Kronenburgish

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Kronenburgish (Kroneborgsk) is a West-Germanic language spoken in most part of the kingdom of Kronenburg. At this moment, the language doesn't have official status, but it is scheduled to get that on 1 April 2013. A 2007 study scheduled the number of speakers of Kronenburgish at approximately 7 million worldwide, most of them in the main territory of Kronenburg and some of its overseas territories; in the latter, it may vary significantly from the main territory Kronenburgish.

Kronenburgish descends rather peculiarly from Frisian and Lower Saxon spoken by sixteenth and seventeenth settlers of Kronenburg, with some later Scandinavian (mostly Danish) and Dutch influences. Linguists most often consider Kronenburgish a North Sea Germanic language.

Lexically, a lot of variation exists depending on the area where the language is spoken. In Alexanderstad and Friescheburg, the local dialects contain much more Dutch words than e.g. the various insular dialects of Dietzland. With modern easy internet access, a lot of popular English words have slipped in as well. Recently, an official dictionary has been created as part of the preparation for the moment that the language will get official status. Both the grammar and the vocabulary of the variant spoken in the municipality of Waterland were used as most important guideline to construct a general variant of Kronenburgish, as this dialect is considered to be the closest to most other dialects. Both the grammar and the dictionary are criticised for being too strict and archaic; everyday speakers claim not to recognise their spoken Kronenburgish in the official, soon to be written version of the language. The linguists that were involved in the creation of the written language wanted however to provide a general and fixed set of rules that doesn't have to regularly adapt to the ever changing spoken languages.

Grammar

Referencearrow.png Main Article: Grammar of Kronenburgish