Drèents dialects

Drèents (also Dreins, Dreints, Drents, Drints; Dutch: Drents) is a collective term for Westphalian dialects spoken in Drenthe, a province of the Netherlands. They are spoken by about half of the population of the province.

The dialects from the north and the east (see below: 'Noordenvelds' and 'Veenkoloniaals') are somehow more related to Gronings (a Northern Low Saxon dialect), the dialects from the south-west are 'Stellingwerfs', and the dialects in a few villages along the southern border with the Grafschaft Bentheim (Germany) are considered to be Sallaans (because they have an umlaut in the diminutives).

The Stichting Drentse Taol (Drèents Language Foundation) distinguishes seven main variants of Drèents within the province, based on the research done by G.H. Kocks, the main editor of the Woordenboek der Drentse Dialecten (Dictionary of the Drèents Dialects):

It also can be divided into Midden-Drents and Zuid-Drents.