The Eifeler Regel (, ; meaning "Eifel Rule"; in Luxembourgish also spelled Äifler Regel ) is a linguistic phenomenon originally documented in the dialects of the Eifel region in the far west of Germany during the late 19th century. The rule describes a phonological process in the languages which causes the deletion of final in certain contexts, and may be reflected in spelling. More generally called n-apocope, it appears to varying extents in all dialects of the Western group of High German, including West Central German (notably Luxembourgish, Colognian and Hessian), High Franconian and Alemannic; and excludes all dialects of the Eastern group, such as Austro-Bavarian and the colonial dialects east of the Elbe-Saale line (including Standard German and Yiddish). N-apocope is a linguistic change originating in speech during the Middle High German period. West Central German Luxembourgish The Eifel Rule is pervasive in Luxembourgish and its effects are indicated in the standard orthography. Final ⟨n⟩ or ⟨nn⟩ are often lost when followed by another consonant other than ⟨n⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨z⟩ or ⟨h⟩. Compare the following examples involving the definite article den ("the"): den Apel ("the apple"), den Tuerm ("the tower"), but de Ball ("the ball") Since Luxembourgish orthography strives for phonetic accuracy, the deletion of n is also reflected in writing. The Eifeler Regel is presented as a spelling rule, but its correct application still depends on a knowledge of spoken Luxembourgish. The rule targets words ending in -n or -nn, and since that is an extremely common ending for verbs, plural nouns, and function words (e.g. articles, pronouns, prepositions) in Luxembourgish, its effects are widespread. The basic rule can be described as follows: Final -n(n) is deleted before another consonant. (between words) den + Ball → de Ball ("the ball"), wann + mer ginn → wa mer ginn ("when we go") (in compound words) Dammen + Schong → Dammeschong ("women's shoes") It is not deleted: before the consonants n, d, t, z, or h den Tuerm ("the tower"), wann hien drénkt ("when he drinks") Gromperenzalot ("potato salad"), fënnefandrësseg ("thirty-five") before a vowel den Apel ("the apple"), wann ech ginn ("when I go") Ouerenentzündung ("ear infection") at the end of a sentence or before a punctuation mark Ech hunn (wéi gëschter) vill geschafft. ("I have (like yesterday) done a lot of work.") Deletion is optional before the following function words beginning in s: säin, si/se/s, sech, seng, sou