High German languages
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The High German languages are a subdivision of the {{West Germanic Languages}}]]
The
High German languages (in
German,
Hochdeutsch) are any of the
varieties of
standard German,
Luxembourgish and
Yiddish as well as the local German
dialects spoken in central and southern
Germany, in
Austria, in
Liechtenstein, in
Switzerland, in
Luxembourg and in neighbouring portions of
Belgium,
France (
Alsace),
Italy and
Poland. It is also spoken in former colonial settlements, for instance in
Romania (
Transylvania),
Russia,
U.S. or
Namibia.
"High" refers to the
mountainous areas of central and southern Germany and the
Alps, as opposed to the
Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages spoken along the flat sea coasts of the north. High German can be subdivided into
Upper German and
Central German (
Oberdeutsch, Mitteldeutsch).
The German term
Hochdeutsch is also used loosely, but not by linguists, to mean
standard written German as opposed to dialect, because the standard language developed out of High rather than Low German. This is based on a misunderstanding, and the attempt to rationalise it by suggesting that "high" means "official" doesn't solve the problem. In English, "High German" has never been used to mean "Standard German".
High German as used in Southern Germany, Bavaria and Austria was an important basis for the development of standard German.
The historical forms of the language are
Old High German and
Middle High German.
High German are distinguished from other West Germanic varieties in that they took part in the
High German consonant shift (c. AD 500).To see this, compare German
Pfanne with
English pan ( to ), German
zwei with English
two ( to ), German
machen with English
make ( to ).In the
High Alemannic dialects, there is a further shift;
Sack (like English "sack") is pronounced ( to ).
Note that divisions between subfamilies of Germanic are rarely precisely defined; most form continuous clines, with adjacent
dialects being mutually intelligible and more separated ones not. In particular, there never has been an original "
Proto-High German". For this and other reasons, the idea of representing the relationships between West Germanic language forms in a tree diagram at all is controversial among linguists; what follows should be used with care in the light of this caveat.
*
Central German (German:
Mitteldeutsch)
**
East Central German***
Berlin Brandenburgish (mostly in
Berlin and
Brandenburg)
***
Thuringian Upper Saxon (mostly in
Thuringia,
Saxony-Anhalt and
Saxony)
***
German Lusatian (in Saxony and Brandenburg)
***
Lower Silesian (mostly in
Lower Silesia, in
Poland)
**
Transylvanian Saxon (in
Transylvania)
**
West Central German ***
Middle Franconian****
Ripuarian ****
Moselle Franconian, including the
Luxembourgish language***
Rhine Franconian****
Lorraine Franconian (France)
****
Pfälzisch language****
Hessian dialect ** Transitional areas between
Central German and
Upper German***
East Franconian German***
South Franconian German**
Pennsylvania German (in the
United States and
Canada)
*
Upper German (German:
Oberdeutsch)
**
Alemannic***
Swabian***
Low Alemannic (including one
Swiss German dialect:
Basel German)
***
Alsatian language***
High Alemannic (including many
Swiss German dialects)
***
Highest Alemannic (including
Swiss German dialects)
**
Austro-Bavarian (
On the use of dialects and Standard German in Austria, see Austrian language)
***
Northern Austro-Bavarian (spoken in
Upper Palatinate)
***
Central Austro-Bavarian (includes the dialects of
Upper Bavaria,
Lower Bavaria,
Upper Austria,
Lower Austria and
Vienna —
see Viennese language)
***
Southern Austro-Bavarian (includes the dialects of
Tyrol,
Carinthia and
Styria)
***
Cimbrian (northeastern
Italy)
***
Mócheno (
Trentino, in Italy)
***
Hutterite German (in
Canada and the
United States)
*
Yiddish**Western Yiddish (
Germany,
France)
**Eastern Yiddish
***Northeastern Yiddish (
Lithuania,
Latvia,
Belarus,
Russia, northeastern
Poland)
***Central Yiddish (
Poland,
Galicia)
***Southeastern Yiddish (
Ukraine,
Bessarabia,
Romania)
*
German dialects of today (in German)
