| New High German | |
|---|---|
| Neuhochdeutsch | |
| Native to | Germany,Austria,Luxembourg,Liechtenstein,Switzerland,Netherlands, |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
| German alphabet | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Austria,Germany,Liechtenstein,Luxembourg,Switzerland,Belgium;European Union;Namibia until 1990. |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | de |
| ISO 639-2 | ger (B)deu (T) |
| ISO 639-3 | deu |
| Glottolog | mode1258 |
New High German (NHG;German:Neuhochdeutsch (Nhdt., Nhd.)) is the term used for the most recent period in the history of theGerman language, starting in the 17th century. It is a loan translation of the GermanNeuhochdeutsch (Nhd.). The most important characteristic of the period is the development of a standard written German, followed by the standardisation of the spoken language.[1] For this reason, the term New High German (or simply High German) is also used as a synonym for modernStandard German.
The German term was originally coined in 1819 byJacob Grimm for the period from around 1450 to the present day, following on fromMiddle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch).[2][3] However, in 1878Wilhelm Scherer proposed a transitional period, 1350–1650, for which he coined the new termFrühneuhochdeutsch (Early New High German), thus dating New High German from the mid 17th century.[4] In spite of many alternative proposals,[5] Scherer's remains the most widely adoptedperiodisation of German.[6]
There are both linguistic and extra-linguistic reasons for regarding the mid-17th century as the beginning of a new linguistic period. By this time, thesound changes which result in thephonological system of Modern German had been completed—no further major changes take place within the NHG period.[7] TheThirty Years War saw the population reduced by at least one third, and the subsequentTreaty of Westphalia, signed in 1648, guaranteed the relative independence of hundreds of small and large states within theHoly Roman Empire, as well as recognizing the complete independence of theNetherlands andSwitzerland.[8] The 1641 publication ofJustus Georg Schottelius'sTeutsche Sprachkunst marks the beginning of the debate about a standardizednational language.[9]
The New High German period is often subdivided, with a general consensus over a break in the first half of the 19th century, with another after 1945.[10] The earliest of these periods, Older New High German (Älteres Neuhochdeutsch), sees the gradual establishment of a standard written language bygrammarians,lexicographers, andwriters; the second, Younger New High German (Jüngeres Neuhochdeutsch), sees the spread of this standard throughout the publishing media (and becoming an international language of science), into the schoolroom, and into spoken German.[11] After 1945, the loss of German-speaking territory in the East, the decline of German as an international language, and themassive influence of English on the vocabulary are seen as markers of a new period, referred to asGegenwartsdeutsch ("contemporary German").[12][13] These changes, however, are in the status and use of the language, while thephonology andmorphology have seen only rationalisation and not substantial change over the last 370 years.[14][7]
For the first two hundred years of the period, the linguistic boundary of German remained relatively stable, even where the territory itself changed hands, as in Alsace, a French possession since the Treaty of Westphalia.[15] The only major area of change was in the East. Initially only individual German-speaking settlers moved into the underpopulated lands ofBrandenburg,Pomerania andBohemia, but in the late 17th century bothPrussia andAustria had policies of attracting settlers to these lands.[16]
From the late 19th century, however, there have been significant losses of German-speaking territory. The eastward settlement of the earlier period was reversed by aRussian government policy of Russianisation and by the resistance of the Polish population to further German immigration, causing many German speakers to return West.[17] At the end of theSecond World War the German-speaking populations of Bohemia and the land east of theOder-Neisse line, which became part ofPoland, wereforcibly expelled.[18]
The New High German period is characterised by the codification of Germangrammar and the development of a standard language in both writing and speech. Unlike earlier periods, there have been few major changes inphonology ormorphology. Rather, the standard language has selected particular features and these choices have then exerted an influence on individualGerman dialects.[1]