Outline Of German Language

One of the major languages of the world, German is the first language of almost 100 million people worldwide and the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. Together with French, German is the second most commonly spoken foreign language in the EU after English, making it the second biggest language in the EU in terms of overall speakers.

Scope

German language can be described as having two branches, High German and Low German, as depicted in their family trees below:

Language family
- Indo-European languages
  - Proto-Germanic language
    - Germanic languages
      - West Germanic languages
        German language
        High German: Standard High German, Central German, Upper German – diachronic: Old High German, Middle High German, New High German
        
        Low German – diachronic: Old Saxon, Middle Low German, New Low German

What constitutes a language and what a dialect of a language is a social question into which linguistic factors may, but don't have to, play. For instance, Luxembourgish was in the mid-late 20th century reclassified from originally dialects of German as representing its own language. Austrian and Swiss Standard German may be conceived as their own standards that differ from German Standard German, which makes present-day German a pluricentric language. Attitudes that continue to see German as a monocentric variety, with only one standard, remain strong and lead some scholars to talk of a One Standard German Axiom as a field-defining characteristic.

Dialects of German language

Distribution of German language

History of German language

History of German
- Old High German
  - Middle High German
    - New High German
      - Early New High German
      - Standard German
        Duden
        
        German Orthographic Conference of 1901
        
        German orthography reform of 1996
- Old Saxon
  - Middle Low German
    - Low German

General German language concepts

German language dictionaries

German-language encyclopedias

German words and phrases

People influential in German language

Linguists

For foreigners:

German-language schools

References

External links

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