Editing Northern Low Saxon

{{Short description|West Low German dialect}}
{{Other uses|Low Saxon (disambiguation){{!}}Low Saxon}}
{{multipleissues|
{{format|date=June 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{original research|date=June 2024}}}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Northern Low Saxon
| altname          = North Low Saxon, North Saxon
| nativename       = 
| states           = [[Germany]], Northeastern [[Netherlands]], southern [[Denmark]]
| region           = Lower Saxony, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Groningen, Drenthe
| speakers         = 
| speakers2        = 
| ref              = e18
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3             = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4             = [[North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5             = [[Low German]]
| fam6             = [[West Low German]]<ref name="Sprachminderheiten">Reinhard Goltz, Andrea Kleene, ''Niederdeutsch'', in: Rahel Beyer, Albrecht Plewnia (eds.), ''Handbuch der Sprachminderheiten in Deutschland'', 2020, p. 191</ref>
| dia1             = Schleswigsch
| dia2             = Holsteinisch
| dia3             = Oldenburgisch
| dia4             = [[East Frisian Low Saxon]]
| dia5             = North Hanoverian
| dia6             = Dithmarsisch
| dia7             = Emsländisch
| dia8             = [[Gronings]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=Valentin |last2=Stange |first2=Tim |last3=Hundsdoerfer |first3=Alex |title=Chapter 8: Corpus-based Low Saxon Dialectometry |date=2025 |publisher=Zenodo |url=https://zenodo.org/records/15006607 |pages=195-196 |quote="e.g., German North Saxon (DNS) and Dutch Westphalian (NWF)"}}</ref>
| iso2             = nds
| iso3             = nds
| iso3comment      = (partial)
| glotto           = ostf1234
| glottoname       = North Low Saxon
| glotto2          = nort2628
| glottoname2      = German Northern Low Saxon
}}

'''Northern Low Saxon''' (in [[Standard German|Standard High German]]: ''{{lang|de|Nordniedersächsisch}}'', also ''{{lang|de|Nordniederdeutsch}}'',<ref name="Sprachminderheiten" /> lit. ''North(ern) [[Low Saxon]]/German''; in [[Dutch language|Standard Dutch]]: ''{{lang|nl|Noord-Nedersaksisch}}'') is a subgroup of [[Low Saxon]] dialects of [[Low German]]. As such, it covers a great part of the West Low German-speaking areas of [[northern Germany]], with the exception of the border regions where South Low Saxon ([[Eastphalian language|Eastphalian]] and [[Westphalian language|Westphalian]]) is spoken, and [[Gronings dialect]] in the [[Netherlands]].

==Dialects==
Northern Low Saxon can be divided into Holsteinian ({{lang|de|Holsteinisch}}), Schleswigian ({{lang|de|Schleswigsch}}), [[East Frisian Low Saxon]], Dithmarsch ({{lang|de|Dithmarsisch}}), North Hanoveranian ({{lang|de|Nordhannoversch}}), Emslandish ({{lang|de|Emsländisch}}), and Oldenburgish ({{lang|de|Oldenburgisch}}) in Germany,<ref>Noble, Cecil A. M. (1983). ''Modern German dialects'', New York / Berne / Frankfort on the Main, Peter Lang, p. 103-104</ref> with additional dialects in the Netherlands such as Gronings.<ref>{{cite web| editor-last1= Hammarström| editor-first1 = Harald| editor-last2 = Forke| editor-first2 = Robert| editor-last3 = Haspelmath| editor-first3 = Martin| editor-last4 = Bank| editor-first4 = Sebastian| year = 2020|title = North Low Saxon | work = [[Glottolog]] 4.3| url = https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/ostf1234}}</ref>

''{{lang|de|Holsteinisch}}'' is spoken in [[Holstein]], the southern part of [[Schleswig-Holstein]] in [[Germany]], in [[Dithmarschen]], around [[Neumünster]], [[Rendsburg]], [[Kiel]] and [[Lübeck]].

''{{lang|de|Schleswigsch}}'' ({{IPA|de|ˈʃleːsvɪkʃ}}) is spoken in [[Schleswig]], which is divided between [[Germany]] and [[Denmark]]. It is mainly based on a [[South Jutlandic]] [[Substrata (linguistics)|substrate]]. Therefore, it has some notable differences in pronunciation and grammar with its southern neighbour dialects. The dialects on the west coast of Schleswig (Nordfriesland district) and some [[North Frisian Islands|islands]] show some [[North Frisian language|North Frisian]] influences.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

''{{lang|de|Oldenburgisch}}'' is spoken around the city of [[Oldenburg (city)|Oldenburg]]. It is limited to Germany. The main difference between it and [[East Frisian Low Saxon]], which is spoken in the Frisian parts of [[Lower Saxony]], is the lack of an [[East Frisian Low Saxon|East Frisian]] substrate. ''Oldenburgisch'' is spoken in the city of [[Bremen (city)|Bremen]] as ''"Bremian"'', which is the only capital where ''Oldenburgisch'' is spoken.

