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|name=High Germanic |region=predominantly central and southern Germany , northern and central Switzerland , and Austria |familycolor=Indo-European |fam1= Indo-European |fam2= Germanic |fam3= West Germanic |child1= Standard German |child2= Yiddish |child3= Central German |child4= Upper German }} The High Germanic languages (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". History 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 . Classification 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 ). Family tree 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 ".
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