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West Germanic language
Not to be confused with
Germanic languages
High German languages
, or
Standard German
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German
Pronunciation
[dɔɪ̯tʃ]
Native to
Germany
Switzerland
Austria
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Belgium
Italy
Speakers
L1
: 95 million
L2
: 80–85 million (2014)
Language family
Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
High German
German
Early forms
Old High German
Middle High German
Early New High German
Standard forms
Standard German
German
Swiss
Austrian
Writing system
Since Old High German:
Latin script
German alphabet
German Braille
Until the mid-20th century:
Hebrew alphabet
Signed forms
Signed German
Official status
Official language in
6 countries
Austria
Belgium
Germany
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Switzerland
1 subdivision
South Tyrol
Italy
Various International institutions
Recognised minority
language in
9 countries
Brazil
(2 municipalities)
Czech Republic
(select localities)
Denmark
Syddanmark
Hungary
Sopron
Namibia
Poland
Upper Silesia
Romania
(select localities)
Russia
Azovo German National District
Slovakia
Krahule
Language codes
ISO 639-1
de
ISO 639-2
ger
deu
ISO 639-3
Variously:
deu
German
gmh
Middle High German
goh
Old High German
gct
Colonia Tovar German
bar
Bavarian
cim
Cimbrian
geh
Hutterite German
ksh
Kölsch
nds
Low German
sli
Lower Silesian
ltz
Luxembourgish
vmf
Mainfränkisch
mhn
Mòcheno
pfl
Palatinate German
pdc
Pennsylvania Dutch
pdt
Plautdietsch
swg
Swabian German
gsw
Swiss German
uln
Unserdeutsch
sxu
Upper Saxon
wae
Walser German
wep
Westphalian
hrx
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch
yec
Yenish
yid
Yiddish
Glottolog
stan1295
Linguasphere
52-ACB–dl (
Standard German
52-AC (Continental West Germanic)
52-ACB (Deutsch & Dutch)
52-ACB-d (
Central German
52-ACB-e & -f (
Upper
and
Swiss German
52-ACB-h (
Émigré German
varieties, including 52-ACB-hc (
Hutterite German
) & 52-ACB-he (
Pennsylvania Dutch
))
52-ACB-i (
Yenish
Totalling 285 varieties: 52-ACB-daa to 52-ACB-i
Sole official language
Co-official language
National or recognised minority language
Minority language
This article contains
IPA
phonetic symbols.
Without proper
rendering support
, you may see
question marks, boxes, or other symbols
instead of
Unicode
characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see
Help:IPA
German
pronounced
[dɔɪ̯tʃ]
is a
West Germanic language
in the
Indo-European language family
, mainly spoken in
Western
and
Central Europe
. It is the majority and
official
(or co-official) language in
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
, and
Liechtenstein
. It is also an official language of
Luxembourg
Belgium
and the Italian autonomous province of
South Tyrol
, as well as a recognised
national language
in
Namibia
. There are also notable German-speaking communities in other parts of Europe, including:
Poland
Upper Silesia
), the
Czech Republic
North Bohemia
),
Denmark
North Schleswig
),
Slovakia
Krahule
),
Romania
Hungary
Sopron
), and
France
Alsace
). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in the Americas.
German is one of the
major languages of the world
, with nearly 100 million native speakers and over 130 million total speakers as of 2024.
10
It is the most spoken native language within the
European Union
. German is the second-most widely spoken
Germanic language
, after English, both as a
first
and as a
second language
. German is also widely taught as a foreign language, especially in
continental Europe
(where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French) and in the United States (where it is the third
most commonly learned second language
in K-12 education and among the most studied foreign languages in higher education after Spanish and French).
11
Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language globally.
12
The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used
language in science
13
and the
third most widely used language on websites
13
14
The
German-speaking countries
are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world being published in German.
15
German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely
Afrikaans
Dutch
, the
Frisian languages
, and
Scots
. It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the
North Germanic group
, such as
Danish
Norwegian
, and
Swedish
. Modern German gradually developed from
Old High German
, which in turn developed from
Proto-Germanic
during the
Early Middle Ages
German is an
inflected language
, with four
cases
for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three
genders
(masculine, feminine, neuter) and two
numbers
(singular, plural). It has
strong and weak verbs
. The majority of its vocabulary is derived from the ancient Germanic branch of the
Indo-European
language family, while a smaller share is partly derived from
Latin
and
Greek
, along with fewer words borrowed from
French
and
Modern English
. English, however, is the main source of more recent
loanwords
German is a
pluricentric language
; the three standardised variants are
German
Austrian
, and
Swiss Standard German
Standard German
is sometimes called
High German
, which refers to its regional origin. German is also notable for
its broad spectrum of dialects
, with many varieties existing in
Europe
and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognised and protected by regional or national governments.
16
Since 2004,
heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met
every year,
17
and the
Council for German Orthography
has been the main international body regulating
German orthography
Classification
edit
Anglic languages
Scots
Anglo-Frisian languages
Anglic and
Frisian
West
North
Saterland
North Sea Germanic languages
Anglo-Frisian and
Low German/Low Saxon
West Germanic languages
North Sea Germanic and
Dutch
; in Africa:
Afrikaans
...... German (
High
):
Central
; in
Lux.
Luxembourgish
Upper
......
Yiddish
Maurer's classification of German tribes (German)
The
Germanic languages
in contemporary Europe
German is an
Indo-European language
that belongs to the
West Germanic
group of the
Germanic languages
. The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches:
North Germanic
East Germanic
, and
West Germanic
. The first of these branches survives in modern
Danish
Swedish
Norwegian
Faroese
, and
Icelandic
, all of which are descended from
Old Norse
. The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and
Gothic
is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as
, German,
Dutch
Yiddish
Afrikaans
, and others.
18
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). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as
High German
dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the
Low German
and
Low Franconian
dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as
Irminonic
Ingvaeonic
, and
Istvaeonic
, respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by the Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group).
18
Standard German
is based on a combination of
Thuringian
Upper Saxon
and Upper Franconian dialects, which are
Central German
and Upper German dialects belonging to the
High German
dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as
Luxembourgish
(based on
Central Franconian dialects
) and
Yiddish
. Also closely related to Standard German are the
Upper German
dialects spoken in the southern
German-speaking countries
, such as
Swiss German
Alemannic dialects
) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French
region
of
Grand Est
, such as
Alsatian
(mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and
Upper Franconian
dialects) and
Lorraine Franconian
(Central Franconian).
After these High German dialects, standard German is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern
Denmark
), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are the Frisian languages—
North Frisian
(spoken in
Nordfriesland
),
Saterland Frisian
(spoken in
Saterland
), and
West Frisian
(spoken in
Friesland
)—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These
Anglo-Frisian
dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both
Old Norse
and the
Norman language
History
edit
Main article:
History of German
Old High German
edit
Main article:
Old High German
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
. This
sound shift
involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both
voiced
and voiceless
stop consonants
, and
, respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below.
Voiceless stops became long (
geminated
) voiceless
fricatives
following a vowel;
Voiceless stops became
affricates
in word-initial position, or following certain consonants;
Voiced stops became voiceless in certain phonetic settings.
