In 1534, the Luther Bible was published. The German dialects are the traditional local varieties of the language; many of them are not mutually intelligibile with standard German, and they have great differences in lexicon, phonology, and syntax. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. They consist of Franconian dialects in the west (West Central German) and non-Franconian dialects in the east (East Central German). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. [8], Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf-Benrath and Krefeld-Uerdingen, respectively) serve to distinguish the Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). If any of the numbers are links, you can hear a recording by clicking on them. Other examples include the following: This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants (b, d, g, and p, t, k, respectively). [63] Weak masculine nouns share a common case ending for genitive, dative, and accusative in the singular. In many varieties of standard German, an unstressed /ɛr/ is not pronounced [ər] but vocalised to [ɐ]. It aimed to be understandable to a broad audience and was based mainly on Central and Upper German varieties. BA English Language and German is a four-year degree programme. In German, vowels (excluding diphthongs; see below) are either short or long, as follows: Short /ɛ/ is realized as [ɛ] in stressed syllables (including secondary stress), but as [ə] in unstressed syllables. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it.[35]. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Middle Low German was the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League. German Language Facts Official Language:. Instead of the usual infinitive ending -en, German verbs are indicated by a hyphen after their stems. German vowels can form the following digraphs (in writing) and diphthongs (in pronunciation); note that the pronunciation of some of them (ei, äu, eu) is very different from what one would expect when considering the component letters: Additionally, the digraph ie generally represents the phoneme /iː/, which is not a diphthong. Also noteworthy is the Sachsenspiegel, the first book of laws written in Middle Low German (c. 1220). Words that are written with capital letters in German are nouns. German ranks 11th in the list of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as the Ostsiedlung). Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of Europe. English has taken many loanwords from German, often without any change of spelling (aside from frequently eliminating umlauts and not capitalizing nouns): Several organisations promote the use and learning of the German language. The printed forms, however, were claimed by some to be more readable when used for. Standard German differs regionally among German-speaking countries in vocabulary and some instances of pronunciation and even grammar and orthography. Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony, spending much time among the population of Saxony researching the dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. [52] In terms of student numbers across all levels of education, German ranks third in the EU (after English and French) [25] and in the United States (after Spanish and French). Over 95% of the population of Germany speaks the language. The German dialect continuum is traditionally divided most broadly into High German and Low German, also called Low Saxon. For example, the Goethe-Institut teaches the Goethe-Zertifikat German language qualification. Roman - Additional Letter ß (Double SS). But no reason to panic: such tapeworm words can almost always be broken down into their more intelligible parts. German is spoken as a first language by over 100 million people, and is widely used as a second language, especially in Eastern Europe. The largest cities in the Low German area are Hamburg and Dortmund. Following a 19th century change in Prussian language policy, use of Dutch as an official and public language was forbidden; resulting in Standard German taking its place as the region's official language. As a pluricentric language, the standardized variants of German are German, Austrian, and Swiss Standard German. In most regions, the speakers use a continuum from more dialectal varieties to more standard varieties depending on the circumstances. In general, the surviving texts of OHG show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The largest cities in the Alemannic area are Stuttgart and Zürich. The first of these branches survives in modern Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese, and Icelandic, all of which are descended from Old Norse. The German language is used in German literature and can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the most notable authors of the period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The word Städte "cities" is pronounced with a short vowel [ˈʃtɛtə] by some (Jan Hofer, ARD Television) and with a long vowel [ˈʃtɛːtə] by others (Marietta Slomka, ZDF Television). Browse health information in multiple languages, arranged by language. At one point, the dispute reached the highest court, which quickly dismissed it, claiming that the states had to decide for themselves and that only in schools could the reform be made the official rule – everybody else could continue writing as they had learned it. Some terms exist in no other language. [65] In the early 19th century, Joachim Heinrich Campe estimated that one fifth of the total German vocabulary was of French or Latin origin.[66]. These dialects are spoken in the region of Franconia and in the central parts of Saxon Vogtland. Even though the regional varieties of standard German are only somewhat influenced by the local dialects, they are very distinct. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm, and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860. The German language consists of about 5.3 million words – with a rising trend. Unlike English, whose newer compounds or combinations of longer nouns are often written "open" with separating spaces, German (like some other Germanic languages) nearly always uses the "closed" form without spaces, for example: Baumhaus ("tree house"). German, along with English and Afrikaans, was a co-official language of Namibia from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. Today, Low Saxon can be divided in two groups: Low Saxon varieties with a reasonable level of Standard German influence and varieties of Standard German with a Low Saxon influence known as Missingsch. Latin words were already imported into the predecessor of the German language during the Roman Empire and underwent all the characteristic phonetic changes in German. And "Fernweh" (having the travel bug, lusting after adventure) is the opposite of “Heimweh (homesickness). Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Read More on This Topic West Germanic languages: German In the same manner ß can be transcribed as ss. Among the best-known poets and authors in German are Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Hoffmann, Brecht, Heine, and Kafka. Sometimes, Low Saxon and Low Franconian varieties are grouped together because both are unaffected by the High German consonant shift. This variation must not be confused with the variation of local dialects. