The subdivision of

West Central German West Central German (german: Westmitteldeutsch) belongs to the Central, High German dialect family of German. Its dialects are Franconian and comprise the parts of the Rhinelandic continuum located south of the Benrath line isogloss, including ...

into a series of dialects, according to the differing extent of the High German consonant shift, is particularly pronounced. It known as the Rhenish fan (german: Rheinischer Fächer, links=no, nl, Rijnlandse waaier, links=no) because on the map of dialect boundaries, the lines form a fan shape.Rheinischer Fächer – Karte des Landschaftsverband Rheinland
Here, no fewer than eight isoglosses, named after places on the

Rhine River ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

, run roughly west to east. They partially merge into a simpler system of boundaries in East Central German. The table on the right lists the isoglosses (bold) and the main resulting dialects (italics), arranged from north to south.

Chart

References

{{reflist History of the German language Central German languages