German language

“Deutsch” redirects here. For other uses, see Deutsch(disambiguation).

German (Deutsch [ˈdɔʏtʃ] ( )) is a West Germanic lan-guage. It derives most of its vocabulary from the Ger-manic branch of the Indo-European language family.[10]A number of words are derived from Latin and Greek,and fewer from French and English. Widely spokenlanguages which are most similar to German includeLuxembourgish, Dutch, the Frisian languages, Englishand the Scandinavian languages.German is written using the Latin alphabet. In additionto the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels withumlauts (Ä/ä, Ö/ö, and Ü/ü) and the letter ß (a specialkind of “s(s)", called “Eszett” or “scharfes Es"; it origi-nated as a ligature of archaic forms of the letters s and z,which were represented as ſ and ʒ, respectively, that is, ſ+ ʒ = ſʒ = ß).German is spoken natively by about 100 million people,making it the most widely spoken native language in theEuropean Union and one of the major languages of theworld.[11]

German is a pluricentric language, with multiple coun-tries having their own standardised variants (e.g. AustrianGerman, Swiss Standard German) as well as many di-alects. There is also one variant referred to as StandardGerman.German is the only official language of Germany,Austria, and Liechtenstein; one of the official languagesof Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium; and a recog-nised minor language in many other countries, such asItaly, Slovenia, Hungary, Namibia, and Poland. At thesame time, German is the second most commonly usedscientific language and the third largest contributor to re-search and development, as well as an important languagein business and culture. Worldwide, Germany is rankednumber 5 in terms of annual publication of new books.One tenth of all books (including e-books) in the worldare published in German.[12][13] German is also the sec-ond most used content language for websites.[14]

1 History

Main article: History of German

1.1 Origins

The Germanic-speaking area of the Holy Roman Empire aroundAD 962.

The history of the language begins with the High Ger-man consonant shift during the migration period, sepa-rating Old High German dialects from Old Saxon. Theearliest evidence of Old High German is from scatteredElder Futhark inscriptions, especially in Alemannic, fromthe sixth century AD; the earliest glosses (Abrogans)date to the eighth; and the oldest coherent texts (theHildebrandslied, the Muspilli and the Merseburg Incan-tations) to the ninth century. Old Saxon at this time be-longed to the North Sea Germanic cultural sphere, andLow Saxon was to fall under German rather than Anglo-Frisian influence during the Holy Roman Empire.As Germany was divided into many different states, theonly force working for a unification or standardization ofGerman for several hundred years was the general wish ofwriters to be understood by as many readers as possible.

1.2 Modern German

1.2.1 Germany

When Martin Luther translated the Bible (the New Tes-tament in 1522 and the Old Testament, published inparts and completed in 1534), he based his transla-

1

2 1 HISTORY

The widespread popularity of the Bible translated into Germanby Martin Luther helped establish modern German

tion mainly on the bureaucratic standard language usedin Saxony (sächsische Kanzleisprache), also known asMeißner-Deutsch (German from the city of Meissen).This language was based on Eastern Upper and East-ern Central German dialects and preserved much of thegrammatical system of Middle High German (unlike thespoken German dialects in Central and Upper Germany,which had already at that time begun to lose the genitivecase and the preterite tense).Copies of the Bible featured a long list of glosses for eachregion that translated words unknown in the region intothe regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejectedLuther’s translation and tried to create their own Catholicstandard (gemeines Deutsch)—the difference in relationto “Protestant German” was only minor. It was not un-til the middle of the 18th century that a widely acceptedstandard was created, thus ending the period of EarlyNew High German.Until about 1800, standard German was mainly a writ-ten language: in urban northern Germany, the localdialects of Low Saxon or Low German were spoken;Standard German, which was markedly different, was of-ten learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronun-ciation. Northern German pronunciation was consideredthe standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides; how-ever, the actual pronunciation of Standard German variesfrom region to region.

1.2.2 The Austrian empire

German was the language of commerce and governmentin the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a largearea of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century it was essentially the language of towns-people throughout most of the Empire. Its use indi-cated that the speaker was a merchant, an urbanite, ir-respective of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague(German: Prag) and Budapest (Buda, German: Ofen),were gradually Germanized in the years after their in-

The ethnic groups of Austria-Hungary in 1910 according to Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary by William R. Shepherd, 1911.

Ethnolinguistic map of Austria–Hungary, 1910.

corporation into the Habsburg domain. Others, such asPozsony (German: Pressburg, now Bratislava), were orig-inally settled during the Habsburg period and were pri-marily German at that time. A few cities remainedmainlynon-German. However, most cities, such as Prague,Budapest, Bratislava, Zagreb (German: Agram), andLjubljana (German: Laibach), were primarily Germanduring this time, although surrounded by territory whereother languages were spoken. In the eastern provincesof Banat and Transylvania (German name: Siebenbür-gen), German was the predominant language not only inthe larger towns—such as Temeswar (Timisoara), Her-mannstadt (Sibiu) and Kronstadt (Brasov)—but also inmany smaller localities in the surrounding areas.

1.2.3 Switzerland

linguistic map of Switzerland, 2000

In Switzerland, a number of local dialects are spoken inthe German-speaking cantons, but the Swiss variety ofStandard German is used as a written language. It is oneof the main languages, along with French, Italian and Ro-mansh.

3

1.2.4 Standardization

Spread of the German language in 1910

Spread of the German language since 1950

In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended witha complete standardization of the German language inits written form. The Deutsche Bühnensprache (literally,German stage language) had established conventions forGerman pronunciation in theatre (Bühnendeutsch) threeyears earlier; however, this was an artificial norm not cor-responding to any traditional spoken dialect, but basedon the pronunciation of Standard German in NorthernGermany (where it was a foreign language for most in-habitants, whose native dialects were Low German, andusually encountered only in writing or formal speech; infact, Standard German remained an exclusively or almostexclusively written language, not identical with any spo-ken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area untilwell into the 19th century), although it was subsequentlyfrequently regarded as a general prescriptive norm, de-spite differing pronunciation traditions especially in theUpper-German-speaking regions that persist until thepresent day in part (especially the pronunciation of theending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]).Media and written works are now almost all produced inStandard German (often called Hochdeutsch (“High Ger-man”)) which is understood in all areas where German isspoken.The most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of theGerman language is found within the Deutsches Wörter-buch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimmand is composed of 16 parts, which were issued between

1852 and 1860. In 1860, grammatical and orthographicrules first appeared in theDuden Handbook. In 1901, thiswas declared the standard definition of the German lan-guage. Official revisions of some of these rules were notissued until the controversial German orthography reformof 1996 was officially promulgated by governments of allGerman-speaking countries.

2 Geographic distribution

Main article: List of territorial entities where German isan official languageSee also: German diaspora

German-speaking communities can be found in theformer German colony of Namibia as well as inother destinations of German emigration such asthe USA, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic,Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Peru,Venezuela (where the dialect Alemán Coloniero de-veloped), Jordan,[15] South Africa and Australia. InNamibia, German Namibians retain German educationalinstitutions.

Examples of German language in Namibian everyday life

2.1 Europe

Main articles: German-speaking Europe and German asa minority languageThe German language is the most widely spoken first lan-guage in the European Union, with around 100 millionnative speakers.[26]

German is primarily spoken in Germany (where it isthe first language for more than 95% of the popula-tion), Austria (89%), Switzerland (65%), the majorityof Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein - the latter being theonly state with German as the sole official and spokenlanguage.German is also one of the three official languages ofBelgium, alongside Dutch and French. Speakers are pri-marily concentrated within the German-speaking Com-

4 2 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION

Knowledge of the German language throughout Europe. Germanhas around 100 million native speakers.

munity region in eastern Belgium, and form about 1% ofthe country’s population.Other European German-speaking communities arefound in Northern Italy (in South Tyrol and in some mu-nicipalities in other provinces), in the French regions ofAlsace and Lorraine, and in some border villages of theformer South Jutland County of Denmark.German-speaking communities can also be found inparts of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland,Romania, Serbia, Russia and Kazakhstan. Forced expul-sions after World War II and massive emigration to Ger-many in the 1980s and 1990s have partly depopulatedthese communities.

2.2 Africa

Main article: German language in Namibia

German is spoken by about 25-30,000 people as a mothertongue in the former German colony of Namibia. Thoughit no longer enjoys status as an official language, itis used in a wide variety of spheres, especially busi-ness and tourism, as well as churches (most notablythe German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church inNamibia (GELK)), schools (e.g., the Deutsche HöherePrivatschule Windhoek), literature (German-Namibianauthors include Giselher W. Hoffmann), radio (German-language programming of the Namibian BroadcastingCorporation), and music (e.g., artist EES).There are a number of communities where Germanis spoken in South Africa, especially in and aroundWartburg.

