Moselle Franconian (; ) is a

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 ...

language, part of the Central Franconian languages area, that includes

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. The language is standardized and officiall ...

Overview

Moselle Franconian is spoken in the southern

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 ...

and along the course of the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

, in the Siegerland of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, throughout western

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

and

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest 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 the smallest in ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, the south of the

German-speaking Community of Belgium The German-speaking Community (, , DG), also known as East Belgium ( ), is one of the three Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, federal communities of Belgium. The community is composed of nine municipalities in Liège Province, ...

and in the neighboring French département of

(in Arrondissement of Boulay-Moselle). The

Transylvanian Saxon dialect Transylvanian Saxon is the native German dialects, German dialect of the Transylvanian Saxons, an ethnic Germans of Romania, German minority group from Transylvania in central Romania, and is also one of the three oldest ethnic German and Geog ...

spoken in the

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

region of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

is derived from this dialect as a result of the emigration of numerous "

Transylvanian Saxons The Transylvanian Saxons (; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen'' or simply ''Soxen'', singularly ''Sox'' or ''Soax''; Transylvanian Landler dialect, Transylvanian Landler: ''Soxn'' or ''Soxisch''; ; seldom ''sa ...

" between 1100 and 1300, primarily from areas in which the Moselle Franconian dialect was then spoken. Another variety of Moselle Franconian, the Hunsrik, is spoken in some rural areas of southern Brazil, brought by 19th century immigrants from the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

region in modern Germany.

Varieties

The transition between "dialect" and "separate language" is fluid.Ammon, Ulrich - Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt
(de Gruyter Mouton; ) The ''Linguasphere Register'' lists five dialects of Moselle Franconian (code 52-ACB-dc) with codes -dca to -dce: * Trierisch (Rhineland-Palatinate, Luxembourg, northwestern Saarland) * Eifelisch (Rhineland-Palatinate, East Belgium, Luxembourg, southern

) * Untermosellanisch (Rhineland-Palatinate) * West-Westerwäldisch (Rhineland-Palatinate) * Siegerländisch (southern North Rhine-Westphalia, northeastern Rhineland-Palatinate) Also considered part of the Moselle Franconian language are the variants of Lorraine Franconian,

and

. Some Moselle Franconian dialects have developed into standardized varieties which can be considered separate languages, especially due to the limited intelligibility of some dialects for Standard German speakers: *

(Lëtzebuergesch) * Lorraine Franconian *

* Hunsrik Most speakers of Luxembourgish are multilingual, speaking Standard German and French in addition to Luxembourgish.

Overview

Varieties

See also

References

Further reading