Wiktionary:Low German entry guidelines
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Low German/Saxon is a Germanic lect, a dialect continuum spoken in northern Germany, the eastern Netherlands, and numerous places outside central Europe. It has three main forms:
- (German) Low German, spoken in northern Germany and by emigrants in Brazil
- Dutch Low Saxon, spoken in the eastern Netherlands
Low German/Saxon is related to Dutch, to the Frisian languages, to English, and to German. In some cases, Low German expressions are intelligible to English speakers: He was en old Mann is one Low German sentence English-speakers can understand.
On Wiktionary, the variants of Low German spoken in Germany (German Low German) can be represented by the etymology code nds-de and the variants spoken in the Netherlands (Dutch Low Saxon) represented by the etymology code nds-nl.
Plautdietsch (also called Mennonite Low German), spoken in Canada, the United States, and elsewhere, is derived from Low German but is treated as a distinct language on Wiktionary; it has the code pdt and is covered by Wiktionary:Plautdietsch entry guidelines.
What to call Low German/Saxon on Wiktionary
[edit]Low German is the most common name of the dialect continuum, and is the name used on Wiktionary. It is a calque of Plattdeutsch (Plattdütsch (and its forms)) or Niederdeutsch. Platt means "flat" and is interpreted as "relating to the lowlands" or "simple, easy to understand". At the time this name spread (in the Renaissance) plat had the general meaning of "intelligible". nieder, on the other hand, actually means "nether" and relates to the lowlands in contrast to the German highlands, the Alps, Harz mountains, etc. Deutsch (Dütsch (and its forms)) is related to the English word Dutch and the Dutch word Duits, and referred (at the time it spread) to any continental West Germanic language.
Low Saxon is another name often used in English. This name derives from that of the Saxon tribe which spoke Old Saxon, the lect from which Low German evolved. This name (as Nedersaksisch) is the most common name of the language in the Netherlands. However, there is a dialect group called "Low Saxon" spoken in Lower Saxony in Germany, which Low German should not be confused with.
Historical stages of the Saxon language
[edit]Low German developed from the language Old Saxon. The earliest predecessors of the language were the West Germanic dialects spoken by the Saxon tribes. Middle Low German has heavily influenced the languages of the Hanseatic League's trading partners: Old/Middle Danish, Swedish, Norwegian.
- Indo-European
- Germanic
- West Germanic
- Old Saxon (osx) (Category, Entry guidelines)
- West Germanic
- Germanic
Key to pronunciation
[edit]About the nature of long vowels
[edit]Both Low German and Middle Low German have two kinds of vowel sounds that are traditionally called 'long', for all vowels but the closed ones (i.e. /uː/, /yː/, /iː/). The first are diphthongs that descend from earlier long vowels, and the second are the same as the equivalent short vowel but pronounced long. These latter ones are called "tonlang" (sound-long) in German. The sound-long vowels are often vowels which were short in Old Saxon but stood in an open syllable, and thus were lengthened by regular sound change.
Some confusion exists about the terminology of these vowels. Traditional grammars do not refer to the diphthongs as such, but call them simply "long vowels", and the speakers of most Low German dialects often think of them in those terms (much as the sound of the English eye is considered a ‘long i’ in traditional English grammar despite its diphthongal character). When speaking of "diphthongisation", especially regarding the dialects of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, an author might refer to a more open version of the diphthong rather than the existence of a diphthong in contrast to a monophthong. For example, someone pronouncing the "long E" as /eɪ/ might refer to /ɛɪ/ and /aɪ/ as "diphthongs" but consider /eɪ/ a "normal E".
The following is not a complete depiction of all sounds in all dialects but is an exemplative overview.
| Letter | Short | Long | Soundlong |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⟨a⟩ | /a/ or /ɒ/ | /oɒ/ | /aː/ or /ɒː/ |
| ⟨e⟩ | /ɛ/ | /eɪ/ or /ɛɪ/ | /ɛː/ |
| ⟨o⟩ | /ɔ/ | /oʊ/ or /ɔʊ/ | /ɔː/ |
| ⟨ö⟩ (and other spellings) | /œ/ | /øʏ/ or /œʏ/ | /œː/ |
Some of the sound-long vowels have had special characters in some areas or in the writing of some authors. The most widespread are "ę" for /ɛː/, "æ" for /ɶː/ (and to a much lesser extent for /œː/) and "œ" for /œː/. "Ä" has been used for both /ɛː/ and /ɶː/.
Key to dialectal pronunciation
[edit]In general, the most closed version (on the left) is spoken in the west (e.g. Lower Saxony), while the most open (on the right) versions are from the east, especially rural (not urban) parts of w:Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
e = /ɛɪ/ = /eɪ/~/ɛɪ/~/aɪ/ o = /ɔʊ/ = /oʊ/~/ɔʊ/~/ɒʊ/ ö = /œʏ/ = /øʏ/~/œʏ/~/ɶʏ/; [eɪ] (w:Königsberg, Low Prussian) ü etc. (long) = /yː/; [iː] (Low Prussian) ü etc. (short)= [ʏ]; [ɪ] (Low Prussian) r = /r/ = [r]~[ɾ] (except in syllable coda) a = /ʌ/ = [a]~[æ]~[ʌ]~[ɒ]
The Merger of monophthongal A and O
[edit]Due to the relative similarity of the sounds of lengthened A and lengthened O, both were used somewhat interchangeably in Middle Low German writing. Later, "A" replaced the letter "O" in the quasi-standard that Middle Low German had developed. This was because, at some point in history, most Low German dialects merged the sound-long A with the sound-long O. Later many merged the long A with the sound-long A as well. Which sound was kept and which was lost was random throughout the dialects. In addition, Low German orthography became more varied and also more randomized in later periods, so that words might be written with either A or O in a region (e.g. apen and open), while not necessarily giving away the pronunciation.