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. In: Jan Goossens (Hrsg. [58] This situation has been called a medial diglossia. The Österreichisches Wörterbuch ("Austrian Dictionary"), abbreviated ÖWB, is the official dictionary of the German language in the Republic of Austria. Section 3 Patient Information, Admission to Hospital; Patient Information, Nearest Relative; Note ↑ This is not a translation of the current s136 form (which is available on the Mental Health Act 1983 information … German Greetings & Introductions Because their linguistic distance is greater, they do not mesh with Standard German the way that High German dialects (such as Bavarian, Swabian, and Hessian) can. The largest cities in the Franconian Central German area are Cologne and Frankfurt. The German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle provides radio and television broadcasts in German and 30 other languages across the globe. In a declarative sentence in English, if the subject does not occur before the predicate, the sentence could well be misunderstood. The same applies to the e in the geographical name "Mecklenburg" for people in that region. In a dictionary Ärzte comes after Arzt, but in some dictionaries Ärzte and all other words starting with Ä may occur after all words starting with A. The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches, North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic. When an auxiliary verb is present, it appears in second position, and the main verb appears at the end. [39], In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish, French, and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. [37], In Australia, the state of South Australia experienced a pronounced wave of immigration in the 1840s from Prussia (particularly the Silesia region). No, the mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über. (In Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, city and family names exist where the extra e has a vowel lengthening effect, e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG "house")→haus (MHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→tage (MHG)).[12]. German requires a verbal element (main verb or auxiliary verb) to appear second in the sentence. One of the more noteworthy ones is the unusual affricate /p͡f/. The gender of a word is determined purely by grammar. German has also been influential the fields of science and technology, where it is the second most commonly used scientific language and the third most widely used language on websites after English and Russian. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon. Thus, Notker Labeo was able to translate Aristotelian treatises into pure (Old High) German in the decades after the year 1000. Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages (Druckersprachen) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. German is most similar to other languages within the West Germanic language branch, including Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German (Low Saxon), Lux… In the north of the German Low Franconian language area, North Low Franconian dialects (also referred to as Cleverlands or as dialects of South Guelderish) are spoken. The states (Bundesländer) of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria refused to accept it. If a narrow definition of language based on mutual intelligibility is used, many German dialects are considered to be separate languages (for instance in the Ethnologue). [49], An important German creole named Unserdeutsch was historically spoken in the former German colony of German New Guinea, modern day Papua New Guinea. About 30,000 people still speak German as a native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers. In German, nouns are capitalized. In everyday conversation, we use much fewer words. [34], Mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries, an estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa. With four cases and three genders plus plural, there are 16 permutations of case and gender/number of the article (not the nouns), but there are only six forms of the definite article, which together cover all 16 permutations. [11] A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. Health Information in German (Deutsch): MedlinePlus Multiple Languages Collection Traditionally, this letter was used in three situations: Examples are Füße, paßt, and daß. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Reformer and theologian Martin Luther, who was the first to translate the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for the modern "High German" language. Because legibility and convenience set certain boundaries, compounds consisting of more than three or four nouns are almost exclusively found in humorous contexts. German is most similar to other languages within the West Germanic language branch, including Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German (Low Saxon), Luxembourgish, Scots, and Yiddish. disambiguation of completed vs. uncompleted forms is widely observed and regularly generated by common prefixes (. A mixture of dialect and standard does not normally occur in Northern Germany either. ... History of the Language:. Around the same time, the Hanseatic League, based around northern ports, lost its importance as new trade routes to Asia and the Americas were established, and the most powerful German states of that period were located in Middle and Southern Germany. [74] It is believed that the Nazi régime had banned this script,[who?] Modern Standard German is a West Germanic language in the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Language knowledge. The letter never stands at the beginning of the word and, following a long vowel or diphtong, takes the form of a double-s. At this point, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language, stating that it was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. Low German or Plautdietsch) can be described as either "languages" or "dialects". [26][page needed] Excluding regional minority languages, German is the sole official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Over 100,000 German translations of English words and phrases. By studying German you will gain a wealth of transferable skills and knowledge beneficial to the world of employment, making you competitive and attractive in an increasingly global workforce and opening the doors to a variety of career paths . (when someone sneezes), lit. [23] Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German (often called Hochdeutsch, "High German") which is understood in all areas where German is spoken. (In contrast, although English can also string nouns together, it usually separates the nouns with spaces. After all, German is spoken in most companies. "double going / living person alive", look-alike of somebody, professional position within a theatre or opera company that deals mainly with research and development of plays or operas, lit. You can also browse this information by health topic. German goes even one further: a noun can also be neuter. The Alemannic dialects are considered as Alsatian in Alsace. The Deutsches Wörterbuch (German Dictionary) initiated by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm already contained over 330,000 headwords in its first edition. In German, nouns are capitalized. Raesfeld [ˈraːsfɛlt], Coesfeld [ˈkoːsfɛlt] and Itzehoe [ɪtsəˈhoː], but this use of the letter e after a/o/u does not occur in the present-day spelling of words other than proper nouns.). It is important to note, however, that the colloquial standard German differs greatly from the formal written language, especially in grammar and syntax, in which it has been influenced by dialectal speech. The High German varieties spoken by the Ashkenazi Jews have several unique features and are considered as a separate language, Yiddish, written with the Hebrew alphabet. Prague (German: Prag) and Budapest (Buda, German: Ofen), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others like Pozsony (German: Pressburg, now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Einführung in die Dialektologie des deutschen, by H. Niebaum, 2011, p..... 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