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'''German''' (''Deutsch'') is a major world language, spoken by some 120 million people worldwide. The German vocabulary is closely related to [[English]] and [[Dutch]], and all three use the [[Latin alphabet]] in writing. German is widely spoken in [[Germany]], [[Austria]], [[Liechtenstein]], [[Luxembourg]], and [[Switzerland]].<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=deu Ethnologue:German]</ref> Typologically, German follows the [[syntax#SVO|SVO syntax]].
'''German''' (''Deutsch'') is a major world language, spoken by some 120 million people worldwide. The German vocabulary is closely related to [[English]] and [[Dutch]], and all three use the [[Latin alphabet]] in writing. German is widely spoken in [[Germany]], [[Austria]], [[Liechtenstein]], [[Luxembourg]], and [[Switzerland]].<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=deu Ethnologue:German]</ref> Typologically, German follows the [[syntax#SVO|SVO syntax]].
==Writing system==
==German alphabet==
The German language makes use of the letter ß, ligature which is a ligature of the letter "z" ans "s" in cursive scripts. It sound used for certain occurrences of the ''voiceless alveolar fricatives'', the sound of the "S" in the English word "sea", to avoid confusion with the ''voiced alveolar fricative'', the sound of "z" in the English word "zoo", for which German commonly uses the letter "s". The common name for this ligature is the ''Eszett''. However, if the letter is not available it has to be replaced by the letters "ss", and not by "sz". In Switzerland and Liechtenstein this letter is generally omitted and "ss" will be used instead. The other most common special characters are the three vowels with [[Umlaut]], ''ä'', ''ö'' and ''ü''.
The German language makes use of the letter ß, ligature which is a ligature of the letter "s" and "z" from cursive scripts. It is used for occurrences of the ''voiceless alveolar fricative'', the sound of the "s" in the English word "sea", after long vowels and diphthongs, for which German otherwise uses "s" or "ss". This to avoid confusion with the ''voiced alveolar fricative'', the sound of "z" in the English word "zoo", for which German always uses the letter "s". The common name for this ligature is ''Eszett''. However, if the letter is not available it has to be replaced by the letters "ss", and not by "sz". In Switzerland and Liechtenstein this letter is generally omitted in favor of "ss". The other most common special characters are the three vowels ''ä'', ''ö'' and ''ü'', also known in English as [[Umlaut|Umlauts]].
==History==
==History==