The (in of
Standard German and
Yiddish as well as the local German
Dialect s spoken in central and southern
Germany , in
Austria , in
Liechtenstein , in
Switzerland , in
Luxembourg and in neighbouring portions of
Belgium ,
France (
Alsace ),
Italy and
Poland . It is also spoken in former colonial settlements, for instance in
Romania (''
Transylvania ''),
Russia ,
U.S. or
Namibia .
"High" refers to the
Mountain ous areas of central and southern Germany and the
Alps , as opposed to the
Low Germanic Languages spoken along the flat sea coasts of the north. High Germanic can be subdivided into
Upper German and
Central German (''Oberdeutsch, Mitteldeutsch'').
The German term ''Hochdeutsch'' is also used loosely, but not by linguists, to mean
Standard Written German as opposed to dialect, because the standard language developed out of High rather than Low Germanic. This is based on a misunderstanding, and the attempt to rationalise it by suggesting that "high" means "official" doesn't solve the problem. In English, "High Germanic" has never been used to mean "Standard German".
High Germanic as used in Southern Germany, Bavaria and Austria was an important basis for the development of standard German.
The historical forms of the language are
Old High German and
Middle High German .
High Germanic are distinguished from other Western Germanic varieties in that they took part in the
High German Consonant Shift (c. AD 500).
To see this, compare German ''Pfanne'' with
English ''pan'' ( to ), German ''zwei'' with English ''two'' ( to ), German ''machen'' with English ''make'' ( to ).
In the
High Alemannic Dialects , there is a further shift; ''Sack'' (like English "sack") is pronounced ( to ).
Note that divisions between subfamilies of Germanic are rarely precisely defined; most form continuous clines, with adjacent
Dialect s being mutually intelligible and more separated ones not. In particular, there never has been an original "
Proto-High German ".
- Central German (German: ''Mitteldeutsch'')
- --- East Central German
-- Berlin Brandenburgish (mostly in Berlin and Brandenburg )
-- Thuringian Upper Saxon (mostly in Thuringia , Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony )
-- German Lusatian (in Saxony and Brandenburg)
-- Lower Silesian (mostly in Lower Silesia , in Poland )
- --- Transylvanian Saxon (in Transylvania )
- --- West Central German
-- ''Middle Franconian''
-'' Ripuarian Franconian ''
- Moselle Franconian
-- '' Rhine Franconian ''
- Lorrainian German (France)
- Pfälzisch Language
- Hessian Dialect
- --- Transition area between ''Central German'' and ''Upper German''
-- East Franconian German
-- South Franconian German
- --- Pennsylvania German (in the United States and Canada )
- Upper German (German: ''Oberdeutsch'')
- --- Alemannic
-- Swabian
-- Low Alemannic (including Swiss German dialects)
-- Alsatian Language
-- High Alemannic (including many Swiss German dialects)
-- Highest Alemannic (including Swiss German dialects)
- --- Austro-Bavarian (''On the use of dialects and Standard German in Austria, see Austrian Language '')
-- Northern Austro-Bavarian (spoken in Upper Palatinate )
-- Central Austro-Bavarian (includes the dialects of Upper Bavaria , Lower Bavaria , Upper Austria , Lower Austria and Vienna — ''see'' Viennese Language )
-- Southern Austro-Bavarian (includes the dialects of Tyrol , Carinthia and Styria )
-- Cimbrian (northeastern Italy )
-- Mócheno ( Trentino , in Italy)
-- Hutterite German (in Canada and the United States )
- Yiddish
- ---Western Yiddish ( Germany , France )
- ---Eastern Yiddish
--Northeastern Yiddish ( Lithuania , Latvia , Belarus , Russia , northeastern Poland )
--Central Yiddish ( Poland , Galicia )
--Southeastern Yiddish ( Ukraine , Bessarabia , Romania )
