Ask a German and they may shrug: Luxembourgish is just a German dialect. Ask someone from Luxembourg and you will get a very different answer. Both have a point, and the story shows how a dialect becomes a language.
Here is what Luxembourgish is, where it comes from, and why it counts as a language today.
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Where does Luxembourgish come from?
Luxembourgish grew out of Moselle Franconian, a group of West Germanic dialects also spoken in nearby parts of Germany, Belgium and France. For a long time it was simply the local way of speaking, while writing happened mostly in German and French.
When did Luxembourgish become a language?
Mostly in the 20th century. After two German occupations, speaking Luxembourgish became a strong marker of national identity. A law in 1984 made Luxembourgish the national language of Luxembourg, next to French and German as administrative languages. The national motto says it all: Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn, “we want to stay what we are”.
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So is it a dialect or a language?
Linguists often say the difference between a language and a dialect is not only about sounds and grammar. It is also about status: official recognition, a standard spelling, schools, media and literature. Luxembourgish now has all of those, including an official spelling that was updated in 2019. By that measure it is a language.
How do people in Luxembourg use their languages?
Luxembourg is one of the most multilingual countries in Europe. Children usually start in Luxembourgish, learn to read in German, and add French a bit later. Laws are written in French, newspapers mix German and French, and in daily conversation Luxembourgish is the glue. Nearly half of the residents are foreign nationals, so English and Portuguese are everywhere too.
What does this have to do with Frisian?
Frisian faced the same question. Is it a Dutch dialect? No: it developed separately, has its own spelling, is taught in schools in Friesland and is officially recognised in the Netherlands. Like Luxembourgish, it is a small West Germanic language living next to a much bigger sibling.
Read Frisian dialects: the three languages pretending to be one, or try a free lesson in the language itself.
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