Low Saxon language Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
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Low Saxon (in Low Saxon, Nedersaksisch, Neddersassisch, "Plattdüütsch" or "Nedderdüütsch") is any of a variety of Low German dialects spoken in northern Germany and the Netherlands. Plattdüütsch is the name for both the Low Saxon and the East Low German language.
Since 1994 Low Saxon has been recognised by the European Union as an independent regional language. Since 1999 Low Saxon is under protection of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The ISO 639-2 language code is nds since May 2000. The Northern Low Saxon language serves as a common intelligible language in TV and Wireless programms.
Although often considered a variation of German, in many aspects it is more like Dutch, which is based on closely related Low Franconian dialects. Low Saxon, East Low German and Low Franconian are classified together as Low German. The distinction between Low Saxon, East Low German and Low Franconian (on one side) or High German (on the other side) is not precisely defined; there are several clines that vary smoothly from one dialect to another.
The Low Saxon language has commonality with the English language, the Scandinavian languages and Frisian in that it has not been influenced by the High German sound shift. Therefore a lot of Low Saxon words sound similar to their English counterparts.
For instance: water [wQt3, wat3, wæt3], later [lQ.t3, la.t3, læ.t3], bit [bIt], dish [dis, diS], ship [SIp, skIp, sxIp], pull [pUl], good [gout, GAut, Gu.t], clock [klOk], sail [sAil], he [hEi, hAi, hi(j)], storm [sto:rm].
The grammar also shows similarities to the English language. Low Saxon declination has only three cases. In the northern dialects the participle is formed without the prefix ge-, like the Scandinavian languages and English, but unlike Dutch and German. The syntax on the other hand is more like German syntax, though there are some differences.
It should be noted that e- is used instead of ge- in most Southern (below Groningen in the Netherlands + Westphalia) dialects, though often not when the participle ends with -en or in a few often used words like 'west' (been).
Low Saxon was once much more widespread than today, being used as a lingua franca throughout the Baltic Sea region, under the influence of the Hanseatic League. It served as a standard language in many regions of northern Germany until it was replaced for that purpose by Standard German (a High German dialect) during the unification of Germany under Otto von Bismarck in 1871.
A Low Saxon Wikipedia has recently been started at http://nds.wikipedia.org. The Low Saxon greeting formula Moin and its duplication MoinMoin gave the name for the WikiWiki MoinMoin Project http://moin.sourceforge.net/ There are plans to create a computer vocabulary for lower German in order to translate Desktop environments such as KDE and GNOME. [1]
Note that divisions between subfamilies of Germanic are rarely precisely defined; most form continuous clines, with adjacent dialects being mutually intelligible and more distantly separated ones being less so. However, most Low Saxon dialects are thought to be descended from, or to have been strongly influenced by Old Saxon.
Dialects of Lower German in northern Germany:
See also: Common phrases in different languages.
There is a lot of information about the Low Saxon language to be found online. A selection of these links can be found on this page, which will provide a good frame work to understand the history, current situation and features of the language.
Information:
Writers:
This is an Article on Low Saxon language. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Low Saxon language List of dialects
Dialects in the north eastern Netherlands:
Dialects in Canada and the United States:
This list is not complete.The Lord's Prayer in Northern Low Saxon (German based spelling)
The Lord's Prayer in Northern Low Saxon (Dutch based spelling)
The Lord's Prayer in Old Saxon (Heliand, 9. century D.C.)
Resources
Organizations:
If your organisation isn't listed here, feel free to add it.
Musicians:
Not organized links: