Editing Low Franconian (section)

== Terminology ==
''Low Franconian'' is a purely linguistic category and not used as a term of self-designation among any of the speakers of the Germanic dialects traditionally grouped within it.

Within the field of historical [[philology]], the terminology for the historical phases of Low Franconian is not analogous to the traditional [[Old High German]] / [[Middle High German]] and [[Old Low German]] / [[Middle Low German]] dichotomies, with the terms [[Old Dutch]] and [[Middle Dutch]] commonly being preferred to ''Old Low Franconian'' and ''Middle Low Franconian'' in most contexts. Due to the category's strong interconnection with the [[Dutch language]] and [[History of the Dutch language|its historical forms]], ''Low Franconian'' is occasionally used interchangeably with ''Dutch'', though the latter term can have a broader as well as narrower meaning depending on the specific context. English publications alternatively use ''Netherlandic'' as a synonym of Low Franconian at its earlier historical stages, thereby signifying the category's close relation to Dutch, without using it as a synonym.<ref name="LCCaGL">Sarah Grey Thomason, Terrence Kaufman: ''Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics'', University of California Press, 1991, p. 321. (Calling it "Low Frankish (or Netherlandish)".)</ref><ref name="THoE">Scott Shay: ''The History of English: A Linguistic Introduction'', Wardja Press, 2008, p. 73. (Having "Old Low Franconian" and mentioning "Old Low Frankish" and "Old Netherlandic".)</ref>

Low Franconian is sometimes, and especially was historically, grouped together with [[Low German|Low Saxon]], referred to as [[Low German]]. However, this grouping is not based on common linguistic innovations, but rather on the absence of the [[High German consonant shift]].<ref>Glück, H. (ed.): ''Metzler Lexikon Sprache'', Stuttgart, Weimar: Metzler, 2000, pages 472, 473 (entries ''Niederdeutsch'' and ''Niederfränkisch'')</ref><ref>Gabriele Graefen & Martina Liedke-Göbel: ''Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft: Deutsch als Erst-, Zweit- oder Fremdsprache'', 3. ed., 2020, p. 31.</ref> In fact, in nineteenth century literature this grouping could also include [[English language|English]], another West Germanic language that did not undergo the consonant shift.<ref>Chambers W. and R., ltd, ''Outline of the History of the English Language and Literature'' (Oxford, 1882) p. 9</ref><ref>Alexander J. Ellis, ''On Early English Pronouncation, Part IV'' (New York, 1874) p. 1369</ref>

The term ''Frankish'' or ''Franconian'' as a modern linguistic category was coined by the German linguist [[Wilhelm Braune]] (1850–1926). He divided Franconian which contained both Germanic dialects which had and had not experienced the [[Second Germanic consonant shift]] into Low, [[Central Franconian languages|Middle]] and [[High Franconian German|High Franconian]], with the use of ''Low'' signifying that this category did not participate in the sound shift.<ref>{{cite book |first=Herbert Augustus |last=Strong |first2=Kuno |last2=Meyer |title=Outlines of a History of the German language |location=London |publisher=Swan Sonnenschein, Le Bas & Lowrey |date=1886 |page=68}}</ref><ref name="Historisches Lexikon Bayerns">Alfred Klepsch: ''Fränkische Dialekte,'' published on 19 October 2009; in: [http://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Fränkische_Dialekte Historisches Lexikon Bayerns] (accessed 21 November 2020)</ref>