The Eifel dialects (german: Eifeler Mundarten) are those
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
s spoken in the
Eifel mountains
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. They divide into two language regions: the dialects spoken in the southern Eifel (''Eifelisch'') are part of the
Moselle Franconian dialect group and closely resemble
Luxembourgish
Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide.
As a standard form of th ...
. In the northern Eifel, by contrast, the dialects (''Eifelplatt'') belong to the
Ripuarian dialect group
Ripuarian ( ; also ''Ripuarian Franconian''; german: Ripuarisch, , ''ripuarische Mundart, ripuarischer Dialekt, ripuarisch-fränkische Mundart, Ribuarisch'', nl, Ripuarisch , ''Noordmiddelfrankisch'') is a German dialect group, part of the We ...
and are more like ''
Öcher Platt
Southeast Limburgish (Dutch: ''Zuidoost-Limburgs'', Ripuarian: ''Süüdoß-Limburjesch''), also referred to as Southern Meuse-Rhenish, is a subdivision of what recently has been named Meuse-Rhenish. Both terms denote a rather compact grouping of ...
'' or ''
Kölsch''. In between there is a
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 ...
of typical transitions, whereby more or less every village speaks a little differently from its neighbours.
Linguistic geography
The development of territorial structures in the
Eifel
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
since the
Roman era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
is reflected in the development of the Eifel dialects. From a linguistic point of view, the Eifel can be divided into the Moselle Franconian and the Ripuarian dialect regions. The "Eifel language barrier", which separates the two dialects along a broad strip of territory, extends from the northern part of the Bitburg-Prüm, via Dahlem, North Rhine-Westphalia, Kronenburg, Blankenheim (Ahr), Blankenheim, Nettersheim, Altenahr and Ahrweiler along the Vinxtbach to its confluence with the Rhine at Bad Breisig. The old Roman border between Germania superior and Germania inferior ran here too. In the feudal period, the border between the Electorate of Trier and Electorate of Cologne also followed this line and, today, the border between North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate runs within this strip of land, which in linguistics is also referred to as the Vinxtbach Line or Dorp-Dorf Line.
[http://www.rheinische-landeskunde.lvr.de/sprache/namen/ortsnamen/ on 3 September 2012] The Eifel dialect is also spoken in the neighbouring German-speaking Community of Belgium. Especially in the southern part of this region, which is also called the Belgian Eifel, the dialect has been able to preserve its importance in everyday life. Historically, these territories belonged mainly to the Duchy of Luxembourg (until 1815), while smaller elements belonged to the Electorate of Trier.
Literature
* Fritz Koenn: " - Eifeler Wörter und Ausdrücke gesammelt und kurzweilig erklärt von Fritz Koenn". Helios, Aachen, 1995, .
* Hans-Dieter Arntz: ''Jüdisches im Dialekt und Platt der Voreifel und Eifel – Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit durch Erinnerung an sprachliche Relikte''. In: Kreis Euskirchen (publ.): ''Jahrbuch des Kreises Euskirchen 2010'', pp. 8–17.
References
External links
{{Commonscat, Eifel Dialects
www.eifelfux.de - Website with many examples of the Eifel dialect
Central German languages
Tonal languages
Eifel