2.3 North America

Main articles: German in the United States, PennsylvaniaGerman language, Plautdietsch and Hutterite German

In the United States, the states of North Dakota andSouth Dakota are the only states where German is themost common language spoken at home after English(the second most spoken language in other states isSpanish, French or Tagalog).[27] German geographicalnames can also be found throughout the Midwest re-gion of the country, such as New Ulm and many othertowns in Minnesota; Bismarck (North Dakota’s state cap-ital), Munich, Karlsruhe, and Strasburg in North Dakota;New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Weimar, and Muensterin Texas; Corn (formerly Korn), Kiefer and Loyal (for-merly Kiel) and Berlin in Oklahoma; and Kiel, Berlin,and Germantown in Wisconsin.Between 1843 and 1910, more than 5 million Germansemigrated overseas,[17] mostly to the United States.[28]German remained an important medium for churches,schools, newspapers, and even the administration of theUnited States Brewers’ Association[29] through the early20th century, but was severely repressed during WorldWar I. Over the course of the 20th century many ofthe descendants of 18th century and 19th century immi-grants ceased speaking German at home, but small pop-ulations of speakers can still be found in Pennsylvania(Amish, Hutterites, Dunkards and some Mennonites his-torically spokeHutterite German and aWest Central Ger-man variety of German known as Pennsylvania Germanor Pennsylvania Dutch), Kansas (Mennonites and VolgaGermans), North Dakota (Hutterite Germans, Men-nonites, Russian Germans, Volga Germans, and BalticGermans), South Dakota, Montana, Texas (Texas Ger-man), Wisconsin, Indiana, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Ohio(72,570).[30] A significant group of German Pietists inIowa formed the Amana Colonies and continue to prac-tice speaking their heritage language. Early twentiethcentury immigration was often to St. Louis, Chicago,New York, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.The dialects of German which are or were primarilyspoken in colonies or communities founded by German-speaking people resemble the dialects of the regions thefounders came from. For example, Hutterite German re-sembles dialects of Carinthia. Texas German is a dialectspoken in the areas of Texas settled by the Adelsverein,such as NewBraunfels and Fredericksburg. In the AmanaColonies in the state of Iowa, Amana German is spoken.Plautdietsch is a largeminority language spoken inNorth-ernMexico by theMennonite communities, and is spokenby more than 200,000 people in Mexico. PennsylvaniaGerman is aWest Central German dialect spoken bymostof the Amish population of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and In-diana and resembles Palatinate German dialects.Hutterite German is an Upper German dialect of the

2.4 South America 5

German-language newspapers in the U.S. in 1922

Austro-Bavarian variety of the German language, whichis spoken by Hutterite communities in Canada and theUnited States. Hutterite is spoken in the U.S. states ofWashington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, andMinnesota; and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta,Saskatchewan andManitoba. Its speakers belong to someSchmiedleit, Lehrerleit, and Dariusleit Hutterite groups,but there are also speakers among the older generations ofPrairieleit (the descendants of those Hutterites who chosenot to settle in colonies). Hutterite children who grow upin the colonies learn to speak Hutterite German beforelearning English, the standard language of the surround-ing areas, in school. Many of these children, though, con-tinue with German Grammar School, in addition to pub-lic school, throughout a student’s elementary education.In Canada, there are 622,650 speakers of German ac-cording to the most recent census in 2006,[20] while peo-ple of German ancestry (German Canadians) are foundthroughout the country. German-speaking communi-ties are particularly found in British Columbia (118,035)and Ontario (230,330).[20] There is a large and vibrantcommunity in the city of Kitchener, Ontario, which wasat one point named Berlin. German immigrants wereinstrumental in the country’s three largest urban areas:Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver; while post-SecondWorld War immigrants managed to preserve a fluency inthe German language in their respective neighborhoodsand sections. In the first half of the 20ᵗʰ century, over amillion German-Canadians made the language Canada’sthird most spoken after French and English.In Mexico there are also large populations of Germanancestry, mainly in the cities of: Mexico City,Puebla, Mazatlán, Tapachula, Ecatepec de Morelos, andlarger populations scattered in the states of Chihuahua,

Durango, and Zacatecas.

2.4 South America

In Brazil, the largest concentrations of German speak-ers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (whereRiograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina,Paraná, São Paulo and Espírito Santo. There are alsoimportant concentrations of German-speaking descen-dants in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Peruand Bolivia. In the 20th century, over 100,000 Ger-man political refugees and invited entrepreneurs set-tled in Latin America, in countries such as Costa Rica,Panama, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic, to es-tablish German-speaking enclaves, and reportedly thereis a small German immigration to Puerto Rico. Nearlyall inhabitants of the city of Pomerode, a municipalitywhere this language is co-official[31][32] in the state ofSanta Catarina in Brazil, can speak German.In most locations where German immigrants settled,the vast majority of their descendents no longer speakGerman, as they have been largely assimilated intothe host language and culture of the specific loca-tion of settlement; generally English in North Amer-ica, and Spanish or Portuguese in Latin America. How-ever, the Brazilian state Espírito Santo has Pomeranianand German as linguistic heritages officially approvedstatewide,[33][34][35][36] while Rio Grande do Sul hasRiograndenser Hunsrückisch German as linguistic her-itage officially approved statewide.[37][38] Moreover,some cities in Brazil have the German or Pomeranian asco-official languages. They are:Municipalities that have co-official Pomeranian (orPommersch) language:Espírito Santo:

• Domingos Martins[39][40][41]

• Laranja da Terra[40][41]

• Pancas[40][42][43]

• Santa Maria de Jetibá[40][44]

• Vila Pavão[40][45]

Minas Gerais:

• Itueta (only in the district of Vila Nietzel)[46][47][48]

Santa Catarina:

• Pomerode[49]

Rio Grande do Sul:

• Canguçu (under approval)[50]

6 3 STANDARD GERMAN

Municipalities where Pomeranian dialects are co-official inEspírito Santo, Brazil.

Rondônia:

• Espigão d'Oeste (under approval)[51][52][53][54]

Municipalities that have co-official language Ri-ograndenser Hunsrückisch language:Santa Catarina:

• Antônio Carlos[55]

• Treze Tílias (language teaching is compulsory inschools, standing on stage in public official of themunicipality)[56][57][58]

Rio Grande do Sul:

• Santa Maria do Herval (under approval)[59]

2.5 Oceania

In Australia, the state of South Australia experienced apronounced wave of immigration in the 1840s from Prus-sia (particularly the Silesia region). With the prolongedisolation from other German speakers and contact withAustralian English, a unique dialect known as BarossaGerman has developed and is spoken predominantly in

German language center in Chandigarh.

the Barossa Valley near Adelaide. Usage of Germansharply declined with the advent of World War I, due tothe prevailing anti-German sentiment in the populationand related government action. It continued to be usedas a first language into the twentieth century but now itsuse is limited to a few older speakers.German migration to New Zealand in the 19th centurywas less pronounced than migration from Britain, Ire-land, and perhaps even Scandinavia. Despite this therewere significant pockets of German speaking commu-nities which lasted until the first decades of the 20thcentury. German-speakers settled principally in Puhoi,Nelson, and Gore. At the last census (2006), 37,500 peo-ple in New Zealand spoke German, making it the thirdmost spoken European language after English and Frenchand overall the ninth most spoken language.There is also an important German creole being stud-ied and recovered, named Unserdeutsch, spoken in theformer German colony of German New Guinea, acrossMicronesia and in northern Australia (i.e. coastal partsof Queensland and Western Australia), by a few elderlypeople. The risk of its extinction is serious and efforts torevive interest in the language are being implemented byscholars.

3 Standard German

Main article: Standard GermanStandard German originated not as a traditional dialectof a specific region, but as a written language. However,there are places where the traditional regional dialectshave been replaced by new vernaculars based on standardGerman; this is the case in large stretches of NorthernGermany, but also in major cities in other parts of thecountry. It is important to note, however, that this col-loquial standard German differs greatly from the formalwritten language, especially in grammar and syntax, inwhich it has been influenced by dialectal speech.Standard German differs regionally, between German-

3.2 German as a foreign language 7

The national and regional standard varieties of the Germanlanguage.[60]

speaking countries, in vocabulary and some instances ofpronunciation, and even grammar and orthography. Thisvariation must not be confused with the variation of lo-cal dialects. Even though the regional varieties of stan-dard German are only to a certain degree influenced bythe local dialects, they are very distinct. German is thusconsidered a pluricentric language.In most regions, the speakers use a continuum from moredialectal varieties to more standard varieties according tocircumstances.In the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, mixturesof dialect and standard are very seldom used, and theuse of standard German is largely restricted to the writ-ten language. This situation has been called a medialdiglossia. Swiss Standard German is used in the Swisseducation system, while Austrian Standard German is of-ficially used in the Austrian education system. A mixtureof dialect and standard also does not occur in NorthernGermany. The traditional dialects there are Low Ger-man, while Standard German is a High German language.Because the dialects of this region are of a completely dif-ferent language, they don't mesh with Standard Germanthe way High German dialects (e.g. Bavarian, Swabian,Hessian) are able to.

3.1 Official status

Standard German is the only official language in Liecht-enstein; it shares official status in Germany (with Danish,Frisian, Romany and Sorbian as minority languages), inAustria (with Slovene, Croatian, and Hungarian as mi-nority languages), Switzerland (with French, Italian andRomansh), Belgium (with Dutch and French) and Lux-embourg (with French and Luxembourgish). It is an offi-cial regional language in Italy (South Tyrol), as well as inthe cities of Sopron (Hungary), Krahule (Slovakia) andseveral cities in Romania. It is the official language ofcommand (together with Italian) of the Vatican SwissGuard.German has an officially recognized status as a regional orauxiliary language in Denmark[61] (Southern Jutland re-

gion), Italy (Gressoney valley), Namibia, Poland (Opoleregion), and Russia (Asowo and Halbstadt).German is one of the 23 official languages of the Euro-pean Union and one of the three working languages. Itis the language with the largest number of native speak-ers in the European Union and is the second-most spo-ken language in Europe, just behind English and aheadof French.

3.2 German as a foreign language

Main article: German as a foreign languageGerman is the third most taught foreign language in the

Knowledge of German as a foreign language (second languagein Luxembourg) in the EU member states (+Turkey), in per centof the adult population (+15), 2005.

English-speaking world, after French and Spanish.[62]

German is the main language of about 95[2] – 100million[26] people in Europe (as of 2005), or 13% of allEuropeans; it is the 2nd most spoken native language inEurope after Russian, above French (67 million speakersin 2004) and English (64 million speakers in 2004). Itis therefore the most spoken first language in the EU. Itis the 2nd most known foreign language in the EU.[63] Itis one of the official languages of the European Union,and one of the three working languages of the EuropeanCommission, along with English and French. Among cit-izens of the EU-15 countries, 32% say they can conversein German (either as a mother tongue or as a second orforeign language).[64] This is assisted by the widespreadavailability of German TV by cable or satellite.German was once, and still remains to some extent,a lingua franca in Central, Eastern, and Northern Eu-rope.[65]

4 Dialects

Main article: German dialectsGerman is a member of the West Germanic language ofthe Germanic family of languages, which in turn is part ofthe Indo-European language family. The German dialectcontinuum is traditionally divided most broadly into HighGerman and Low German, also called Low Saxon. Yet,historically, High German dialects and Low Saxon/Low

8 4 DIALECTS

Distribution of the native speakers of major continental West-Germanic dialectal varieties.

