West Central German

West Central German (Template:Langx)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> belongs to the Central, High German dialect family of German. It includes the following sub-families:

• Central Franconian (Template:Lang)
  • Ripuarian (Template:Lang), spoken in North Rhine-Westphalia (including Template:Lang) and German-speaking Belgium and a small edge of the south of the Dutch province of Limbourg.
  • Moselle Franconian (Template:Lang; Template:Langx) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and France
    • Luxembourgish (Template:Lang; Template:Langx; Template:Lang or Template:Lang) in Luxembourg, Belgium and France
    • Hunsrik (Template:Lang), spoken in Brazil and derived from the Template:Lang dialect of Moselle Franconian
• Rhine Franconian (Template:Lang; Template:Lang)
  • Palatinate Franconian (Template:Lang; Template:Lang), spoken in Rhineland-Palatinate
    • Lorraine Franconian (Template:Lang; Template:Lang) in the French region of Lorraine
    • Bukovina German (Template:Lang) in Bukovina (extinct) Template:Citation needed
    • Pennsylvania German (Template:Lang) in historical communities in North America, especially Pennsylvania
  • Hessian (Template:Lang) in Hesse and the Rhenish Hesse region of Rhineland-Palatinate
    • North Hessian (Template:Lang)
    • Central Hessian (Template:Lang)
    • East Hessian (Template:Lang)
    • South Hessian (Template:Lang)

On the southern and southeastern edges, West Central German varieties border on an area often considered a transitional area between Central German and Upper German, comprising the dialect groups South Franconian German and East Franconian German (popularly called Franconian because dialects of this sub-family are spoken all over Franconia).

West Central German was spoken in several settlements throughout America, for example in the Amana Colonies.

See also

• East Central German
• Limburgish language
• High German consonant shift