Bergish dialects

Bergish is a collective name for a group of West Germanic dialects spoken in the Bergisches Land region east of the Rhine in western Germany. The name is commonly used among its speakers, but is not of much linguistic relevance, because the varieties belong to several quite distinct groups inside the continental West Germanic dialect continuum. As usual inside a dialect continuum, neighboring varieties have a high degree mutual intelligibility and share many similarities while the two more distant ones may be completely mutually unintelligible and considerably different. Therefore, speakers usually perceive the differences in their immediate neighborhood as merely dialectal oddities of an otherwise larger, solid group or language that they are all part of, such as "Bergish". Bergish is itself commonly classified as a form of "Rhinelandic", which in turn is part of German. Bergish stricto sensu is part of the Limburgish language group, which extends far beyond the rivers Rhine and Maas into the Netherlands and Belgium. They are also part of the East Limburgish group, that is, the varieties of Limbugish spoken in Germany. They combine Low Franconian properties with some Ripuarian properties and are seen as the transitory dialects between them in the dialect continuum of Dutch and German.

Bergish neighbors in the east to East Bergish, a variety of South Guelderish between the Limburgish language and Westphalian. In the south of Bergish is the Benrath line, border to the Ripuarian variety Upper Bergish or East Ripuarian. Bergish is also seen as parts of Meuse-Rhenish, which names a somewhat larger number of dialects. than the three groups having names with Bergish.

As opposed to linguists, laymen sometimes call their local Bergisch variety simply Low Bergish or "Platt" (de:Platt); they do not distinguish between the dialect groups, when talking about local languages. People from outside the Rhineland often make even less distinctions and use the term Rhinelandic for the vernacular of an even larger region than Meuse-Rhenish. The Bergish dialects were called only "Bergish" by early dialect geographers of Germany of the 19th century.

Varieties

"Bergish" varieties belong to three major groups following some dialect geographers of today:[1]

1) East Bergish in the north-east is the smallest group. Combining features of the Westphalian group, the Limburgish, and (predominantly) the Zuid-Gelders or Cleverlands group, it is usually seen as part of the latter. Zuid-Gelders covers much of the Lower Rhine area in Germany and extends into the Central Netherlands. It is a Low Franconian group, whereas Westphalian belongs to the Low German group.

2) Low Bergish, or Western Bergish, is located in the North West and is seen as the eastmost part of the Limburgish language group, which extends far beyond the rivers Rhine and Maas into the Netherlands and Belgium. They are also part of the East Limburgish group, that is, the varieties of Limbugish spoken in Germany. They combine Low Franconian properties with some Ripuarian properties.

3) South Bergish, or Upper Bergish, varieties are part of the Ripuarian group, where they form the East Ripuarian subgroup. Ripuarian varieties are also spoken West of the Rhine, and in some small areas next to the respective borders in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Contrasting the abovementioned two Bergish groups, Ripuarian Bergish varieties belong to the Middle German group, and thus are High German varieties, together with for example Austro-Bavarian and Swiss German, among many others.

The Bergish varieties in the northern areas are also referred to as parts of Meuse-Rhenish, which exclusively refers to the Low Franconian varieties, that are Limburgish including Low Bergish, and Zuid-Gelders including East Bergish.

East Bergish is the rightmost, or eastern part of the Limburgish group

Bergish-speaking localities

The following is a list of settlements where a variant of Bergish is or used to be spoken:[2]

Localities not speaking Bergish

The following is a list of settlements which are described as not speaking a Bergish dialect:[3]

Low Rhenish-speaking

Ripuarian-speaking

Westphalian-speaking
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gollark: I refuse to use pointers outside of `#define`s.
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gollark: Brain computer interfaces but only when lucid dreaming.
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References
  1. e.g. Dr. Georg Cornelissen
  2. Neuere Forschungen in Linguistik und Philologie aus dem Kreise seiner Schüler Ludwig Erich Schmitt zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet. Steiner, 1975, p. 82
  3. Neuere Forschungen in Linguistik und Philologie aus dem Kreise seiner Schüler Ludwig Erich Schmitt zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet. Steiner, 1975, p. 82

Literature
  • Maria Loiuse Denst: Olper Platt - Bergisches Mundart-Wörterbuch für Kürten-Olpe und Umgebung. Schriftenreihe des Bergischen Geschichtsvereins Abt. Rhein-Berg e. V. Band 29. Bergisch Gladbach 1999. ISBN 3-932326-29-6
  • Hans Bruchhausen und Heinz Feldhoff: Us Platt kalle un verstonn - Mundartwörterbuch Lützenkirchen-Quettingen. Bergisch Gladbach 2005. ISBN 3-87314-410-7
  • Julius Leithäuser: „Wörterbuch der Barmer Mundarten nebst dem Abriß der Sprachlehre“ [Wuppertal-] Elberfeld, 1929.
  • Julius Leithäuser: „Nachträge zum Barmer Wörterbuch“ Wuppertal-Elberfeld, 1936.
  • Leo Lammert und Paul Schmidt: Neunkirchen-Seelscheider Sprachschatz, herausgegeben vom Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Neunkirchen-Seelscheid 2006. (ca. 7300 Wörter)
  • Erich Leihener: „Cronenburger Wörterbuch“ (Deutsche Dialektgeographier, Band 2) Marburg 1908
  • Theodor Branscheid (Hrsg): „Oberbergische Sprachproben. Mundartliches aus Eckenhagen und Nachbarschaft.“ Band 1, Eckenhagen, 1927.
  • Hermann Bredtmann: „Die Velberter Mundart. Ein kurzer Abriß der Laut- und Formenlehre nebst einem Wörterverzeichnis.“ Wuppertal, 1938.
  • Heinrichs, Werner: Bergisch Platt - Versuch einer Bestandsaufnahme, Selbstverlag, Burscheid, 1978
  • Manfred Konrads: Wörter und Sachen im Wildenburger Ländchen, Rheinland-Verlag, Köln, 1981
  • Dr. Hermann Bredtmann: Die Velberter Mundart, Wuppertal-Elberfeld, 1938
  • Helmut Fischer: 'Wörterbuch der unteren Sieg. Rheinische Mundarten. Beiträge zur Volkssprache aus den rheinischen Landschaften Band 4. Rheinland Verlag, Köln, 1985. ISBN 3-7927-0783-7
  • Georg Wenker: Das rheinische Platt. 1877.
  • Georg Wenker: Das rheinische Platt, (Sammlung deutsche Dialektgeographie Heft 8), Marburg, 1915.
  • Georg Cornelissen, Peter Honnen, Fritz Langensiepen (editor): Das rheinische Platt. Eine Bestandsaufnahme. Handbuch der rheinischen Mundarten Teil 1: Texte. Rheinland-Verlag, Köln. 1989. ISBN 3-7927-0689-X
  • Bruno Buchrücker: Wörterbuch der Elberfelder Mundart nebst Abriß der Formenlehre und Sprachproben. [Wuppertal-] Elberfeld, 1910.
  • F. W. Oligschläger: Wörterbuch der Solinger Volkssprache
  • Rudolf Picard: Solinger Sprachschatz, Wörterbuch und sprachwissenschaftliche Beiträge zur Solinger Mundart, Duisburg, 1974.
  • Gustav Hermann Halbach: Bergischer Sprachschatz – Volkskundliches plattdeutsches Remscheider Wörterbuch. Remscheid 1951
  • August Diesdrichs: Beitrag zu einem Wörterbuch der Remscheider Mundart. Remscheid, 1910.
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