German dialects do not belong to the same language.Nevertheless, in today’s Germany, Low Saxon/Low Ger-man is often perceived as a dialectal variation of Stan-dard German on a functional level, even by many nativespeakers. The same phenomenon is found in the east-ern Netherlands, as the traditional dialects are not alwaysidentified with their Low Saxon/Low German origins, butwith Dutch.[66]

The variation among the German dialects is considerable,with often only neighbouring dialects being mutually in-telligible. Some dialects are not intelligible to people whoonly know standard German. However, all German di-alects belong to the dialect continuum of High Germanand Low Saxon languages.

4.1 Low German

Main article: Low German

Middle Low German was the lingua franca of theHanseatic League. It was the predominant language inNorthern Germany. This changed in the 16th century:in 1534 the Luther Bible was published. This translationis considered to be an important step towards the evolu-tion of the Early New High German. It aimed to be un-derstandable to a broad audience and was based mainlyon Central and Upper German varieties. The Early NewHigh German language gained more prestige than LowGerman and became the language of science and litera-ture. Around the same time, the Hanseatic league, basedaround northern ports, lost its importance as new traderoutes to Asia and the Americas were established, while

the most powerful German states of that period were lo-cated in Middle and Southern Germany.The 18th and 19th centuries were marked by masseducation in Standard German in schools. GraduallyLow German came to be politically viewed as a meredialect spoken by the uneducated. Today Low Saxoncan be divided in two groups: Low Saxon varieties witha reasonable standard German influx and varieties ofStandard German with a Low Saxon influence known asMissingsch. Sometimes, Low Saxon and Low Franco-nian varieties are grouped together because both are un-affected by the High German consonant shift. However,the proportion of the population who can understand andspeak it has decreased continuously since World War II.

4.2 High German

Main article: High German languages

High German is divided into Central German, HighFranconian (a transitional dialect), and Upper German.Central German dialects include Ripuarian, MoselleFranconian, Rhine Franconian, Central Hessian, EastHessian, North Hessian, Thuringian, Silesian German,Lorraine Franconian, Mittelalemannisch, North UpperSaxon, High Prussian, Lausitzisch-Neumärkisch andUpper Saxon. It is spoken in the southeastern Nether-lands, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of France,and parts of Germany roughly between the River Mainand the southern edge of the Lowlands. Modern StandardGerman is mostly based on Central German, although thecommon (but not linguistically correct) German term formodern Standard German is Hochdeutsch, that is, HighGerman.The Moselle Franconian varieties spoken in Luxembourghave been officially standardised and institutionalised andare usually considered a separate language known asLuxembourgish.The two High Franconian dialects are East Franconianand South Franconian.Upper German dialects include Northern Austro-Bavarian, Central Austro-Bavarian, Southern Austro-Bavarian, Swabian, East Franconian, High AlemannicGerman, Highest Alemannic German, Alsatian and LowAlemannic German. They are spoken in parts of theAlsace, southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, andthe German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy.Wymysorys is a High German dialect of Poland nativeto Wilamowice, and Sathmarisch and Siebenbürgisch areHigh German dialects of Romania. The High Germanvarieties spoken by Ashkenazi Jews (mostly in the for-mer Russian Empire) have several unique features, andare usually considered as a separate language, Yiddish. Itis the only Germanic language that does not use the Latinscript as the basis of its standard alphabet.

5.1 Noun inflection 9

4.3 Varieties of standard German

In German linguistics, German dialects are distinguishedfrom varieties of standard German.

• The German dialects are the traditional local vari-eties. They are traditionally traced back to the dif-ferent German tribes. Many of them are hardly un-derstandable to someone who knows only standardGerman, since they often differ from standard Ger-man in lexicon, phonology and syntax. If a narrowdefinition of language based on mutual intelligibilityis used, many German dialects are considered to beseparate languages (for instance in the Ethnologue).However, such a point of view is unusual in Germanlinguistics.

• The varieties of standard German refer to the differ-ent local varieties of the pluricentric standard Ger-man. They only differ slightly in lexicon and phonol-ogy. In certain regions, they have replaced the tradi-tional German dialects, especially in Northern Ger-many.

5 Grammar

Main article: German grammar

German is an inflected language with three grammaticalgenders; as such, there can be a large number of wordsderived from the same root.

5.1 Noun inflection

Declension of the German definite articles, der, die and das(“the”).

German nouns inflect by case, gender, and number:

• four cases: nominative, genitive, dative, andaccusative.

• three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.Word endings sometimes reveal grammatical gen-der: for instance, nouns ending in ...ung (-ing),...schaft (-ship), ...keit or ...heit (-hood, -ness) arefeminine, while nouns ending in ...chen or ...lein(diminutive forms) are neuter and nouns ending in

...ismus (-ism) are masculine. Others are more vari-able, sometimes depending on the region in whichthe language is spoken; and some endings are notrestricted to one gender, e.g. ...er (-er), e.g. Feier(feminine), celebration, party, Arbeiter (masculine),labourer, and Gewitter (neuter), thunderstorm.

• two numbers: singular and plural

This degree of inflection is considerably less than in OldHigh German and other old Indo-European languagessuch as Latin, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit, and alsosomewhat less than, for instance, Old English, modernIcelandic and Russian. The three genders have collapsedin the plural, which now behaves, grammatically, some-what as a fourth gender. With four cases and three gen-ders plus plural there are 16 permutations of case and gen-der/number, but there are only six forms of the definite ar-ticle, which together cover all 16 permutations. In nouns,inflection for case is required in the singular for strongmasculine and neuter nouns, in the genitive, and some-times in the dative. Both of these cases are losing groundto substitutes in informal speech. The dative noun end-ing is considered somewhat old-fashioned in many con-texts and is often dropped, but it is still used in proverbsand the like, in formal speech, and in written language.Weak masculine nouns share a common case ending forgenitive, dative and accusative in the singular. Femininenouns are not declined in the singular. The plural doeshave an inflection for the dative. In total, seven inflec-tional endings (not counting plural markers) exist in Ger-man: -s, -es, -n, -ns, -en, -ens, -e.In German orthography, nouns and most words with thesyntactical function of nouns are capitalised, to make iteasier for readers to determine the function of a wordwithin a sentence (Am Freitag ging ich einkaufen.—"OnFriday I went shopping."; Eines Tages kreuzte er endlichauf.—"One day he finally showed up.”) This conventionis almost unique to German today (shared perhaps only bythe closely related Luxemburgish language and several in-sular dialects of the North Frisian language), although itwas historically common in other languages such as Dan-ish (which abolished the capitalization of nouns in 1948)and English.Like most Germanic languages, German forms nouncompounds where the first noun modifies the categorygiven by the second, for example: Hundehütte (“doghut"; specifically: “dog kennel”). Unlike English,where newer compounds or combinations of longernouns are often written in “open” with separatingspaces, German (like some other Germanic languages)nearly always uses the “closed” form without spaces,for example: Baumhaus (“tree house”). Germanallows arbitrarily long compounds, as English doesto some extent. (See also English compounds.) InGerman these are quite common. The longest Germanword verified to be actually in (albeit very limited) use isRindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz,

10 5 GRAMMAR

which, literally translated, is “beef labelling supervisionduty assignment law” [from Rind (cattle), Fleisch (meat),Etikettierung(s) (labelling), Überwachung(s) (supervi-sion), Aufgaben (duties), Übertragung(s) (assignment),Gesetz (law)]. However, examples like this are per-ceived by native speakers as excessively bureaucratic,stylistically awkward, and even satiric.

5.2 Verb inflection

Main article: German verbs

Inflection of standard German verbs includes:

• twomain conjugation classes: weak and strong (as inEnglish). Additionally, there is a third class, knownas mixed verbs, whose conjugation combines fea-tures of both the strong and weak patterns.

• three persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

• two numbers: singular and plural

• three moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive (inaddition to infinitive)

• two voices: active and passive; the passive voice usesauxiliary verbs and is dividable into static and dy-namic.

• two tenses without auxiliary verbs (present,preterite) and four tenses constructed with auxiliaryverbs (perfect, pluperfect, future and future perfect)

• the distinction between grammatical aspects isrendered by combined use of subjunctive and/orpreterite marking: thus the plain indicative voiceuses neither of those two markers; the subjunctiveby itself conveys second-hand information; subjunc-tive plus preterite marks the conditional state; andthe preterite alone shows either plain indicative (inthe past), or functions as a (literal) alternative foreither second-hand-information or the conditionalstate of the verb, when necessary for clarity.

• the distinction between perfect and progressive as-pect is and has at every stage of development beena productive category of the older language andin nearly all documented dialects, but, strangelyenough, is nowadays rigorously excluded from writ-ten usage in its present normalised form.

• disambiguation of completed vs. uncompletedforms is widely observed and regularly generated bycommon prefixes (blicken - to look, erblicken - to see[unrelated form: sehen - to see]).

Verb prefixes

The meaning of basic verbs can be expanded, and some-times radically changed, through the use of a numberof prefixes. Some prefixes have a specific meaning; theprefix zer- refers to destruction, as in zerreißen (to tearapart), zerbrechen (to break apart), zerschneiden (to cutapart). Other prefixes have only the vaguest meaningin themselves; ver- is found in a number of verbs witha large variety of meanings, as in versuchen (to try)from “suchen” (to seek), vernehmen (to interrogate) from“nehmen” (to take), verteilen (to distribute) from “teilen”(to share), verstehen (to understand) from “stehen” (tostand).Other examples include haften (to stick), verhaften (to de-tain); kaufen (to buy), verkaufen (to sell); hören (to hear),aufhören (to cease); fahren (to drive), erfahren (to expe-rience).ManyGerman verbs have a separable prefix, oftenwith anadverbial function. In finite verb forms this is split off andmoved to the end of the clause, and is hence considered bysome to be a “resultative particle”. For example,mitgehenmeaning “to go along” would be split, giving Gehen Siemit? (Literal: “Go you with?" ; Formal: “Are you goingalong?").Indeed, several parenthetical clauses may occur betweenthe prefix of a finite verb and its complement: e.g.

