Westphalian or Westfalish (Standard High German: , Standard Dutch: ) is one of the major dialect groups of Low German. Its most salient feature is its diphthongization (rising diphthongs). For example, speakers say () instead of or for "to eat". (There is also a difference in the use of consonants within the Westphalian dialects: North of the Wiehengebirge, people tend to use unvoiced consonants, whereas south of the Wiehengebirge they tend to use the voiced equivalents, e.g. > .)

The Westphalian dialect region includes the north-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, i.e. the former Prussian province of Westphalia, without Siegerland and Wittgenstein, but including the southern part of former government district Weser-Ems (e.g. the region around Osnabrück and the landscape of Emsland in modern Lower Saxony).

Traditionally, all Dutch Low Saxon dialects are considered Westphalian, with the notable exception of Gronings, which is grouped with the Northern Low Saxon and Friso-Saxon dialects. The rising diphthongisation is still noticeable in the dialects of Rijssen, Enter and Vriezenveen. In a band from southeast Twente to northwest Twente the diphtongisation still happens before the consonants v, g and z. Vriezenveen furthermore preserved the diphtongisations in words like to eat, to hope and kitchen. In other areas of Dutch Low Saxon the breaking was monophthongized and then highered and lengthened, resulting in different development stadia away from the breaking depending on the area.

Varieties

Among the Westphalian language there are different subgroups of dialects: → [a map; PDF]

Westphalian dialects in Westphalia East Westphalian () in East Westphalia (possibly including the dialect of Osnabrück) South Westphalian () Münsterländisch Westmünsterländisch

Westphalian dialects in the Netherlands:

Achterhoeks Veluws Sallands Urkers Drèents Twents

Westphalian dialects in Lower Saxony and Groningen

Grafschafter Platt Emsländer Platt Westerwolds

Westphalian has many lexical similarities and other proximities to Eastphalian, extending to the East and slightly to the North of the area where Westphalian is spoken.

Phonology

The Westphalian vowel breaking is a sound change found in many Westphalian dialects. In this process, short vowels in open, stressed syllables are turned into diphthongs, for example:

iäten / eaten – „(to) eat“ wieten – „(to) know“ vuegel – „bird“ vüegel – „birds“ kuaken / koaken – „(to) cook“ hüawe / höäwe – „courtyards“

Originally, these syllables in Old Saxon had short vowels. In other Low German dialects, these vowels were simply lengthened (e.g. Westphalian briäken – North Low Saxon breken).

At the end of the Old Saxon period, final syllables became weakened, so the main stress shifted entirely to the stem syllable. It then became difficult to maintain at the same time the shortness, openness, and strong stress of the vowel. Westphalian solved this by adding another short sound after the original short vowel. This kept the sound system close to the old one.

Even today, Westphalian preserves almost all (7 out of 8) of the original short vowels in open syllables..

In the past, this feature occurred over a larger area, including places like Lippe and the Westmünsterland, where it is no longer found today. Even in dialects without this breaking, the distinctions between the old short vowels are still mostly preserved.

Grammar

Declension

Adjectives

+ Case/Gender South Westphalian East Westphalian Münsterländisch Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Strong declension patterns Nominativ -en -e -∅/-te -e -en -e -∅/-et -e -en -e -∅ -e Genitiv – – – – – – -er – – – Dativ -en/-em -er -en/-em -en -en -e(n) -en -en -en -e -∅ -e Accusative -en -e -∅/-te -e -en -e -∅/-et -e Weak declension patterns Nominativ -e -e -e -en -e -e -e -en -e -e -e -en Genitiv – – – – – – -er – – – Dativ -en -en -en -en -en -en -en -en -en -e -e -en Accusative -en -e -e -en -en -e(n) -e -en

