Low GermanLow German or Low Saxon (Plattdüütsch, Nedderdüütsch, Nedersaksisch; Standard German Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsch; Dutch Nedersaksisch — see Nomenclature) is any of the regional language varieties of the West Germanic languages spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands. The historical sprachraum also includes
contemporary northern Poland, the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia and
a part of southern Lithuania.
The Low German (or Low Saxon) language area is shown in yellow.
Geographical extentLow German in EuropeDialects of Low German are widely spoken in the northeastern area of the Netherlands (
Dutch Low Saxon) and are written there with
Dutch orthography.
Variants of Low German were widely (and are still to a far lesser extent) spoken in most parts of
Northern Germany, for instance in the states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon speaking too. Historically,
Low German was also spoken in
formerly German parts of Poland as well as in
East Prussia and the
Baltic States of
Estonia and
Latvia. The language was also formerly spoken in the outer areas of what is now the city state of Berlin but in the course of urbanisation and national centralisation in that city the language vanished. (The Berlin dialect itself is a northern outpost of High German and typologically a Missingsch variety, although rarely recognized as the latter).
Today, there are still speakers outside of Germany and The Netherlands to be found in
the coastal areas of present Poland (minority of
ethnic German Pommersch speakers who were not expelled from Pomerania, as well as the regions around Braunsberg). In the Southern Jutland region of Denmark there may still be some Low German speakers in some German minority communities, but the Low German and North Frisian dialects of Denmark can be considered moribund at this time.
Low German outside Europe and the MennonitesThere are also immigrant communities in several places of the world, such as Canada, the United States, Mexico,
South Africa, Central Asia, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, where
Low German is spoken. In some of these countries, the language is part of the
Mennonite religion and culture. There are Mennonite communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba, Canada which use Low German in their religious services and communities; the people are largely ethnic Germans whose ancestors had moved to newly acquired Russian territories in Ukraine before emigrating to the Americas in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The type of Low German spoken in these communities and in the Midwest region of the United States has diverged since emigration. The survival of the language is tenuous in many places and has died out in some places where assimilation has occurred. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, South America and Chihuahua, Mexico are said to have made Low German a "
co-official language" of the community, in addition to the countries' official language, Spanish.
NomenclatureLow German is called Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch by its native speakers in the specific German area, and
Nedersaksisch or
Nederduuts by most of its native speakers in
the Netherlands.
Officially, Low German is called Niederdeutsch (Nether/Low German) by the German authorities.
In The Netherlands, the Dutch authorities call it Nedersaksisch (Nether/Low Saxon). Plattdeutsch/Niederdeutsch and Platduits/Nedersaksisch are seen in linguistic texts from the
German and
Dutch linguistic communities respectively.
In Danish it is called Plattysk, Nedertysk or, rarely, Lavtysk.
“
Low” refers to the flat plains and
coastal area of the northern European lowlands, contrasted with the mountainous areas of central and southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, where High German is spoken.
The ISO 639-2 language code for Low German (Low Saxon) has been nds (nedersaksisch) since May 2000.
DisambiguationThere are different uses of the term “
Low German”:
1. A specific name of any West Germanic varieties that neither have taken part in the High German consonant shift nor classify as Low Franconian or Anglo-Frisian; this is the scope discussed in this article.
2. A broader term for the closely-related, continental West Germanic language family unaffected by the High German consonant shift, nor classifying as Anglo-Frisian, and thus including Low Franconian varieties such as
Dutch.
The colloquial term "
Platt" denotes both
Low German dialects and any non-standard variety of German; this use is chiefly found in northern and western Germany and is considered not to be linguistically correct.
Low German in contemporary useMany people in northern Germany are unaware that the use of Low German does not abruptly stop at the German-Dutch border, but in fact
continues on into the eastern Netherlands. Among those who are aware of it, a measure of estrangement (especially Dutch versus German influences and Dutch versus German based spelling), besides alleged sensitivities remaining from the German occupation in World War II, is often used as an argument in favor of ignoring the dialects of the Netherlands.
The general attitude among Low German speakers in the Netherlands, however, is that the Dutch Low Saxon varieties belong to a continuum with the Low German varieties of Northern Germany. Many Low German speakers in the Netherlands are willing and happy to participate in activities organized on the German side of the border, and Dutch people have won prizes in Low German literature contests in Germany.Relation to German and DutchLow German dialects (including Dutch)The question of whether
Low German should be considered
a separate language, as opposed to
a dialect of German or Dutch, has been a point of contention. Linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criteria to decide this question, as it is of little academic interest.
Personally (Pieters opinion not the opinion of this Wikipedia copied text) Lower German sounds more like Dutch and the grammer in which words and sentences are written are more close to Dutch than German. (But I have to admid that I am not a German speaker or reader on daily basis - although I hear German daily when I switch to German television for short moments of the Tageschau -German news-).
Some such arguments are*
Low German lacks any meaningful
standard form regarding grammar, orthography, or other aspects, that would bridge the immense regional differences within
Low German and form an equivalent to the standard forms of German, French, or other generally accepted independent languages (although Northern Low Saxon serves as a common intelligible language in TV and radio programmes);
*
Low German is not used widely anywhere, and especially not outside of colloquial oral communication.
