Uerdingen line
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The Uerdingen Line is the isogloss within West Germanic languages, that separates the linguistic forms that use the word ich or similar words rather than ik as the word for I. The Uerdingen line currently extends through Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
The Uerdingen line starts at Bierbeek in Flemish Brabant in Belgium. From there, it stretches further north into Belgian Limburg. North of the capital of Belgian Limburg, Hasselt, it crosses the Dutch-Belgian border. Thence it goes straight east, south of the town of Venlo into Germany. Further east its Northern limits are Kempen, Hüls and other places within the Rhineland until it crosses the Rhine at Uerdingen, which now is part of the city of Krefeld. In the part of the Rhineland, east of the Rhine the places north of the Uerdingen Line include Saarn, which belongs to Mülheim an der Ruhr, Kettwig, which belongs to Essen, Elberfeld, which belongs to Wuppertal, Gummersbach, and Wiedenest, which belongs to Bergneustadt. The line runs further East at Halbe, Hermsdorf, Freidorf and Stoki in southern Brandenburg in eastern Germany.
In parts of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, to the south of the Uerdingen line, Limburgish is spoken. In Belgium and the Netherlands it is spoken only in the former duchies in Brabant and Limburg, and, in Germany, only in the Rhineland parts of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Several dialects involved in the Uerdingen line are rarely used.