===Overviews===
a)<ref>Wolfgang Lindow, Dieter Möhn, Hermann Niebaum, Dieter Stellmacher, Hans Taubken and Jan Wirrer, ''Niederdeutsche Grammatik'', 1998, p. 18f.</ref>
* {{lang|de|Schleswigsch}}
* {{lang|de|Holsteinisch}}
* {{lang|de|Hamburgisch}}
* {{lang|de|Bremisch-Oldenburgisch}}
* {{lang|de|Ostfriesisch}} ([[East Frisian Low Saxon|East Frisian]])
* {{lang|de|Emsländisch}}

b)<ref>{{Cite web |author=Heinrich Thies |editor=Fehrs-Gilde |title=1.1.1.4 Sog. Nordniedersächsisch (Nordniederdeutsch) |url=https://sass-platt.de/plattdeutsche-grammatik/1-1-1-4-Sog-Nordniedersaechsisch-Nordniederdeutsch.html |access-date=21 September 2023}}, in: {{Cite web |author=Heinrich Thies |editor=Fehrs-Gilde |title=SASS Plattdeutsche Grammatik |url=https://sass-platt.de/plattdeutsche-grammatik/startseite.html |access-date=21 September 2023}}</ref>
* {{lang|de|Ostfriesisch}} ([[East Frisian Low Saxon|East Frisian]])
* {{lang|de|Emsländisch}}
* {{lang|de|Bremisch-Oldenburgisch}}
* {{lang|de|Nordhannoversch}}
* {{lang|de|Niederelbisch}} (Hamburg, Elbmarschen)
* {{lang|de|Holsteinisch}}
* {{lang|de|Schleswigsch}}

c) <ref>C. A. M. Noble, ''Modern German dialects'', 1983, p. 117</ref>{{Full citation needed |date=December 2024}}
* Dithmarsch
* Schleswigsch / Schleswigian
* Holsteinisch / Holsteinian
* Oldenburgisch
* Emsländisch
* Nordhannoversch

Emsländisch and Oldenburgisch are also grouped together as ''Emsländisch-Oldenburgisch'', while Bremen and Hamburg lie in the area of Nordhannoversch (in a broader sense).<ref>Michael Elmentaler and Peter Rosenberg (with the collaboration of others), ''Norddeutscher Sprachatlas (NOSA). Band 1: Regiolektale Sprachlagen'', (series: ''Deutsche Dialektgeographie'' 113.1), Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, 2015, p. 89 (map: ''Karte 1: Untersuchungsregionen und -orte des Projekts „Sprachvariation in Norddeutschland“''), 97 (map: ''Karte 6: Vergleichskorpus (2): Sprachdaten aus dem KÖNIG-Korpus (1975/76)'')</ref><ref>Jan Wirrer, ''Sprachwissen – Spracherfahrung: Untersuchungen zum metasprachlichen Wissen sprachwissenschaftlicher Laien'', (series: ''Deutsche Dialektgeographie'' 116), Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, 2021, p. 10</ref>

==Characteristics==
The most obvious common character in grammar is the forming of the perfect participle. It is formed without a prefix, as in all [[North Germanic languages]],  as well as [[English language|English]] and [[Frisian languages|Frisian]], but unlike [[German language|standard German]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and some dialects of [[Westphalian language|Westphalian]] and [[Eastphalian language|Eastphalian]] Low Saxon:
*''gahn'' {{IPA|[ɡɒːn]}} (to go): ''Ik bün'' '''''gahn''''' {{IPA|[ɪkbʏŋˈɡɒːn]}} (I have gone/I went), Standard German: ''gehen''; ''ich bin'' '''''gegangen'''''/''ich'' '''''ging'''''
*''seilen'' {{IPA|[zaˑɪln]}} (to sail): ''He hett'' '''''seilt''''' {{IPA|[hɛɪhɛtˈzaˑɪlt]}} (He (has) sailed), Standard German: ''segeln''; ''er ist'' '''''gesegelt'''''/''er'' '''''segelte'''''
*''kopen'' {{IPA|[ˈkʰoʊpm̩]}} (to buy): ''Wi harrn'' '''''köfft''''' {{IPA|[vihaːŋˈkœft]}} (We had bought), Standard German: ''kaufen''; ''wir haben'' '''''gekauft'''''/''wir '' '''''kauften'''''
*''kamen'' {{IPA|[ˈkɒːm̩]}} (to come): ''Ji sünd'' '''''kamen''''' {{IPA|[ɟizʏŋˈkɒːm̩]}} (You (all) have come/You came), Standard German: ''kommen''; ''ihr seid'' '''''gekommen'''''/''ihr'' '''''kamt'''''
*''eten'' {{IPA|[ˈeːtn̩]}} (to eat): ''Se hebbt'' '''''eten''''' {{IPA|[zɛɪhɛptˈʔeːtn̩]}} (They have eaten/They ate), Standard German: ''essen''; ''sie haben'' '''''gegessen'''''/''sie'' '''''aßen'''''