+ Case/Gender South Westphalian East Westphalian Münsterländisch Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Strong declension of "lütk" (small/little) Nominativ lütken lütke lütk lütke lütke(n) lütke lütk(et) lütke lütken lütke lütk lütke Genitiv – – – – – – (lütker) – – – Dativ lütkem/lütken lütker lütkem/lütken lütken lütken lütke(n) lütken lütken lütken lütke lütk lütke Accusative lütken lütke lütk lütke lütken lütke lütk(et) lütke Weak declension of "lütk" (small/small) Nominativ dai lütke dai lütke dat lütke dai lütke de/dai lütke de lütke dat/et lütke de lütken däi lütke däi lütke dat lütke däi lütke Genitiv – – – - – – – – – – – - Dativ diem lütken dier lütken diem lütken dai lütken dän/däm lütken de lütken dän/däm lütken dän lütken den lütken däi lütke dat lütke däi lütken Accusative dien lütken dai lütke dat lütke dai lütken dän lütken de lütke(n) dat/et lütke de lütken

Personal pronouns Case/GenderSouth Westphalian East Westphalian Münsterländisch 1st 2nd 3rd masc. 3rd fem. 3rd neut. 1st 2nd 3rd masc. 3rd fem. 3rd neut.1st2nd3rd masc.3rd fem.3rd neut. Singular Nominative ik deu (-de, -te) hai (-he) sai (-se) iet (-et, -t) ik diu, du håi, he såi, se et, it ik du (-de) häi (-he) säi (-se) et (-t) Genitive – – – – – muine duine – – – - - - - - Dative mäi däi iemme (-me) ier iemme (-me) mui, mi dui, di (h)äm, än üar äm, än, en mi di em üör et (-t) Accusative mik dik ienne (-ne) sai (-se) iet än, en såi, se et Plural Nominative fäi äi säi wui jui, ji såi, se wi ji (-ji, -e)säi (-se) Genitive – – – iuse jiue – - - - Dative us ugg ienne (-ne) us jiu, ju en, üar us ju üör Accusative säi, sesåi, sesäi (-se)

Possessive Pronouns

South Westphalian Person Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Nom Gen Dat Akk Nom Gen Dat Akk Nom Gen Dat Akk Nom Gen Dat Akk 1. Sg. mäin – mäinem/mäinen mäinen mäine – mäiner mäine mäin – mäinem/mäinen mäin mäine – mäinen mäine 2. Sg. däin – däinem/däinen däinen däine – däiner däine däin – däinem/däinen däin däine – däinen däine 3. Sg. masc. säin – säinem/säinen säinen säine – säiner säine säin – säinem/säinen säin säine – säinen säine 3. Sg. fem. ier(e) – ierem/ieren ieren iere – ierer iere ier(e) – ierem/ieren ier(e) iere – ieren iere 3. Sg. neutr. säin – säinem/säinen säinen säine – säiner säine säin – säinem/säinen säin säine – säinen säine 1. Pl. use – usem/usen usen use – user use use – usem/usen use use – usen use 2. Pl. ugge – uggem/uggen uggen ugge – ugger ugge ugge – uggem/uggen ugge ugge – uggen ugge 3. Pl. iere – ierem/ieren ieren iere – ierer iere iere – ierem/ieren iere iere – ieren iere East Westphalian Person Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Nom Gen Dat Akk Nom Gen Dat Akk Nom Gen Dat Akk Nom Gen Dat Akk 1. Sg. muin – muinen muinen muine – muine(n) muine muin – muinen muin muine muiner muinen muine 2. Sg. duin – duinen duinen duine – duine(n) duine duin – duinen duin duine duiner duinen duine 3. Sg. masc. suin – suinen suinen suine – suine(n) suine suin – suinen suin suine suiner suinen suine 3. Sg. fem. üar – üaren üaren üare – üare(n) üare üar – üaren üar üare üarer üaren üare 3. Sg. neutr. suin – suinen suinen suine – suine(n) suine suin – suinen suin suine suine suinen suine 2. Pl. iuse – iusen iusen iuse – iuse(n) iuse iuse – iusen iuse iuse iuser iusen iuse 1. Pl. jiue – jiuen jiuen jiue – jiue(n) jiue jiue – jiuen jiue jiue jiuer jiuen jiue 3. Pl. üar – üaren üaren üare – üare(n) üare üar – üaren üar üare üarer üaren üare Münsterländisch Person Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Nom Gen Objective Nom Gen Objective Nom Gen Objective Nom Gen Objective 1. Sg. min – minen mine – mine min – min mine – mine 2. Sg. din – dinen dine – dine din – din dine – dine 3. Sg. masc. sin – sinen sine – sine sin – sin sine – sine 3. Sg. fem. üör – üören üöre – üöre üör – üör üöre – üöre 3. Sg. neutr. sin – sinen sine – sine sin – sin sine – sine 1. Pl. use – usen use – use use – use use – use 2. Pl. jue – juen jue – jue jue – jue jue – jue 3. Pl. üöre – üören üöre – üöre üöre – üöre üöre – üöre

