| Dutch Low Saxon | |
|---|---|
| Nederlaands Leegsaksies, Nederlaands Nedersaksies | |
| Native to | Netherlands |
Native speakers | 2.15 million (2005)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
 West Low German (including Dutch Low Saxon in the Netherlands) area in yellow. | |
Dutch Low Saxon (Nederlaands Leegsaksies [ˈneːdərlaːnts ˈleːxsɑksis] or Nederlaands Nedersaksies; Dutch: Nederlands Nedersaksisch) are Low Saxon dialects from the Low German language that are spoken in the northeastern Netherlands and are mostly, but not exclusively, written with local, unstandardised orthographies based on Standard Dutch orthography.
The UNESCO Atlas of endangered languages lists the language as vulnerable.[2] The percentage of speakers among parents dropped from 34% in 1995 to 15% in 2011. The percentage of speakers among their children dropped from 8% to 2% in the same period.[3] According to a 2005 study 53% indicated to speak Low Saxon or Low Saxon and Dutch at home and 71% they could speak Low Saxon in the researched area, accounting for a total of 1.6 million speakers at home and 2.15 million total, ranging from "reasonably" to "very well" in terms of proficiency.[1]
The Netherlands recognizes Dutch Low Saxon as a regional language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[4]
- ^ a b Bloemhoff, H., 2005, Taaltelling Nedersaksisch. Een enquête naar het gebruik en de beheersing van het Nedersaksisch in Nederland. Groningen: Sasland
- ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org.
- ^ Driessen, Geert (2012). "Ontwikkelingen in het gebruik van Fries, streektalen en dialecten in de periode 1995-2011" (PDF). Radboud University Nijmegen. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
- ^ "De Nedersaksische taal (The Dutch Low Saxon language)". Rijksoverheid.nl (website of the Dutch national government). 14 July 2020. Retrieved 2022-12-17.