Er kam am Freitagabend nach einem hartenArbeitstag und dem üblichen Ärger, der ihnschon seit Jahren immer wieder an seinem Ar-beitsplatz plagt, mit fraglicher Freude auf einMahl, das seine Frau ihm, wie er hoffte, bereitsaufgetischt hatte, endlich zu Hause an .

A selectively literal translation of this example to illustratethe point might look like this:

He “came” on Friday evening, after a hard dayat work and the usual annoyances that had timeand again been troubling him for years now athis workplace, with questionable joy, to a mealwhich, as he hoped, his wife had already put onthe table, finally at home “on”.

5.3 Word order

There are two common word orders: one is for mainclauses and another for subordinate clauses. In normal af-firmative sentences the inflected verb always has position2. In polar questions, exclamations, and wishes it alwayshas position 1. In subordinate clauses the verb occurs atthe very end.German requires that a verbal element (main verb orauxiliary verb) appear second in the sentence. The verbis preceded by the topic of the sentence. The element infocus appears at the end of the sentence. For a sentencewithout an auxiliary this gives, amongst other options:

5.3 Word order 11

Der alte Mann gab mir gestern das Buch. (Theold man gave me yesterday the book; normalorder)Das Buch gab mir gestern der alte Mann. (Thebook gave [to] me yesterday the old man)Das Buch gab der alte Mann mir gestern. (Thebook gave the old man [to] me yesterday)Das Buch gab mir der alte Mann gestern. (Thebook gave [to] me the old man yesterday)

Gestern gab mir der alte Mann das Buch. (Yes-terday gave [to] me the old man the book, nor-mal order)Mir gab der alte Mann das Buch gestern. ([To]me gave the old man the book yesterday (en-tailing: as for you, it was another date))

The position of a noun in a German sentence has no bear-ing on its being a subject, an object, or another argument.In a declarative sentence in English, if the subject doesnot occur before the predicate, the sentence could well bemisunderstood. This is not so in German. The flexibilityto vary the word order allows one to emphasise specificwords:Normal word order:

Der Direktor betrat gestern um 10Uhr mit einem Schirm in der Handsein BüroThe manager entered yesterday at10 o'clock with an umbrella in thehand his office.

Object in front:

Sein Büro betrat der Direktor gesternum 10 Uhr mit einem Schirm in derHand.His office entered the manager yes-terday at 10 o'clock with an um-brella in the hand.

The object Sein Büro (his office) is thus high-lighted; it could be the topic of the next sen-tence.

Adverb of time in front:

Gestern betrat der Direktor um 10Uhr mit einem Schirm in der Handsein Büro. (aber heute ohne Schirm)Yesterday entered the manager at10 o'clock with an umbrella in thehand his office. (but today withoutumbrella)

Both time expressions in front:

Gestern um 10 Uhr betrat der Di-rektor mit einem Schirm in der Handsein Büro.Yesterday at 10 o'clock entered themanager with an umbrella in thehand his office.

The full time specification Gestern um 10 Uhris highlighted.

Another possibility:

Gestern um 10 Uhr betrat der Di-rektor sein Büro mit einem Schirm inder Hand.Yesterday at 10 o'clock the man-ager entered his office with an um-brella in his hand.

Both the time specification and the fact he car-ried an umbrella are accentuated.

Swapped adverbs:

Der Direktor betrat mit einemSchirm in der Hand gestern um 10Uhr sein Büro.The manager entered with an um-brella in the hand yesterday at 10o'clock his office.The phrase mit einem Schirm in derHand is highlighted.

Swapped object:

Der Direktor betrat gestern um 10Uhr sein Büro mit einem Schirm inder Hand.The warden entered yesterday at 10o'clock his office with an umbrellain his hand.

The time specification and the object sein Büro(his office) are lightly accentuated.

The flexibility to use different word orders also broadensthe options to use language “tools” (e.g. poetic meter andfigures of speech) more freely.

Auxiliary verbs

When an auxiliary verb is present, it appears in secondposition, and the main verb appears at the end. This oc-curs notably in the creation of the perfect tense. Manyword orders are still possible, e.g.:

12 6 VOCABULARY

Der alte Mann hat mir heute das Buch gegeben.(The old man has me today the book given.)Das Buch hat der alte Mann mir heute gegeben.(The book has the old man me today given.)Heute hat der alte Mann mir das Buch gegeben.(Today has the old man me the book given.)

Modal verbs

Sentences using modal verbs place the infinitive at theend. For example, the English sentence “Should he gohome?" would be rearranged in German to say “Shouldhe (to) home go?" (Soll er nach Hause gehen?). Thus insentences with several subordinate or relative clauses theinfinitives are clustered at the end. Compare the similarclustering of prepositions in the following (highly con-trived) English sentence: “What did you bring that bookwhich I don't like to be read to out of up for?"

Multiple infinitives

German subordinate clauses have all verbs clustered atthe end. Given that auxiliaries encode future, passive,modality, and the perfect, this can lead to very long chainsof verbs at the end of the sentence. In these constructions,the past participle in ge- is often replaced by the infinitive.Man nimmt an, dass der Deserteur wohl erschossenV wor-denpsv seinperf sollmodOne suspects that the deserter probably shot become beshould(“It is suspected that the deserter probably should havebeen shot”)The order at the end of such strings is subject to variation,though the latter version is unusual.Er wusste nicht, dass der Agent einen Nachschlüssel hattemachen lassenHe knew not that the agent a picklock had make letEr wusste nicht, dass der Agent einen Nachschlüsselmachen lassen hatteHe knew not that the agent a picklock make let had(“He did not know that the agent had had a picklockmade”)

6 Vocabulary

Most German vocabulary is derived from the Ger-manic branch of the European language family. How-ever, there is a significant amount of loanwords fromother languages, in particular from Latin, Greek, Italian,French[67] and most recently English.[68]

Latin words were already imported into the predecessorof the German language during the Roman Empire and

Duden dictionary.

underwent all the characteristic phonetic changes in Ger-man. Their origin is thus no longer recognizable for mostspeakers (e.g. Pforte, Tafel,Mauer from Latin porta, tab-ula, murus). Borrowing from Latin continued after thefall of the Roman Empire during Christianization, medi-ated by the church and monasteries. Another importantinflux of Latin words can be observed during Renaissancehumanism. In a scholarly context, the borrowings fromLatin have continued until today, in the last decades oftenindirectly through borrowings from English. During the15th to 17th centuries, the influence of Italian was great,leading to many Italian loanwords in the fields of archi-tecture, finance, and music. The influence of the Frenchlanguage in the 17th to 19th centuries resulted in an evengreater import of French words. The English influencewas already present in the 19th century, but did not be-come dominant until the second half of the 20th century.At the same time, the effectiveness of the German lan-guage in forming equivalents for foreign words from itsinherited Germanic stem repertory is great. Thus, NotkerLabeo was able to translate Aristotelian treatises in pure(Old High) German in the decades after the year 1000.The tradition of loan translation was revitalized in the18th century, with linguists like JoachimHeinrich Campewho introduced hundreds of words that are still used inmodern German. Even today, there are movements thattry to promote the Ersatz (substitution) of foreign wordsdeemed unnecessary with German alternatives.[69] It isclaimed that this would also help in spreading modern

7.1 Present 13

or scientific notions among the less educated, and thusdemocratise public life, too.As in English, there are many pairs of synonyms dueto the enrichment of the Germanic vocabulary withloanwords from Latin and Latinized Greek. These wordsoften have different connotations from their Germaniccounterparts and are usually perceived as more scholarly.

• Historie - “historical”, (Geschichte, geschichtlich)

• Humanität - “humaneness”, (Menschlichkeit)

• Millennium - “millennium”, (Jahrtausend)

• Perzeption - “perception”, (Wahrnehmung)

• Vokabular - “vocabulary”, (Wortschatz)

The size of the vocabulary of German is difficult to es-timate. The Deutsches Wörterbuch (The German Dic-tionary) initiated by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm alreadycontained over 330,000 headwords in its first edition. Themodern German scientific vocabulary is estimated at ninemillion words and word groups (based on the analysis of35 million sentences of a corpus in Leipzig, which as ofJuly 2003 included 500 million words in total).[70]

7 Orthography

Main articles: German orthography and German brailleGerman is written in the Latin alphabet. In addition to

German alphabet in handwritten conventions

the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels withUmlaut, namely ä, ö and ü, as well as the Eszett orscharfes s (sharp s), ß. In Switzerland “ss” is used in-stead of "ß". Additionally, when written in capitals, "ß"is replaced with “SS” in Germany, while in Austria it istraditionally replaced with “SZ” (the same digraph usedin Hungarian for the “s” sound); there are some excep-tions to these rules (see below).

Written texts in German are easily recognisable as suchby distinguishing features such as umlauts and certainorthographical features—German is the only major lan-guage that capitalizes all nouns, a holdover from when itwas widely done in Northern Europe in the early modernera (including English for a while, in the 1700s)—and the frequent occurrence of long compounds.The longest German word that has been published is"Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft"made of 79 characters. Since legibility and convenienceset certain boundaries, compounds consisting of morethan three or four nouns are almost exclusively found inhumorous contexts. (In contrast, while English can alsostring nouns together, it usually separates the nouns withspaces.)