19
Voiceless stop
following a vowel
Word-initial
voiceless stop
Voiced stop
/p/→/ff/
/p/→/pf/
/b/→/p/
/t/→/ss/
/t/→/ts/
/d/→/t/
/k/→/xx/
/k/→/kx/
/g/→/k/
The approximate extent of Germanic languages in the early 10th century:
Old West Norse
Old East Norse
Old Gutnish
Old English
West Germanic
Continental West Germanic languages (
Old Frisian
Old Saxon
Old Dutch
Old High German
).
Crimean Gothic
East Germanic
While there is written evidence of the
Old High German
language in several
Elder Futhark
inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the
Pforzen buckle
), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the
Abrogans
(written
c.
765–775
), a Latin-German
glossary
supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their
Latin
equivalents. After the
Abrogans
, the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in the ninth century, chief among them being the
Muspilli
Merseburg charms
, and
Hildebrandslied
, and other religious texts (the
Georgslied
Ludwigslied
Evangelienbuch
, and translated hymns and prayers).
20
The
Muspilli
is a Christian poem written in a
Bavarian
dialect offering an account of the soul after the
Last Judgment
, and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from the
pagan
Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the
Hildebrandslied
, a secular
epic poem
telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of
Old Saxon
and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from the
Alamanni
, Bavarian, and
Thuringian
groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group (
Irminones
), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and
Austria
between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration.
19
In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of
dialectal
diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through
monasteries
and
scriptoria
as local translations of Latin originals; as a result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary.
19
At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing.
Middle High German
edit
Main article:
Middle High German
While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the
Middle High German
(MHG) period, it is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350.
21
This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. 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
). 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.
21
A clear example of this is the
mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache
employed in the
Hohenstaufen
court in
Swabia
as a standardised supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to a greater need for regularity in written conventions.
While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g.,
diphthongisation
of certain vowel sounds:
hus
(OHG & MHG "house")
haus
(regionally in later MHG)→
Haus
(NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to
schwa
[ə]:
taga
(OHG "days")→
tage
(MHG)).
22
A great wealth of texts survives from the MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the
Nibelungenlied
, an
epic poem
telling the story of the
dragon
-slayer
Siegfried
c.
thirteenth century
), and the
Iwein
, an
Arthurian
verse poem by
Hartmann von Aue
c.
1203
),
lyric poems
, and courtly romances such as
Parzival
and
Tristan
. Also noteworthy is the
Sachsenspiegel
, the first book of laws written in
Middle
Low
German
c.
1220
). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardised written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms.
The Middle High German period is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53
Black Death
decimated Europe's population.
23
Early New High German
edit
Main article:
Early New High German
German language area and major dialectal divisions around
1900
24
Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which
Wilhelm Scherer
dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the
Thirty Years' War
23
This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in the
German states
. While these states were still part of the
Holy Roman Empire
, and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking
principalities
and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible
regional dialects
being spoken throughout the German states; the invention of the
printing press
c.
1440
and the publication of
Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible
in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardising German as a supra-dialectal written language.
The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of
chancery
German, one being
gemeine tiutsch
, used in the court of the
Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I
, and the other being
Meißner Deutsch
, used in the
Electorate of Saxony
in the
Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg
25
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.
26
The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in the written form of German.
Modern High German
translation of the
Christian Bible
by the Protestant reformer
Martin Luther
(1534).
27
The widespread popularity of the
Bible translated into High German by Luther
helped establish modern Standard German.
27
One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of
Luther's translation of the Bible into High German
(the
New Testament
was published in 1522; the
Old Testament
was published in parts and completed in 1534).
27
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. 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. Luther said the following concerning his translation method:
One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in the home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says '
ex abundantia cordis os loquitur
,' I would translate, if I followed the papists,
aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund
. But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No, the mother in the home and the plain man would say,
Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über
28
Luther's translation of the Bible into High German
was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from
Early New High German
to modern Standard German.
27
The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the
spread of literacy in early modern Germany
27
and promoted the development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area.
29
With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy.
30
Nevertheless, even with the influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century.
31
Habsburg Empire
edit
Map of
Central Europe
in 1648:
Territories under the
Holy Roman Empire
, comprising the
Alpine
heartland (
Erblande
) of the
Habsburg monarchy
Ethnolinguistic map comprising the territories of
Austria-Hungary
(1910), with German-speaking areas shown in red
German was the language of commerce and government in the
Habsburg Empire
, which encompassed a large area of
Central
and
Eastern Europe
. Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality.
Prague
(German:
Prag
) and
Budapest
Buda
, German:
Ofen
), to name two examples, were gradually
Germanised
in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain. However, Prague had a large German-speaking population since the Middle Ages, as had Pressburg (Pozsony, now Bratislava), which was settled by Germans in the 10th century. Significant portions of Bohemia and Moravia, now part of the
Czech Republic
, had become German-speaking during
Ostsiedlung
. During the Habsburg time, Budapest and cities like
Zagreb
(German:
Agram
) or
Ljubljana
(German:
Laibach
), contained significant German minorities.
In the eastern provinces of
Banat
Bukovina
, and
Transylvania
(German:
Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen
), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like
Temeschburg
Timișoara
),
Hermannstadt
Sibiu
), and
Kronstadt
Brașov
)—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas.
32
Standardisation
edit
In 1901, the
Second Orthographic Conference
ended with a (nearly) complete
standardisation
of the
Standard German
language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition.
33
Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardised in the process.
Participants of Meetings of German-speaking countries (2004–present)
The
Deutsche Bühnensprache
lit.
German stage language
) by
Theodor Siebs
had established
conventions for German pronunciation in theatres
34
three years earlier; however, this was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially the pronunciation of the ending
-ig
as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider
standardisation of pronunciation
was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries.
Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial
German orthography reform of 1996
was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries.
35
Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which is understood in all areas where German is spoken.
Geographical distribution
edit
German diaspora
See also:
List of countries and territories where German is an official language
and
German-speaking world
Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide:
Germany (78.3%)
Austria (8.40%)
Switzerland (5.60%)
Brazil (3.20%)
Italy (South Tyrol) (0.40%)
Other (4.10%)
As a result of the
German diaspora
, as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language,
36
37
the
geographical distribution of German speakers
(or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents.
However, establishing an exact, global number of native German speakers is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of
Alemannic
and
Low German
With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a
first language
38
page needed
39
10–25
million speak it as a
second language
38
page needed
and 75–100
million as a foreign language.
This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220
million German speakers worldwide.
40
German sociolinguist
Ulrich Ammon
estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker.
41
Europe
edit
The German language in Europe:
German
Sprachraum
: German is the official language (
de jure
or
de facto
) and first language of the majority of the population
German is a co-official language but not the first language of the majority of the population
German (or a German dialect) is a legally recognised minority language (squares: geographic distribution too dispersed/small for map scale)
German (or a variety of German) is spoken by a sizeable minority but has no legal recognition
Most of
Austria
lies in the
Bavarian
dialect area; only the very west of the country is
Alemannic
-speaking.
Map shows Austria and
South Tyrol
, Italy.
