerdingen Uerdingen () is a district of the city of Krefeld, Germany, with a population of 17,888 (2019). Originally a separate city in its own right, Uerdingen merged with the city of Krefeld in 1929. Today, Uerdingen is best known for a local distillery ...
and
Benrath line In German linguistics, the Benrath line () is the isogloss: dialects north of the line have the original in (to make), while those to the south have the innovative (). The line runs from Aachen in the west via Benrath (south of Düsseldorf) ...
, although this usage has not been adopted by other scholars. Regardless of the exact definition used, the term ''Limburgish'' itself is specific to the Netherlands and Belgium, where it used by linguists and speakers alike and is strongly connected to the cultural and regional identity of the inhabitants of both Belgian and Dutch Limburg. This regional identity is notably absent from the speakers of closely related Low Franconian dialects in adjacent parts of Germany, who do not refer to their local dialects as ''Limburgish''. In German linguistic discourse too, the term is uncommon with German linguists instead tending to use ''Southern Low Franconian'' (German: ) to refer to the same dialect grouping.


Classification and history

The classification of Limburgish is contended by different national traditions. Within the context of historical linguistics, Limburgish is regarded as one of the five main dialects of
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 ...
,Marijke van der Wal en Cor van Bree, Geschiedenis van het Nederlands, Houten, 2008, p. 109.Niederländische Philologie, FU Berlin: Structuur en geschiedenis van het Nederlands: Een inleiding tot de taalkunde van het Nederlands; Diversiteit van het Middelnederlands, 202
(link)
t least in parts, namely for pictures, based on Wikipedia/Wikimediabr/>
although this is not considered to be a homogeneous language, but a retrofit definition based on the region where Dutch is currently an official language. German and French dialectology considers Limburgish part of the
Rhenish Fan The subdivision of West Central German into a series of dialects, according to the differing extent of the High German consonant shift, is particularly pronounced. It is known as the Rhenish fan (, ) because on the map of dialect boundaries, the li ...
. Sometimes it is also called a variety of
Meuse-Rhenish In linguistics, Meuse-Rhenish () is a term with several meanings, used both in literary criticism and dialectology. As a dialectological term, it was introduced by the German linguist Arend Mihm in 1992 to denote a group of Low Franconian di ...
, especially among German dialectologists. Belgian/Dutch linguistics considers it in the context of Limburgian-Ripuarian, together with the Ripuarian varieties. The early medieval Limburgish writer
Heinrich von Veldeke Heinrich von Veldeke (aka: , Dutch Hendrik van Veldeke, born before or around 1150 – died after 1184) is the first writer in the Low Countries known by name who wrote in a European language other than Latin. He was born in Veldeke, which was a ...
is claimed by the tradition of both Dutch and German dialectology. From the end of the 20th century on, Limburgish has developed a sense of autonomy from the traditional Dutch-German dipole as Limburgish linguists and functionaries consider it explicitly distinct from Dutch and German, as affirmed by the Covenant of the Limburgish language which politically decouples Limburgish from Dutch in the eyes of the Dutch government. Limburgish developed from Old East Low Franconian, which had evolved itself from earlier Weser–Rhine Germanic, a language which had been spoken in the Low Countries on both sides of the Roman limes since at least the
4th century The 4th century was the time period from 301 CE (represented by the Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Mid ...
. During the
High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...
, the dialects which would result in Limburgish were influenced by the High German dialects spoken around the city of
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
, resulting in certain High German features being absorbed by these varieties. It is the adoption of these phonological traits that resulted in Limburgish being classified as East Low Franconian. In the past, all Limburgish varieties were therefore sometimes seen as
West Central German West Central German () belongs to the Central German, Central, High German languages, High German dialect family of German language, German. It includes the following sub-families: * Central Franconian () ** Ripuarian language, Ripuarian (), spok ...
, part of High German. This difference is caused by a difference in definition: the latter stance defines a High German variety as one that has taken part in any of the first three phases of the High German consonant shift. It is nevertheless most common in linguistics to consider Limburgish as Low Franconian. The traditional terminology can be confusing as the differences between the historical groupings Old West Franconian and Old East Franconian (which mainly concern certain vowel variations and the presence of Ingvaeonic features) is different from the modern modern dialectal dichotomy between Western and Eastern Low Franconian, which is based on the presence or absence of High German features in Low Franconian, which did not occur until the advent of the Middle Dutch period. The period of High German influence lasted until the 13th century, after which the
Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Bu ...
extended its power, which resulted in a marked Brabantian influence, first among the western (i.e. spoken up to
Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...
) Limburgish dialects and then also among the eastern variants. Currently Limburgish – although being essentially a variety of Low Franconian – still has a considerable distance from Standard Dutch with regards to phonology, morphology and lexicon. Standard Dutch, which developed mostly from West Low Franconian dialects such as
Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...
and Brabantic, serves as the standard language (or
Dachsprache In sociolinguistics, an abstand language is a language variety or cluster of varieties with significant linguistic distance from all others, while an ausbau language is a standard variety, possibly with related dependent varieties. Heinz Klo ...
) for the Limburgish varieties spoken in the Netherlands and Belgium. The speakers of Limburgish or South Low Franconian dialects in Germany use Standard German as their Dachsprache.


