Low Franconian is any of several West Germanic languages spoken in The Netherlands, northern Belgium, and South Africa. Low-Franconian dialects are also spoken in the German area along the Rhine between Cologne and the border between Germany and The Netherlands. During the 19th and 20th centuries these dialects have partly and gradually been replaced by the today's Standard German. Together with Low Saxon and East Low German, these form the Low Germanic family of languages.

In Germany it is common to consider the Limburgian dialects as Low Franconian; in The Netherlands and Belgium however they are seen as Middle German or High German. This difference is caused by a difference in definition: the linguists of the Low Countries define a Low German dialect as one that has not taken part in the High German consonant shift at all.

The modern Low Franconian languages are:

• Dutch (including Flemish)
• Afrikaans

See also: Franconian language

External link

• Ethnologue report for Low Franconian (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=769)