East Franconian German

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East Franconian
Fränggisch[1] Standard High German: Ostfränkisch, Fränkisch
Native to	Germany (Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse)
Native speakers	4,900,000 (2006)[2]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Elbe Germanic Upper German High Franconian East Franconian
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Proto-West Germanic Elbe Germanic Old East Franconian
Writing system	Latin (German alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	vmf
Glottolog	main1267
Linguasphere	52-ACB-dj
1: East Franconian
East Franconian is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

East Franconian (German: Ostfränkisch [ˈɔstfʁɛŋkɪʃ] ^ⓘ), usually referred to as Franconian (Fränkisch [ˈfʁɛŋkɪʃ] ^ⓘ) in German, is a dialect spoken in Franconia, the northern part of the federal state of Bavaria and other areas in Germany around Nuremberg, Bamberg, Coburg, Würzburg, Hof, Bayreuth, Meiningen, Bad Mergentheim, and Crailsheim. The major subgroups are Unterostfränkisch (spoken in Lower Franconia and southern Thuringia), Oberostfränkisch (spoken in Upper and Middle Franconia) and Südostfränkisch (spoken in some parts of Middle Franconia and Hohenlohe).

In the transitional area between Rhine Franconian in the northwest and the Austro-Bavarian dialects in the southeast, East Franconian has elements of Central German and Upper German. The same goes only for South Franconian German in adjacent Baden-Württemberg. East Franconian is one of the German dialects with the highest number of speakers.

The scope of East Franconian is disputed, because it overlaps with neighbouring dialects like Bavarian and Swabian in the south, Rhine Franconian in the west and Upper Saxon in the north.

East Franconian is researched by the "Fränkisches Wörterbuch" project in Fürth, which is run by Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Erlangen-Nuremberg University.