Glottolog None | ||
Geographic
distribution Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lorraine, Deitscherei Linguistic classification Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
High German
Central German
West Central German Subdivisions Central Franconian
Rhine Franconian |
West Central German (German: Westmitteldeutsche Dialekte) belongs to the Central, High German dialect family in the German language. Its dialects are thoroughly Franconian and comprise the parts of the Rhinelandic continuum located south of the Benrath line isogloss, including the following sub-families:
Apart from West Central German on the southern edge and in south-east Franconian dialects are turning to Upper German. This transition area between Central German and Upper German is captured by the dialect families of South Franconian German and East Franconian German, colloquially miscalled Franconian as 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.