Form

Limburgish is far from being homogeneous. In other words, it has numerous
varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
instead of one single standard form. Between 1995 and 1999, a uniform standard form called AGL (''Algemein Gesjreve Limburgs'', "Generally written Limburgish") was developed and proposed, but found too little support. Today the so-called "Veldeke-spelling" which was first applied in the 1940s is most of the time used to write in a specific Limburgish dialect. In 2000 the parliament of the province of Dutch Limburg enacted a measure establishing the Limburgish Language Council (Raod veur 't Limburgs), a committee which advises the Parliament of Dutch Limburg on measures in relation to Limburgish. In 2003 the Limburgish Language Council adopted a standard orthography for Limburgish. On the basis of this standard orthography the Limburgish Academy Foundation (''Stiechting Limbörgse Academie'') is creating Limburgish-Dutch, Limburgish-English, Dutch-Limburgish and English-Limburgish dictionaries.


Contemporary usage

Limburgish is spoken by approximately 1.6 million people in the
Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...
and by many hundreds of thousands in
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 ...
. It is especially in the Dutch province of Limburg that Limburgish is used not only in everyday speech, but also often in more formal situations and on the local and regional radio. According to a study by Geert Driessen, in 2011 Limburgish was spoken by 54 percent of the adults and 31 percent of the children. Limburgish has no real written tradition, except for its early beginnings. Hendrik van Veldeke wrote in a Middle Limburgish dialect. Especially in the Netherlands, the cultural meaning of the language is also important. Many song texts are written in a Limburgish dialect, for example during
Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...
. Jack Poels writes most of his texts for Rowwen Hèze in Sevenums, a local dialect. To what degree Limburgish actually is spoken in Germany today remains a matter of debate. Not depending on the city in these parts of Germany, less than 50% of the population speak a local or regional form of Limburgish. Depending on the city in these parts of Belgium, according to A, Schuck (2001) 50% to 90% of the population speak a local or regional form of Limburgish, which seems to be a clear overestimation. Moreover, research into some specific variants seems to indicate a gradual process of development towards the national standardised Dutch, especially amongst younger generations. In Belgium, the Limburgish dialects are generally considered to be more endangered than in the Netherlands. Since Limburgish is still the mother tongue of many inhabitants in Dutch and Belgian Limburg, Limburgish grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation can have a significant impact on the way locals speak Dutch in public life. Within the modern communities of these provinces, intermediate
idiolects Idiolect is an individual's unique use of language, including speech. This unique usage encompasses vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. This differs from a dialect, a common set of linguistic characteristics shared among a group of people. Th ...
are also very common, which combine standard
Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...
with the accent and some grammatical and pronunciation tendencies derived from Limburgish. This "Limburgish Dutch" is confusingly also often referred to simply as "Limburgish", although in Belgium such intermediate languages tend to be called ("in-between language"), no matter the exact dialect/language with which standard Dutch is combined.


