Low Saxon

For other uses, see Low German (disambiguation) and Low Saxon.

West Low German
German: Westniederdeutsch
Native to	Germany, Netherlands, Southern Denmark
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Ingvaeonic Low German West Low German
Language codes
ISO 639-2	nds for Low German
ISO 639-3	Variously: wep – Westphalian nds – (partial) frs – Eastern Frisian gos – Gronings stl – Stellingwerfs drt – Drents twd – Twents act – Achterhoeks sdz – Sallands vel – Veluws
Glottolog	west2357
West Low German area in yellow. This area is also called Low Saxon.

West Low German, also known as Low Saxon (German: Westniederdeutsch, literally West Low German, or Niedersächsisch (in a stricter sense), literally: Low Saxon, Nether-Saxon; Low German: Nedersassisch, Nedersaksies; Dutch: Nedersaksisch) is a group of Low German (also Low Saxon; German: Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsch, Dutch: Nederduits) dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by the German minority). It is one of two groups of mutually intelligible dialects, the other being East Low German dialects. A 2005 study found that there were approximately 1.8 million "daily speakers" of Low Saxon in the Netherlands. 53% spoke Low Saxon or Low Saxon and Dutch at home and 71% could speak it. According to another study the percentage of speakers among parents dropped from 34% in 1995 to 15% in 2011. The percentage of speakers among their children dropped from 8% to 2% in the same period.

Extent

The language area comprises the North German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia (the Westphalian part), Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt (the northwestern areas around Magdeburg) as well as the northeast of The Netherlands (i.e. Dutch Low Saxon, spoken in Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel and northern Gelderland) and the Schleswigsch dialect spoken by the North Schleswig Germans in the southernmost part of Denmark.

In the south the Benrath line and Uerdingen line isoglosses form the border with the area, where West Central German variants of High German are spoken.

List of dialects

Germany

• West Low German
  • Westphalian, including the region around Münster and the Osnabrück region of Lower Saxony
  • Eastphalian, spoken in southeastern Lower Saxony (Hanover, Braunschweig, Göttingen) and in the Magdeburg Börde region
  • Northern Low Saxon
    • Schleswigisch
    • Holsteinisch
      • Hamburgisch
    • Ollnborger Platt in the Oldenburg region
    • East Frisian Low Saxon in East Frisia
    • North Hanoveranian
    • Dithmarsch
    • Emsländisch

Low Saxon language area in the Netherlands

Netherlands

Main article: Dutch Low Saxon

While Dutch is a Low Franconian language, the Dutch Low Saxon varieties, which the Dutch government considers to be Dutch dialects, form a dialect continuum with the Westphalian language. They consist of:

• West Low German
  • Westphalian
    • Stellingwarfs in southeastern Friesland
    • Midden-Drents
    • Zuud-Drèents
    • Tweants and Tweants-Groafschops in the Twente region of Overijssel and the adjacent Achterhoek region of Gelderland
    • Veluws in the Veluwe region of Gelderland
    • Gelders-Overijssels
      • Achterhooks
      • Sallaans in the Salland region of western Overijssel
      • Urkers on the former island of Urk in Flevoland
  • Northern Low Saxon
    • Westerkwartiers, in western Groningen
    • Gronings, in Groningen and northern Drenthe, by its Frisian substratum related to Friso-Saxon dialects

Denmark

• West Low German
  • Northern Low Saxon
    • Schleswigsch dialect spoken in former South Jutland County (the northern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig) around Aabenraa (Apenrade)