Westphalian language

Infobox Language
name = Westphalian
nativename =
familycolor = Indo-European
states = Germany [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=wep Ethnologue entry] ]
region = Northwestern, Westphalian
speakers = unknown
fam1 = Indo-European
fam2 = Germanic
fam3 = West Germanic
fam4 = Low Franconian
fam5 = Low Saxon
nation =
iso1 =
iso2 = gem [Germanic, other]
iso3 = wep

Westphalian is one of the major dialect groups of West Low German. Its most salient feature is the diphthongization (rising diphthongs). For example, we get "iEten" instead of "Eːten" for "eat". (There is also a difference in the use of consonants "within" the Westphalian dialects: North of the Wiehengebirge, people tend to speak hard consonants, south of the Wiehengebirge they speak soft consonants, e.g. "Foite" <-> "Foide".)The Westphalian dialect region includes the north-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, i.e. the former Prussian province of Westphalia excluding the Siegerland, and the region around Osnabrück.

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

References