Swiss
) German is one of the four national languages of
Switzerland
Luxembourg
lies in the
Moselle Franconian
dialect area.
In
Belgium
, German is spoken in the country's
German-speaking Community
, in the very east of the country.
As of 2012
[update]
, about 90
million people, or 16% of the
European Union
's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language.
German Sprachraum
edit
The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language is called the "German
Sprachraum
". German is the official language of the following countries:
Germany
Austria
17 cantons
of
Switzerland
Liechtenstein
As a result of implementation of the
Oder–Neisse line
and ensuing expulsion and ethnic cleansing in post-war Poland, the German Sprachraum significantly shrank, as well as by dissolution of the large German-speaking areas in Bohemia and Moravia. Former German-speaking exclaves of
East Prussia
, the
Free City of Danzig
and the
Memelland
ceased to exist, while
Francization
in Alsace and Lorraine removed use of German in these areas.
German is a co-official language of the following countries:
Belgium
(as majority language only in the
German-speaking Community
, which represents 0.7% of the Belgian population)
Luxembourg
, along with French and Luxembourgish
Switzerland, co-official at the federal level with French, Italian, and Romansh, and at the local level in four
cantons
Bern
(with French),
Fribourg
(with French),
Grisons
(with Italian and Romansh) and
Valais
(with French)
Italy, (as majority language only in the
Autonomous Province of South Tyrol
, which represents 0.6% of the Italian population)
Outside the German Sprachraum
edit
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.
Within Europe, German is a recognised minority language in the following countries:
42
Czech Republic
(see also:
Germans in the Czech Republic
Denmark
(see also:
North Schleswig Germans
Hungary
(see also:
Germans of Hungary
Poland
(see also
German minority in Poland
; German is an
auxiliary and co-official language in 31 communes
43
Romania
(see also:
Germans of Romania
Russia
44
(see also:
Germans in Russia
Slovakia
(see also:
Carpathian Germans
In France, the
High German
varieties of
Alsatian
and
Moselle Franconian
are identified as "
regional languages
", but the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government.
45
In the
Baltic states
of
Estonia
Latvia
, and
Lithuania
, there are still around 8,000 members of the German minority (
Baltic Germans
, East Prussians, and
Russian Germans
) who speak Standard German and, to some extent, Low German. For Estonia, the number is estimated quite precisely at under 2,000 (in 2000: 1,870), for Latvia at just over 3,000 (in 2004: 3,311), and also for Lithuania at just over 3,000.
46
In 2010, 394,000 Germans lived in
Russia
, some of whom spoke German. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Russian Germans immigrated to Germany.
Africa
edit
Namibia
edit
Main article:
German language in Namibia
Bilingual German-English sign at a bakery in
Namibia
, where German is a national language
Namibia also was a
colony
of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as a native tongue today, mostly
descendants of German colonial settlers
47
The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based
pidgin
language called "
Namibian Black German
", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it.
48
German remained a
de facto
official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and
Afrikaans
, and had
de jure
co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of
apartheid
and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time.
47
German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country.
Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of the
Sprachraum
in Europe.
47
German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK)
), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the
Namibian Broadcasting Corporation
). The
Allgemeine Zeitung
is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa.
47
Rest of Africa
edit
An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries.
49
One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch",
50
a variety of
Low German
concentrated in and around
Wartburg
. The South African constitution identifies German as a "commonly used" language and the
Pan South African Language Board
is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it.
51
Cameroon
was also a
colony
of the
German Empire
from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in
World War I
. Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become a popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020.
52
Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German.
53
North America
edit
Main articles:
German language in the United States
Pennsylvania Dutch language
Plautdietsch
, and
Hutterite German
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.
54
In the states of
North Dakota
and
South Dakota
, German is the most common language spoken at home after English.
55
As a legacy of significant
German immigration to the country
, German geographical names can be found throughout the
Midwest region
, such as
New Ulm
and
Bismarck
(North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions.
56
A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as
Pennsylvania Dutch
and
Texas German
South America
edit
Main articles:
Brazilian German
and
Colonia Tovar dialect
In Brazil, the largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of
Rio Grande do Sul
(where
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch
developed),
Santa Catarina
, and
Espírito Santo
57
Standard German is a recognised language in the Brazilian municipalities of
Pomerode
and
São João do Oeste
58
Meanwhile, German dialects (namely
Hunsrik
and
East Pomeranian
) are recognised languages in the following municipalities in Brazil:
Espírito Santo
(statewide cultural language):
Domingos Martins
Laranja da Terra
Pancas
Santa Maria de Jetibá
Vila Pavão
59
Rio Grande do Sul
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German
is a designated cultural language in the state):
Santa Maria do Herval
Canguçu
60
Santa Catarina
Antônio Carlos
57
In Chile, during the 19th and 20th centuries, there was a
massive immigration
of Germans, Swiss and Austrians. Because of that, two dialects of German emerged,
Lagunen-Deutsch
and Chiloten-Deutsch.
61
Immigrants even founded prosperous cities and towns. The impact of nineteenth century German immigration to southern Chile was such that
Valdivia
was for a while a Spanish-German bilingual city with "German signboards and placards alongside the Spanish".
62
Currently, German and its dialects are spoken in many cities, towns and rural areas of southern Chile, such as Valdivia,
Osorno
Puerto Montt
Puerto Varas
Frutillar
Nueva Braunau
Castro
Ancud
, among many others.
Small concentrations of German-speakers and their descendants are also found in
Argentina
Chile
Paraguay
Venezuela
, and
Bolivia
49
Oceania
edit
In Australia, the state of
South Australia
experienced a pronounced wave of Prussian immigration in the 1840s (particularly from
Silesia
region). With the prolonged isolation from other German speakers and contact with
Australian English
, a unique dialect known as
Barossa German
developed, spoken predominantly in the
Barossa Valley
near
Adelaide
. Usage of German sharply declined with the advent of
World War I
, due to the prevailing anti-German sentiment in the population and related government action. It continued to be used as a first language into the 20th century, but its use is now limited to a few older speakers.
63
As of the 2013 census, 36,642 people in
New Zealand
spoke German, mostly descendants of a small wave of 19th century German immigrants, making it the third most spoken European language after English and French and overall the ninth most spoken language.
64
A German
creole
named
Unserdeutsch
was historically spoken in the former German colony of
German New Guinea
, modern day
Papua New Guinea
. It is at a high risk of extinction, with only about 100 speakers remaining, and a topic of interest among linguists seeking to revive interest in the language.
65
As a foreign language
edit
Self-reported knowledge of German as a foreign language in the EU member states (+
Turkey
and
UK
), in per cent of the adult population (+15), 2005
Like English, French, and Spanish, German has become a standard foreign language throughout the world, especially in the Western World.
66
German ranks second on par with French among the best known foreign languages in the
European Union
(EU) after English,
as well as in
Russia
67
and
Turkey
In terms of student numbers across all levels of education, German ranks third in the EU (after English and French)
37
and in the United States (after Spanish and French).
36
68
In British schools, where learning a foreign language is not mandatory, a dramatic decline in entries for German A-Level has been observed.
