This is an accepted version of this page
| High German | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | German-speaking Europe,United States,Canada,Brazil,Chile,Argentina,Paraguay,Colonia Tovar |
| Linguistic classification | Indo-European
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | high1289 |
TheHigh German languages (German:hochdeutsche Mundarten, i.e.High German dialects), or simplyHigh German (Hochdeutsch[ˈhoːxˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃ]ⓘ) – not to be confused withStandard High German which is commonly also called "High German" – comprise thevarieties ofGerman spoken south of theBenrath andUerdingenisoglosses, i.e., in central and southernGermany,Austria,Liechtenstein,Switzerland,Luxembourg, and easternBelgium, as well as in neighbouring portions ofFrance (Alsace and northernLorraine),Italy (South Tyrol), theCzech Republic (Bohemia), andPoland (Upper Silesia). They are also spoken indiasporas inRomania,Russia,Canada, theUnited States,Brazil,Argentina,Mexico,Chile, andNamibia.
High German is marked by theHigh German consonant shift, separating it fromLow German (Low Saxon) andLow Franconian (includingDutch) within the continentalWest Germanicdialect continuum. "Low" and "high" refer to the lowland and highland geographies typically found in the two areas.
.png)
As a technical term, the "high" in High German is a geographical reference to the group of dialects that forms "High German" (i.e., "Highland" German), out of which developedStandard German,Yiddish andLuxembourgish. It refers to theCentral Uplands (Mittelgebirge) andAlpine areas of central and southern Germany; it also includes Luxembourg, Austria, Liechtenstein, and most of Switzerland. This is opposed toLow German, which is spoken in the lowlands and along the flat sea coasts of theNorth German Plain.[5]
High German can be subdivided intoUpper German (Oberdeutsch) andCentral or Middle German (Mitteldeutsch, this includesLuxembourgish, which itself is now astandard language).[6]
High German varieties are distinguished from other West Germanic varieties in that they took part in theHigh German consonant shift (c. AD 500) to various degrees. To see this, compare the following:[7][page needed]
| English | Low German | Standard High German | Consonant shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| pan | Pann | Pfanne | [p] to[p͡f] |
| two | twee | zwei | [t] to[t͡s] |
| make | maken | machen | [k] to[x] |
In the southernmostHigh Alemannic dialects, there is a further shift:Sack (like English/Low German "sack/Sack") is pronounced[z̥ak͡x] ([k] to[k͡x]).
Old High German evolved from about 500 AD. Around 1200 theSwabian andEast Franconian varieties ofMiddle High German became dominant as a court and poetry language (Minnesang) under the rule of the House ofHohenstaufen.
The term "High German" as spoken in central and southern Germany (Upper Saxony,Franconia,Swabia,Bavaria) andAustria was first documented in the 15th century.[8]
Gradually driving back Low German variants since theEarly modern period, theEarly New High German varieties, especially theEast Central German of theLuther Bible, formed an important basis for the development of Standard German.[9]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Divisions between subfamilies within Germanic are rarely precisely defined, because most form continuous clines, with adjacentdialects being mutually intelligible and more separated ones not. In particular, there has never been an original "Proto-High German". For this and other reasons, the idea of representing the relationships betweenWest 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.
