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Revision as of 08:25, 12 October 2006
Lorraine Franconian (French: francique, platt lorrain, or platt mosellan) is a Germanic dialect spoken in the northern part of the French region of Lorraine, in the département of Moselle. The part of France where this dialect is spoken borders the large German city of Saarbrücken. Lorraine Franconian is a close cousin of Luxembourgish, both belonging to the Western Central High German (German: Westmitteldeutsch) group of languages. Lorraine Franconian is spoken in the areas around Sarregemuines, Forbach and other municipalities, but not further to the west in Thionville (known locally as Diedennuewen), where Luxembourgish is spoken.
Estimations of the number of speakers of Lorraine Franconian in France range from 30,000 to to 400,000 (according to some militant groups, which would make it the 3rd most-spoken regional language in France, after Occitan and Alsatian). The most reliable data come from the Enquête famille carried out by INSEE as part of the 1999 census, but they give a somewhat indirect picture of the current situation (see Languages in France for a discussion of this survey). Approximately 78,000 people were reported to speak Lorraine Franconian, but fewer than 50,000 passed basic knowledge of the language on to their children. Another statistic illustrating the same point: Of all adult men who used Franconian regularly at age 5, less than 30% use (or used) the language regularly with their own children.
References
- Éric Auburtin (2002). "Langues régionales et relations transfrontalières dans l’espace Saar-Lor-Lux". Hérodote 105, pp. 102—122.
- François Héran, et al. (2002) "La dynamique des langues en France au fil du XX siècle". Population et sociétés 376, Ined.
External links
- Redde-n-ìhr Plàtt ? — Historical, literary, and linguistic information (in French)
- Gau un Griis — Association for the defense and promotion of Lorraine Franconian
- Plattweb
Books
- Jean-Louis Kieffer, Le Platt Lorrain de poche. Assimil, 2006. ISBN 2-7005-0374-0