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2007-10-12 17:27:26 · 7 answers · asked by Cam1051Sec 5 in Society & Culture Languages

7 answers

The German language has suffered alteration due to sound shifts and those have been the cause for division into different dialects and even what could be called stages of the same language. The fact is that the taxonomies High and Low are applied to the kind of Germanic language spoken in different regions of the West Germanic languages zone.
The Germanic languages departed from the other Indo-European languages by a shift in sounds called the First Germanic Sound Shift, and by other distinguishing features as well.The language we now call German departed from the other Germanic languages (mainly English, Dutch, Scandinavian and the now extinct Gothic) by a shift in sounds called the Second Germanic Sound Shift. Its effect can still be seen by comparing modern German words with their English cognates.
The Second Sound Shift divides Germany into a smaller Northern part (without the sound shift) and a larger central and Southern part (with the sound shift). The border between the two regions approximates a line passing through Cologne (Köln) and Berlin, but there is a more or less fuzzy region of more than a hundred kilometres width south of that line where the language underwent the Seconds Sound Shift only partially.Since the part of Germany where there was no Second Sound Shift are the North German Lowlands, their language is called Low German as distinct from High German. Because High German has been the official language even there for quite some time, and because Low German is too different from High German to mix easily with it, this region has become, in fact, bilingual. We even find a two-layered dialect situation: in addition to Low German, the real vernacular of the region, new High German dialects are developing there.
There is also a classification according to time known as Old, Middle, And New High German.Old High German was spoken until the 10th or 11th century.Middle High German was the language of the minstrels. Although the time of its oldest documents nearly overlaps with AHD times, it is quite thoroughly different from AHD
New High German had developed out of MHD at the end of the Middle Ages

2007-10-13 06:32:41 · answer #1 · answered by Der weiße Hexenmeister 6 · 2 0

It is a bit hard to explain, because Germans themselves are using these terms rather loosely.

Linguistically it is the difference between the dialects spoken in the northern (lower) parts of Germany, and the mountainous areas in the Southern and Western half. A sound shift ( mostly affecting plosives, turning them into friccatives ) spread from the South and reached more northern areas in different stages, Dutch and "Plattdeutsch" were not affected at all.

Since the ancestor of present day English was brought over before the sound shift affected their language they have more in common with the Low German lexis, although their dialect was a Western one.

After standardisation of written German, which did not occur before the 18.th century, and later on spoken German, a Middle German dialect (Lower Saxony) became the new standard, but was still called "Hochdeutsch". Now many Germans are not conscious of the history and think that the name refers to higher "quality" or "refinement" of the standard language, because that's still what many dialect speakers are taught at school. :-(

Apart from intonation - Plattdeutsch and Dutch both emphasize important bits of a sentence by raising their voice, Southerners by lowering it - the main differences are lexical, to a degree that makes it very hard for them to understand the dialects of the other half. (e.g. "utkniepen"(northern) "auskneifen" (middle/standard) "fortlaafe(n)" (southern) = "run away, escape")

2007-10-13 01:37:16 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3 0

The high and low actually refer to altitude.. the northern plains area of Germany, which is close to sea level, used to mainly speak Plattdeutsch (low German) and Hochdeutsch (high German) was mainly spoken in the mountainous areas of central and southern Germany. Today, high German is the official standard German and is used in schools, television, newspapers and almost all other media.. there are still people who speak their regional dialects but everyone learns high German.

2007-10-12 18:11:39 · answer #3 · answered by TeknoKid 6 · 4 0

Low German is actually closer to English than High German is. I've seen samples of it and I can almost read it.

2007-10-12 19:40:14 · answer #4 · answered by RoVale 7 · 2 0

suitable right here interior the Heartland, severe German is the formal German of the Bible. There are a minimum of three dialects of low German that i comprehend of; the limitless elder Mennonites talk one or distinctive. In Pennsylvannia, the Amish talk a dialect of low German, stated as Pennsylvania Dutch. Low German language replaced into delivered to united statesa. by potential of potential of emmigrants from eastern Europe and Russia. The language better as a hodgepodge of limitless languages in that geographical area, used alongside the commerce routes from the far east to Europe, initially Marco Polo used those commerce routes. Low German could desire to be whilst while in comparison with American English, in that the language we talk is produced from words from many sources; the dictioanry shows which words originated in previous English, French, Latin, Spanish, etc. Low German better in a community that had limitless distinctive ethnic communities, and it grew to grow to be a style of easily everyone's language. NO spoken language is static; new words are coined on a daily basis. it is hilarious to hearken to elders who got here upon low German as a undemanding language, attempt to talk it now with out lapsing into English. For themes like workstation, or refrigerator, there are actually not any Low German words; with the objective to be understood, a speaker has to extrapolate, use descriptive words. and then they argue no count form if the be wakeful used for spark plug truly meant firecracker!

2016-10-22 05:38:16 · answer #5 · answered by balsamo 4 · 0 0

High German is when you've been hitting the crack pipe. Low German is when you've run out of rock!

2007-10-13 05:19:39 · answer #6 · answered by andromedasview@sbcglobal.net 5 · 0 0

I don't know the "specifics", but I believe high German is the main language that is taught in Germany. Low German I think pertains to Mennonites... I have a friend who is a Mennonite and comes from a community of them. But low German is basically a dialect of German, but high German is the "MAIN" language!

Lernen Sie Deutsch in deine Schule?
Bis nacher!

Ty

2007-10-12 17:37:48 · answer #7 · answered by Tyler D 2 · 1 3

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