7.1 Present

Before the German orthography reform of 1996, ß re-placed ss after long vowels and diphthongs and beforeconsonants, word-, or partial-word-endings. In reformedspelling, ß replaces ss only after long vowels and diph-thongs. Since there is no capital ß, it is always writtenas “SS” when capitalization is required. For example,Maßband (tape measure) is capitalized MASSBAND. Anexception is the use of ß in legal documents and formswhen capitalizing names. To avoid confusion with sim-ilar names, a "ß" is to be used instead of “SS”. (So:“KREßLEIN” instead of “KRESSLEIN”.) A capital ßhas been proposed and included in Unicode ("ẞ"; Uni-code character U+1E9E), but it is not yet recognized asstandard German. In Switzerland, ß is not used at all.Umlaut vowels (ä, ö, ü) are commonly transcribed withae, oe, and ue if the umlauts are not available on the key-board or other medium used. In the same manner ß canbe transcribed as ss. Some operating systems use keysequences to extend the set of possible characters to in-clude, amongst other things, umlauts; in Microsoft Win-dows this is done using Alt codes. German readers under-stand those transcriptions (although they look unusual),but they are avoided if the regular umlauts are avail-able because they are a makeshift, not proper spelling.(In Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, city and familynames exist where the extra e has a vowel lengtheningeffect, e.g. Raesfeld [ˈraːsfɛlt], Coesfeld [ˈkoːsfɛlt] andItzehoe [ɪtsəˈhoː], but this use of the letter e after a/o/udoes not occur in the present-day spelling of words otherthan proper nouns.)There is no general agreement on where letters with um-lauts occur in the sorting sequence. Telephone directo-ries treat them by replacing them with the base vowelfollowed by an e. Some dictionaries sort each umlautedvowel as a separate letter after the base vowel, but morecommonly words with umlauts are ordered immediatelyafter the same word without umlauts. As an example ina telephone book Ärzte occurs after Adressenverlage butbefore Anlagenbauer (because Ä is replaced by Ae). In a

14 8 PHONOLOGY

dictionary Ärzte comes after Arzt, but in some dictionar-ies Ärzte and all other words starting with Ä may occurafter all words starting with A. In some older dictionariesor indexes, initial Sch and St are treated as separate let-ters and are listed as separate entries after S, but they areusually treated as S+C+H and S+T.Written German also typically uses an alternative openinginverted comma (quotation mark) as in „Guten Morgen!“.

7.2 Past

Further information: 2nd Orthographic Conference(German), Antiqua-Fraktur dispute and German orthog-raphy reform of 1944

Until the early 20th century, German was mostly printedin blackletter typefaces (mostly in Fraktur, but also inSchwabacher) and written in corresponding handwriting(for example Kurrent and Sütterlin). These variants ofthe Latin alphabet are very different from the serif or sansserif Antiqua typefaces used today, and particularly thehandwritten forms are difficult for the untrained to read.The printed forms, however, were claimed by some tobe more readable when used for Germanic languages.[71](Often, foreign names in a text were printed in a “normal”typeface even though the rest of the text was in Fraktur.)The Nazis initially promoted Fraktur and Schwabachersince they were considered Aryan, although they abol-ished them in 1941, claiming that these letters were Jew-ish. The Fraktur script remains present in everyday lifein pub signs, beer brands and other forms of advertise-ment, where it is used to convey a certain rusticality andantiquity.A proper use of the long s, (langes s), ſ, is essential forwriting German text in Fraktur typefaces. Many Antiquatypefaces include the long s also. A specific set of rulesapplies for the use of long s in German text, but nowa-days it is rarely used in Antiqua typesetting. Any lowercase “s” at the beginning of a syllable would be a long s, asopposed to a terminal s or short s (the more common vari-ation of the letter s), which marks the end of a syllable;for example, in differentiating between the wordsWachſ-tube (guard-house) and Wachstube (tube of polish/wax).One can easily decide which “s” to use by appropriate hy-phenation, (“Wach-ſtube” vs. “Wachs-tube”). The long sonly appears in lower case.

7.3 Reform of 1996

Main article: German orthography reform of 1996

The orthography reform of 1996 led to public controversyand considerable dispute. The states (Bundesländer) ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria would not acceptit. The dispute landed at one point in the highest court,

which made a short issue of it, claiming that the states hadto decide for themselves and that only in schools could thereform be made the official rule—everybody else couldcontinue writing as they had learned it. After 10 years,without any intervention by the federal parliament, a ma-jor revision was installed in 2006, just in time for thecoming school year. In 2007, some traditional spellingswere finally invalidated, while in 2008, on the other hand,many of the old comma rules were again put in force.The most noticeable change was probably in the use ofthe letter ß, called scharfes s (Sharp S) or ess-zett (pro-nounced ess-tsett). Traditionally, this letter was used inthree situations: 1) after a long vowel or vowel combina-tion, 2) before a t, and 3) at the end of a syllable, thusFüße, paßt, and daß. Currently only the first rule is in ef-fect, thus Füße, passt, and dass. The word Fuß 'foot' hasthe letter ß because it contains a long vowel, even thoughthat letter occurs at the end of a syllable. The logic ofthis change is that an 'ß' is a single letter whereas 'ss’ ob-viously are two letters, so the same distinction applies asfor instance between the words 'den' and 'denn'.

8 Phonology

Main article: German phonology

8.1 Vowels

In German, vowels (excluding diphthongs; see below) areeither short or long, as follows:Short /ɛ/ is realized as [ɛ] in stressed syllables (includingsecondary stress), but as [ə] in unstressed syllables. Notethat stressed short /ɛ/ can be spelled either with e or with ä(for instance, hätte 'would have' and Kette 'chain', rhyme).In general, the short vowels are open and the long vowelsare close. The one exception is the open /ɛː/ sound of longÄ; in some varieties of standardGerman, /ɛː/ and /eː/ havemerged into [eː], removing this anomaly. In that case,pairs likeBären/Beeren 'bears/berries’ orÄhre/Ehre 'spike(of wheat)/honour' become homophonous (see: CaptainBluebear).In many varieties of standard German, an unstressed /ɛr/is not pronounced [ər], but vocalised to [ɐ].Whether any particular vowel letter represents the longor short phoneme is not completely predictable, althoughthe following regularities exist:

• If a vowel (other than i) is at the end of a syllableor followed by a single consonant, it is usually pro-nounced long (e.g. Hof [hoːf]).

• If a vowel is followed by h or if an i is followed byan e, it is long.

8.2 Consonants 15

• If the vowel is followed by a double consonant (e.g.ff, ss or tt), ck, tz or a consonant cluster (e.g. st ornd), it is nearly always short (e.g. hoffen [ˈhɔfən]).Double consonants are used only for this function ofmarking preceding vowels as short; the consonantitself is never pronounced lengthened or doubled, inother words this is not a feeding order of geminationand then vowel shortening.

Both of these rules have exceptions (e.g. hat [hat] 'has’ isshort despite the first rule; Mond [moːnt], 'moon' is longdespite the second rule). For an i that is neither in thecombination ie (making it long) nor followed by a doubleconsonant or cluster (making it short), there is no gen-eral rule. In some cases, there are regional differences:In central Germany (Hessen), the o in the proper name“Hoffmann” is pronounced long while most other Ger-mans would pronounce it short; the same applies to thee in the geographical name "Mecklenburg" for people inthat region. The word Städte 'cities’, is pronounced witha short vowel [ˈʃtɛtə] by some (Jan Hofer, ARD Televi-sion) and with a long vowel [ˈʃtɛːtə] by others (MariettaSlomka, ZDF Television). Finally, a vowel followed bych can be short (Fach [fax] 'compartment', Küche [ˈkʏçə]'kitchen') or long (Suche [ˈzuːxə] 'search', Bücher [ˈbyːçɐ]'books’) almost at random. Thus, Lache is homographousbetween [laːxə] Lache 'puddle' and [laxə] Lache 'mannerof laughing' (colloquial) or lache! 'laugh!' (imperative).German vowels can form the following digraphs (in writ-ing) and diphthongs (in pronunciation); note that the pro-nunciation of some of them (ei, äu, eu) is very differentfrom what one would expect when considering the com-ponent letters:Additionally, the digraph ie generally represents thephoneme /iː/, which is not a diphthong. In many vari-eties, an /r/ at the end of a syllable is vocalised. However,a sequence of a vowel followed by such a vocalised /r/is not considered a diphthong: Bär [bɛːɐ̯] 'bear', er [eːɐ̯]'he', wir [viːɐ̯] 'we', Tor [toːɐ̯] 'gate', kurz [kʊɐ̯ts] 'short',Wörter [vœɐ̯tɐ] 'words’.In most varieties of standard German, syllables that beginwith a vowel are preceded by a glottal stop [ʔ].

8.2 Consonants

With approximately 25 phonemes, the German conso-nant system exhibits an average number of consonants incomparison with other languages. One of the more note-worthy ones is the unusual affricate /pf͡/. The consonantinventory of the standard language is shown below.

• 1/x/ has two allophones, [x] and [ç], after back andfront vowels, respectively.

• 2/r/ has three allophones in free variation: [r], [ʁ]and [ʀ]. In the syllable coda, the allophone [ɐ] isfound in many varieties.

• 3 The voiceless stops /p/, /t/, /k/ are aspirated exceptwhen preceded by a sibilant, exactly as in English.

• 4 The voiced stops /b/, /d/, /ɡ/ are devoiced to /p/,/t/, /k/, respectively, in word-final position.

• 5/d͡ʒ/ and /ʒ/ occur only in words of foreign (usuallyEnglish or French) origin.

• Where a stressed syllable has an initial vowel, it ispreceded by [ʔ]. As its presence is predictable fromcontext, [ʔ] is not considered a phoneme.

Consonant spellings

• c standing by itself is not a German letter. In bor-rowed words, it is usually pronounced [ts͡] (before ä,äu, e, i, ö, ü, y) or [k] (before a, o, u, and conso-nants). The combination ck is, as in English, usedto indicate that the preceding vowel is short.

• ch occurs most often and is pronounced either [ç](after ä, ai, äu, e, ei, eu, i, ö, ü and consonants; inthe diminutive suffix -chen; and at the beginning ofa word), [x] (after a, au, o, u), or [k] at the begin-ning of a word before a, o, u and consonants. Chnever occurs at the beginning of an originally Ger-man word. In borrowed words with initial Ch be-fore bright vowels (Chemie “chemistry” etc.), [ç] isconsidered standard. However, Upper Germans andFranconians (in the geographical sense) replace itwith [k], as German as a whole does before darkervowels and consonants such as in Charakter, Chris-tentum. Middle Germans (except Franconians) willborrow a [ʃ] from the French model. Both agreein considering each other’s variant, and Upper Ger-mans also the standard in [ç], as particularly awk-ward and unusual.

• dsch is pronounced [d͡ʒ] (like j in Jungle) but appearsin a few loanwords only.

• f is pronounced [f] as in "father”.

• h is pronounced [h] as in "home” at the beginning ofa syllable. After a vowel it is silent and only length-ens the vowel (e.g. Reh = roe deer).

• j is pronounced [j] in Germanic words (Jahr [jaːɐ]).In recent loanwords, it follows more or less the re-spective languages’ pronunciations.