Comparison of Low German and Dutch Low Saxon orthographies
[edit]Some important differences between Dutch-influenced orthography of Dutch Low Saxon and the German-influenced orthography of Low German pertain to the representation of the following:
| Issue | Netherlands | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| IPA /z/ | z | s |
| IPA /s/ | s | s, ss, ß |
| IPA /y/ | u | ü |
| IPA /ø/, /œ/ | eu | ö (rarely æ or œ for /œ/) |
| vowel length in closed syllables | doubled vowel | h, doubled vowel, or doubled consonant, or not clearly marked |
| capitalisation of nouns | No | Yes |
- For example, compare Dutch Low Saxon zes (“six”) and kruus (“cross”) with German Low German seß/sess/söß/söss (“six”) and Krüüz/Krüz (“cross”).
- Dutch speakers usually use a double vowel (laand) to show the length of a vowel in a closed syllable, German speakers might use a double vowel or an h (wahnen). Both use an e after an i. The difference can be seen in the spellings of the word which means "year", which is pronounced either /jɒːɾ/ or /jɔːɾ/ or with /-ɐ/ instead of /ɾ/: it is written as jaar and joar in Dutch Low Saxon, but as Jahr, Johr, Jaohr, Jaor or some variant thereof in Germany.
- Influenced by Standard High German, which capitalizes nouns, many Low German authors also capitalize nouns, and capitalized nouns are the norm (lemma form) for Low German. Many Dutch Low Saxon speakers do not capitalize nouns, and uncapitalized nouns are the norm (lemma form) for Dutch Low Saxon.
Information specific to Dutch Low Saxon
[edit]Dutch Low Saxon is represented on Wiktionary by the code nds-nl. This is a modification of its ISO code (nds) which distinguishes it from (German) Low German, which has the code nds-de.
Dialects
[edit]Dutch Low Saxon includes the following dialects which the ISO assigned separate codes:
- Achterhoeks (act)
- Drents (drt)
- Gronings (gos)
- Sallands (sdz)
- Stellingwerfs (stl)
- Twents (twd)
- Veluws (vel)
These dialects are distinguished using {{label}} and {{qualifier}} templates.
The separate codes are used as etym-only codes and can be used in most places a language code is required.
Standardized lemmata
[edit]When creating a Dutch Low Saxon entry, one must decide which form to use as the lemma. Dutch Low Saxon is not well standardized, and the spelling and pronunciation of words varies between dialects as well as between orthographical systems. The lect does not have a standard system, and many systems have been influenced by the orthography of Dutch, just as (German) Low German has been influenced by High German orthography. Use attested forms.
See a comparison of Low German and Dutch Low Saxon orthographies here.
One key difference to note is that Dutch Low Saxon nouns are typically uncapitalized, the reverse of the situation of German Low German.
Information specific to German Low German
[edit](German) Low German is represented on Wiktionary by the code nds-de. This is a modification of its ISO code (nds) which distinguishes it from Dutch Low Saxon, which has the code nds-nl.
Standardized lemmata
[edit]When creating a German Low German entry, one must decide which form to use as the lemma. The spelling and pronunciation of words varies between dialects as well as between orthographical systems; the lect does not have a standard form, and many orthographies have been influenced by the orthography of High German, just as Dutch Low Saxon has been influenced by Dutch orthography.
See a comparison of (German) Low German and Dutch Low Saxon orthographies here.
One key difference to note is that the lemma forms of German Low German nouns are capitalized (with uncapitalized forms being alternative forms), the reverse of the situation of Dutch Low Saxon.
(Sub)dialectal differences
[edit]Within the dialect continuum which is (German) Low German, there is much variation. The word for "green", for example, could be written grön/gröön, gräun/greun, or gren/green. To some extent, the difference in spelling is related to difference in pronunciation: grön/gröön /gɾœɪ̯n/ vs. gräun/greun, /gɾɔɪ̯n/. (See some information on long vowels.)
The representation of long vs short vowels many vary among authors even within a particular dialect: thus grön might also be written gröön to show that it has a long vowel. Some representations of vowel length are shown here using the words for "white" and "wide" and their inflections:
- One could represent only the shortness of short vowels, by doubling the following consonant. One would then write witt - witte/n/s for "white", and wid - wide/n/s for "wide".
- One could represent only the length of long vowels, using a digraph: wit - wite/n/s vs wied - wiede/n/s.
- One could represent both: witt - witte/n/s, and wied - wiede/n/s.
Another divide is that between phonetic and derivative orthography, e.g. in case of marking final obstruent devoicing.