Native to Germany | Glottolog east2290 | |
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Region Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt Language family Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
Low German
West Low German
Eastphalian | ||
Eastphalian, or Eastfalian (German: Ostfälisch), is a West Low German (Low Saxon) dialect spoken in southeastern parts of Lower Saxony and western parts of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany.
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Geographical extent
The language area between the Weser and Elbe rivers stretches from the Lüneburg Heath in the north to the Harz mountain range and Weser Uplands in the south. It comprises Hanover Region, Brunswick and Calenberg Land as well as the Magdeburg Börde, including the cities of Hanover, Braunschweig, Hildesheim, Göttingen and Magdeburg. It roughly corresponds with the historic region of Eastphalia.
Classification
Eastphalian as a separate dialect was determined by 19th century linguistics, tracing it back to Old Saxon variants spoken in eastern parts of the medieval stem duchy of Saxony. In everyday life, very few speakers are aware of talking Eastphalian as distinct to Northern Low Saxon. Towards the Elbe region in the southeast, the language area is increasingly influenced by the High German consonant shift.