Northern Low Saxon (in
Standard High German: Nordniedersächsisch, also Nordniederdeutsch,[1] lit. North(ern) Low Saxon/German; in
Standard Dutch: 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 and
Westphalian) is spoken, and
Gronings dialect in the Netherlands.
Dialects
Northern Low Saxon can be divided into Holsteinian (Holsteinisch), Schleswigian (Schleswigsch),
East Frisian Low Saxon, Dithmarsch (Dithmarsisch), North Hanoveranian (Nordhannoversch), Emslandish (Emsländisch), and Oldenburgish (Oldenburgisch) in Germany,[2] with additional dialects in the Netherlands such as Gronings.[3]
Schleswigsch (German pronunciation:[ˈʃleːsvɪkʃ]) is spoken in
Schleswig, which is divided between
Germany and
Denmark. It is mainly based on a
South Jutlandicsubstrate. 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
islands show some
North Frisian influences.[citation needed]
Oldenburgisch is spoken around the city of
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 substrate. Oldenburgisch is spoken in the city of
Bremen as "Bremian", which is the only capital where Oldenburgisch is spoken.
Emsländisch and Oldenburgisch are also grouped together as Emsländisch-Oldenburgisch, while Bremen and Hamburg lie in the area of Nordhannoversch (in a broader sense).[7][8]
gahn[ɡɒːn] (to go): Ik büngahn[ɪkbʏŋˈɡɒːn] (I have gone/I went), Standard German: gehen; ich bingegangen/ichging
seilen[zaˑɪln] (to sail): He hettseilt[hɛɪhɛtˈzaˑɪlt] (He (has) sailed), Standard German: segeln; er istgesegelt/ersegelte
kopen[ˈkʰoʊpm̩] (to buy): Wi harrnköfft[vihaːŋˈkœft] (We had bought), Standard German: kaufen; wir habengekauft/wir kauften
kamen[ˈkɒːm̩] (to come): Ji sündkamen[ɟizʏŋˈkɒːm̩] (You (all) have come/You came), Standard German: kommen; ihr seidgekommen/ihrkamt
eten[ˈeːtn̩] (to eat): Se hebbteten[zɛɪhɛptˈʔeːtn̩] (They have eaten/They ate), Standard German: essen; sie habengegessen/sieaßen
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[ɪk] (like Dutch ik, standard German form ich), du[du] (like German Du, standard German form du), he[hɛɪ] (like Dutch hij, standard German form er), se[zɛɪ] (like Dutch zij, standard German form sie), dat[dat] (Dutch dat, standard German form es/das), wi[vi], ji[ɟi] (similar to English ye, Dutch jij, standard German forms wir, ihr), se[zɛɪ] (standard German form sie).
^
abReinhard Goltz, Andrea Kleene, Niederdeutsch, in: Rahel Beyer, Albrecht Plewnia (eds.), Handbuch der Sprachminderheiten in Deutschland, 2020, p. 191
^Noble, Cecil A. M. (1983). Modern German dialects, New York / Berne / Frankfort on the Main, Peter Lang, p. 103-104
^C. A. M. Noble, Modern German dialects, 1983, p. 117
^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))
^Jan Wirrer, Sprachwissen – Spracherfahrung: Untersuchungen zum metasprachlichen Wissen sprachwissenschaftlicher Laien, (series: Deutsche Dialektgeographie 116), Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, 2021, p. 10