Westphalian language

Among the Westphalian language there are different subgroups of dialects:^[3]

Westphalian dialects in Westphalia

1. East Westphalian (Ostwestfälisch) in East Westphalia (possibly including the dialect of Osnabrück)
2. South Westphalian (Südwestfälisch)
3. Münsterländisch
4. Westmünsterländisch

Westphalian dialects in the Netherlands:

5. Achterhoeks
6. Veluws
7. Sallands
8. Urkers
9. Drèents
10. Twents

Westphalian dialects in Lower Saxony and Groningen

11. Grafschafter Platt
12. Emsländer Platt
13. Westerwolds

Westphalian has many lexical similarities and other proximities to Eastphalian, extending to the East and slightly to the North of the area where Westphalian is spoken.

The Westphalian vowel breaking is a sound change found in many Westphalian dialects. In this process, short vowels in open, stressed syllables are turned into diphthongs, for example:^[4]

• iäten / eaten – „(to) eat“
• wieten – „(to) know“
• vuegel – „bird“
• vüegel – „birds“
• kuaken / koaken – „(to) cook“
• hüawe / höäwe – „courtyards“

Originally, these syllables in Old Saxon had short vowels. In other Low German dialects, these vowels were simply lengthened (e.g. Westphalian briäken – North Low Saxon breken).

At the end of the Old Saxon period, final syllables became weakened, so the main stress shifted entirely to the stem syllable. It then became difficult to maintain at the same time the shortness, openness, and strong stress of the vowel. Westphalian solved this by adding another short sound after the original short vowel. This kept the sound system close to the old one.

Even today, Westphalian preserves almost all (7 out of 8) of the original short vowels in open syllables..

In the past, this feature occurred over a larger area, including places like Lippe and the Westmünsterland, where it is no longer found today. Even in dialects without this breaking, the distinctions between the old short vowels are still mostly preserved.

Declension

Adjectives

German Westphalian is currently spoken mostly by elderly people. The majority of the inhabitants of Westphalia proper speak (regionally coloured) standard German. This accent, however, does not stand out as much as for example Bavarian, because Westphalia is closer to the Hanover region, whose speech variety is generally considered to be standard modern German.

The Low Saxon dialects in the bordering Twente and Achterhoek regions in the east of the Netherlands are traditionally classified as Westphalian dialects, albeit with some notable traits from Standard Dutch. A 2005 study showed 62% of the population of Twente spoke the language at home or together with Dutch, and efforts are made to insert the language into the local school curriculum.

One of the reasons for the diminishing use of Westphalian in Germany is the rigorous enforcement of German-only policies in traditionally Low German-speaking areas during the 18th century. Westphalian, and Low German in general, unlike many of the High German dialects, were too distant from standard German to be considered dialects and were therefore not tolerated and efforts were made to ban them. In an extreme case, Hannover and its hinterland were forced to adopt rather unnaturally a form of German based on the written standard.

Westphalian was spoken in Kruppwerke up to the 19th century.

Nevertheless, the Westphalian regiolect of Standard High German includes some words that originate from the dying Westphalian dialects, which are otherwise unintelligible for other German speakers from outside Westphalia. Examples include Pölter [ˈpœltɐ] "pyjamas/pajamas", Plörre [ˈplœʁə] "dirty liquid", and Mötke [ˈmœtkə] "mud, dirt".

Westphalian authors include:

Münsterländisch:

• Augustin Wibbelt

East Westphalian:

• Richard Knoche

South Westphalian:

• Wilhelm Bleicher
• Wilhelm Bröcker
• Theodor Ellbracht
• Friedrich Wilhelm Grimme
• Walter Höher
• Carl Hülter
• Fritz Kuhne
• Fritz Linde
• Horst Ludwigsen
• Franz Nolte