Linguistic versus societal status

In March 1997 the Dutch government recognised Limburgish as a
regional language * A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area. Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority La ...
(Dutch: ''streektaal'') 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 ...
. As such, it receives moderate protection under chapter 2 of the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, t ...
. However, some linguists have argued that this recognition was highly politically motivated and done more on
sociolinguistic Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies unde ...
than purely linguistic grounds. In 1999, the
Dutch Language Union The Dutch Language Union ( , NTU) is an international regulatory institution that governs issues regarding the Dutch language. It is best known for its spelling reforms which are promulgated by member states, grammar books, the Word list of th ...
, the ''de facto'' language authority which asserted that it had not been asked for advice, opposed the recognition. From the Limburgish side it has been argued that the arguments put forth against the recognition of Limburgish were not based on linguistic considerations, but rather a concern for maintaining the dominance of the Dutch language. On the other hand, Limburgish is not recognised by the German and Belgian national governments as an official language. An attempt at recognition, made after Limburgish had been recognised in the Netherlands, failed in the Belgian parliament due to Flemish opposition. Because in Belgium political power is divided according to linguistic lines, recognizing Limburgish as an official language would have had considerable constitutional implications and undermine the small majority Flemish speakers hold over Walloon speakers in the Belgian State.


Subdivisions of Limburgish


Principal dialects

Subdialects of Limburgish in Dutch and Belgian Limburg are: * * (around
Lommel Lommel () is a municipality and city in the Belgian province of Limburg. Lying in the Kempen, it has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the arrondissement of Maaseik. Besides the residential town, Lommel also has a number of nature reserv ...
) * ** ** ** * (''West Limburgish'') ** ** ** (cp. Beringen) ** * (''Central Limburgish'') ** ** ** ** ** ** (cp.
Bilzen Bilzen () is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. In 2021, Bilzen had a total population of 32,536. The total area is 75.90  ...
) ** (cp.
Tongeren Tongeren (; ; ; ) is a city and former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the only Roman administrative capital wit ...
) * (''East Limburgish'') ** (''Northern East Limburgish'') ** (''Southern East Limburgish'') * (around Venlo) * or


