III.

Standard German and Other Dialects

Old High German, a group of dialects with no standard literary language, was spoken until c. 1100 when a standard language, based on the Upper German dialects, began to appear. Modern Standard German (Hochdeutsch) is descended from Middle High German dialects similar to those used by Martin Luther in his 16th-century translation of the Bible. The diversity of the German dialects (some of which are so diverse they are indeed languages) means that German speakers are often bilingual in their local dialect and Standard German, which acts as a lingua franca. Standard German (a dialect) is often confused with High German (a language grouping), but Standard German is actually a dialect within the High German sub-family, which comprises two further sub-families, Upper and Middle German.

There are three main dialect areas in German-speaking Europe. The top band (Low German) stretches from eastern Belgium and the Netherlands across the northern third of Germany into Denmark in the north to Gdañsk (Poland) in the east. The middle band (Middle German) stretches from Luxembourg and Cologne on the north-east border of this band, including Frankfurt towards the south, and into the north and east of the Czech Republic and Lower Silesia in Poland. The bottom third, Upper German, begins in southern Germany, including Nuremburg, and stretches down to encompass most of Austria and Switzerland.

Low German consists of (1) Frisian, spoken in the Netherlands, the North Sea coast of Germany, and the Frisian Islands; (2) Low Saxon (often called Low German or Plattdeutsch), spoken in the eastern Netherlands (where it is called Nedersaksisch) and northern Germany. Used to be spoken in Poland and Prussia (see Low German section, below). Middle German is made up of (1) Luxembourgish, spoken in Luxembourg, Belgium and middle Germany; (2) Lower Silesian, spoken in Lower Silesia of Poland and parts of the Czech Republic and Germany; (3) Upper Saxon, spoken in the east and south-east of Germany, including Dresden; (4) Franconian, spoken along the River Main, near Frankfurt; (5) Rhine-Franconian, spoken in the Rhineland Palatinate area; (6) Ripuarian, spoken in and around Cologne; (7) Thuringian, heard in the environs of Weimar, Jena, and Erfurt. Upper German consists of (1) Alemannic (similar to Swabian), spoken in Switzerland (Alemannisch), the south-western corner of Bavaria in Germany, Austria, and France (where it is called Alsatian); (2) Bavarian, used in the south-eastern section of Germany east of the River Lech and south of Nüremberg, including Munich, and in Austria, including the cities of Innsbruck, Vienna, and Graz, and in parts of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Italy; (3) Swabian, spoken in south-west Germany; (4) Langobardic, ancient language spoken at one time in the parts of Lombardy (Italy) occupied by the Germanic tribe of the Langobards. The Langobardic dialect is of great historical interest because it is the earliest (mid-7th century ad) recorded German dialect, whereas the majority of German dialects can be traced back only to the 8th, 9th, or 10th centuries.