Feature
The Wachtendonk dialect
The Lower Rhine speaks Kleverländisch – a Low Franconian dialect that is closer to Dutch than to Standard German.
In Wachtendonk and across the Lower Rhine people traditionally speak **Kleverländisch**, a Low Franconian dialect. Unlike Ripuarian further south, Wachtendonk lies **north of the Uerdinger line**: here it is “ek” instead of “ich” and “mi” instead of “mich” – just like in neighbouring Dutch. The dialect forms a continuous dialect continuum with Dutch. Many words – “eikes” (eggs), “ääte” (to eat), “ömmer” (always) – show this close kinship. Today it is mainly older people who still speak it in everyday life.
- Language family
- West Germanic, Low Franconian (Kleverländisch)
- Branch
- North Low Franconian, north of the Uerdinger line – closely related to Dutch
- Speakers
- mainly among older generations on the Lower Rhine
Pronunciation features
Mini dictionary
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Sayings
“ek” for “ich” and “efkes” (briefly) are typical of Kleverländisch.
A frequently cited example sentence for the Lower Rhine dialect.
Mini grammar
Ek/mi – the personal pronouns
North of the Uerdinger line it is “ek/ik” (I) and “mi” (me) – as in Dutch, not “ich/mich” as in Standard German.
Close to Dutch
Kleverländisch belongs to the Low Franconian dialect continuum and long had Dutch as its standard language; many words and sentence patterns resemble Dutch.
In music & culture
Between two languages
The Lower Rhine forms a dialect continuum with neighbouring Dutch. Until around 1900 Dutch was in many places the written and church language here, before Prussian language policy displaced it in favour of Standard German.
Recognition as a regional language
On the Dutch side (province of Limburg) the North Low Franconian dialects have been recognised as a regional language under the European Charter since 1997. On the German Lower Rhine, Platt survives mainly as the everyday speech of older generations.
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