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German (Deutsch [ˈdɔʏtʃ]  ( listen) ) is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and (co-) official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German (Low Saxon), Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

One of the major languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide and the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. German also is the fourth most widely taught non-English language in the US (after Spanish,  French and American Sign Language) and third in the EU (after English and French; at lower secondary level), the second most commonly used scientific language as well as the fourth most widely used language on websites (after English, Russian and Japanese). The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world being published in the German language.

German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch[clarification needed] of the Indo-European language family. A portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants (German, Austrian, and Swiss Standard German), German is a pluricentric language. Like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. Due to the limited intelligibility between certain varieties and Standard German, as well as the lack of an undisputed, scientific difference between a "dialect" and a "language", some German varieties or dialect groups (e.g. Low German or Plautdietsch) are alternatively referred to as "languages" and "dialects".

Classification

Modern Standard German is a West Germanic language descended from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic. The first of these branches survives in modern Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese, and Icelandic, all of which are descended from Old Norse. The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and the only historical member of this branch from which written texts survive is Gothic. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch, Yiddish, Afrikaans, and others.

Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf-Benrath and Krefeld-Uerdingen, respectively) serve to distinguish the Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects (nr. 29-34 on map), while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German/Low Saxon (nr. 19-24) and Low Franconian (nr. 25) dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian can be further distinguished historically as Irminonic, Ingvaeonic, and Istvaeonic, respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by the Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser-Rhine group). Standard German is based on Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialects (nr. 30 on the map), which are Central German dialects (nr. 29-31), belonging to the Irminonic High German dialect group. German is therefore most closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects - nr. 29), and Yiddish. Also closely related to Standard German are the Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries, such as Swiss German (Alemannic dialects - nr. 34), and the various dialects spoken in Grand Est, such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central- and Upper Franconian ''(nr. 32) dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian - nr. 29'').

After these High German dialects, standard German is (somewhat less closely) related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g. Dutch and Afrikaans) or Low German/Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are the Frisian languages—North Frisian (spoken in Schleswig-Holstein nr. 28), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Lower Saxony - nr. 27), and West Frisian (spoken in the Netherlands - nr. 26)—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects are all members of the Ingvaeonic family of West Germanic languages which did not take part in the High German consonant shift.

Clarification needed on descendants branches of German - Indo-European

Grammatical fine-tuning.

Main article: History of German

Old High German[edit | edit source]
Main article: Old High German

The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, which separated Old High German (OHG) dialects from Old Saxon. This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants (b, d, g, and p, t, k, respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following: (1) Voiceless stops became long (geminated) voiceless fricatives following a vowel (2) Voiceless stops became affricates in word-initial position, or following certain consonants (3) Voiced stops became voiceless in certain phonetic settings. While there is written evidence of the Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the 6th century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.765-775), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 OHG words with their Latin equivalents. Following the Abrogans the first coherent works written in OHG appear in the 9th, chief among them being the Muspilli, the Merseberg Incantations, and the Hildebrandslied, as well as a number of other religious texts (the Georgslied, the Ludwigslied, the Evangelienbuch, and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment, and the Merseberg Incantations are transcriptions of spells and charms from the pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied, a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from the Alamanni, Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group (Irminones), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the 2nd and 6th centuries during the great migration.

In general, the surviving texts of OHG show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as a result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing.

The German language through the OHG period was still predominantly a spoken language with a wide range of dialects and a much more extensive oral than written tradition. Having just emerged from the High German consonant shift, OHG was also a relatively new and volatile language still undergoing a number of phonetic, phonological, morphological, and syntactic changes. The scarcity of written work, instability of the language, and widespread illiteracy of the time thus account for the fact that German shows very little standardization through the end of the OHG period in 1050.

Middle High German
The Germanic-speaking area of the Holy Roman Empire around AD 962. Old Frisian (Alt-Friesisch)

Old Saxon (Alt-Sächsisch)

Old Franconian (Alt-Fränkisch)

Old Alemannic (Alt-Alemannisch)

Old Bavarian (Alt-Bairisch)

Main article: Middle High German

While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This period is characterized primarily by a significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (this is known as the Ostsiedlung). Along with the increasing wealth and geographic influence of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes leading to a greater need for regularity in written conventions.

While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG "house")→haus (MHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa[ə]: taga (OHG "day")→tage (MHG)).

A great wealth of texts survive from the MHG period. Significantly, among this repertoire are a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied, an epic poem telling the story of the dragon-slayer Siegfried (c.13th century), and the Iwein, an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue(c.1203), as well as several lyric poems and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan (also noteworthy is the Sachsenspiegel, the first book of laws written in Middle Low German (c.1220)). The abundance and (secular) character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms.

The Middle High German period is generally seen as ending with the decimation of the population of Europe in the Black Death of 1346-1353.

Abrogans, OHG

More differentiation on Standard German needed.