The Continental West Germanic Dialect Contiuum The Germanic Family The Early Germanic Tribes • North Germanic (Scandinavians) • West Germanic • North Sea Germanic (Ingvæons: Frisians, English) • Weser-Rhine Group (Istvæons: Franks) • Elbe Group (Irminones: Alamanni, Langobardi, Marcomanni) • East Germanic (Goths, Vandals, Burgundians) Germanic Spread English, Dutch & German • The train has come late. • De trein is laat aangekomen. • Der Zug ist spät angekommen.

• It was late, so we went and chatted in the garden. • Het was laat geworden, dus zijn wij in de tuin gaan praaten. • Es wurde spät, deshalb sind wir in den Garten plaudern gegangen. English, Dutch & German • Similar in many ways, yet hardly mutually intelligible • Fundamental core similarities (not only in vocabulary, but also in morphology and syntax) • Different kind of relatedness than just borrowing (i.e. French influence) • Language change is an ongoing process - hence English and German were historically similar dialects that evolved apart. • The Comparative Method gives us a tool to analyse the history of this relationship Contential West Germanic

Friesisch = Frisian Niederfränkisch = Low Franconian Altsächsisch = Old Saxon Ostniederdeutsch = Eastern Low German Westfälisch / Ostfälisch = West / East Phallian Text ------Ripuarisch = Ripuarian Moselfränkisch = Mosel Franconian Rheinfränkisch = Rhein Franconian Ostfränkisch = East Franconian Ostmitteldeutsch = Eastern Middle German Schwäbisch = Swabian Allemannisch = Allemanic Bairisch = Bavarian Low German Old Saxon • 800-1150 C.E. • Saxons described by Roman historians • Major Old Saxon text is the Heliand, a loose Bible translation • Other minor texts survived • Much destroyed by Christianization • Quite similar to Old English • Saxons eventually conquered by the Franks under Charlemagne (Karl der Große) High German Historical Shift

• Although now the official German language, High German was considered a regional, backwoods dialect until ~1500 • Low German was where the money was, as it was the Low German city-states that had bonded together in the Hanse (Hanseatic League) Coda

• Continental West Germanic didn't become German & Dutch until very recently (~1840's or so) • Regular sound changes took place in CWG • Much language change was the result of social / economic realities, pressures, identities