Expanded

The Limburgish group belongs to the Continental West Germanic
dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
. As usual inside dialect continua, neighboring languages have a maximum of similarities, and speakers being used to the rather small individual lingual differences in their immediate neighborhood perceive them as close, and familiar, while more distant ones become gradually harder to understand with distance. That ends, in the Dutch–German continuum at least, most often with incomprehensible dialects. Isoglosses are so dense in this area that practically every village or town has its own distinct dialect of Limburgish. Large cities such as
Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...
,
Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...
, and
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
have several local dialect varieties. The named cities have in common, that they are large enough to in part extend outside the area of the dialect group. Thus each has one or more quarters outside, having vernacular languages belonging to adjacent groups, such as Kleverlandish or Ripuarian. A few sample dialects are: of near , of in , of central , of , of , of in Krefeld, of central , of in , of northern and central , of , of , of , of , of , and many more. The group combines
Low Franconian In historical linguistics, historical and comparative linguistics, Low Franconian is a linguistic category used to classify a number of historical and contemporary West Germanic languages, West Germanic Variety (linguistics), varieties closely r ...
properties with some Ripuarian properties, such as tonal accents, the pronoun "I" translates as ' or ', the word "but" most often as ', all like Ripuarian. Contrasting, "time" is translated as ', "to have" mostly as ', "today" as ', all typical for Low Franconian. ' (also called ') is the Dutch term for a group of dialects spoken north of the
Uerdingen line The Uerdingen Line (, ; named after Uerdingen by Georg Wenker) is the isogloss within West Germanic languages that separates dialects which preserve the ''-k'' sound in the first person singular pronoun word "ik" (north of the line) from dialec ...
, i.e. from just south of Venlo upward to the North in the Dutch province of Limburg. These dialects share many features with both the and Brabantian dialects and are closer to Standard Dutch than the more southern language varieties (see e.g. Hoppenbrouwers 2001). The term is used by Jo Daan for the entire province north of the Uerdingen line, whereas other linguists use it only for the part that has tonality, the language north of this region then being considered
Kleverlandish Kleverlandish ( or ; ) is a group of Low Franconian dialects spoken on both sides of the Dutch-German border along the Meuse and Rhine rivers. Extent and terminology Kleverlandish varieties are spoken in the Netherlands in the northernmost part ...
. The north border of the Limburgish tonality zone lies a little north of
Arcen Arcen (; ) is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. In 2010, it became part of the municipality of Venlo. Previously, it had been part of the municipality of Arcen en Velden and the seat of the town hall (). In 2001, Arcen had 1884 inhab ...
and
Horst aan de Maas Horst aan de Maas (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. In 2010 the municipalities Sevenum and part of Meerlo-Wanssum joined the municipality. ...
and just above the ''meej/mich'' isogloss, also known as the "mich-kwartier". This makes this Limburgish isogloss the northernmost of all. Venlo lies between the ''meej/mich'' isogloss and the Uerdingen line, so the Venlo dialect is the only one with both forms ''ik'' and ''mich/dich''. All dialects in the Dutch province of Limburg spoken north of the tonality border are Kleverlandish in linguistic respect. The dialects spoken in the most southeastern part of the Dutch province of
North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...
(i.e. in and around
Budel Budel is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Cranendonck, 25 km outside Eindhoven. Kempen Airport is located near Budel. History It was first mentioned in 779 as Budilio, and means "plac ...
and Maarheeze) also have many Limburgish characteristics. An important difference between these dialects and the adjacent ones in the Dutch province of Limburg is, however, that the second-person pronoun ''gij'' is here used instead of ''doe'', as in "purely" Brabantian dialects. ''Centraal-Limburgs'' (''Central Limburgish'') includes the area around
Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...
,
Sittard Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg. The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37,500 inhabitants in 2016. In its east, Sittard borders the German municipal ...
,
Roermond Roermond (; or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received City rights i ...
, the eastern half of Belgian Limburg, and the Belgian
Voeren Voeren (; ) is a Flanders, Flemish Dutch language, Dutch-speaking Municipalities of Belgium, municipality with Municipalities with language facilities, facilities for the Walloons, French-speaking minority, located in the Belgium, Belgian provi ...
area, and stretches further Northeast. Belgian linguists use a more refined classification. Dutch linguists use the term ''Oost-Limburgs'' (''East Limburgish'') for the form of Limburgish spoken in an area from Belgian
Voeren Voeren (; ) is a Flanders, Flemish Dutch language, Dutch-speaking Municipalities of Belgium, municipality with Municipalities with language facilities, facilities for the Walloons, French-speaking minority, located in the Belgium, Belgian provi ...
south of
Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...
in the Netherlands to the German border. For them, ''West-Limburgs'' (''West Limburgish'') is the variety of Limburgish spoken in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
in the area east of the Uerdingen line, for example in and around
Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...
and
Tongeren Tongeren (; ; ; ) is a city and former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the only Roman administrative capital wit ...
. It includes areas in Dutch Limburg (like Ool, Maria Hoop and Montfort) and Dutch Brabant. The border of ''West-Limburgs'' and ''Oost-Limburgs'' starts a little south of the area between the villages of 's-Gravenvoeren and Sint-Martens-Voeren in the Belgian municipality of
Voeren Voeren (; ) is a Flanders, Flemish Dutch language, Dutch-speaking Municipalities of Belgium, municipality with Municipalities with language facilities, facilities for the Walloons, French-speaking minority, located in the Belgium, Belgian provi ...
.


