 | West Germanic languages: Encyclopedia - West Germanic languages
West Germanic languages
West Germanic is the largest branch of the Germanic family of languages, including such languages as German, English and Dutch.
The other families of Germanic are North Germanic and East Germanic.
West Germanic languages - History
From the time of their earliest attestation, the Germanic dialects are divided into three groups, West, East and North Germanic. Their exact relation is difficult to determine from the sparse evidence of runic inscriptions, and they remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration period, so that some individual dialects are difficult to classify. The Western group would have formed as a dialect of Proto-Germanic in the late Jastorf culture (ca. 1st century BC).
During the Middle Ages, the West Germanic languages were separated by the insular development of Middle English on one hand, and by the second Germanic sound shift on the continent on the other.
The linguistic contact of the Viking settlers of the Danelaw with the Anglo-Saxons left traces in the English language, and is suspected to have facilitated the collapse of the Old English inflexional system that marked the onset of the Middle English period 12th century.
The High Germanic sound shift resulted in the division between the Low Germanic languages and the High Germanic languages. By Early modern times, the span had extended into considerable differences, ranging from Highest Alemannic in the South (the Walliser dialect being the southernmost surviving German dialect) to Northern Low Saxon and Frisian in the North, and although both extremes are considered German, they are hardly mutually intelligible. The southern dialects have completed the second sound shift, but remained closer to the Middle German vowel system, while the northern dialects remained unaffected by the consonant shift, but simplified the vowel system.
Of modern german dialects the north german 'Plattdeutsch' (Low German) is the one that most resembles modern english. The district of 'angeln'(anglia), incidentally is the most northern coastal area of germany on the baltic side adjacent to Nordfriesland (north frisia). The latter lies along the north sea coast. Sachsen (saxony) lies south of the river elbe. The so-called anglo-saxons are actually two distinct peoples from distinct areas in northern germany. their modern dialects, however, are quite similar.
List of West Germanic languages, List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents
West Germanic languages - Family tree
Note that divisions between subfamilies of Germanic are rarely precisely defined; most form dialect continua, with adjacent dialects being mutually intelligible and more separated ones not.
- Anglo-Frisian
- Old English
- Middle English
- Modern English (with a significant influx of words from Old French)
- Scots
- Cayman Islands English (not a creole)
- Angloromani (with a significant influx of words from Romany)
- Frisian (descending from Old Frisian)
- West Frisian - Friesland, Netherlands
- East or Saterland Frisian - Germany
- North Frisian - Germany
- Low Germanic languages (descending from Old Saxon / Old Low Franconian)
- Low Franconian
- Dutch
- West Flemish
- Zuid-Gelders
- Limburgish
- Afrikaans (with a significant influx of words from Malay and native African languages)
- Low German
- West Low German
- Northern Low Saxon
- Westphalian language
- Eastphalian language
- Westplatt
- East Low German
- Mecklenburgisch-Pommersch
- Brandenburgisch
- East Pomeranian
- Low Prussian
- Plautdietsch
- High Germanic languages
- Standard German
- Central German
- East Central German
- Lower Silesian
- Upper Saxon
- West Central German
- Luxembourgeois
- West Central German
- Pennsylvania German
- Upper German
- Alemannic German
- Swabian German
- Low Alemannic German
- Alemán Coloneiro
- Alsatian language
- Basel German
- High Alemannic German
- Bernese German
- Zürich German
- Highest Alemannic German
- Austro-Bavarian
- Bavarian
- Cimbrian (with a heavy influx of words from Italian)
- Mocheno
- Hutterite German (spoken by Hutterites)
- Yiddish (with a significant influx of words from Hebrew and Slavic languages and written in the Hebrew alphabet)
- Wymysojer
See also
- List of West Germanic languages
- List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents
Category: West Germanic languages
Other related archives12th century, 1st century BC, African languages, Afrikaans, Alemannic German, Alemán Coloneiro, Alsatian language, Anglo-Frisian, Anglo-Saxons, Angloromani, Austro-Bavarian, Basel German, Bavarian, Bernese German, Brandenburgisch, Central German, Cimbrian, Danelaw, Dutch, East, East Central German, East Germanic, East Low German, East Pomeranian, East or Saterland Frisian, Eastphalian language, English, Frisian, German, Germanic, Hebrew, Hebrew alphabet, High Alemannic German, High Germanic languages, Highest Alemannic, Highest Alemannic German, Hutterite German, Hutterites, Italian, Jastorf culture, Limburgish, List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents, List of West Germanic languages, Low Alemannic German, Low Franconian, Low German, Low Germanic languages, Low Prussian, Lower Silesian, Luxembourgeois, Malay, Mecklenburgisch-Pommersch, Middle Ages, Middle English, Migration period, Modern English, North, North Frisian, North Germanic, Northern Low Saxon, Old English, Old French, Old Frisian, Pennsylvania German, Plautdietsch, Proto-Germanic, Romany, Scots, Slavic languages, Standard German, Swabian German, Upper German, Upper Saxon, Viking, Walliser, Walliser German, Walser German, West, West Central German, West Flemish, West Frisian, West Germanic languages, West Low German, Westphalian language, Westplatt, Wymysojer, Yiddish, Zuid-Gelders, Zürich German, creole, dialect continua, dialects, languages, second Germanic sound shift
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "West Germanic languages", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
