West Flemish
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West Flemish (West-Vlams or West-Vloams or Vlaemsch (in French Flanders), Dutch: West-Vlaams, French: flamand occidental) is a collection of Low Franconian varieties spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and the Netherlands.
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West Flemish | |
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West-Vlaams | |
Native to | Belgium, Netherlands, France |
Region | West Flanders |
Native speakers | (1.4 million cited 1998)[1] |
Dialects | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either:vls – (West) Vlaamszea – Zeelandic (Zeeuws) |
Glottolog | sout3292 Southwestern Dutchvlaa1240 Western Flemish |
Linguasphere | 52-ACB-ag |
West Flemish is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |
West Flemish is spoken by about a million people in the Belgian province of West Flanders, and a further 50,000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders (200,000 if including the closely related dialects of Zeelandic) and 10-20,000 in the northern part of the French department of Nord.[1] Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges, Dunkirk, Kortrijk, Ostend, Roeselare and Ypres.
West Flemish is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's online Red Book of Endangered Languages.[2]