• l is always pronounced [l], never *[ɫ] (the English"dark L").

• q only exists in combination with u and appears inboth Germanic and Latin words (quer; Qualität).But as most words containing q are Latinate, the let-ter is considerably rarer in German than it is in En-glish. The digraph qu is pronounced [kv].

16 10 LITERATURE

• r is usually pronounced in a guttural fashion (avoiced uvular fricative [ʁ] or uvular trill [ʀ]) infront of a vowel or consonant (Rasen [ˈʁaːzən]; Burg[buʁk]). In spoken German, however, it is com-monly vocalised after a vowel (er being pronouncedrather like [ˈɛɐ]—Burg [buɐk]). In some varieties,the r is pronounced as a “tongue-tip” r (the alveolartrill [r]).

• s in Germany, is pronounced [z] (as in "zebra”) ifit forms the syllable onset (e.g. Sohn [zoːn]), other-wise [s] (e.g. Bus [bʊs]). In Austria and Switzer-land, it is always pronounced [s]. A ss [s] indicatesthat the preceding vowel is short. st and sp at the be-ginning of words of German origin are pronounced[ʃt] and [ʃp], respectively.

• ß (a letter unique to German called scharfes S orEszett) was a ligature of a double s and of an sz andis always pronounced [s]. Originating in Blacklettertypeface, it traditionally replaced ss at the end ofa syllable (e.g. ich muss → ich muß; ich müsste →ich müßte); within a word it contrasts with ss [s]in indicating that the preceding vowel is long (com-pare in Maßen [in ˈmaːsən] “withmoderation” and inMassen [in ˈmasən] “in loads”). The use of ß has re-cently been limited by the latest German spelling re-form and is no longer used for ss after a short vowel(e.g. “ich muß" and “ich müßte” were always pro-nounced with a short U/Ü); Switzerland and Liecht-enstein already abolished it in 1934.[72]

• sch is pronounced [ʃ] (like “sh” in “shine”).

• tion in Latin loanwords is pronounced [tsion].

• v is pronounced [f] in words of Germanic origin,such as Vater [ˈfaːtɐ], Vogel “bird”, von “from, of”,vor “before, in front of”, voll “full” and the prefixver-. It is also used in loanwords, where it is, tradi-tionally, supposed to be pronounced [v]. This pro-nunciation is retained for example in Vase, Vikar,Viktor, Viper, Ventil, vulgär, and English loanwords;however, pronunciation tends to [f] the further youtravel south. Some words, such as Ventil and thenameValentin (not, for example,Vase) have reacheda plain f in Bavaria and Swabia.

• w is pronounced [v] as in "vacation” (e.g. was [vas]).

• y is pronounced as [y] (like in Hygiene ; Labyrinthor Gymnasium) except in ay and ey which are bothpronounced [ai]. It is also often used in loanwordsand pronounced like in the original language like inStyle or Recycling.

• z is always pronounced [ts͡] (e.g. zog [ts͡oːk]). A tzindicates that the preceding vowel is short.

8.2.1 Consonant shifts

For more details on this topic, see High German conso-nant shift.

German does not have any dental fricatives (as Englishth). The th sounds, which the English language still has,disappeared on the continent in German with the conso-nant shifts between the 8th and the 10th centuries.[73] Itis sometimes possible to find parallels between Englishand German by replacing the English th with d in Ger-man: “Thank” → in German “Dank”, “this” and “that”→ “dies” and “das”, "thou" (old 2nd person singular pro-noun) → “du”, “think” → “denken”, “thirsty” → “durstig”and many other examples.Likewise, the gh in Germanic English words, pronouncedin several different ways in modern English (as an f, ornot at all), can often be linked to German ch: “to laugh”→ lachen, “through” and “thorough” → durch, “high” →hoch, “naught” → nichts, “light” → leicht or Licht, “sight”→ Sicht, “daughter” → Tochter, “neighbour” → Nachbar.

9 German language media world-wide

A visible sign of the geographical extension of Germanlanguage are the German language media outside theGerman-speaking countries.According to W3Techs, 6% of websites are written inGerman,[74] making it the second most used language onthe Internet.

10 Literature

Main article: German literature

The German language is used in German literatureand can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with themost notable authors of the period being Walther vonder Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. TheNibelungenlied, whose author remains unknown, is alsoan important work of the epoch. The fairy tales col-lections collected and published by Jacob and WilhelmGrimm in the 19th century became famous throughoutthe world.Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into Ger-man, is widely credited for having set the basis for themodern “High German” language. Among the mostwell known German poets and authors are Lessing,Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Hoffmann, Brecht, Heine andSchmidt. Thirteen German speaking people have wonthe Nobel Prize in literature: TheodorMommsen, RudolfChristoph Eucken, Paul von Heyse, Gerhart Hauptmann,

12.3 Deutsche Welle 17

Carl Spitteler, Thomas Mann, Nelly Sachs, HermannHesse, Heinrich Böll, Elias Canetti, Günter Grass,Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Müller.

11 German loanwords in the En-glish language

For a list of German loanwords to English, seeCategory:German loanwords.

English has taken many loanwords from German, oftenwithout any change of spelling (aside from, often, theelimination of umlauts and not capitalizing nouns):

12 Organisations

The use and learning of the German language are pro-moted by a number of organisations.

12.1 Goethe-Institut

Main article: Goethe-InstitutThe government-backed Goethe-Institut[75] (named af-

Goethe-Institut logo

ter the famous German author Johann Wolfgang vonGoethe) aims to enhance the knowledge of German cul-ture and language within Europe and the rest of theworld. This is done by holding exhibitions and confer-ences with German-related themes, and providing train-ing and guidance in the learning and use of the Germanlanguage. For example the Goethe-Institut teaches theGoethe-Zertifikat German language qualification.

12.2 Verein Deutsche Sprache

The Dortmund-based Verein Deutsche Sprache (VDS),which was founded in 1997, supports the German lan-guage and is the largest language association of citizensin the world. The VDS has more than thirty-five thousandmembers in over seventy countries. Its founder, statisticsprofessor Dr. Walter Krämer, has remained chairpersonof the association from its beginnings.[76]

12.3 Deutsche Welle

Main article: Deutsche Welle

The German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle is theequivalent of the British BBCWorld Service and providesradio and television broadcasts in German and 30 otherlanguages across the globe.[77] Its German language ser-vices are tailored for German language learners by beingspoken at slow speed. Deutsche Welle also provides anE-learning website to learn German.

13 See also

• Deutsch (disambiguation)

• German family name etymology

• German toponymy

• Germanism (linguistics)

• List of German exonyms

• List of German expressions in English

• List of non-English-language newspapers in NewSouth Wales#German language newspapers

• List of pseudo-German words adapted to English

• List of terms used for Germans

• Names for the German language

• Otto Basler

•

14 References[1] “Världens 100 största språk 2010” [The world’s 100

largest languages in 2010]. Nationalencyklopedin (inSwedish). 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2014.

[2] Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009). Ethnologue: Languages ofthe World (16 ed.). Austin, Texas: SIL International.

[3] “Deutsch in Namibia” (PDF) (in German). Supplementof the Allgemeine Zeitung. 18 August 2007. Retrieved23 June 2008.

[4] “CIA World Fact book Profile: Namibia” cia.gov. Re-trieved 2008-11-30.

[5] “Oooops... We didn't find the page you are looking for...”.12 March 2012.

[6] “Map on page of Polish Ministry of Interior and Admin-istration (MSWiA)". Retrieved 15 March 2010.

18 14 REFERENCES

[7] “Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung - Über den Rat”.Rechtschreibrat.ids-mannheim.de. Retrieved 11 October2010.

[8] Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel,Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). “High Fran-conian”. Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute forEvolutionary Anthropology.

[9] Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel,Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). “Upper Ger-man”. Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute forEvolutionary Anthropology.

[10] European Commission (2004). “Many tongues, one fam-ily. Languages in the European Union” (PDF). Europa(web portal). Retrieved 5 April 2013.

[11] “German 'should be a working language of EU', saysMerkel’s party”. Telegraph.co.uk. 18 June 2013.

[12] “Why Learn German?". Goethe Institute. Retrieved 28September 2014.

[13] “Why Learn German?". SDSU - German Studies Depart-ment of European Studies. Retrieved 28 September 2014.

[14] “Usage Statistics of Content Languages forWebsites, Jan-uary 2015”.

[15] “Germans in Jordan - German expats in Jordan”. InterNa-tions. InterNations GmbH. 2013. Retrieved 19 December2013.

[16] Handwörterbuch des politischen Systems der Bundesre-publik (in German). Source lists “German expatriate cit-izens” only for Namibia and South Africa!

[17] Henry Steele Commager (1961). "Immigration and Amer-ican history: essays in honor of Theodore C. Blegen". Uof Minnesota Press. p.102. ISBN 0-8166-5735-1

[18] “Brazil”. Ethnologue.

[19] “Hunsrik”. Ethnologue.

[20] “Statistics Canada 2006”. 2.statcan.ca. 2010-01-06. Re-trieved 2010-03-15.

[21] “Composición Étnica de las Tres Áreas Culturales delContinente Americano al Comienzo del Siglo XXI”(PDF) (in Spanish). p. 188. Retrieved 12 June 2012.

[22] “Bolivia”. WorldStatesMen. Retrieved 16 June 2013.white 10% (of which German 3%) (2001)

[23] (subscription required) Bolivian Reforms Raise Anxietyon Mennonite Frontier, New York Times

[24] “Los menonitas en Bolivia - CNNMéxico.com”. 7 June2012.

[25] Cascante, Manuel M. (8 August 2012). “Los menonitasdejan México”. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 February2013. Los cien mil miembros de esta comunidad anabap-tista, establecida en Chihuahua desde 1922, se planteanemigrar a la república rusa de Tartaristán, que se ofrece aacogerlos

[26] Marten, Thomas; Sauer, Fritz Joachim, eds. (2005). Län-derkunde - Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz und Liechten-stein imQuerschnitt [Regional Geography - AnOverview ofGermany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein] (in Ger-man). Berlin: Inform-Verlag. p. 7. ISBN 3-9805843-1-3.

