Luxembourgish

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A language of Luxembourg

ISO 639-3
ltz
Alternate Names
Frankish, Letzburgisch, Luxembourgeois, Luxemburgian, Luxemburgish, Moselle Franconian
Autonym
Lëtzebuergesch
Population

345,000 in Luxembourg, all users. 266,000 (European Commission 2012). 79,000 (2016). Total users in all countries: 415,000 (as L1: 336,000; as L2: 79,000).

Language Maps
Language Status

4 (Educational). Statutory language of national identity (1984, Language Law of 24 February, Article 1).

Classification
Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, West Middle German, Moselle Franconian
Dialects

None known. As distinct from Standard German [deu] as is Dutch [nld] (Stephens 1976); not inherently intelligible with it. A Moselle variety of Frankish-German origin, related to varieties of Mitteldeutsch of Belgium.

Typology

SVO; prepositions; articles, adjectives, numerals, relatives before noun heads; question word initial; 3 prefixes, 2 suffixes on a word; rigid word order; passives; nontonal.

Language Use

Vigorous. The language of creativity for most. Modest amounts of literature. All domains. All ages. Positive attitudes. West and Central varieties considered more sophisticated; North more rural, peasant-like. Variety used by older Belgian-border inhabitants considered old-fashioned and full of French [fra] words, but perfectly intelligible. Most also use English [eng] (European Commission 2006). Also use French [fra], Standard German [deu].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 99% in German [deu] and French [fra]. Newspapers. Radio. TV. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions: 2000.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Luxembourgish
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Christian.

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