German language
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.[1] Typologically, German follows the SVO syntax.
Writing system
The German language makes use of the ligature ß, which makes a sound like two S characters (ss). The common name for this ligature is the Eszett. The other most common special characters are the three vowels with Umlaut, ä, ö and ü.
History
The modern German language is descended from the language known as Proto-Germanic, which is believed to have been spoken in central and northern Europe during the first millennium BC. Proto-Germanic was eventually divided into several different but similar languages, specifically East Germanic, West Germanic and North Germanic. Gothic is the only known East Germanic language, while North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages.
Generally, the later development of the West Germanic language can be divided in two distinct lines of descent: High German, spoken in Central and Southern Germany, and Low German, spoken in Northern Germany. "Low" and "High" are geographic terms, referring to the lowlands of Northern Germany and the more mountainous areas of Southern Germany, respectively.
High German evolved through Old High German (c. 200-1000 AD), Middle High German (c. 1000-1500 AD), Early New High German (c. 1500-1700) and finally to the present New High German. Low German went through a similar development, starting with Old Saxon and similar languages, through Middle Low German into the modern Low German.
New High German is what most people consider as modern German, although Low German is also still spoken extensively as a dialect in Northern Germany.