69
In 2020, approximately 15.4
million people were enrolled in learning German across all levels of education worldwide. This number has decreased from a peak of 20.1
million in 2000.
70
Within the EU, not counting countries where it is an official language, German as a foreign language is most popular in
Eastern
and
Northern Europe
, namely the
Czech Republic
Croatia
Denmark
Greece
Hungary
, the
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Slovakia
Slovenia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
, and
Serbia
71
German was once, and to some extent still is, a
lingua franca
in those parts of Europe.
72
German-language media worldwide
edit
A visible sign of the geographical extension of the German language is the German-language media outside the German-speaking countries.
German is the second most commonly used scientific language
73
better source needed
as well as the third most widely used language on websites after English and Spanish.
14
Deutsche Welle
(German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈvɛlə]; "
German Wave
" in German), or
DW
, is Germany's public international broadcaster. The service is available in 30 languages. DW's satellite television service consists of channels in German, English, Spanish, and Arabic.
See also:
List of newspapers in Germany
and
List of German-language newspapers published in the United States
List of magazines in Germany
List of television stations in Germany
and
List of German-language television channels
List of radio stations in Germany
and
List of German-language radio stations
Goethe-Institut
[ˈɡøːtə ʔɪnstiˌtuːt] (a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations.)
Standard German
edit
Main article:
Standard German
Self-reported knowledge of German within the nations of the European Union
The basis of Standard German developed with the
Luther Bible
and the chancery language spoken by the
Saxon court
, part of the regional High German group.
74
However, there are places where the traditional regional dialects have been replaced by new vernaculars based on Standard German, which is the case in large stretches of
Northern Germany
but also in major cities in other parts of the country. However, the remains that the colloquial Standard German differs from the formal written language, especially in grammar and syntax, in which it has been influenced by dialectal speech.
Standard German differs regionally among German-speaking countries in
vocabulary
and some instances of
pronunciation
and even
grammar
and
orthography
. This variation must not be confused with the variation of local
dialects
. Even though the national varieties of Standard German are only somewhat influenced by the local dialects, they are very distinct. German is thus considered a
pluricentric language
, with currently three national standard varieties of German:
German Standard German
Austrian Standard German
and
Swiss Standard German
. In comparison to other European languages (e.g., Portuguese, English), the multi-standard character of German is still not widely acknowledged.
75
However, 90% of Austrian secondary school teachers of German consider German as having "more than one" standard variety.
76
In this context, some scholars speak of a
One Standard German Axiom
that has been maintained as a core assumption of German dialectology.
77
In most regions, the speakers use a continuum, e.g., "Umgangssprache" (colloquial standards) from more dialectal varieties to more standard varieties depending on the circumstances.
Varieties
edit
The national and regional standard varieties of German
78
In German
linguistics
, German
dialects
are distinguished from
varieties
of
Standard German
The
varieties of Standard German
refer to the different local varieties of the
pluricentric
German. They differ mainly in lexicon and phonology, but also smaller grammatical differences. In certain regions, they have replaced the traditional German dialects, especially in Northern Germany.
German Standard German
Austrian Standard German
Swiss Standard German
In the German-speaking parts of
Switzerland
, mixtures of dialect and standard are very seldom used, and the use of Standard German is largely restricted to the written language. About 11% of Swiss residents speak Standard German at home, but this is mainly due to German immigrants.
79
This situation has been called a
medial
diglossia
Swiss Standard German
is used in the Swiss education system, while
Austrian German
is officially used in the Austrian education system.
Dialects
edit
Main article:
German dialects
The German dialects are the traditional local varieties of the language; many of them are not
mutually intelligible
with standard German, and they have great differences in
lexicon
phonology
, and
syntax
. If a narrow definition of
language
based on mutual intelligibility is used, many German dialects are considered to be separate languages (for instance by
ISO 639-3
). However, such a point of view is unusual in German linguistics.
The German dialect continuum is traditionally divided most broadly into
High German
and
Low German
, also called
Low Saxon
. However, historically, High German dialects and Low Saxon/Low German dialects do not belong to the same language. Nevertheless, in today's Germany, Low Saxon/Low German is often perceived as a dialectal variation of Standard German on a functional level even by many native speakers.
The variation among the German dialects is considerable, with often only neighbouring dialects being mutually intelligible. Some dialects are not intelligible to people who know only Standard German. However, all German dialects belong to the dialect continuum of High German and Low Saxon.
Low German
edit
Main article:
Low German
The
Low German
dialects
Middle Low German
was the
lingua franca
of the
Hanseatic League
. It was the predominant language in Northern Germany until the 16th century. In 1534, the
Luther Bible
was published. It aimed to be understandable to a broad audience and was based mainly on
Central
and
Upper German
varieties. The Early New High German language gained more prestige than
Low German
and became the language of science and literature. Around the same time, the Hanseatic League, a confederation of 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.
The 18th and 19th centuries were marked by mass education in
Standard German
in schools. Gradually, Low German came to be politically viewed as a mere dialect spoken by the uneducated. The proportion of the population who can understand and speak it has decreased continuously since
World War II
Low Franconian
edit
Further information:
Low Franconian
The
Low Franconian
dialects fall within a linguistic category used to classify a number of historical and contemporary West Germanic varieties most closely related to, and including, the
Dutch language
. Consequently, the vast majority of the Low Franconian dialects are spoken outside of the German language area. Low Franconian dialects are spoken in the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Namibia, and Suriname, and along the
Lower Rhine
in Germany, in
North Rhine-Westphalia
. The region in Germany encompasses parts of the
Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region
The Low Franconian dialects have three different standard varieties: In the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname, it is Dutch, which is itself a Low Franconian language. In South Africa, it is
Afrikaans
, which is also categorised as Low Franconian. During the
Middle Ages
and
Early Modern Period
, the Low Franconian dialects now spoken in Germany, used
Middle Dutch
or Early Modern Dutch as their
literary language
and
Dachsprache
. 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.
80
81
As a result, these dialects are now considered German dialects from a socio-linguistic point of view.
82
The Low Franconian dialects in Germany are divided by the
Uerdingen line
(north of which the word for "I" is pronounced as "ik" and south of which as "ich") into northern and southern Low Franconian. The northern variants comprise
Kleverlandish
, which is most similar to Standard Dutch. The other ones are transitional between Low Franconian and
Ripuarian
, but closer to Low Franconian.
High German
edit
Main article:
High German languages
The
Central German
dialects
The
Franconian
dialects
(The
Rhenish fan
1.
Low Franconian
Northern Low Franconian
ik–ich line
Southern Low Franconian
maken–machen line
2. Middle Franconian
Ripuarian
Dorp–Dorf line
Moselle Franconian
Moselle
Luxembourgish
dat–das line
Rhenish
Hessian
Rhenish
Palatine
Appel–Apfel line
3.
High Franconian
East Franconian
South Franconian
**
Lorraine Franconian
in France
**
Alsatian
in France
The High German dialects consist of the
Central German
High Franconian
and
Upper German
dialects. The High Franconian dialects are transitional dialects between Central and Upper German. 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
Central German
edit
The
Central German
dialects are spoken in Central Germany, from
Aachen
in the west to
Görlitz
in the east. Modern Standard German is mostly based on Central German dialects.
