The West Middle German reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

West Middle German

West Middle German is a High German dialect family in the German language. Its dialects are thoroughly Franconian including the following sub-families:

• Middle Franconian
  • Ripuarian Franconian'' (North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Belgium)
  • Luxembourgish (Luxembourg, Belgium and France)
• Rhine Franconian
  • Moselle Franconian (North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland)
  • Lorrainian German (France)
  • Westpalatine dialects (Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland)
  • Forepalatine dialects (Rhineland-Palatinate and France)
  • Hesse Nassauish (Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate)
• Lower Hesse dialects (Hesse, Thuringia)

Apart from West Middle German on the southern edge and in south-east Franconian dialects are turning to Upper German. This transition area between Middle German and Upper German is captured by the dialect families of Southern Franconian and East Franconian, colloquially miscalled Franconian, because dialects of this sub-family are spoken all over Franconia.

External link

• German dialects of today (in German)

See also: East Middle German, Franconian language

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