Region Western Germany | Glottolog None | |
Language family Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
High German
Central German
West Central German
Central Franconian
Ripuarian
South Bergish dialect | ||
South Bergish (German: Südbergische Dialekte) or Upper Bergish (German: Oberbergische Dialekte) is a group of German dialects of the Bergisches Land Region East of the Rhine and approximately south of the Wupper and north of the Sieg. These dialects are part of the Ripuarian group and thus are also called East Ripuarian. Ripuarian dialects are also spoken west of the Rhine up to the German border, and in some small areas next to the respective borders in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Ripuarian Bergish dialects belong to the Middle German group, and thus are varieties of High German, where they belong to the northmost ones. In the North, they border to the East Bergish and the West Bergish aka Low Bergish language groups, which are part of the Low Franconian group like Dutch.
In popular view, rather than scientific, South Bergish dialects are often referred to as Bergish by locals, or as Rhinelandic by outsiders.