| This article is a part of a series on |
| Dutch dialects |
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| "Dutch Low Saxon" |
| West Low Franconian |
| East Low Franconian |
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| Low German |
| Southern Meuse-Rhenish | |
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| Spoken in | Netherlands, Belgium and Germany |
| Region | Limburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Province of Liege |
| Native speakers | 1,600,000 (est.) (date missing) |
| Language family |
Indo-European
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Southeast Limburgish, also to be defined as Southern Meuse-Rhenish, is a subdivision of what recently has been named Meuse-Rhenish. Both terms denote a rather compact grouping of Low Franconian varieties, spoken in the Limburg and Lower Rhineland regions, near the common Dutch/Flemish (Belgium) and Dutch/German borders. These dialectal varieties differ notably from Dutch and Flemish at the one side, and no less from German at the other. In the Netherlands and Belgium this group is often included in the generic term Limburgish. Limburgish was recently recognised as a regional language (streektaal) in the Netherlands and as such it receives moderate protection under chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The linguitic border of the Limburgish varieties to the South is the Benrath line, to the North it is the Uerdingen line. This means, Southeast Limburgish is different in nature from the other Limburgish varieties.
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A lot of subgroupings can be made here.
Southeast Limburgish is spoken around Kerkrade, Bocholtz and Vaals in the Netherlands, Aachen in Germany and Raeren and Eynatten in Belgium. In Germany it is sometimes considered as Ripuarian, not always as Limburgish. This explains why it is not distinctly marked on both maps (at right and below). These pictures however, have to be finetuned for the transitional zone between Limburgish and Ripuarian. In Belgium, the south-eastern boundary between Meuse-Rhenish or (French) francique rhéno-mosan and Ripuarian is formed by the so-called Low Dietsch (in Limburgish: Platduutsj) language area. According to a contemporary vision, all varieties in a wider half circle some 20 KM around Aachen, including 2/3 of Dutch South Limburg and also the Low Dietsch area between Voeren and Eupen in Belgium, can be taken as a group of its own, which recently has been named Limburgish of the Three Countries Area (Dutch: Drielandenlimburgs, German: Dreiländerplatt), referring to the place where Holland, Belgium and Germany meet. (Welschen 2005, Frins 2005, 2006). This variety still possesses interesting syntactic idiosyncrasies, probably dating from the period in which the old Duchy of Limburg existed.
If only tonality is to be taken as to define this variety, both Southeast Limburgish and Ripuarian belong to a broader class of Meuse-Rhenish varieties in a wider sense. This tonal language group stretches rather deep into Germany, even across the Rhine up to Siegen. In Germany, it is consensus to class both varieties as belonging to High German varieties. But this is a little over-simplified. In order to include this variety properly a more encompassing concept is needed. The combination of Meuse-Rhenish and Ripuarian, including their overlapping transitional zones of Southeast Limburgish and Low Dietsch, will do.