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Southeast Limburgish (Dutch:Zuidoost-Limburgs) is a cover term for theRipuarian dialects spoken inDutch Limburg.

In the Netherlands and Belgium this group is often included in the generic termLimburgish.Limburgish was recognised as aregional language inthe Netherlands and as such it receives moderate protection under chapter 2 of theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

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Variants of Southeast Limburgish are spoken aroundKerkrade,Bocholtz andVaals in theNetherlands. Closely related Ripuarian varieties are spoken inHerzogenrath andAachen inGermany andRaeren andEynatten inBelgium.

This article mayrequirecleanup to meet Wikipedia'squality standards. The specific problem is:DuplicatesKerkrade dialect#Phonology andKerkrade dialect phonology, but gives a slightly different transcription (e.g. ʁ vs. ɣ). Please helpimprove this article if you can.(September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

As most other dialects of Ripuarian and Limburgish, Southeast Limburgish features a distinction between thethrusting tone (Dutch:stoottoon,German:Schärfung orStoßton), which has a shortening effect on the syllable (not shown in transcriptions in this article) and theslurring tone (Dutch:sleeptoon,German:Schleifton). In this article, the slurring tone is transcribed as a high tone, whereas the thrusting tone is left unmarked. This is nothing more than a convention, as the phonetics of the Southeast Limburgish pitch accent are severely under-researched. There are minimal pairs, for examplemoer/ˈmuːʀ/ 'wall' -moer/ˈmúːʀ/ 'carrot' in the Kerkrade dialect.^[1][2]

The sounds corresponding to Limburgish/x,ɣ/ are very back after back vowels, being uvular[χ,ʁ] (as in Luxembourgish), rather than velar as in Limburgish. In fact, there is not much of a difference between/ʁ/ and/ʀ/ in the Kerkrade dialect.^[3][4]

Most instances of historical/ɡ/ (/ɣ/ in Limburgish and (southern) Standard Dutch) have merged with/j/, so that the word forgreen in the Kerkrade dialect isjreun/ˈjʀøːn/ (compare Standard Dutchgroen/ˈɣrun/).^[5] The dialect of Lemiers is much more similar to the dialect of Vaals than the dialect spoken inVijlen (calledVieleter orVielender) as the former features theHigh German consonant shift. In Lemiers, the etymological/ɡ/ (/ɣ/ in Limburgish and southern Standard Dutch) has not fully shifted to/j/ in consonant clusters. Thus, the word forbig (Standard Dutchgroot[ˈɣroːt]), varies between[ˈɣʁuəs] and[ˈjʁuəs]. A Limburgish dialectologist Will Kohnen recommends the spellingjroeës to cover this variation (cf. Vieletergroeët). InKerkrade, the shift has been completed and so only the form[ˈjʀuəs] occurs.^[6][7]

The palatal[ç] is an allophone of/χ/ after consonants, the front vowels and the close-mid central/ø/, which phonologically is a front vowel.^[3] In some dialects,[ç] is fronted, which may result in a merger with[ʃ]. That is the case in the dialect of Vaals, in which the first person singular pronoun isiesj[iʃ], rather thanich[ɪç] oriech[iç] found in other dialects of Limburgish. In Aachen,[ç] is also fronted but without a merger with[ʃ], with the resulting sound being[ɕ], as it used to be the case in Luxembourgish (which is rapidly transitioning towards a full merger). The two sounds are not distinguished inRheinische Dokumenta.

Before consonants and pauses,/ʀ/ may be vocalized to[ɐ], especially in Germany. Thus, the name of the Aachen dialect in the dialect itself isÖcher Platt[ˈœɕɐˈplɑt]. In the Netherlands, the consonantal pronunciation is more likely to occur.

• The short close-mid vowels/e/,/ø/ and/o/ invisje/ˈveʃə/,sjuts/ˈʃøts/ andhóste/ˈɦostə/ are the same as Limburgish/ɪ/,/ʏ/ and/ʊ/. The difference lies in transcription, not in realization. The latter transcription is rooted in Standard Dutch spelling, in which the tense/i/ (spelled⟨ie⟩) and/y/ (spelled⟨u(u)⟩) contrast with their lax counterparts/ɪ/ (spelled⟨i⟩) and/ʏ/ (spelled⟨u⟩) purely by quality. In Standard German, the tense/iː,yː,uː/ (spelled⟨i(e), ü(h), u(h)⟩) contrast with the lax/ɪ,ʏ,ʊ/ (spelled⟨i, ü, u⟩) mainly by length, with the quality difference being secondary. In Western Germany (where Ripuarian in spoken), they are often close[i,y,u], mapping onto Ripuarian/i,y,u/, whereas the vowels invisje,sjuts andhóste are perceived as in-between the local realizations of Standard German/ɪ,ʏ,ʊ/ and/ɛ,œ,ɔ/, which is why they are spelled⟨e, ö, o⟩ (vesche,schötz,hoste)
• /ə/ occurs only in unstressed syllables.
• /aː/ is a phonological back vowel like/ɑ/, and the two function as a long–short pair. The former is phonetically central[äː], whereas the latter is a genuine back vowel[ɑ].^[9] In other Ripuarian varieties, the latter may also be central[ä], and for this reason it may be transcribed with ⟨a⟩.

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