West Central German
edit
The West Central German dialects are the
Central Franconian dialects
Ripuarian
and
Moselle Franconian
) and the
Rhenish Franconian dialects
Hessian
and
Palatine
). These dialects are considered as
German in Germany and Belgium
Luxembourgish
in Luxembourg
Lorraine Franconian
in
Moselle
, France
Alsatian
(in a
Rhenish Franconian
variant) in
Alsace bossue
, France
Limburgish
or
Kerkrade dialect
in the Netherlands.
Transylvanian Saxon
in
Transylvania
, Romania (considered a variant of German)
Banat Swabian
in
Banat
, Romania (considered a variant of German)
Luxembourgish as well as Transylvanian Saxon and Banat Swabian are based on
Moselle Franconian
dialects.
East Central German
edit
Further east, the non-
Franconian
, East Central German dialects are spoken (
Thuringian
Upper Saxon
Erzgebirgisch
(dialect of the
Ore Mountains
) and
North Upper Saxon–South Markish
, and earlier, in the then German-speaking parts of
Silesia
also
Silesian
, and in then German southern
East Prussia
also
High Prussian
).
High Franconian
edit
The
Upper German
and
High Franconian
(transitional between Central and Upper German)
The
High Franconian dialects
are transitional dialects between Central and Upper German. They consist of the
East
and
South Franconian
dialects.
East Franconian
edit
The
East Franconian
dialects are spoken in the region of
Franconia
. Franconia consists of the
Bavarian
districts of
Upper
Middle
, and
Lower Franconia
, the region of
South Thuringia
(those parts of
Thuringia
south of the
Thuringian Forest
), and the eastern parts of the region of
Heilbronn-Franken
Tauber Franconia
and Hohenlohe) in northeastern
Baden-Württemberg
. East Franconian is also spoken in most parts of
Saxon
Vogtland
(in the
Vogtland District
around
Plauen
Reichenbach im Vogtland
Auerbach/Vogtl.
Oelsnitz/Vogtl.
and
Klingenthal
). East Franconian is colloquially referred to as "Fränkisch" (Franconian) in Franconia (including Bavarian Vogtland), and as "Vogtländisch" (
Vogtlandian
) in Saxon Vogtland.
South Franconian
edit
South Franconian
is spoken in northern
Baden-Württemberg
and in the northeasternmost tip of
Alsace
(around
Wissembourg
) in France. In Baden-Württemberg, they are considered dialects of German, and in Alsace a South Franconian variant of
Alsatian
Upper German
edit
The
Upper German
dialects are the
Alemannic
and
Swabian
dialects in the west and the
Austro-Bavarian
dialects in the east.
Alemannic and Swabian
edit
Swiss German
restaurant sign in
Andermatt
: "Chuchichäschtli", in Standard German "Küchenkästlein"
Alemannic
dialects are spoken in
Switzerland
High Alemannic
in the densely populated
Swiss Plateau
including
Zürich
and
Bern
, in the south also
Highest Alemannic
, and
Low Alemannic
in
Basel
), Baden-Württemberg (
Swabian
and Low Alemannic, in the southwest also High Alemannic),
Bavarian Swabia
(Swabian, in the southwesternmost part also Low Alemannic),
Vorarlberg
/Austria (Low, High, and Highest Alemannic),
Alsace
/France (Low Alemannic, in the southernmost part also High Alemannic),
Liechtenstein
(High and Highest Alemannic), and in the
district of Reutte
in
Tyrol
, Austria (Swabian). The Alemannic dialects are considered
German in
Baden-Württemberg
and
Bavarian Swabia
, Germany
Vorarlbergerisch in
Vorarlberg
, Austria (considered dialects of German)
Swiss German
in Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Alsatian
in
Alsace
, France
In Germany, the Alemannic dialects are often referred to as Swabian in
Bavarian Swabia
and in the historical region of
Württemberg
, and as Badian in the historical region of
Baden
The southernmost German-speaking municipality is in the Alemannic region:
Zermatt
in the
Canton of Valais
, Switzerland, as is the capital of
Liechtenstein
Vaduz
Austro-Bavarian
edit
The
Austro-Bavarian
dialects
The
Austro-Bavarian
dialects are spoken in
Austria
Vienna
Lower
and
Upper Austria
Styria
Carinthia
Salzburg
Burgenland
, and in most parts of
Tyrol
), southern and eastern
Bavaria
Upper
and
Lower Bavaria
as well as
Upper Palatinate
), and
South Tyrol
. Austro-Bavarian is also spoken in southwesternmost
Saxony
: in the southernmost tip of
Vogtland
(in the
Vogtland District
around
Adorf
Bad Brambach
Bad Elster
and
Markneukirchen
), where it is referred to as Vogtländisch (
Vogtlandian
), just like the
East Franconian
variant that dominates in Vogtland. There is also one single Austro-Bavarian village in Switzerland:
Samnaun
in the
Canton of the Grisons
The northernmost Austro-Bavarian village is Breitenfeld (municipality of
Markneukirchen
, Saxony), the southernmost village is
Salorno sulla Strada del Vino
(German: Salurn an der Weinstraße), South Tyrol.
Regiolects
edit
Berlinian
, the High German regiolect or dialect of
Berlin
with Low German substrate
Missingsch
, a Low-German-coloured variety of High German.
Ruhrdeutsch
(Ruhr German), the High German regiolect of the
Ruhr area
Grammar
edit
Main article:
German grammar
German is a
fusional language
with a moderate degree of
inflection
, with three
grammatical genders
; as such, there can be a large number of words derived from the same root.
Noun inflection
edit
Further information:
Grammatical gender in German
Declension of the
Standard German
definite article
Case
Masc.
Neu.
Fem.
Plural
Nominative
der
das
die
die
Accusative
den
das
die
die
Dative
dem
dem
der
den
Genitive
des
des
der
der
German nouns
inflect by case, gender, and number:
four
cases
nominative
accusative
genitive
, and
dative
three
genders
: masculine, feminine, and neuter. For the majority of nouns (especially masculine and neuter ones), the gender is not predictable from the word's shape.
Affixes
sometimes reveal grammatical gender: for instance, nouns ending in
-ung
(-ing),
-schaft
(-ship),
-keit
or
heit
(-hood, -ness) are feminine, nouns ending in
-chen
or
-lein
diminutive
forms) are neuter and nouns ending in
-ismus
-ism
) are masculine. However, most words do not have strictly gendered affixes.
two numbers: singular and plural.
This degree of inflection is considerably less than in
Old High German
and other old
Indo-European languages
such as
Latin
Ancient Greek
, and
Sanskrit
, and it is also somewhat less than, for instance,
Old English
, modern
Icelandic
, or Russian. The three genders have collapsed in the plural. 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. In nouns, inflection for case is required in the singular for strong masculine and neuter nouns only in the genitive and in the dative (only in fixed or archaic expressions), and even this is losing ground to substitutes in informal speech.
