| East Low German | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | Germany, Poland | |
| Total speakers | — | |
| Language family | Indo-European
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | nds | |
| ISO 639-3 | nds | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
East Low German is a group of Low German dialects spoken in Northeast Germany as well as by minorities in present northern Poland. Together with West Low German, it constitutes Low German. Prior to 1945 the dialect was spoken along the entire German Baltic Coast, from Mecklenburg, through Pomerania, West Prussia into certain villages of the East Prussian Memel-Klaipėda Region.
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Related languages
East Low German belongs to the dialect continuum of the continental West Germanic languages. It developed from the older Middle Low German.
In the West it fades into West Low German. The distinction is usually made referring to the plural endings of the verbs: East Low German endings are based on the old first/third person ending: -e(n), whereas West Low German endings are based on the old second person ending: -(e)t. The categorization of the Low German dialects into an Eastern and a Western group is not made by all linguists.
In the South, it fades into East Central German. The difference is that the East Low German varieties have not been affected by the High German consonant shift. The areas affected by the High German consonant shift are still expanding today, especially the Berlinisch dialect that is gaining ground on the Brandenburgisch dialect by which it is surrounded.
Dialects
East Low German dialects are:
- In Germany:
- Brandenburgisch (in Brandenburg, northern Saxony-Anhalt)
- Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch (in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
- In Poland:
- Low Prussian (spoken by minorities around Gdańsk in northern Poland; nearly extinct since 1945, considered to include Plauttdietsch by some observers)
- East Pomeranian (spoken by minorities in Pomerania and Brazil; part of the Pommersch dialect group)
It also includes Plautdietsch (originating from Danzig), which is spoken by Mennonites in North America and a few other places in the world. Berlinisch (in Berlin) was a version of Brandenburgisch in medieval times until it split off; it is now seen as an East Central German dialect.
Baltendeutsch is a High German variety influenced by East Low German formerly spoken by Germans in the Baltic states.
The Lord's Prayer in Plautdietsch
- Ons Voda em Himmel,
- lot dien Nome jeheilicht woare;
- lot dien Ritjdom kome;
- lot dien Welle jedone woare,
- uck hia oppe Ed, soo aus em Himmel;
- jeff ons Dach fe Dach daut Broot, daut ons fehlt;
- en vejeff ons onse Schult,
- soo aus wie den vejewe, dee sich jeajen ons veschuldicht ha;
- en brinj ons nich en Vesetjunk nenn,
- oba rad ons von Beeset.
Writers
Fritz Reuter and Heinrich Bandlow are among the most famous East Low German writers.
See also
External links
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