West Germanic languages
[[Image:Europe germanic languages.PNG|240px|thumb|right|
The Germanic languages in Europe are divided into North (blue) and West Germanic (green and orange) Languages]]
The
West Germanic languages constitute the largest branch of the
Germanic family of
languages and includes languages such as
German,
English and
Dutch. The other branches of the Germanic languages are the
North and
East Germanic languages.
From the time of their earliest attestation, the Germanic varieties are divided into three groups,
West,
East and
North Germanic. Their exact relation is difficult to determine from the sparse evidence of runic inscriptions, and they remained mutually intelligible throughout the
Migration period, so that some individual varieties are difficult to classify. The Western group would have formed as a variety of
Proto-Germanic in the late
Jastorf culture (ca.
1st century BC).
During the
Middle Ages, the West Germanic languages were separated by the insular development of
Middle English on one hand, and by the
second Germanic sound shift on the continent on the other.
The linguistic contact of the
Viking settlers of the
Danelaw with the
Anglo-Saxons left traces in the English language, and is suspected to have facilitated the collapse of the Old English inflexional system that marked the onset of the Middle English period
12th century.
The
High German consonant shift distinguishes the
Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages and the
High German languages. By Early modern times, the span had extended into considerable differences, ranging from
Highest Alemannic in the South (the
Walliser dialect being the southernmost surviving German dialect) to
Northern Low Saxon in the North. Although both extremes are considered
German, they are not mutually intelligible. The southernmost varieties have completed the second sound shift, while the northern dialects remained unaffected by the consonant shift.
Of modern German varieties the north German
Low Saxon is the one that most resembles modern English. The district of '
Angeln' (or Anglia), from which the name "English" derives, is in the extreme north of Germany between the Danish border and the Baltic coast.
Saxony lies further to the south. The
Anglo-Saxons were a combination of a number of peoples from northern Germany and the
Jutland Peninsula.
Note that divisions between subfamilies of Germanic are rarely precisely defined; most form
dialect continua, with adjacent
dialects being mutually intelligible and more separated ones not.
*
Anglo-Frisian**
Old English***
Middle English (with a significant influx of words from
Old French)
****
Early Modern English*****
Modern English*** Northern Middle English
aka Early Scots[Such chronological terminology is widely used, for example, by Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. (Formally SNDA), Dr. Anne King of The University of Edinburgh and by The University of Glasgow. It is also used in The Oxford Companion to the English Language and The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. ] (with a significant influx of words from
Anglo-Norman and
Norse inherited from the
Danelaw)
****
Middle Scots*****
Modern Scots varieties**
Frisian (descending from
Old Frisian)
***
West Frisian - Friesland, Netherlands
***
East or Saterland Frisian - Germany
***
North Frisian - Germany
*
Low Saxon-Low Franconian**
Low Franconian***
Dutch****
Hollandic (in the
Netherlands)
****
West Flemish (in
West Flanders and nearby areas of Belgium,
Zeeland in the Netherlands, and
France)
****
East Flemish****
Brabantic in
Belgium and the
Netherlands****
Zuid-Gelders (in
Germany and the
Netherlands)
***
Limburgish (in the
Netherlands,
Germany, and
Belgium) including
Limburgs***
Afrikaans (in
South Africa and
Namibia)
**
Low Saxon***
West Low Saxon****
Westphalian (in
Westphalia, in Germany)
****
Northern Low Saxon (in East Frisia / Eastern Friesland and other parts of Germany)
****
Eastphalian language****
Dutch Low Saxon***
East Low Saxon****
Mecklenburgisch-Pommersch (in
Mecklenburg)
****
East Pomeranian (in
Brazil)
****
Brandenburgisch (in
Brandenburg)
****
Low Prussian*
High German languages**
Standard German**
Central German***
East Central German****
Lower Silesian****
Upper Saxon***
West Central German****
Luxembourgeois****
West Central German ****
Pennsylvania German**
Upper German***
Alemannic German****
Swabian German****
Low Alemannic German*****
Alemán Coloneiro*****
Alsatian language*****
Basel German****
High Alemannic German*****
Bernese German*****
Zürich German****
Highest Alemannic German*****
Walliser German******
Walser German***
Austro-Bavarian****
Bavarian****
Cimbrian (with a heavy influx of words from
Italian)
****
Mocheno****
Hutterite German (spoken by
Hutterites)
**
Yiddish (with a significant influx of words from
Hebrew and
Slavic languages and written in the
Hebrew alphabet)
**
Wymysojer
*
List of West Germanic languages*
List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents
