Low Franconian
Low Franconian, Low Frankish, Netherlandic is a linguistic category used to classify a number of historical and contemporary West Germanic varieties closely related to, and including, the Dutch language. Most dialects and languages included within the category are spoken in the Netherlands, northern Belgium (Flanders), in the Nord department of France, in western Germany (Lower Rhine), as well as in Suriname, South Africa and Namibia. Terminology. 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, Middle and High Franconian, with the use of "Low" signifying that this category did not participate in the sound shift. "Low Frankish" is a purely linguistic category and isn't 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 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 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, thereby signifying the category's close relation to Dutch, without using it as a synonym. Historically, Low Franconian was sometimes grouped together with Low Saxon, referred to as Low German. However, since this grouping  is not based on common linguistic innovations, but rather on the absence of the High German consonant shift, modern linguistic reference books do not group them together. Origins. Despite the name, the diachronical connection to Old Frankish, the unattested language spoken by the Franks, is unclear for most of the varieties grouped under the broad "Franconian" category, mainly due to the heavy influence of Elbe Germanic / High German-features on the Middle and High Franconian varieties following the Migration Period. The dialects of the Low Franconian grouping form an exception to this, with the dialects generally being accepted to be  the most direct descendants of Old Frankish. As such, Old Dutch and Middle Dutch, together with loanwords in Old French, are the principal languages used to reconstruct Old Frankish using the comparative method. Within historical linguistics Old Low Franconian is synonymous with Old Dutch. Old Dutch is divided into Old West Dutch and Old East Dutch, with the descendants of Old West Dutch forming the dominant basis of the Middle Dutch literary language and Old East Dutch forming a noticeable substrate within the dialects of Limburgish. Modern classification. There are sources to include Limburgish and Southeast Limburgish / Low Dietsch. The  Dutch standard language, being based primarily on Flemish, Brabantian and Hollandic dialects, has had a considerable influence on West Frisian dialects and Low Saxon dialects spoken in the Netherlands, as well as the East Frisian dialects of Germany; to the effect of creating significant substrate interference in these varieties. Area loss. Until the Early Modern Period all speakers of varieties of Low Franconian used Middle Dutch or Early Modern Dutch as their literary language and Dachsprache. A marked change occurred in the 19th century, when the traditionally Dutch-speaking region of French Flanders experienced a period of Francization under the  auspices of the French government. A similar process took place in the Lower Rhine region, then part of Prussia, were extensive Germanisation also took place and public and official use of the Dutch language was forbidden. In addition, the historically Dutch-speaking Brussels Capital Region is officially bilingual, but now largely francophone.