83
Weak masculine nouns share a common case ending for genitive, dative, and accusative in the singular. Feminine nouns are not declined in the singular. The plural has an inflection for the dative. In total, seven inflectional endings (not counting plural markers) exist in German:
-s, -es, -n, -ns, -en, -ens, -e
Compounding
edit
Like the other Germanic languages, German forms noun
compounds
in which the first noun modifies the category given by the second:
Hundehütte
("dog hut"; specifically: "dog kennel"). 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"). Like English, German allows arbitrarily long compounds in theory (see also
English compounds
). The longest German word verified to be actually in (albeit very limited) use is
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
, which, literally translated, is "beef labelling supervision duties assignment law" [from
Rind
(cattle),
Fleisch
(meat),
Etikettierung(s)
(labelling),
Überwachung(s)
(supervision),
Aufgaben
(duties),
Übertragung(s)
(assignment),
Gesetz
(law)]. However, examples like this are perceived by native speakers as excessively bureaucratic, stylistically awkward, or even satirical. On the other hand, even this compound could be expanded by any native speaker.
Verb inflection
edit
Main article:
German verbs
The inflection of standard German verbs includes:
Two main
conjugation
classes:
weak
and
strong
(as in English). Additionally, there is a third class, known as mixed verbs, whose conjugation combines features of both the strong and weak patterns.
Three
persons
: first, second and third.
Two
numbers
: singular and plural.
Three
moods
indicative
imperative
and
subjunctive
(in addition to
infinitive
).
Two
voices
: active and passive. The passive voice uses auxiliary verbs and is divisible into static and dynamic. Static forms show a constant state and use the verb
to be
(sein). Dynamic forms show an action and use the verb
to become
(werden).
Two
tenses
without auxiliary verbs (
present
and
preterite
) and four tenses constructed with auxiliary verbs (
perfect
pluperfect
future
and
future perfect
).
The distinction between
grammatical aspects
is rendered by combined use of the subjunctive or preterite marking so the plain indicative voice uses neither of those two markers; the subjunctive by itself often conveys reported speech; subjunctive plus preterite marks the conditional state; and the preterite alone shows either plain indicative (in the past), or functions as a (literal) alternative for either reported speech or the conditional state of the verb, when necessary for clarity.
The distinction between perfect and
progressive aspect
is and has, at every stage of development, been a productive category of the older language and in nearly all documented dialects, but strangely enough it is now rigorously excluded from written usage in its present normalised form.
Disambiguation of completed vs. uncompleted forms is widely observed and regularly generated by common prefixes (
blicken
[to look],
erblicken
[to see – unrelated form:
sehen
]).
Verb prefixes
edit
The meaning of basic verbs can be expanded and sometimes radically changed through the use of a number of prefixes. Some prefixes have a specific meaning; the prefix
zer-
refers to destruction, as in
zer
reißen
(to tear apart),
zer
brechen
(to break apart),
zer
schneiden
(to cut apart). Other prefixes have only the vaguest meaning in themselves;
ver-
is found in a number of verbs with a large variety of meanings, as in
ver
suchen
(to try) from
suchen
(to seek),
ver
nehmen
(to interrogate) from
nehmen
(to take),
ver
teilen
(to distribute) from
teilen
(to share),
ver
stehen
(to understand) from
stehen
(to stand).
Other examples include the following:
haften
(to stick),
ver
haften
(to detain);
kaufen
(to buy),
ver
kaufen
(to sell);
hören
(to hear),
auf
hören
(to cease);
fahren
(to drive),
er
fahren
(to experience).
Many
German verbs
have a separable prefix, often with an adverbial function. In
finite verb
forms, it is split off and moved to the end of the clause and is hence considered by some to be a "resultative particle". For example,
mitgehen
, meaning "to go along", would be split, giving
Gehen Sie mit?
(Literal: "Go you with?"; Idiomatic: "Are you going along?").
Indeed, several
parenthetical
clauses may occur between the prefix of a finite verb and its complement (ankommen = to arrive, er kam an = he arrived, er ist angekommen = he has arrived):
Er
kam
am Freitagabend nach einem harten Arbeitstag und dem üblichen Ärger, der ihn schon seit Jahren immer wieder an seinem Arbeitsplatz plagt, mit fraglicher Freude auf ein Mahl, das seine Frau ihm, wie er hoffte, bereits aufgetischt hatte, endlich zu Hause
an
A selectively literal translation of this example to illustrate the point might look like this:
He "came" on Friday evening, after a hard day at work and the usual annoyances that had time and again been troubling him for years now at his workplace, with questionable joy, to a meal which, as he hoped, his wife had already put on the table, finally home "to".
Word order
edit
German word order is generally with the
V2 word order
restriction and also with the
SOV word order
restriction for subordinate as well as for main
clauses
including an
auxiliary verb
. As to subordinate clauses, all verb forms occur at the very end. For
yes–no questions
, exclamations, and wishes, the
finite verb
usually has the first position.
German requires a verbal element (main verb, modal verb or auxiliary verb as finite verb) to appear
second in the sentence
. The verb is preceded by the
topic
of the sentence or an
adverbial
of flexible length. The element in focus appears at the end of the sentence. For a sentence without an auxiliary, these are several possibilities:
Der alte Mann gab mir gestern das Buch.
(The old man gave me yesterday the book; normal
subject-verb-object
order)
Das Buch gab mir gestern der alte Mann.
(The book gave [to] me yesterday the old man)
Das Buch gab der alte Mann mir gestern.
(The book gave the old man [to] me yesterday)
Das Buch gab mir der alte Mann gestern.
(The book gave [to] me the old man yesterday)
Gestern gab mir der alte Mann das Buch.
(Yesterday gave [to] me the old man the book; normal order)
Gestern gab der alte Mann mir das Buch.
(Yesterday gave the old man [to] me the book;
verb-subject-object
order)
Mir gab der alte Mann das Buch gestern.
([To] me gave the old man the book yesterday (entailing: as for someone else, it was another date))
While the subject typically precedes the object, the position of a noun in a German sentence has no bearing on its being a subject, an object or another argument. In a
declarative sentence
in English, if the subject does not occur before the predicate, the sentence could well be misunderstood.
However, German's flexible word order allows one to emphasise specific words:
Normal word order:
Der Direktor betrat gestern um 10 Uhr mit einem Schirm in der Hand sein Büro.
The manager entered yesterday at 10 o'clock with an umbrella in the hand his office.
Second variant in normal word order:
Der Direktor betrat sein Büro gestern um 10 Uhr mit einem Schirm in der Hand.
The manager entered his office yesterday at 10 o'clock with an umbrella in the hand.
This variant accentuates the time specification and that he carried an umbrella.
Object in front:
Sein Büro betrat der Direktor gestern um 10 Uhr mit einem Schirm in der Hand.
His office entered the manager yesterday at 10 o'clock with an umbrella in the hand.
The object
Sein Büro
(his office) is thus highlighted; it could be the topic of the next sentence.
Adverb of time in front:
Gestern betrat der Direktor um 10 Uhr mit einem Schirm in der Hand sein Büro. (aber heute ohne Schirm)
Yesterday entered the manager at 10 o'clock with an umbrella in the hand his office. (but today without umbrella)
Both time expressions in front:
Gestern um 10 Uhr betrat der Direktor mit einem Schirm in der Hand sein Büro
Yesterday at 10 o'clock entered the manager with an umbrella in the hand his office.