It is spoken on a daily basis by a small minority in Northern Germany. Use in the media is limited to small columns or segments that typically are specifically intended to foster and promote the language;
* Written
Low German is used almost exclusively for belletristic literature, but not for technical documents, administrative or legal texts, etc.
In contrast, Old Saxon and Middle Low German may have met enough of these criteria to be considered separate languages in their own rights.
Claims to the contrary have also been made, ascribing to Low German the status of an independent language on par with German,
Dutch, Danish, etc. They are often motivated by efforts to paint an uplifting, positive picture to combat the perceived image of
Low German as a dying and irrelevant idiom, and focus on different points such as
* The great differences between High and
Low German; these are examined as absolutes and not compared to the differences between High German and other extreme, but established dialects (such as Swiss German), or between
Low German and
Dutch.
* The ostensible successes of very recent efforts (in the 1980s and 1990s) to revive
Low German in the media, the schools, and in language societies.
Low German has been recognised by
the Netherlands and by
Germany (since 1999) as
a regional language according to
the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Within the official terminology defined in the charter, this status would not be available to a dialect of an official language (as per article 1 (a)), and hence not to
Low German in Germany if it were considered a dialect of German. Advocates of the promotion of
Low German have expressed considerable hope that this political development will at once lend legitimacy to their claim that
Low German is a separate language and help mitigate the functional limits of the language that may still be cited as objective criteria for a mere dialect (such as the virtually complete absence from legal and administrative contexts, schools, the media, etc.).
Classification and related languagesLow German is a part of the continental West Germanic dialect continuum.
To the West, it blends into the Low Franconian languages which distinguish two plural verbal endings, as opposed to a common verbal plural ending in Low German.
To the South, it blends into the High German dialects of Central German that have been affected by the High German consonant shift. The division is usually drawn at the Benrath line that traces the maken – machen isogloss.
To the East, it abuts
the Kashubian language (the only remnant of
the Pomeranian language) and, since the expulsion of nearly all Germans from Pomerania following the Second World War, also by the Polish language. The Low German dialects of Pomerania are included in the Pommersch group.
To the North and Northwest, it abuts the Danish and the Frisian languages.
Note that in Germany, Low German has replaced the Frisian languages in many regions. The Saterland Frisian is the only remnant of East Frisian language and is surrounded by
Low German, as are the few remaining North Frisian varieties, and
the Low German dialects of those regions have Frisian influences from Frisian substrates.
Some classify the northern dialects of
Low German together with English, Scots, and
Frisian as the North Sea Germanic or Ingvaeonic languages. However, most exclude Low German from that group often called Anglo-Frisian languages because some distinctive features of that group of languages are only partially observed in Low German, for instance the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law (some dialects have us, os for ‘us’ whereas others have uns,
ons [=Dutch]), and because other distinctive features do not occur in
Low German at all, for instance the palatalization of /k/ (compare palatalized forms such as English cheese, Frisian tsiis to non-palatalized forms such as Low German Kees or Kaise,
Dutch kaas, German Käse).
In Germany * West Low German
o East Frisian Low Saxon
o Northern Low Saxon
o Westphalian language
o Eastphalian language
* East Low German
o Brandenburgisch
o Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch
o Mittelpommersch
o East Pomeranian
o Low Prussian
o Plautdietsch (Mennonite Low German, used also in many other countries)
In the NetherlandsThe Dutch Low Saxon varieties, which are also defined as Dutch dialects, consist of:
* Westerkwartiers
o Kollumerpompsters
o Kollumerlands
o Middaglands
o Midden-Westerkwartiers
o Zuid-Westerkwartiers
*
Gronings and Noord-Drents o Hogelandsters
o Stadsgronings
o Westerwolds
o Veenkoloniaals
o Oldambtsters
*
Stellingwerfs *
Midden-Drents *
Zuid-Drents *
Twents *
Twents-Graafschaps *
Gelders-Overijssels o Achterhoeks
o Sallands
o Urkers
*
Veluws o Oost-Veluws
o West-Veluws
HistoryOld SaxonOld Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is a West Germanic language. It is documented from the 9th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in Denmark by Saxon peoples. It is closely related to
Old Anglo-Frisian (Old Frisian, Old English), partially participating in the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law.
Only a few texts survive, predominantly in baptismal vows the Saxons were required to perform at the behest of Charlemagne. The only literary texts preserved are Heliand and the Old Saxon Genesis.
Middle Low GermanThe Middle Low German language is an ancestor of modern Low German. It was spoken from about 1100 to 1500. The neighbour languages within the dialect continuum of the West Germanic languages were
Middle Dutch in
the West and Middle High German in the South, later substituted by Early New High German. Middle Low German was the lingua franca of
the Hanseatic League, spoken all around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Based on the language of
Lübeck, a standardized written language was developing, though it was never codified.
ContemporaryAfter mass education in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries the slow decline which Low German was experiencing since the end of the Hanseatic league turned into a free fall. Today efforts are made in
Germany and in
the Netherlands to protect
Low German as a
regional language. Various Low German dialects are understood by 10 million people, and native to about 3 million people all around northern Germany. Most of these speakers are located in rural villages and are often elderly. However, the
KDE project supports Low German (nds) as a language for its computer desktop environment.
