limburgish language

This page covers the Limburgish language, spoken in the Netherlands and Belgium.

colspan="2" bgcolor="lawngreen" style="font-size:120%"\|Limburgian (Limburgs)
valign="top"\|Spoken in:	Netherlands, Belgium and a small part of Germany
valign="top"\|Region:	Limburg
valign="top"\|Total speakers:	1,600,000 (est.)
valign="top"\|Ranking:	Not in top 100
valign="top"\|Genetic classification:	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Rhinelandic Limburgish
colspan="2" bgcolor="lawngreen"\|Official status
valign="top"\|Recognised language in:	valign="top"\|Not official in Belgium, in the Netherlands it's recognised as a regional language
valign="top"\|Regulated by:	valign="top"\|--
colspan="2" bgcolor="lawngreen"\|Language codes
a href="/encyclopedia/ISO-639" title="ISO 639">ISO 639-1	LI
a href="/encyclopedia/ISO-639" title="ISO 639">ISO 639-2	LIM
a href="/encyclopedia/SIL" title="SIL">SIL	LMP

Limburgian (Dutch: Limburgs, German: Limburgisch, French: Limbourgeois) is a group of Franconian varieties, spoken in the Limburg and Selfkant regions, near the common Dutch/Flemish(Belgium)/German border. Limburgian is 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. Limburgian is spoken by approximately 1,600,000 people. The varieties spoken on Flanders(Belgium) territory are more influenced by French than those spoken on Dutch and German soil. Unlike most European languages, Limburgian is a tonal language having two tones. Other small European languages known to be marginally tonal are Lithuanian, Slovenian, and some Croatian dialects. Swedish and Norwegian also exhibit tonal distinctions.

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