Reflexive pronouns

While Old Saxon has lost the Germanic third-person reflexive pronoun such as Old English and Old Frisian and instead resorts to the relevant personal pronoun, modern Low German borrows reflexive pronouns from German. In Sauerland, it is conjugated as in Proto-Germanic and Icelandic, while in other Westphalian dialects like Münsterländisch or East Westphalian it is not. In addition, a distinction in South Westphalian is made between the individual genders as well as individual and multiple people. In some dialects, there is still no distinction between reflexive and third-person pronouns in the onjective case.

+Person/Case Südwestfälisch Ostwestfälisch Münsterländisch Accusative Dative Accusative/Dative Object Case 1. Singular miek mäi mui, mi mi 2. Singular diek däi dui, di di 3. Singular Mask. siek säi sik sik 3. Singular Fem. siek säi/siek sik sik 3. Singular Neutr. siek säi sik sik 1. Plural us us us us 2. Plural uch uch jiu, ju ju 3. Plural iärk iärk sik sik

Demonstrative Pronouns

+ Case/Gender South Westphalian East Westphalian Münsterländisch Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Masc. Fem. Neutr. Plural Strong declension patterns Nominativ dai dai dat dai de/dai de dat de däi däi dat däi Dativ diem dier diem dai dän/däm de dän/däm dän den däi dat däi Accusative dien dai dat dai dän -de dat de

Verbs

Conjugation patterns of East Westphalian verbsbriäken, "to break"täin "to pull"doun, "to do"gaun, "to go"helpen, "to help"küren, "to speak"willen, "to want/ to become"kwuomen, "to come"haulen, "to hold"skräggen, "to shout"skäilen, "to scold"beskriieben, "to describe"wasken, "to wash"InfinitivebriäkentäindoungaunhelpenkürenwillenkwuomenhaulenskräggenskäilenbeskriiebenwaskenParticiplePresentbriäkentäindoungaunhelpenkürenwillenkwuomenhaulenskräggenskäilenbeskriiebenwaskenPastbruokentuogendaungaunholpenkürtwoltkwuomhaulenskräggetskuolenbeskribenwaskenIndicativePresentSingular1st personbriäketeedoogoohelpekürewillkwuomehauleskräggeskäilebeskriiewewaske2nd personbräkstüssdössgäishelpskürswüsskümmshöltsskräggesskäilsbeskrifswaskes3rd personbriäktütdöttgäithelpetkürtwillkümmphöltskräggetskäiltbeskrifwasketPluralbriäketteetdootgoothelpetkürtwilltkwuomethaultskräggetskäiltbeskriiewetwasketPastSingular1st personbroiktoigdäägönghölpküredewollkweimphoiltskräggedeskoiltbeskreifwaskede2nd personbroikstoigsdääsgöngshölpesküredeswosskweimpshoiltsskräggedesskoilsbeskreifswaskedes3rd personbroiktoigdäägönghölpküredewollkweimphoiltskräggedeskoiltbeskreifwaskedePluralbroikentoigendäängöngenhölpenküredenwollenkweimenhoilenskräggedenskoilenbeskreiwenwaskedenImperativeSingularbriäkteedotgonghelpkürwusskwummhaulskräggeskäilbeskriiewwaskePluralbriäketteetdootgoothelpetkürtwilltkwuomethaultskräggetskäiltbeskriiewetwasket

Conjugation patterns of Vjens