__NOTOC__

Moselle Franconian (german: Moselfränkisch, lb, Muselfränkesch) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish. It is spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the course of the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) 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 jo ...

, in the

Siegerland The Siegerland is a region of Germany covering the old district of Siegen (now part of the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in North Rhine-Westphalia) and the upper part of the district of Altenkirchen, belonging to the Rhineland-Palatinate adjoin ...

of North Rhine-Westphalia, throughout western Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, Luxembourg, the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium and in the neighboring

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

département of

(in

Arrondissement of Boulay-Moselle The arrondissement of Boulay-Moselle is a former arrondissement of France in the Moselle department in the Lorraine region. In 2015 it was merged into the new arrondissement of Forbach-Boulay-Moselle. It had 96 communes, and its population was 79,8 ...

). The Transylvanian Saxon dialect spoken in the Transylvania region of Romania is derived from this dialect as a result of the emigration of numerous " Transylvanian Saxons" 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 The South Region of Brazil (; ) is one of the five regions of Brazil. It includes the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina, and covers , being the smallest region of the country, occupying only about 6.76% of the territory ...

, brought by 19th century immigrants from the

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

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; ) Die Frankiese taalgebied

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 The Eifel dialects (german: Eifeler Mundarten) are those dialects spoken in the Eifel mountains of Germany. They divide into two language regions: the dialects spoken in the southern Eifel (''Eifelisch'') are part of the Moselle Franconian dialect ...

(Rhineland-Palatinate, East Belgium, Luxembourg, southern North Rhine-Westphalia) * Untermosellanisch (Rhineland-Palatinate) * West-Westerwäldisch (Rhineland-Palatinate) *

Siegerländisch Siegerländisch (german: Siegerländer-Platt, locally called ''Sejerlännr Pladd'') is the northeasternmost dialect of the Moselle Franconian Dialect Group. Siegerländisch is spoken in the region around the city of Siegen in Germany. The dialect ...

(southern North Rhine-Westphalia, northeastern Rhineland-Palatinate) Also considered part of the Moselle Franconian language are the variants of

Lorraine Franconian Lorraine Franconian (Lorraine Franconian: ''Plàtt'' or ''lottrìnger Plàtt''; french: francique lorrain or ''platt lorrain''; german: Lothringisch) is an ambiguous designation for dialects of West Central German (german: Westmitteldeutsch), ...

, Luxembourgish and Transylvanian Saxon dialect. 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: * Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch) *

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

References

Lorraine-German people, Rhineland Central German languages German dialects Articles containing video clips Moselle {{Germanic-lang-stub

Varieties

See also

Further reading

References