Meuse-Rhenish

Limburgish is spoken in a considerable part of the German Lower Rhine area. This area extends from the border regions of
Cleves Kleve (; traditional ; ; ; ; ; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century onwards, Cleves was capital of a county and later a duchy ...
,
Viersen Viersen (; ) is the capital of the Viersen (district), district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Viersen is situated approximately 8 km north-west of Mönchengladbach, 15 km south-west of Krefeld and 20 km ...
and
Heinsberg Heinsberg (; ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the district Heinsberg. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx. 20 km north-east of Sittard and 30 km south-west ...
, stretching out to the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
river. Modern linguists, both in the Netherlands and in Germany, now often combine these distinct varieties with the Cleves dialects (). This superordinating group of Low Franconian varieties (between the rivers Meuse and Rhine) is called
Meuse-Rhenish In linguistics, Meuse-Rhenish () is a term with several meanings, used both in literary criticism and dialectology. As a dialectological term, it was introduced by the German linguist Arend Mihm in 1992 to denote a group of Low Franconian di ...
(). Both Limburgish and
Low Rhenish In historical and comparative linguistics, Low Franconian is a linguistic category used to classify a number of historical and contemporary West Germanic varieties closely related to, and including, the Dutch language. Most dialects and languag ...
belong to this greater
Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...
-
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
area, building a large group of
Low Franconian In historical linguistics, historical and comparative linguistics, Low Franconian is a linguistic category used to classify a number of historical and contemporary West Germanic languages, West Germanic Variety (linguistics), varieties closely r ...
dialects, including areas in Belgium, the Netherlands and the German Northern
Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...
. The northwestern part of this triangle came under the influence of the Dutch standard language, especially since the founding of the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...
in 1815. At the same time, the southeastern portion became part of the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
, and was subject to
High German 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 ...
language domination. At the dialectal level however, mutual understanding is still possible far beyond both sides of the national borders. The Meuse-Rhenish dialects can be divided into Northern and Southern varieties. Hence, Limburgish is Southern Meuse-Rhenish as spoken in Belgium, the Netherlands and the German Lower Rhine. The Northern Meuse-Rhenish dialects as spoken in the Netherlands and in Germany (a little eastward along the Rhine) are unambiguously Low Franconian. As discussed above, Limburgish straddles the borderline between "Low Franconian" and "Middle Franconian" varieties. These Southern Meuse-Rhenish dialects are more-or-less mutually intelligible with the Ripuarian dialects, but have not been influenced by the
High German consonant shift In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development (sound change) that took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic languages, West Germanic dialect continuum. The ...
except in isolated words (R. Hahn 2001).


South Low Franconian

South Low Franconian (', ') is the term used by dialectologists in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands to describe the dialect group that encompasses the Limburgish varieties of Belgian and Dutch Limburg, and also the closely related dialects in adjacent areas in Belgium (e.g.
Eupen Eupen (, , ; ; ; former ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian Liège Province, province of Liège, from the Germany, German border (Aachen ...
in
Liège Province Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Dutch province of Limburg, the ...
) and Germany (stretching from the Dutch border to the Bergisches Land Region near
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
east of the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
). Goossens (1965) distinguished the following subdialects: * (''East Limburgish - Ripuarian transitional area''; Uerdingen, Düsseldorf, Solingen, Remscheid, Mönchengladbach, Eupen) * (''East Limburgish''; Panningen, Krefeld, Dülken, Sittard) * (''Central Limburgish''; Maastricht, Vroenhoven) * (''West Limburgish - Central Limburgish transitional area''; around and southern of Genk) ** (Tongeren) ** (Genk, Bilzen) * (''West Limburgish''; Veldeke, Hasselt, St.-Truiden, Loon) * (''South Brabantian - West Limburgish transitional area'') ** (Beringen) ** (Tienen)


Orthography

There is no standardized form of Limburgish, nor is there an official standard spelling for the individual Limburgish dialects. The dialect association Veldeke Limburg developed an advisory spelling in 2003 that is endorsed by the Limburgish Language Council and aims at uniformly representing all the sounds that occur within the Limburgish dialects in writing. Although this spelling also does not have official status, it is used within this dialect association as well as for the spelling of bilingual place name signs.


Phonology

The sound inventory below is based on the variety of West-Limburgs spoken in Montfort.


