Kerkrade dialect

Kerkrade dialect (natively "Kirchröadsj Plat" or "Kirchröadsj", literally 'Kerkradish', Standard Dutch: "Kerkraads", Standard German: "Kerkrader Platt") is a Ripuarian dialect spoken in Kerkrade and its surroundings, including Herzogenrath in Germany. It is spoken in all social classes, but the variety spoken by younger people in Kerkrade is somewhat closer to Standard Dutch.
The most similar other Ripuarian dialects are those of Bocholtz, Vaals and Aachen.
The only dictionary of the Kerkrade dialect considers it to be a Ripuarian variety, but most native speakers treat it as a Southeast Limburgish dialect and call it "Limburgsj" ('Limburgish'), "Kirchröadsj" ('Kerkradish') or simply "plat" ('dialect').
A distinct dialect called Egelzer plat is spoken in Eygelshoven, in the north of the Kerkrade municipality. One of the biggest differences between the two is the pronunciation of the sound written in Limburgish; in Eygelshoven, it is pronounced as in Limburgish and (southern) standard Dutch (as a voiced velar fricative), whereas in the Kerkrade dialect it is pronounced as in Colognian, as a palatal approximant (where it is spelled ), except after back vowels. To other Limburgers in general, that is the most striking feature of the Kerkrade dialect. Smaller geographical differences exist within the Kerkrade dialect as well.
Vocabulary.
The Kerkrade dialect has many loanwords from Standard High German, a language formerly used in school and church. However, not all German loanwords are used by every speaker.
An example sentence:
Phonology.
As most other Ripuarian and Limburgish dialects, the Kerkrade dialect features a distinction between the "thrusting tone" (, or "Stoßton"), which has a shortening effect on the syllable and the "slurring tone" (, ). As in , the thrusting tone is transcribed as a falling tone, whereas the slurring tone is left unmarked. There are minimal pairs, for example "moer" 'wall' - "moer" 'carrot'.
Spelling.
The spelling presented here, which is to a large extent Dutch-based is used in "Kirchröadsjer dieksiejoneer", the only dictionary of the Kerkrade dialect. The notes are mostly aimed at native speakers of Dutch (including those that can read Limburgish) and German.