Central Franconian

proper noun

one of two main subgroups of the West Central German dialects; spoken in the north-western half of Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western North Rhine-Westphalia, easternmost Belgium, and southeasternmost Limburg (Netherlands); distinguished from Rhine Franconian by the use of dat (“that”) and wat (“what”), and the consistent pronunciation of Germanic -β- as a fricative (i.e. [v], or [f] when now in coda position).

Similar
Middle Franconian
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Meanings

proper noun
  1. one of two main subgroups of the West Central German dialects; spoken in the north-western half of Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western North Rhine-Westphalia, easternmost Belgium, and southeasternmost Limburg (Netherlands); distinguished from Rhine Franconian by the use of dat (“that”) and wat (“what”), and the consistent pronunciation of Germanic -β- as a fricative (i.e. [v], or [f] when now in coda position).
    1 more example

    The tonal dialects [i.e. the tonal dialects of Franconian, Franconian tonal dialects or tonal Franconian dialects] are divided into two main groups (Frings 1916): South-East-Low Franconian (Belgian Limburg, Dutch Limburg, Dülken region), and Central Franconian, which is divided into Ripuarian (Aachen and Cologne; Kerkrade region), and Moselle Franconian (a large area with Trier in the centre).

    Björn Köhnlein, Marc van Oostendorp, Introduction, chapter 3 The place of Franconian tones in the debate; in: 2018, Wolfgang Kehrein, Björn Köhnlein, Paul Boersma, Marc van Oostendorp (eds.), Segmental Structure and Tone (series: LA: Linguistische Arbeiten), p. 1ff., here p. 6

    Synonyms: Middle Franconian

Synonyms & antonyms

proper nounone of two main subgroups of the West Central German dialects; spoken in the north-western half of Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western North Rhine-Westphalia, easternmost Belgium, and southeasternmost Limburg (Netherlands); distinguished from Rhine Franconian by the use of dat (“that”) and wat (“what”), and the consistent pronunciation of Germanic -β- as a fricative (i.e. [v], or [f] when now in coda position).

Similar
Middle Franconian

Origin

Calque from German Mittelfränkisch.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Central Franconian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Central%20Franconian

MLA

“Central Franconian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Central%20Franconian. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Central Franconian,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Central%20Franconian.

Source: Central Franconian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.