Alternate Names: Frankish, Letzburgisch, Lëtzebuergesch, Luxembourgeois, Luxemburgian, Luxemburgish, Moselle Franconian
Dialects: None known. As distinct from Standard German , as is Dutch , (Stephens 1976); not inherently intelligible with it. A Moselle variety of Frankish-German origin, related to varieties of Mitteldeutsch of Belgium.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 266,000 in Luxembourg (ELDIA 2012). Population total all countries: 336,710. L2 users: 50,000 in Luxembourg.
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 riddled with French [fra] words, but perfectly intelligible. German [deu] considered a foreign language, not used with others who speak Luxembourgeois. 226,000 also use English [eng]. Also use French [fra], Standard German [deu].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 99% German, French. Newspapers. Radio programs. TV. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions: 2000.
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.
Spoken In: Luxembourg
Writing System: Latin
Nation of Origin: Luxembourg
Other Comments: Christian.