Editing Low Franconian (section)

== Modern classification ==
[[File:RheinFächer LVR.png|thumb|Low Franconian dialects in shades of yellow and orange.]]
Low Franconian includes:<ref>Jan-Wouter Zwart, ''The Syntax of Dutch'', Cambridge University Press, 2011, p. 4: "The Low Franconian dialects include Brabantish, East Flemish, West Flemish, Zeeuws, Hollands-Utrechts, and the dialect of North-Noordholland and the North Sea Coast ([..]; the North-Noordholland dialect is confusingly called ''Westfries'' 'West Frisian')."</ref><ref>Anne Pauwels, ''Immigrant Dialects and Language Maintenance in Australia: The Case of the Limburg and Swabian Dialects'', 1986, p. 23: "The Franconian dialects include Hollands, Zeeuws, Flemish (East and West), Brabants and Limburgs. [...] Limburgs is the only East Franconian dialect spoken in the Netherlands. All other Franconian dialects in the Netherlands are West Franconian."</ref><ref>Magda Devos, ''Genese en structuur van het Vlaamse dialectlandschap'', in: Johan De Caluwe, Magda Devos (eds.), ''Structuren in talige variatie in Vlaanderen'', 2006, p. 35ff., here p. 36 [about the Low Franconian dialects in Belgium, shortly also mentioning situations beyond the border (like West-Vlaams in northern France)]</ref><ref>[[Jürgen Erich Schmidt]], Robert Möller, ''Historisches Westdeutsch/Rheinisch (Moselfränkisch, Ripuarisch, Südniederfränkisch)''; in: ''Sprache und Raum: Ein internationales Handbuch der Sprachvariation. Band 4: Deutsch. Herausgegeben von Joachim Herrgen, Jürgen Erich Schmidt. Unter Mitarbeit von Hanna Fischer und Birgitte Ganswindt.'' Volume 30.4 of ''Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft <small>(Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science / Manuels de linguistique et des sciences de communication)</small>'' (HSK). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2019, p. 515ff., here p. 528.</ref><ref>Johannes Venema, ''Zum Stand der zweiten Lautverschiebung im Rheinland: Diatopische, diachrone und diastratische Untersuchungen am Beispiel der dentalen Tenuis (voralthochdeutsch /t/)'' (= ''Mainzer Studien zu Sprach- und Volksforschung 22''), Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1997, p. 12</ref><ref>Jan Goossens, ''Die Gliederung des Südniederfränkischen'', in: ''Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter. Jahrgang 30 &nbsp;1965'', Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn, 1965, p. 79-94, esp. p. 79</ref><ref>Jan Goossens, edited by Heinz Eickmans, Loek Geeraedts, Robert Peters, ''Ausgewählte Schriften zur niederländischen und deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft'' (series: ''Niederlande-Studien Band [22]''), Waxmann, Münster / New York / München / Berlin, 2000, p. 202 [a map showing ''Friesisch'' and ''Niedersächsisch'' in the Netherlands as well as ''Nordniederfränkisch'' and ''Südniederfränkisch'' in the Netherlands and Germany]</ref><ref>[[Jan Goossens (linguist)|Jan Goossens]], ''Die gerundeten Palatalvokale im niederländischen Sprachraum'', in: Ludwig Erich Schmitt (ed.), ''Zeitschrift für Mundartforschung'', XXIX. Jahrgang 1962, Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1962, p. 312–328, here p. 313 [equating West Low Franconian and North Low Franconian as well as East Low Franconian and South Low Franconian, calling the West/East terminology Netherlandic technical language]</ref>
* West Low Franconian ({{lang|nl|Westnederfrankisch}}; in Germany also referred to as North Low Franconian ({{lang|de|Nordniederfränkisch}})): north of the [[Uerdingen line]]
** [[Brabantian dialect|Brabantish]] ({{lang|nl|Brabants}})
** [[West Flemish]] ({{lang|nl|West-Vlaams}}; also spoken in northern France)
** [[East Flemish]] ({{lang|nl|Oost-Vlaams}})
** [[Zeelandic]] ({{lang|nl|Zeeuws}})
** Hollands-Utrechts
*** [[Hollandic]] ({{lang|nl|Hollands}})
** the dialect of North-Noordholland and the North Sea Coast
** [[Kleverlandish]]
* [[South Low Franconian]] ({{lang|nl|Zuidnederfrankisch}}, {{lang|de|Südniederfränkisch}}; also: East Low Franconian ({{lang|nl|Oostnederfrankisch}})). In Belgium and the Netherlands commonly referred to as {{lang|nl|Limburgs}} ([[Limburgish]]), although this term is rarely applied to varieties of this group spoken in Germany.

South Low Franconian occupies a special position among the Low Franconian subgroups, since it shares several linguistic features with [[Ripuarian language|Ripuarian]] dialects spoken to the southeast, such as the conditioned split of the [[West Germanic]] diphthongs *ai and *au (e.g. in Roermonds *ai splits to /eː/ and /ɛi/, *au to /oː/ and /ɔu/), which apart from Ripuarian is also found in all other [[High German]] dialects, and the characteristic [[Pitch-accent_language#Franconian_dialects|pitch accent]], which is exclusively shared with Ripuarian and [[Moselle Franconian]].<ref name=Hermans>{{cite book |last=Hermans |first=Ben |year=2013 |chapter=Phonological features of Limburgian dialects |editor1=Frans Hinskens |editor2=Johan Taeldeman |title=Dutch |series=Language and Space: An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation, Volume 3 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |doi=10.1515/9783110261332.336 |pages=336–355}}</ref>{{efn|Traditionally, the [[Uerdingen line]] (separating ''ik'' and ''ich'' 'I') and the [[Benrath line]] (separating ''maken'' and ''machen'' 'to make') have been considered respectively the northern and southern borders of South Low Franconian. However, both Dutch and German scholars have questioned the classificatory value of the Uerdingen line: in the (north-)west, it is too inclusive, while in the north in Dutch Limburg and in the northeast in the [[Rhineland]], the scope of South Low Franconian extends beyond the Uerdingen line when considering structural features such as the occurrence of pitch accent and the reflexes of West Germanic vowels.<ref name=Hermans/><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Frens |last1=Bakker |first2=Roeland |last2=van Hout |title=De indeling van de dialecten in Noord-Limburg en het aangrenzende Duitse gebied: Hoe relevant is de Uerdingerlijn als scheidslijn? |journal=Nederlands Taalkunde |volume=22 |issue=3 |year=2017 |pages=303–332 |doi=10.5117/NEDTAA2017.3.BAKK|hdl=2066/183252 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wiesinger |first=Peter |year=1983 |chapter=Die Einteilung der deutschen Dialekte |editor=Besch, Werner |title=Dialektologie: Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung |pages=807-900 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton}}.</ref>}}