[27] “Table 5. Detailed List of Languages Spoken at Home forthe Population 5 Years and Over by State: 2000” (PDF).Retrieved 15 March 2010.

[28] 49.2 million German Americans as of 2005 according tothe United States Census Bureau. “US demographic cen-sus”. Retrieved 2 August 2007.; the 1990 census gives57.9 million, or 23.3% of the U.S. population.

[29] Documentary History of the United States Brewers’ Asso-ciation.

[30] http://www.mla.org/cgi-shl/docstudio/docs.pl?map_data_results

[31] Pomerode institui língua alemã como co-oficial no Mu-nicípio

[32] “Língua alemã - Patrimônio - Cultura - Secretaria de Tur-ismo, Cultura e Esporte de Pomerode, SC”.

[33] O povo pomerano no ES

[34] “Plenário aprova em segundo turno a PEC do patrimônio”.ipol.org.br.

[35] Emenda Constitucional na Íntegra

[36] “ALEES - PEC que trata do patrimnio cultural retorna aoPlenrio - Síntese”.

[37] “Sistema Legis”.

[38] “Texto da Norma”.

[39] “A escolarização entre descendentes pomeranos emDomingos Martins” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August2011.

[40] “O povo pomerano no ES” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24August 2011.

[41] “A co-oficialização da língua pomerana” (in Portuguese).Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[42] “Pomerano!?" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August2011.

[43] “No Brasil, pomeranos buscam uma cultura que se perde”(in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[44] “Lei dispõe sobre a cooficialização da língua pomeranano município de Santa maria de Jetibá, Estado do EspíritoSanto” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[45] “Vila Pavão, Uma Pomerânia no norte do Espirito Santo”(in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[46] “Descendentes de etnia germânica vivem isolados em árearural de Minas” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August2011.

19

[47] “Pomeranos em busca de recursos federais” (in Por-tuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[48] “Resistência cultural - Imigrantes que buscaram no Brasilmelhores condições de vida, ficaram isolados e sem apoiodo poder público” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 Novem-ber 2011.

[49] “Pomerode institui língua alemã como co-oficial no Mu-nicípio.” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 August 2011.

[50] “Vereadores propõem ensino da língua pomerana nas es-colas do município” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 August2011.

[51] “Ontem e hoje : percurso linguistico dos pomeranos deEspigão D'Oeste-RO” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 Au-gust 2011.

[52] “Sessão Solene em homenagem aComunidade Pomerana”(in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[53] “Percurso linguistico dos pomeranos de Espigão D Oeste-RO” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 November 2011.

[54] “Comunidade Pomerana realiza sua tradicional festa fol-clórica” (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[55] Cooficialização da língua alemã em Antônio Carlos

[56] “Vereadores de Treze Tílias se reuniram ontem” (in Por-tuguese). Retrieved 21 August 2011.

[57] “BOL - VilaBOL”.

[58] “Um pedaço da Aústria no Brasil” (in Portuguese). TrezeTílias. Retrieved 21 August 2011.

[59] “Dialetos Hunsrik e Talian na ofensiva no Sul - EmSanta Maria do Herval, regiăo de Novo Hamburgo, RS,surge forte a mobilizaçăo em favor do Hunsrik - a fac-eta brasileira/latino-americana do Hunsrückisch. Em Ser-afina Correa, RS, floresce o talian" (in Portuguese). Re-trieved 24 August 2011.

[60] Ulrich Ammon, Hans Bickel, Jakob Ebner, et al.: Vari-antenwörterbuch des Deutschen. Die Standardsprache inÖsterreich, der Schweiz und Deutschland sowie in Liecht-enstein, Luxemburg, Ostbelgien und Südtirol. Walter deGruyter, Berlin 2004.

[61] “Oooops... We didn't find the page you are looking for...”.12 March 2012.

[62] Modern Language Association, 2007-11-13, New MLASurvey Shows Significant Increases in Foreign LanguageStudy at U.S. Colleges and Universities. Retrieved 2011-08-14.

[63] After English; “Europeans and Language” (PDF).European Commission. 2005. Retrieved 8 December2007.

[64] “Languages in Europe”. European Commission. 2007.Retrieved 12 February 2008.

[65] von Polenz, Peter (1999). “6.5. Inter- und übernationaleBeziehungen”. Deutsche Sprachgeschichte vom Spätmit-telalter bis zur Gegenwart. de Gruyter Studienbuch (inGerman). Band III: 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Berlin;New York: de Gruyter. pp. 192–194, 196. ISBN 3-11-016426-4. Retrieved 21 August 2014.

[66] nl:Nederduits

[67] some of which might be reborrowings from GermanicFrankish

[68] a phenomenon known in German as Denglisch or in En-glish as Germish or Denglisch

[69] Verein Deutsche Sprache e.V. “Verein Deutsche Sprachee.V. - Der Anglizismen-Index”. Vds-ev.de. Retrieved 15March 2010.

[70] “Ein Hinweis in eigener Sache”.Wortschatz.informatik.uni-leipzig.de. 7 January2003. Retrieved 15 March 2010.

[71] Adolf Reinecke, Die deutsche Buchstabenschrift: ihreEntstehung und Entwicklung, ihre Zweckmäßigkeit undvölkische Bedeutung, Leipzig, Hasert, 1910

[72] “Mittelschulvorbereitung Deutsch”. Mittelschulvorbere-itung.ch. Retrieved 15 March 2010.

[73] For a history of the German consonants see Fausto Cer-cignani, The Consonants of German: Synchrony and Di-achrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979.

[74] “Usage of content languages for websites”.W3Techs.com. 28 December 2013. Retrieved 28December 2013.

[75] “Learning German, Experiencing Culture - Goethe-Institut”. Goethe.de. Retrieved 24 January 2012.

[76] “Verein Deutsche Sprache e.V.”.

[77] “Who we are”. DW.DE. 31 December 2011. Retrieved14 June 2013.

15 Bibliography

• Fausto Cercignani, The Consonants of German:Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979.

• Michael Clyne, The German Language in a Chang-ing Europe (1995) ISBN 0-521-49970-4

• George O. Curme, A Grammar of the German Lan-guage (1904, 1922)—themost complete and author-itative work in English

• Anthony Fox, The Structure ofGerman (2005) ISBN0-19-927399-5

• W.B. Lockwood, German Today: The AdvancedLearner’s Guide (1987) ISBN 0-19-815850-5

20 16 EXTERNAL LINKS

• Ruth H. Sanders. German: Biography of a Lan-guage (Oxford University Press; 2010) 240 pages.Combines linguistic, anthropological, and historicalperspectives in a “biography” of German in terms ofsix “signal events” over millennia, including the Bat-tle of Kalkriese, which blocked the spread of Latin-based language north.

16 External links• The Goethe Institute: German Government spon-sored organisation for the promotion of the Germanlanguage and culture.

• Texts on Wikisource:

• "German Language", Encyclopædia Britan-nica, 11th ed., 1911

• Mark Twain, The Awful German Language,1880

• Carl Schurz, The German Mothertongue,1897

• German (language) at DMOZ

• USA Foreign Service Institute German basic course(requires audio)

21

17 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

17.1 Text• German language Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%20language?oldid=646677203 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, Axel-