The [[diminutive]] (''-je'') (Dutch and East Frisian Low Saxon ''-tje'', Eastphalian ''-ke'', High German ''-chen'', Alemannic ''-le'', ''li'') is hardly used. Some examples are ''Buscherumpje'', a fisherman's shirt, or ''lüttje'', a diminutive of ''lütt'', little. Instead the adjective ''lütt'' is used, e.g. ''dat lütte Huus'', ''de lütte Deern'', ''de lütte Jung''.

There are a lot of special characteristics in the vocabulary, too, but they are shared partly with other languages and dialects, e.g.:
*Personal pronouns: ''ik'' {{IPA|[ɪk]}} (like Dutch ik, standard German form ''ich''), ''du'' {{IPA|[du]}} (like German Du, standard German form ''du''), ''he''  {{IPA|[hɛɪ]}} (like Dutch hij, standard German form ''er''), ''se'' {{IPA|[zɛɪ]}} (like Dutch zij, standard German form ''sie''), ''dat'' {{IPA|[dat]}} (Dutch dat, standard German form ''es/das''), ''wi'' {{IPA|[vi]}}, ''ji'' {{IPA|[ɟi]}} (similar to English ye, Dutch jij, standard German forms ''wir'', ''ihr''), ''se'' {{IPA|[zɛɪ]}} (standard German form ''sie'').
*Interrogatives (English/High German): ''wo'' {{IPA|[voʊ]}}, ''woans'' {{IPA|[voʊˈʔaˑns]}} (how/''wie''), ''wo laat'' {{IPA|[voʊˈlɒːt]}} (how late/''wie spät''), ''wokeen'' {{IPA|[voʊˈkʰɛˑɪn]}} (who/''wer''), ''woneem'' {{IPA|[voʊˈneːm]}} (where/''wo''), ''wokeen sien'' {{IPA|[voʊˈkʰɛˑɪnziːn]}} / ''wen sien'' {{IPA|[vɛˑnziːn]}} (whose/''wessen'')
*Adverbs (English/High German): ''laat'' {{IPA|[lɒːt]}} (late/''spät''), ''gau'' {{IPA|[ɡaˑʊ]}} (fast/''schnell''), ''suutje'' {{IPA|[ˈzutɕe]}} (slowly, carefully/''langsam'', ''vorsichtig'', from Dutch ''zoetjes'' {{IPA|[ˈzutɕəs]}} ‘nice and easy’, adverbial diminutive of ''zoet'' {{IPA|[ˈzut]}} ‘sweet’), ''vigeliensch'' {{IPA|[fiɡeˈliːnʃ]}} (difficult, tricky/''schwierig'')
*Prepositions (English/High German): ''bi'' {{IPA|[biː]}} (by, at/''bei''), ''achter'' {{IPA|[ˈaxtɐ]}} (behind/''hinter''), ''vör'' {{IPA|[fœɐ̯]}} (before, in front of/''vor''), ''blangen'' {{IPA|[ˈblaˑŋ̍]}} (beside, next to, alongside/''neben''), ''twüschen'' {{IPA|[ˈtvʏʃn̩]}} (betwixt, between/''zwischen''), ''mang'', ''mank'' {{IPA|[maˑŋk]}} (among/''unter'')

== See also ==
* [[Languages of Germany]]
* [[Middle Low German]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://plattmakers.de/nds Plattmakers' Northern Low Saxon dictionary]

{{Germanic languages}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Dutch dialects]]
[[Category:German dialects]]
[[Category:Northern Low Saxon dialects]]
[[Category:Low German]]