Low Saxon languages

Low German
Low Saxon
Low German Plattdüütsch, German: Niederdeutsch
Native to	Germany (Primarily North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein) Denmark (Primarily Southern Denmark) Netherlands (Primarily Overijssel, Drenthe, Groningen)
Ethnicity	Today the Dutch and Germans; Historically Saxons (Germanic peoples and modern regional subgroup of Germans)
Native speakers	Unknown number of native speakers c. 301,000 active users Up to 10 million second-language speakers (1996)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Ingvaeonic Low German
Early forms	Old Saxon Middle Low German
Dialects	West Low German East Low German
Official status
Official language in	Germany  Schleswig-Holstein  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Recognised minority language in	Mexico (100,000) Bolivia (70,000) Paraguay (30,000)
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3	(Dutch varieties and Westphalian have separate codes)
Glottolog	lowg1239  (Low German)
Linguasphere	52-ACB
Approximate area in which Low German/Low Saxon dialects are spoken in Europe.
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 Germany

Bolivia (70,000)

Low German or Low Saxon (Low German Plattdüütsch, Nedderdüütsch, Platduuts, Nedderduuts; German: Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsche Dialekte; Dutch: Nedersaksisch, or Nederduits in the wider sense) is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is descended from Old Saxon in its earliest form.

As an Ingvaeonic language, Low German is quite distinct from the Irminonic (High German) languages like Standard German. It is closely related to the Anglo-Frisian languages and more distantly to Dutch and Afrikaans. This difference resulted from the High German consonant shift, with the Uerdingen and Benrath lines being two notable linguistic borders.

Dialects of Low German are spoken in the northeastern area of the Netherlands (Dutch Low Saxon) and are written there with an unstandardised orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. The position of the language is according to UNESCO vulnerable. Between 1995 and 2011 the numbers of speakers of parents dropped from 34% in 1995 to 15% in 2011. Numbers of speakers of their children dropped in the same period from 8% to 2%.