Westphalian language
{{Short description|Low German dialects spoken in Germany}}
{{Infobox language
|name = Westphalian
|altname = Westfalish
|states = Germany,{{e18|wep}} Netherlands
|region = Westphalia, southwest Lower Saxony, eastern Netherlands
|speakers = ?
|familycolor = Indo-European
|fam2 = Germanic
|fam3 = West Germanic
|fam4 = North Sea Germanic
|fam5 = Low German
|fam6 = West Low German
|iso3 = wep
|glotto = west2356
|glottorefname = Westphalic
|notice = IPA
}}
Westphalian or Westfalish (Standard High German: {{lang|de|Westfälisch}}, Standard Dutch: {{lang|nl|Westfaals}}) is one of the major dialect groups of Low German. Its most salient feature is its diphthongization (rising diphthongs). For example, speakers say {{lang|wep|iäten}} ({{IPA|[ɪɛtn̩]}}) instead of {{lang|gmw|etten}} or {{lang|gmw|äten}} for "to eat". (There is also a difference in the use of consonants within the Westphalian dialects: North of the Wiehengebirge, people tend to use unvoiced consonants, whereas south of the Wiehengebirge they tend to use the voiced equivalents, e.g. {{lang|wep|Foite}} > {{lang|wep|Foide}}.)
The Westphalian dialect region includes the north-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, i.e. the former Prussian province of Westphalia, without Siegerland and Wittgenstein, but including the southern part of former government district Weser-Ems (e.g. the region around Osnabrück and the landscape of Emsland in modern Lower Saxony).
Traditionally, all Dutch Low Saxon dialects are considered Westphalian, with the notable exception of Gronings, which is grouped with the Northern Low Saxon and Friso-Saxon dialects.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} The rising diphthongisation is still noticeable in the dialects of Rijssen, Enter and Vriezenveen. In a band from southeast Twente to northwest Twente the diphtongisation still happens before the consonants v, g and z. Vriezenveen furthermore preserved the diphtongisations in words like to eat, to hope and kitchen. In other areas of Dutch Low Saxon the breaking was monophthongized and then highered and lengthened, resulting in different development stadia away from the breaking depending on the area.
Varieties
Among the Westphalian language there are different subgroups of dialects:{{Cite web |editor=Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) |title=Online-Angebote |url=https://www.mundart-kommission.lwl.org/de/online-angebote/ |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=11 September 2023}} → {{Cite web |editor=Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) |title=Mundartregionen Westfalens |url=https://www.lwl.org/komuna/pdf/mundartregionen_westfalens.pdf |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=11 September 2023}} [a map; PDF]
- Westmünsterländisch
- Münsterländisch
- South Westphalian ({{lang|de|Südwestfälisch}})
- East Westphalian ({{lang|de|Ostwestfälisch}}) in East Westphalia (possibly including the dialect of Osnabrück)
Westphalian dialects in the Netherlands:{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
Westphalian has many lexical similarities and other proximities to Eastphalian, extending to the East and slightly to the North of the area where Westphalian is spoken.
Grammar
=Personal pronouns=
The personal pronouns in Störmede are as follows:Franz Kemper: Stürmeder Platt: Wi et lutt düt un dat. 1998, p. 18
| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | !! rowspan="2" | 1st person !! rowspan="2" | 2nd person !! colspan="3" | 3rd person | ||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|
| rowspan="4" | Singular
! Nominative | ik || diu || hoi || soi || iät | ||
| (Genitive)
| (van meune) || (van deune) || (van seune) || (van iähre) || (van seune) | ||
| Dative
| rowspan="2" | meu || rowspan="2" | deu || rowspan="2" | iähne || iähr || iähne | ||
| Accusative
| soi || iät | ||
| rowspan="4" | Plural
! Nominative | weu || jeu || colspan="3" | soi | ||
| (Genitive)
| (van use) || (van jiue) || colspan="3" | (van iähre) | ||
| Dative
| rowspan="2" | us || rowspan="2" | jiu || colspan="3" | iähnen | ||
| Accusative
| colspan="3" | soi |
Status
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2023}}
German Westphalian is currently spoken mostly by elderly people. The majority of the inhabitants of Westphalia proper speak (regionally coloured) standard German. This accent, however, does not stand out as much as for example Bavarian, because Westphalia is closer to the Hanover region, whose speech variety is generally considered to be standard modern German.