Consonants

* may not show up in the Hasselt dialect, but is common in other Limburgish dialects, e.g. ''zègke'' (Dutch: ''zeggen'') "to say". * Other Limburgish dialects also have the following sounds: (landj); (tenj, teeth). * is realized as in Belgian Limburgish. * is a common allophone of , especially in coda position. It is rare in the Montfortian dialect. * and are allophones of and , occurring in a front-vowel environment. This is termed ''
Soft G In the Latin-based orthographies of many European languages, the letter is used in different contexts to represent two distinct phonemes that in English are called hard and soft . The sound of a hard (which often precedes the non-front vow ...
'' in Dutch dialectology. * is an allophone of . In some dialects, it may be the usual realization of . * In most modern dialects, is
uvular Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be stops, fricatives, nasals, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not prov ...
. Overall, Limburgish dialects tend to have more consonants than Dutch. They also tend to have more vowels. According to
Peter Ladefoged Peter Nielsen Ladefoged ( , ; 17 September 1925 – 24 January 2006) was a British linguist and phonetician. He was Professor of Phonetics at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he taught from 1962 to 1991. His book '' A Course ...
, the vowel inventory of the dialect of Weert is perhaps the richest in the world. It has 28 vowels, among which there are 12 long monophthongs (three of which surface as centering diphthongs), 10 short monophthongs and 6 diphthongs. In most of the Limburgish dialects spoken to the southeast of Panningen—for example those of Roermond, Sittard and Heerlen— appears at the beginning of words in the consonant clusters ''sp'', ''st'', ''sl'', ''sm'', ''sn'' and ''zw''. The same sound is realized as elsewhere (e.g. ''sjtraot''/''straot'', "street"). This is not the case, however, in the dialects of for example Venlo, Weert, Maastricht, Echt, Montfort and Posterholt.


Vowels


Monophthongs

* only occurs in unstressed syllables. * are realised as before alveolar consonants.


Diphthongs

The diphthongs occur, as well as combinations of + . only occurs in French loanwords and
interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling, situation or reaction. It is a diverse category, with many different types, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curses (''da ...
s. is realized as before alveolar consonants. can be realized as or . In the dialect of
Geleen Geleen (; ) is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. With 31,670 inhabitants in 2020, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Geleen is situated along the river Geleenbeek, a ri ...
, is realized as and as . In many dialects such as that of Maastricht and Sittard, the long vowel in Dutch
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s is most of the time realized as , as in ''nao'' ("after", "to, towards"). The Standard Dutch equivalents are ''na'' and ''naar'' . In about 50 Belgian Limburgish dialects, the rounded front vowels are unrounded to in most native words. They are retained in French loanwords such as ''dzjuus'' .


Tone

The pitch accent means having two different accents used in stressed syllables. The difference between these two accents is used for differentiating both various grammatical forms of a single
lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms ta ...
and minimal tone pairs one from the other. With specific regards to Limburgish, these two accents are traditionally known as ''sjtoettoen'' ("push tone") and ''sjleiptoen'' ("dragging tone"). For example, ''daãg'' with a dragging tone means "day" in Limburgish, while in many Limburgish dialects ''daàg'' with a push tone is the plural form, "days" (in addition, can also be articulated in a neutral tone as a third possibility. In this case, it means "bye-bye" good day". In the preceding example, the difference is grammatical, but not lexical. An example of a lexical difference caused only by tone is the word ''biè'' which is articulated with a push tone and means "bee", which forms a tonal minimal pair with ''biẽ'', which is articulated with a dragging tone and means "at". This contrastive pitch accent also occurs in
Central Franconian Central or Middle Franconian () refers to the following continuum of West Central German dialects: * Ripuarian (spoken in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in eastern Belgium, and the southeastern tip of Dutch Limburg) * Moselle Fr ...
dialects spoken to the southeast of Limburgish. Other
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
pitch accent languages that use
tone contour A tone contour or contour tone is a tone in a tonal language which shifts from one pitch to another over the course of the syllable or word. Tone contours are especially common in East Asia, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Nilo-Saharan languages, K ...
s to distinguish the meaning of words that are otherwise phonetically identical include Lithuanian, Latvian, Swedish, Norwegian, Standard Slovene (only some speakers),
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
, and Punjabi. This feature is comparable to
tone Tone may refer to: Visual arts and color-related * Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory * Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color * Toning (coin), color change in coins * ...
systems as found e.g. in Chinese or many languages of Africa and Central America, although such "classical" tone languages make much more use of tone distinctions when compared to Limburgish. Historically, pitch accent in Limburgish and Central Franconian developed independently from accent systems in other Indo-European languages. While contrastive accent can be reconstructed for Proto Indo-European, it was completely lost in
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...
. Its reemergence in Limburgish (and
Central Franconian Central or Middle Franconian () refers to the following continuum of West Central German dialects: * Ripuarian (spoken in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in eastern Belgium, and the southeastern tip of Dutch Limburg) * Moselle Fr ...
) was phonetically triggered by
vowel height A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness ...
,
vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived or actual length (phonetics), duration of a vowel sound when pronounced. Vowels perceived as shorter are often called short vowels and those perceived as longer called long vowels. On one hand, many ...
, and voicing of a following consonant, and became phonemic with sound changes that must have occurred after 1100 CE such as lengthening of short vowels in open syllables, loss of schwa in final syllables, devoicing of consonants in final position, and
merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
of vowels that had been distinct before.


