West Central German
language
West Central German (German: Westmitteldeutsch) belongs to the Central, High German dialect family of German. It includes the following sub-families:
Central Franconian (Mittelfränkisch)
Ripuarian (Ripuarisch), spoken in North Rhine-Westphalia (including Kölsch) and German-speaking Belgium and a small edge of the south of the Dutch province of Limbourg.
Moselle Franconian (Moselfränkisch; French: francique luxembourgeois) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and France
Luxembourgish (Luxemburgisch; Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuergesch; francique luxembourgeois or luxembourgeois) in Luxembourg, Belgium and France
Hunsrik (Riograndenser Hunsrückisch), spoken in Brazil and derived from the Hunsrückisch dialect of Moselle Franconian
Rhine Franconian (Rheinfränkisch; francique rhénan)
Palatinate Franconian (Pfälzisch; francique palatin), spoken in Rhineland-Palatinate
Lorraine Franconian (Lothringisch; francique lorrain) in the French region of Lorraine
Bukovina German (Bukowinadeutsch) in Bukovina (extinct)
Pennsylvania German (Pennsylvaniadeutsch) in historical communities in North America, especially Pennsylvania
Hessian (Hessisch) in Hesse and the Rhenish Hesse region of Rhineland-Palatinate
North Hessian (Nordhessisch)
Central Hessian (Mittelhessisch)
East Hessian (Osthessisch)
South Hessian (Südhessisch)
On the southern and southeastern edges, West Central German varieties border on an area often considered a transitional area between Central German and Upper German, comprising the dialect groups South Franconian German and East Franconian German (popularly called Franconian because 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.
The public source identifies “West Central German” as language. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around West, Central and German.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q690982. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “West Central German” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.