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] Liechtenstein is the only state that has German as its only official language. Typologically, German follows the SVO syntax.
German Alphabet
The German language makes use of the letter ß, 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 additional letter are the three vowels ä, ö and ü, also known in English as Umlauts. If not present on a keyboard they customary are substituted by ae, oe, and ue.
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: Upper German, spoken in Central and Southern Germany, and Low German, spoken in Northern Germany. "Low" and "Upper" are geographic terms, referring to the lowlands of Northern Germany and the more mountainous areas of Southern Germany, respectively.
The term "High German" refers to the standardized version of German that derives mostly from Upper and Central German dialects. It 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, which is the standard modern German language. Low German went through a similar development, starting with Old Saxon and similar languages, through Middle Low German into the modern Low German, which is in linguistics often referred to a Low Saxon. It the standard language of the Hanseatic league, but was superseded as standard language in North Germany when High German was accepted as official language in Prussia. Due to the influence of Prussia as political power, and later Hamburg as media center, a more Northern German pronunciation has been adopted as standard pronunciation in television and radio. It is said that the best High German is spoken in Hanover, while the traditional dialect of the Hanover area is a dialect of Low German.
German Dialects
Dialects of Low German or Low Saxon spoken in the North of Germany are Westphalian, Eastphalian, East-Frisian, North Low Saxon, Sleswickian, and Holastian, and Pommerian, Margravian. The Low Saxon dialects spoken in the east of the Netherlands are often included as East Dutch Low Saxon. One might encounter also Missingisch, a Low Saxon - High German pidgin. In modern times however standard New High German with a Northern accent has become the norm for spoken language in the North of Germany.
The dialects of German are classified as central and upper German. Central German dialects are Ripuarian, Central Franconian, Rhine Francoinian, Hessian, Thurinigian, Saxonian, and Berlinerish. Luxemburgish is often included as a Moselle Franconian dialect. Upper German dialects spoken in the South of the German speaking area, which includes Bavaria, Austria, Liechtenstein and northern areas of Italy, the northern part of Switzerland, and eastern parts of France are Bavarian, East and South Franconian, Swabian, Allemanic, and Alsatian.
Official Minority languages in Germany are Frisian, a west germanic language, Sorbian, a slavic language, and Danish.