Particular local features


=Bitonality

= It has been proven by speech analysis that in the Belgian Limburgish dialect of
Borgloon Borgloon (; , ; ) is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. On January 1, 2006, Borgloon had a total population of 10,697. The tota ...
, the dragging tone itself is bitonal, while it has also been proved that this is not the case in the adjacent Limburgish dialects of
Tongeren Tongeren (; ; ; ) is a city and former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the only Roman administrative capital wit ...
and
Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...
.


=Steeper fall

= Other research has indicated that the push tone has a steeper fall in the eastern dialects of Limburgish (e.g. those of Venlo, Roermond and Maasbracht) than it has in western dialects. In addition, both the phonetic realisation and the syllable-based distribution of the contrasts between push and dragging tone seem to be mora-bound in the eastern dialects only. This has been examined especially by Jörg Peters.


=Diphthongization

= Moreover, in some dialects such as that of Sittard and Maastricht, especially the mid and
high High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...
vowels tend to diphthongize when they have a push tone. So in the dialect of Sittard means "to choose" while in the dialect of
Maasbracht Maasbracht (; ) is a town in the southeastern Netherlands. It was a separate municipality until 1 January 2007, when it became a part of the new municipality of Maasgouw. History The village was first mentioned in 1265 as "de Bragth", and mea ...
no diphthongization takes place, so means the same here. This difference has been examined in particular by Ben Hermans and Marc van Oostendorp. Other examples include plural * ''steĩn'' "stone" * ''steìn'' "stones" and lexical * "grave" * "hole next to a road" Verbs distinguish mood with tone: * "We conquer!" * "May we conquer!" The difference between push tone and dragging tone may also purely mark grammatical
declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence by way of an inflection. Declension may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and det ...
without there being any difference in meaning, as in the dialect of Borgloon: ''gieël'' ("yellow", with dragging tone) as opposed to ''en gieël peer'' ("a yellow pear", with push tone). This tonal shift also occurs when the adjective gets an inflectional ending, as in ''nen gieëlen appel ("a yellow apple"). In some parts of Limburg, the tonal plural is being replaced with the Dutch forms among the younger generation, so that the plural for ''daag'' becomes ''dage'' ().


Samples

The sample texts are readings of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun.


Phonetic transcription (Hasselt, West Limburgish)


Orthographic version (Hasselt, West Limburgish)


Phonetic transcription (Maastricht, Central Limburgish)


Orthographic version (Maastricht, Central Limburgish)


Grammar


Nouns


Gender

Limburgish has three grammatical genders. In some of the Limburgish dialects, is used before masculine words beginning with ''b'', ''d'', ''h'', ''t'' or with a vowel and in many other dialects is used before all masculine words. In most dialects, the indefinite article is for masculine nouns, for feminine nouns and or for neuter nouns. Without stress, these forms are most of the time realized as , and .


Plural

For some nouns, Limburgish uses
simulfix In linguistics, a simulfix is a type of affix that changes one or more existing phonemes (usually vowels) in order to modify the meaning of a morpheme. Examples of simulfixes in English are generally considered irregularities, surviving results of ...
es (i.e. umlaut) to form the plural: * – (brother – brothers) * – (shoe – shoes): note this can also be 'sjoon' with (pushing tone). For some nouns, there exists a separate conjugation as well: * - - / - - - (my home - your home - his home / her home - our home - their home) Plural and diminutive nouns based on Umlaut start to prevail east towards Germany. However, towards the west, the phonemic distinction between dragging and pushing tone will stop just before Riemst.