The Low Saxon dialects in the bordering Twente and Achterhoek regions in the east of the Netherlands are traditionally classified as Westphalian dialects, albeit with some notable traits from Standard Dutch. A 2005 study showed 62% of the population of Twente spoke the language at home or together with Dutch, and efforts are made to insert the language into the local school curriculum.
One of the reasons for the diminishing use of Westphalian in Germany is the rigorous enforcement of German-only policies in traditionally Low German-speaking areas during the 18th century. Westphalian, and Low German in general, unlike many of the High German dialects, were too distant from standard German to be considered dialects and were therefore not tolerated and efforts were made to ban them. In an extreme case, Hannover and its hinterland were forced to adopt rather unnaturally a form of German based on the written standard.
Westphalian was spoken in Kruppwerke up to the 19th century.
Nevertheless, the Westphalian regiolect of Standard High German includes some words that originate from the dying Westphalian dialects, which are otherwise unintelligible for other German speakers from outside Westphalia. Examples include Pölter {{IPA|[ˈpœltɐ]}} "pyjamas/pajamas", Plörre {{IPA|[ˈplœʁə]}} "dirty liquid", and Mötke {{IPA|[ˈmœtkə]}} "mud, dirt".
Authors
Westphalian authors include:
Münsterländisch:
- Augustin Wibbelt
East Westphalian:
- Richard Knoche
South Westphalian:
- Wilhelm Bleicher
- Wilhelm Bröcker
- Theodor Ellbracht
- Friedrich Wilhelm Grimme
- Walter Höher
- Carl Hülter
- Fritz Kuhne
- Fritz Linde
- Horst Ludwigsen
- Franz Nolte
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Daniela Twilfer: Dialektgrenzen im Kopf. Der westfälische Sprachraum aus volkslinguistischer Perspektive. Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 978-3-89534-903-4.
- Niederdeutsche Mundarten. In: Geographisch-landeskundlicher Atlas von Westfalen. Themenbereich V. Kultur und Bildung. Münster 1996 (Karten und Begleittext).
- Hermann Niebaum: Geschichte und Gliederung der sprachlichen Systeme in Westfalen. In: Der Raum Westfalen VI,1, Münster 1989, ISBN 3-402-05554-6, S. 5–31.
- Rudolf Ernst Keller: Westphalian: Mönsterlänsk Platt. In: German Dialects. Phonology & Morphology, with selected texts. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1961, S. 299–338.
External links
- Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe:
- [https://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/komuna/isa/ Interactive Language Atlas of Westphalian]
- Hans Taubken: [https://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/Westfalen_Regional/Gebiet_Identitaet/Mundarten/ Low German Language - Westphalian Dialects] on the page [https://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/Westfalen_Regional Geographische Kommission für Westfalen – Westfalen Regional – The geographical and cultural online documentation about Westphalia], retrieved 17 September 2018.
- [https://www.mundart-kommission.lwl.org/de/ Kommission für Mundart- und Namenforschung Westfalens] (Commission for Dialect and Name-Research in Westphalia)
- [https://www.lwl.org/komuna/podcast_sprichwoerter/index.html Audio: Podcast with Low German proverbs and idioms, which are explained in Standard High German]
- [https://regionalsprache.de/Map/UoCKruB7 Language Borders in Westphalia and the surrounding area] – interactive map (regionalsprache.de, Deutscher Sprachatlas)
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