Dutch Low Saxon
Encyclopedia
Dutch Low Saxon is a group of Low Saxon, i.e. West Low German dialects spoken in the northeastern Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. In comparison, the remainder of the Netherlands (besides the Frisian
West Frisian language
West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...
speaking part) speak a collection of Low Franconian dialects.
The class "Dutch Low Saxon" is not unanimous. From a diachronic point of view, the Dutch Low Saxon dialects are merely the Low Saxon dialects which are native to areas in the Netherlands (as opposed to areas in northern Germany). From a strictly synchronic point of view, however, some linguists classify Dutch Low Saxon as a variety of Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. Some Dutch Low Saxon dialects show features of Westphalian
Westphalian language
Westphalian is one of the major dialect groups of West Low German. Its most salient feature is the diphthongization . For example, speakers say iEten instead of Eːten for eat...
, a West Low German dialect spoken in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Dialects
| Language classification |
| Indo-European languages Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia... |
| Germanic languages Germanic languages The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe... |
| West Germanic languages West Germanic languages The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of languages and include languages such as German, English, Dutch, Afrikaans, the Frisian languages, and Yiddish... |
| Low German Low German Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands... |
| Dutch Low Saxon |
- Westerkertiers
- Pompsters
- Kölmerlands
- Middaglands
- Midden-Westerkertiers
- Zuud-Westerkertiers
- Grunnegs and Noord-Drèents
- Hoogelaandsters
- Stadsgrunnegs
- Westerwoolds
- Veenkelonioals
- Oldambtsters
- StellingwarfsStellingwarfsStellingwarfs is the form of Dutch Low Saxon spoken in Ooststellingwerf and Weststellingwerf in the Dutch province of Friesland.By some observers included within Stellingwarfs is Veenkoloniaals, which is spoken in the village of Noordwolde in the Dutch province of Friesland.Stellingwarfs is easily...
- Midden-Drèents
- Zuud-Drèents
- Tweants
- Tweants-Groafschops
- Gelders-Oaveriessels
- AchterhooksAchterhooksAchterhooks is a Dutch Low Saxon dialect....
- Sallaans
- UrkersUrkersUrkers is the local language of the municipality and former island of Urk, located on the west coast of the Dutch province of Flevoland. In Dutch, Urkers is called Urks. Urk was an island until the middle of the 20th century...
- Achterhooks
- VeluwsVeluwsVeluws is a Dutch Low Saxon dialect which is spoken on the Veluwe. Veluws is usually divided into two main dialects, West-Veluws and Oost-Veluws , these two dialects are reasonably similar but differ in grammar...
- Oost-Veluws
- West-VeluwsWest-VeluwsWest-Veluws is a West Low Saxon dialect from the Dutch province of Gelderland. This dialect is spoken in different villages on the west side of the Veluwe and some villages on border of Gelderland and Utrecht...
Most varieties belong to the West Low Saxon group. Grunnegs is so different from the rest of the Dutch Low Saxon varieties that it may be treated separately. Tweants and Achterhooks belong to the Westphalian
Westphalian
Westphalian may refer to:* The culture or people of the Westphalia region of Germany* Westphalian language, one of the major dialect groups of West Low German* Westphalian sovereignty, a concept in international relations* Westphalian , in geology...
group of dialects. The remainder, Drèents, Stellingwarfs, Sallaans, Urkers and Veluws, could be classified in their own subdivision, since they form the westernmost group of Low Saxon dialects, considerably affected by Dutch. Urkers and West-Veluws are even so heavily Hollandified that some people classify these dialects as Low Franconian rather than Low Saxon.
Dutch influence
A lot of these dialects have been affected by the HollandicHollandic
Hollandic or Hollandish is, together with Brabantian, the most frequently used dialect of the Dutch language. Other important Low Franconian language varieties spoken in the same area are Zeelandic, East Flemish, West Flemish and Limburgish....
expansion of the seventeenth century. All of them are lexically dependent on Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
rather than German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for neologisms. When written down, they use a Dutch-based orthography.
a unified plural in -en rather than -t: This is found in West-Veluws and Urkers and clearly ensued from Dutch influence, since a unified plural in -t for verbs is common in Low Saxon. These dialects have wiej warken instead of wiej warkt for "we work". This feature is, surprisingly, also found in Stellingwarfs and Grunnegs, but here this trait is believed to have Frisian rather than Hollandic origins (the Stellingwerven have been Frisian for centuries and Groningen was a Frisian speaking area in the Middle Ages). Modern Frisian has -e here, -en may be a kind of intermediate form between -t and -e. This unified plural takes the form -et rather than -t in the Achterhooks dialect of Winterswijk
Winterswijk
Winterswijk is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands.Winterswijk is a town with a population of some 30,000 in the Achterhoek which lies in the most eastern part of the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. It was also known as Winethereswick, Winriswic or Wenterswic...
.
several long vowel shifts: Veluws, Sallaans, Stellingwarfs and Drèents have experienced mutation as the Hollandic dialect rose in prestige during the seventeenth century. The ee [eː] mutated into ie [iː], the oo [oː] into oe [uː] and the oe [uː] into uu [yː]. Tweants and Eastern Achterhooks, by contrast retained their old vowels. Compare these Tweants and Sallaans couples: deer - dier ("animal"); good - goed ("good"); hoes - huus ("house"). Surprisingly, in many dialects the oe sound was preserved in some words while it mutated towards uu in others. As a result, in Sallaans "huis" (house) translates as huus but "muis" (mouse) as moes (as in Tweants).
loss of the word du "thou": Dutch has lost the word doe "thou" and replaced it with jij, "ye
Ye (pronoun)
Ye was the second-person, plural, personal pronoun , spelled in Old English as "ge". In Middle English and Early Modern English, it was used to direct an equal or superior person...
", originally the second person plural. In many Low Saxon dialects in the Netherlands, the very same happened. The doe - ie/ieje/ij isogloss runs surprisingly close to the Dutch border, except in Groningen
Groningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...
, where it enters the Dutch territory with a vengeance (in the entire province this word is known). In Twente
Twente
Twente is a non-administrative region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel...
, it is present in the easternmost villages of Denekamp
Denekamp
Denekamp is a town in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is a part of the region of Twente and the municipality of Dinkelland, and lies about 9 km northeast of Oldenzaal....
and Oldenzaal, in de Achterhoek
Achterhoek
The Achterhoek is a region in the eastern part of the Netherlands, Europe.Its name is geographically appropriate because the area lies in the Eastern-most part of Gelderland, and therefore of the Netherlands, protruding into Germany...
(Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
), dou is present in Winterswijk
Winterswijk
Winterswijk is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands.Winterswijk is a town with a population of some 30,000 in the Achterhoek which lies in the most eastern part of the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. It was also known as Winethereswick, Winriswic or Wenterswic...
and Groenlo
Groenlo
Groenlo is a city in the municipality of Oost Gelre, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands on the German border, a region in the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek . Groenlo was a municipality until January 1, 2005, when it merged with Lichtenvoorde. Until May 19 2006 Groenlo...
.