Diminutives

The diminutive suffix is most often ''-ke'', as in Brabantian, or ''-je''/''-sje'' after a dental consonant. For some nouns an umlaut is also used and in ''breurke'' for 'little brother' and ''sjeunke'' for 'little shoe'.


Adjectives

According to their declension, Limburgish adjectives can be grouped into two classes. Adjectives of the first class get the ending ''-e'' in their masculine and feminine singular forms and always in plural, but no ending in their neuter singular form. When combined with a masculine noun in singular adjectives may also end on ''-en'', under the same phonological conditions which apply to articles. To this class belong most adjectives ending on a , ''-d'', ''-k'', ''-p'', ''-t'' or ''-s'' preceded by another consonant or with one of the suffixes , and . The other declension class includes most adjectives ending on ''-f'', ''-g'', ''-j'', ''-l'',''-m'',''-n'', ''-ng'', ''-r'', ''-w'' or ''-s'' preceded by a vowel; these adjectives only get the ending in their masculine singular form. When used as a
predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...
, Limburgish adjectives never get an ending: (Maastrichtian: "That man is crazy"). Except for neuter adjectives which sometimes get -t: "'t Eint of 't angert", though this is dying out.


Pronouns


Personal pronouns


Possessive pronouns

In the masculine singular forms of ''mien'', ''dien'', ''zien'' and ''oos'', final ''-n'' is added under the same phonological conditions which apply to articles and adjectives. Deletion of the final ''-n'' in the neuter forms of ''mien'', ''dien'', ''zien'' no longer occurs in the dialect of Venlo and is also disappearing in the dialect of Roermond.


Demonstrative pronouns

The most common demonstrative pronouns in Limburgish are:


Vocabulary

Most of the modern Limburgish vocabulary is very similar to that of
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 ...
or to that of
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 ...
due to a heavy influence from the two. However, some of the basic vocabulary is rooted in neighboring
Central German Central German or Middle German () is a group of High German languages spoken from the Rhineland in the west to the former eastern territories of Germany. Central German divides into two subgroups, West Central German and East Central Ger ...
dialects. Historically, the vocabulary of the varieties of Limburgish spoken within current Belgian territory has been more influenced by French than that of the Limburgish dialects spoken on Dutch and German soil, as appears form words such as ''briquet'' ("cigarette-lighter"), ''camion'' ("truck") and ''crevette'' ("shrimp"). The language has similarities with both German and Dutch, and Hendrik van Veldeke, a medieval writer from the region, is referred to as both one of the earlier writers in German and one of the earliest writers in Dutch.


See also

* Limburgish Wikipedia *
Southeast Limburgish Southeast Limburgish ( Dutch: ''Zuidoost-Limburgs'') is a cover term for the Ripuarian dialects spoken in Dutch Limburg. In the Netherlands and Belgium this group is often included in the generic term Limburgish. Limburgish was recognised as a ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * * Driessen, Geert (2012):
Ontwikkelingen in het gebruik van Fries, streektalen en dialecten in de periode 1995-2011
'. Nijmegen: ITS. *Frins, Jean (2005): ''Syntaktische Besonderheiten im Aachener Dreilãndereck. Eine Übersicht begleitet von einer Analyse aus politisch-gesellschaftlicher Sicht''. Groningen: RUG Repro ndergraduate Thesis, Groningen University *Frins, Jean (2006): ''Karolingisch-Fränkisch. Die ''plattdůtsche'' Volkssprache im Aachener Dreiländereck''. Groningen: RUG Repro aster's Thesis, Groningen University * * ** * * *


Further reading

* * * *


External links


On Limburgish Tones (in Dutch)Map of dialects spoken in Dutch LimburgLimburgish Wiktionary – De Limburgse WiktionairLimburgish Academy Foundation (Stiechting Limbörgse Academie)
with dictionaries Limburgish-Dutch, Limburgish-English, Dutch-Limburgish and English-Limburgish and a history of the Limburgish language
Veldeke Genk (in Genk dialect and Dutch)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Limburgish Language Languages of Belgium Languages of the Netherlands Languages of Germany Limburg (region) Low Franconian languages Subject–object–verb languages Tonal languages Verb-second languages Culture of Limburg (Netherlands) Limburg (Belgium) Liège Province Rhineland