The full-time specification
Gestern um 10 Uhr
is highlighted.
Another possibility:
Gestern um 10 Uhr betrat der Direktor sein Büro mit einem Schirm in der Hand
Yesterday at 10 o'clock entered the manager his office with an umbrella in the hand.
Both the time specification and the fact he carried an umbrella are accentuated.
Swapped adverbs:
Der Direktor betrat mit einem Schirm in der Hand gestern um 10 Uhr sein Büro.
The manager entered with an umbrella in the hand yesterday at 10 o'clock his office.
The phrase
mit einem Schirm in der Hand
is highlighted.
Swapped object:
Der Direktor betrat gestern um 10 Uhr sein Büro mit einem Schirm in der Hand.
The manager entered yesterday at 10 o'clock his office with an umbrella in the hand.
The time specification and the object
sein Büro
(his office) are lightly accentuated.
The flexible word order also allows one to use language "tools" (such as
poetic metre
and
figures of speech
) more freely.
Auxiliary verbs
edit
When an
auxiliary verb
is present in the main clause, it appears in second position, and the main verb appears at the end. This occurs notably in the creation of the
perfect tense
. Many word orders are still possible:
Der alte Mann hat mir heute das Buch gegeben.
(The old man has [to] me today the book given.)
Das Buch hat der alte Mann mir heute gegeben.
The book
has the old man [to] me today given.)
Heute hat der alte Mann mir das Buch gegeben.
Today
has the old man [to] me the book given.)
The main verb may appear in first position to put stress on the action itself. The
auxiliary verb
is still in second position.
Gegeben hat mir der alte Mann das Buch heute.
Given
has me the old man the book
today
.) The bare fact that the book has been given is emphasised, as well as 'today'.
Modal verbs
edit
Sentences using
modal verbs
as finite verbs place the infinitive at the end. For example, the English sentence "Should he go home?" would be rearranged in German to say "Should he (to) home go?" (
Soll er nach Hause gehen?
). Thus, in sentences with several subordinate or relative clauses, the infinitives are clustered at the end. Compare the similar clustering of prepositions in the following (highly contrived) English sentence: "What did you bring that book that I do not like to be read to out of up for?"
Multiple infinitives
edit
German subordinate clauses have all verbs clustered at the end, with the finite verb normally in the final position of the cluster. Given that auxiliaries encode
future
passive
modality
, and the
perfect
, very long chains of verbs at the end of the sentence can occur. In these constructions, the past participle formed with
ge-
is often replaced by the infinitive.
Man nimmt an, dass der Deserteur wohl erschossen
worden
psv
sein
perf
soll
mod
One suspects that the deserter probably shot become be should.
("It is suspected that the deserter probably had been shot")
Er wusste nicht, dass der Agent einen Nachschlüssel hatte machen lassen
He knew not that the agent a picklock had make let
Er wusste nicht, dass der Agent einen Nachschlüssel machen lassen hatte
He knew not that the agent a picklock make let had
("He did not know that the agent had had a picklock made")
The order at the end of such strings is subject to variation, but the second one in the last example is unusual.
Vocabulary
edit
Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.
84
However, there is a significant number of loanwords from other languages, in particular
Latin
Greek
Italian
French
, and most recently
85
In the early 19th century,
Joachim Heinrich Campe
estimated that one fifth of the total German vocabulary was of French or Latin origin.
86
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. Their origin is thus no longer recognisable for most speakers (e.g.,
Pforte
Tafel
Mauer
Käse
Köln
from Latin
porta
tabula
murus
caseus
Colonia
). Borrowing from Latin continued after the fall of the Roman Empire during
Christianisation
, mediated by the church and monasteries. Another important influx of Latin words can be observed during
Renaissance humanism
. In a scholarly context, the borrowings from Latin have continued until today, in the last few decades often indirectly through borrowings from English. During the 15th to 17th centuries, the influence of Italian was great, leading to many Italian loanwords in the fields of architecture, finance and music. The influence of the French language in the 17th to 19th centuries resulted in an even greater import of French words. The English influence was already present in the 19th century, but it did not become dominant until the second half of the 20th century.
Thus,
Notker Labeo
translated the Aristotelian treatises into pure (Old High) German in the decades after the year 1000.
87
The tradition of loan translation revitalised in the 17th and 18th century with poets like
Philipp von Zesen
or linguists like
Joachim Heinrich Campe
, who introduced close to 300 words, which are still used in modern German. Even today, there are movements that promote the substitution of foreign words that are deemed unnecessary with German alternatives.
88
As in other Germanic languages, there are many pairs of
synonyms
due to the enrichment of the Germanic vocabulary with
loanwords
from Latin and Latinised Greek. These words often have different connotations from their Germanic counterparts and are usually perceived as more scholarly.
Historie, historisch
– "history, historical", (
Geschichte, geschichtlich
Humanität, human
– "humaneness, humane", (
Menschlichkeit, menschlich
Millennium
– "millennium", (
Jahrtausend
Perzeption
– "perception", (
Wahrnehmung
Vokabular
– "vocabulary", (
Wortschatz
Diktionär
– "dictionary, wordbook", (
Wörterbuch
probieren
– "to try", (
versuchen
proponieren
– "to propose", (
vorschlagen
The
Deutsches Wörterbuch
(1st vol., 1854) by the
Brothers Grimm
The size of the vocabulary of German is difficult to estimate. The
Deutsches Wörterbuch
German Dictionary
), initiated by the
Brothers Grimm
Jacob
and
Wilhelm Grimm
) and the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language, already contained over 330,000 headwords in its first edition. The modern German scientific vocabulary is estimated at nine million words and word groups (based on the analysis of 35 million sentences of a
corpus
in Leipzig, which as of July 2003 included 500
million words in total).
89
Orthography
edit
Main articles:
German orthography
and
German braille
Austria's standardised
cursive
Germany's standardised cursive
Written texts in German are easily recognisable as such by distinguishing features such as
umlauts
and certain
orthographical
features, such as the capitalisation of all nouns, and the frequent occurrence of long compounds. Because legibility and convenience set certain boundaries, compounds consisting of more than three or four nouns are almost exclusively found in humorous contexts. (English also can string nouns together, though it usually separates the nouns with spaces: as, for example, "toilet bowl cleaner".)
In German orthography, nouns are capitalised, which makes it easier for readers to determine the function of a word within a sentence. This convention is almost unique to German today (shared perhaps only by the closely related
Luxembourgish
language and several insular dialects of the
North Frisian language
), but it was historically common in Northern Europe in the early modern era, including in languages such as Danish which abolished the capitalisation of nouns in 1948, and English for a while, into the 1700s.
Present
edit
Before the
German orthography reform of 1996
replaced
ss
after
long vowels
and
diphthongs
and before consonants, word-, or partial-word endings. In reformed spelling,
replaces
ss
only after long vowels and diphthongs.
