Zuidrijnmaasfrankisch, is an obsolete grouping of Low Franconian varieties, spoken in the Limburg and Rhineland regions, near the common Dutch/Flemish(Belgium)/German border. Limburgish is recognised as a regional language (streektaal) in the Netherlands and as such it receives moderate protection under chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The border of this category to the South is the Benrath line, to the North it is the Uerdingen line.

Subdialects

Centraalnederlimburgs is a variety of Limburgish around Maastricht and Heerlen in the Netherlands and Genk in Belgium. Centraal-Limburgs is a concept used in Germany, which includes the area around Maastricht and stretches further North. In Germany there is a concept of a variety of Limburgish around Genk. There also is the German concept of a variety of Limburgish between Genk and Hasselt. Oostlimburgs-Ripuarisch Overgangsgebied is a concept used in Germany to describe the linguistic area in Belgium around Eupen, including Welkenraedt, Lontzen and Moresnet, in the Netherlands between Ubach and Brunssum and a large area in Germany including Mönchengladbach. Oost-Limburgs is a concept used in Germany, which includes an area from Belgian Voeren South of Sittard in the Netherlands to an area in Germany including Dülken and central Krefeld.

Wesnederlimburgs is the variety of Limburgish spoken around Hasselt and Veldeke in Belgium. In Germany West-Limburgs is a concept including the Limburgish spoken around Hasselt and Veldeke in Belgium and including areas in Dutch Limburg and Dutch Brabant. The border of West-Limburgs and Oost-Limburgs starts few South of the area between the villages of 's-Gravenvoeren and Sint-Martens-Voeren in the Belgian municipality of Voeren.

The at least to the largest extent non-tonal varieties of Oost-Getelands, West-Getelands and Bilzerlands are considered as being parts of Zuidrijnmaasfrankisch. Oost-Getelands, which is spoken around St Truiden in Belgium iis considered a variety of Zuidrijnmaasfrankisch. West-Getelands spoken up to the Uerdingen Line, which reaches the Dutch-Walloon linguistic border at Bierbeek in Belgium also is considered a variety of Zuidrijnmaasfrankisch. The other varieties, that are considered variants of Zuidrijnmaasfrankisch are Bilzerlands spoken around Genk in Belgium and Tongerlands spoken around Tongeren in Belgium.

External link

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West Germanic languages | Südniederfränkisch | Zuidrijnmaasfrankisch