Since there is no traditional capital form of
, it was replaced by
SS
(or
SZ
) when capitalisation was required. For example,
Maßband
(tape measure) became
MASSBAND
in capitals. An exception was the use of ß in legal documents and forms when capitalising names. To avoid confusion with similar names, lower case
was sometimes maintained (thus "
KREßLEIN
" instead of "
KRESSLEIN
").
Capital ß
(ẞ) was ultimately adopted into German orthography in 2017, ending a long orthographic debate (thus "
KREẞLEIN
and
KRESSLEIN
").
90
Umlaut vowels (ä, ö, ü) are commonly transcribed with ae, oe, and ue if the umlauts are not available on the keyboard or other medium used. In the same manner, ß can be transcribed as ss. Some
operating systems
use key sequences to extend the set of possible characters to include, amongst other things, umlauts; in
Microsoft Windows
this is done using
Alt codes
. German readers understand these transcriptions (although they appear unusual), but they are avoided if the regular umlauts are available, because they are a makeshift and not proper spelling. (In Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, city and family names exist where the extra e has a vowel lengthening effect, e.g.,
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
.)
German alphabet
(Listen to a German speaker recite the alphabet in German)
Problems playing this file? See
media help
There is no general agreement on where letters with umlauts occur in the sorting sequence. Telephone directories treat them by replacing them with the base vowel followed by an e. Some dictionaries sort each umlauted vowel as a separate letter after the base vowel, but more commonly words with umlauts are ordered immediately after the same word without umlauts. As an example in a
telephone book
Ärzte
occurs after
Adressenverlage
but before
Anlagenbauer
(because Ä is replaced by Ae). In a dictionary
Ärzte
comes after
Arzt
, but in some dictionaries
Ärzte
and all other words starting with
may occur after all words starting with
. In some older dictionaries or indexes, initial
Sch
and
St
are treated as separate letters and are listed as separate entries after
, but they are usually treated as S+C+H and S+T.
Written German also typically uses an alternative opening inverted comma (
quotation mark
) as in
„Guten Morgen!“
Past
edit
A Russian dictionary from 1931, showing the "German alphabet" – the 3rd and 4th columns of each half are
Fraktur
and
Kurrent
respectively, with the footnote explaining
ligatures
used in Fraktur
Further information:
2nd Orthographic Conference (German)
Antiqua–Fraktur dispute
, and
German orthography reform of 1944
Until the early 20th century, German was printed in
blackletter
typefaces
(in
Fraktur
, and in
Schwabacher
), and written in corresponding
handwriting
(for example
Kurrent
and
Sütterlin
). These variants of the Latin alphabet are very different from the serif or
sans-serif
Antiqua
typefaces used today, and the handwritten forms in particular are difficult for the untrained to read. The printed forms, however, were claimed by some to be more readable when used for
Germanic languages
91
The
Nazis
initially promoted Fraktur and Schwabacher because they were considered
Aryan
, but abolished them in 1941, claiming the letters were Jewish.
92
It is also believed this script was banned, as the German government understood Fraktur would inhibit communication in the territories occupied during World War II.
93
The Fraktur script however remains present in everyday life in pub signs, beer brands and other forms of advertisement, where it is used to convey a certain rusticality and antiquity.
A proper use of the long s (
langes s
),
, is essential for writing German text in
Fraktur
typefaces. Many
Antiqua
typefaces also include the long s. A specific set of rules applies for the use of long s in German text, but nowadays it is rarely used in Antiqua typesetting. Any lower case "s" at the beginning of a syllable would be a long s, as opposed to a terminal s or short s (the more common variation of the letter s), which marks the end of a syllable; for example, in differentiating between the words
Wachſtube
(guard-house) and
Wachstube
(tube of polish/wax). One can easily decide which "s" to use by appropriate hyphenation, (
Wach-ſtube
vs.
Wachs-tube
). The long s only appears in
lower case
Literature
edit
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does not
cite
any
sources
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improve this section
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adding citations to reliable sources
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Main article:
German literature
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
Nibelungenlied
, whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch. The fairy tales collected and published by
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
in the 19th century became famous throughout the world.
Reformer and theologian
Martin Luther
, who translated the Bible into High German (a regional group or German varieties at southern and therefore
higher
regions), is widely credited for attributed to the basis for the modern
Standard German
language. Among the best-known poets and authors in German are
Lessing
Goethe
Schiller
Kleist
Hoffmann
Brecht
Heine
and
Kafka
. Fourteen German-speaking people have won the
Nobel Prize in Literature
Theodor Mommsen
Rudolf Christoph Eucken
Paul von Heyse
Gerhart Hauptmann
Carl Spitteler
Thomas Mann
Nelly Sachs
Hermann Hesse
Heinrich Böll
Elias Canetti
Günter Grass
Elfriede Jelinek
Herta Müller
and
Peter Handke
, making it the second most awarded linguistic region (together with French) after English.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749–1832)
Friedrich Schiller
(1759–1805)
Brothers Grimm
(1785–1863)
Thomas Mann
(1875–1955)
Hermann Hesse
(1877–1962)
See also
edit
Language portal
Switzerland portal
Austria portal
Luxembourg portal
Outline of German language
Denglisch
Deutsch (disambiguation)
German family name etymology
German toponymy
Germanism (linguistics)
German exonyms
List of German expressions in English
List of German words of French origin
List of pseudo-German words in English
List of terms used for Germans
List of countries and territories where German is an official language
Names of Germany
DDR German
Notes
edit
The status of Low German as a German variety or separate language is subject to discussion.
The status of Luxembourgish as a German variety or separate language is subject to discussion.
The status of Plautdietsch as a German variety or separate language is subject to discussion.
menschlich
, and occasionally
human
, may also mean "human, pertaining to humans", whereas
Menschlichkeit
and
Humanität
never mean "humanity, human race", which translates to
Menschheit
In modern German,
Diktionär
is mostly considered archaic.
References
edit
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gemäß
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Facsimile of Bormann's Memorandum
The memorandum itself is typed in Antiqua, but the NSDAP
letterhead
is printed in Fraktur.
"For general attention, on behalf of the Führer, I make the following announcement:
It is wrong to regard or to describe the so-called Gothic script as a German script. In reality, the so-called Gothic script consists of Schwabach Jew letters. Just as they later took control of the newspapers, upon the introduction of printing the Jews residing in Germany took control of the printing presses and thus in Germany the Schwabach Jew letters were forcefully introduced.
Today the Führer, talking with Herr Reichsleiter Amann and Herr Book Publisher Adolf Müller, has decided that in the future the Antiqua script is to be described as normal script. All printed materials are to be gradually converted to this normal script. As soon as is feasible in terms of textbooks, only the normal script will be taught in village and state schools.
The use of the Schwabach Jew letters by officials will in future cease; appointment certifications for functionaries, street signs, and so forth will in future be produced only in normal script.
On behalf of the Führer, Herr Reichsleiter Amann will in future convert those newspapers and periodicals that already have foreign distribution, or whose foreign distribution is desired, to normal script.
Kapr 1993
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{{
cite book
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link
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".
Encyclopædia Britannica
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The Awful German Language
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The German Mothertongue
, 1897
Germany, Language and Literature of
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