Boldt, Brion VIBBER, Mav, Jeronimo, Malcolm Farmer, Andre Engels, Eob, Danny, XJaM, JeLuF, Toby Bartels, Enchanter, Deb,Wathiik, William Avery, Roadrunner, Ben-Zin, Anthere, Panairjdde, Galizia, Montrealais, Olivier, Renata, Leandrod, NTF, Lir, MichaelHardy, Alan Peakall, Ezra Wax, Kwertii, Gdarin, Kku, Gabbe, Stewacide, Mic, Zeno Gantner, Sannse, Delirium, Kosebamse, Mkweise,Fantasy, Ahoerstemeier, Haakon, Stan Shebs, Ronz, Svensson, Irmgard, Александър, LittleDan, Djmutex, Nikai, Tkinias, Llull, June-sun, Jacquerie27, Cherkash, Ruhrjung, Rob Hooft, Tobias Conradi, Mxn, Johan Magnus, Denny, Dwo, Ideyal, Malbi, Popsracer, CharlesMatthews, Timwi, Nohat, Boson, Lfh, N-true, WhisperToMe, Mjklin, Wik, DJ Clayworth, Peregrine981, Tpbradbury, Furrykef, Morwen,Itai, Ann O'nyme, Samsara, Christopher Sundita, Joy, Curero, Wetman, Zestauferov, Chl, Bcorr, Pakaran, Secretlondon, Jerzy, Jusjih,Qertis, Owen, PuzzletChung, Donarreiskoffer, Branddobbe, Robbot, Juro, Nico, Chris 73, Benwing, RedWolf, Campdavid, Moncrief, Al-tenmann, Naddy, Modulatum, Rübezahl, Sam Spade, Tualha, PedroPVZ, Dukeofomnium, Yacht, Jondel, Caknuck, Bkell, Hadal, Saforrest,Delpino, Lpetrazickis, HaeB, Bobierto, Dmn, Adam78, Argasp, Ancheta Wis, Tosha, Giftlite, Crculver, Graeme Bartlett, DocWatson42,MPF, Marnanel, Djinn112, Fantamic, Sj, Haeleth, Seabhcan, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Lee J Haywood, Meursault2004, Ferkelparade,Orangemike, Ertz, Zigger, Monedula, Ich, Peruvianllama, Wwoods, Everyking, Elf-friend, Bkonrad, Waltpohl, Gilgamesh, Guanaco, Zin-nmann, Alensha, Nkocharh, Behnam, Naufana, Mboverload, Zoney, Eequor, MysticalCow, Arne List, Gzornenplatz, Python eggs, An-gelo.romano, Pne, Wiki Wikardo, Ragib, Explendido Rocha, Gugganij, Utcursch, J. 'mach' wust, Antandrus, Star controller, Beland,Elizabeth A, Arsene, MacGyverMagic, Wikimol, Richmd, Rdsmith4, OwenBlacker, Sky, SimonLyall, Panzi, Eranb, Sam Hocevar, Bepp,Gscshoyru, B.d.mills, Jbonilla 61, LHOON, Anirvan, Burschenschafter, Burschik, Hardouin, Sarcelles, Picapica, Grunt, Canterbury Tail,Lacrimosus, Phmagnabosco, Corti, Grstain, Mike Rosoft, Mormegil, Poccil, DanielCD, EugeneZelenko, An Siarach, AndrewH, Discospin-ster, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Vague Rant, BlueMars, AxSkov, Schuetzm, Florian Blaschke, Wikiacc, ET, Aris Katsaris, Ericamick,MeltBanana, Eric Shalov, Saintswithin, Dbachmann, Mani1, Gronky, SpookyMulder, Tsujigiri, Bender235, Klenje, Neko-chan, Evice,Brian0918, Nefer, CanisRufus, El C, Kwamikagami, QuartierLatin1968, The bellman, Sietse Snel, RoyBoy, Triona, Palm dogg, Hajduk,Aaronbrick, Coolcaesar, Femto, West London Dweller, Bobo192, Circeus, Panzuriel, ·, Cmdrjameson, Svavar Kjarrval, Neg, Speedy-Gonsales, Man vyi, Rje, Martg76, Saluyot, Maxl, Nicola79, Helix84, Benbread, Xideum, Davidweman, Zachlipton, Stephen G. Brown,Honeycake, Alansohn, Gary, BlackJava, Mark Dingemanse, Rd232, Antman, Bathrobe, Sl, Runic code, Hippophaë, Lectonar, SlimVir-gin, Hégésippe Cormier, Olaf Simons, Zyqqh, Mysdaao, Malo, Bart133, Snowolf, Sobolewski, Ish ishwar, GL, Garzo, RainbowOfLight,Dwbird2, Alai, Drbreznjev, Redvers, Thore, Feline1, Aliceinlampyland, Aristides, Red dwarf, RyanGerbil10, Mahanga, Bastin, Stemoni-tis, Hoziron, Angr, Joriki, Pekinensis, SKopp, Woohookitty, PatGallacher, Pius Aeneas, Splintax, Mandavi, Robert K S, WadeSimMiser,Jeff3000, Josephw, Drongo, Acerperi, Eigenwijze mustang, Twthmoses, Kelisi, DirkHusemann, Tickle me, Flamingspinach, Holger1076,Karmosin, Hughcharlesparker, Doric Loon, Prashanthns, Liface, Dysepsion, Christopher Crossley, Mandarax, SqueakBox, Graham87,Brazzy, TAKASUGI Shinji, Crocodealer, Nahabedere, Enzo Aquarius, Mana Excalibur, Sjö, Rjwilmsi, Mayumashu, Lars T., Koavf,Bob A, Amire80, Tangotango, Tawker, Mo-Al, Arbor, LjL, DoubleBlue, Olessi, SanGatiche, RobertG, Musical Linguist, GnuDoyng,Mispeled, MacRusgail, Hottentot, Andy85719, Elmer Clark, RexNL, Colonel Mustard, Gurch, Ayla, Romankawe, ChongDae, Str1977,Hannu, Nevfennas, Intgr, Alphachimp, Atitarev, Malhonen, Tedder, Srleffler, Le Anh-Huy, Carbonferum, Valentinian, Chobot, Sherool,DTOx, Jared Preston, Volunteer Marek, Bgwhite, WriterHound, Gwernol, YurikBot, Noclador, Wavelength, Hairy Dude, °, Malfidus,RussBot, Ivirivi00, Briaboru, Guslacerda, Pigman, Shaul, Rodasmith, Aronlevin, Gaius Cornelius, CambridgeBayWeather, Yyy, Eleas-sar, Erkekjetter, FAeR, K.C. Tang, Purodha, Shanel, NawlinWiki, Lao Wai, Qualle, Aeusoes1, Veledan, Spot87, Grafen, Badagnani,Ptcamn, Johann Wolfgang, Rmooney, Welsh, Rjensen, Nikki, Nutiketaiel, Chooserr, Apokryltaros, Robdurbar, Brian Crawford, MoeEpsilon, Mikeblas, XGustaX, Molobo, Plk, Semperf, Mole Man, EEMIV, Lockesdonkey, M3taphysical, BOT-Superzerocool, Dakopert,Bota47, Nlu, Wknight94, AjaxSmack, ClaesWallin, FF2010, Deville, Gtdp, Mike Dillon, Bhumiya, Closedmouth, Spacebirdy, JuJube,GraemeL, Shyam, Hayden120, Richar4034, Tropylium, Che829, HurricaneJeanne, RG2, HansM, Purple Sheep, Mjroots, Philip Stevens,Mardus, DVD R W, Zvi Alon, Luk, Sassisch, Veinor, SmackBot, WilliamThweatt, YellowMonkey, Historian932, Enlil Ninlil, Reedy,Jasy jatere, KnowledgeOfSelf, Martin.Budden, McGeddon, TBH, Unyoyega, C.Fred, Aadavalus, Bomac, Jacek Kendysz, Davewild, BigAdamsky, Lsommerer, Geoff.powers, Yelgrun, Adammathias, Opinoso, Wakuran, HeartofaDog, Rueckk, HalfShadow, Sebesta, Yam-aguchi , Peter Isotalo, Gilliam, Ohnoitsjamie, Skizzik, ERcheck, Kaibab, Jmsanta, Bluebot, Keegan, Jm307, DStoykov, Rex Germanus,Jprg1966, Marbehraglaim, MalafayaBot, Greatgavini, SchfiftyThree, K4zem, Xx236, Bazonka, Aszev, Zooplah, Baronnet, DHN-bot, TheMoose, Croquant, Torzsmokus, Hongooi, A. B., Scwlong, Pittnat, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Alphathon, Neo139, HolgerPollmann,Onorem, LucVerhelst, Avb, JonHarder, Levimanthys, Rrburke, Binrapt, Bolivian Unicyclist, Muckapedia, Rassilon, SundarBot, Elendil’sHeir, Arab Hafez, Rarelibra, 1sttomars, Khoikhoi, HeteroZellous, Manecke, Krich, MrRadioGuy, Fuhghettaboutit, Decltype, Nakon, T-borg, Jiddisch, Kundash, Salt Yeung, Tomtom9041, Hammer1980, DMacks, Aaker, Daniel.Cardenas, LeoNomis, Evlekis, TheBoDe,Epf, Vina-iwbot, Motorbiker, Skinnyweed, Andrew Dalby, Cyberevil, Spacejumper, LN2, EmirA, Cast, The undertow, SashatoBot, Fer-tuno, Yohan euan o4, Tanadeau, Wutzofant, Csladic, NikoSilver, MegA, Freakazette, John, Darkildor, J. Finkelstein, LUCPOL, Teire-sias84, Lucius1976, NewTestLeper79, Svartkell, Bydand, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, JorisvS, Mgiganteus1, Zarniwoot, Major-clanger, Jaywubba1887, IronGargoyle, Deviathan, Pfold, Fernando S. Aldado, BioTube, DanielMrakic, MarkSutton, Nbatra, Kaffeboy,Fuzzy510, Beetstra, Noah Salzman, Murrian, Tartessos75, Freyr35, Vaniba12, Fangfufu, Waggers, CharlesMartel, DennisAro, Jreber-lein, Akitstika, Andrwsc, Danilot, MTSbot, Jose77, NeroN BG, CormanoSanchez, Yes0song, Norm mit, BranStark, Etaonsh, Iridescent,Toddsschneider, Joseph Solis in Australia, Fitzwilliam, Andrew Hampe, Antonius Block, Destro, Foundert, Courcelles, Anger22, Yonosé-nada, Bruinfan12, Hemzlee, Redtitan, MrBoo, Tawkerbot2, Pithecanthropus, Bearingbreaker92, Facingthetrend, WolfgangFaber, JFor-get, VoxLuna, Phillip J, CmdrObot, Deon, Nri06, Zarex, Van helsing, Helenarose1, Blue-Haired Lawyer, Dub8lad1, R9tgokunks, Greencaterpillar, MarsRover, Rudjek, A. C. Jakob, Kribbeh, Themightyquill, Cydebot, Ntsimp, Mblumber, Future Perfect at Sunrise, Jerse,Reywas92, Fl, Ninguém, Aptapathy, Aristophanes68, Gogo Dodo, Travelbird, Icewindfiresnow, Myscrnnm, Sempai, Pascal.Tesson, Dustyrelic, Soetermans, Tawkerbot4, DumbBOT, Ulritz, RottweilerCS, Jalen, JayW, Schreiber355, JodyB, Artur Buchhorn, JohnInDC, ,הסרפדFrancoGG, Seicer, Thijs!bot, Epbr123, Daa89563, TPA5, Wachowich, Olahus, Supparluca, Sagaciousuk, Memty Bot, Hazuki, Zickzack,Athenon, Mojo Hand, Nalvage, WhyNotFreedom, Marek69, John254, Merbabu, Evanescenceboy, Michael A. White, Dezidor, Secutor7,Dawnseeker2000, Rogermcdonald, SomeHuman, Escarbot, The Person Who Is Strange, Pie Man 360, Mentifisto, Porqin, AntiVandalBot,Chincoteague, Gioto, Widefox, Sion8, Hot emil, Benjaburns, Smith2006, Goldenrowley, Jj137, TimVickers, Mack2, Katie St, Randomuser 8384993, Snowballa68, Lost Boy, Canadian-Bacon, Ingolfson, Kariteh, Sluzzelin, JAnDbot, MER-C, RedZebra, Äpple, GurchBot,PhilKnight, Mikli, GoodDamon, Naval Scene, Hurmata, Unoffensive text or character, Magioladitis, Agoston, Bongwarrior, VoABotII, A4, Dekimasu, Tresbonie, Der Kolonist, Jancikotuc, Jim Douglas, Avicennasis, BrianGV, Vondort, Bleh999, Steevm, Chabadam,CodeCat, Dementedscribe, BilCat, Billikenjs, Cakeandicecream, Bobby H. Heffley, J Hill, Spellmaster, Vssun, PoliticalJunkie, DerHexer,

22 17 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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17.2 Images• File:AlthochdeutscheSprachräume962_Box.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/

AlthochdeutscheSprachr%C3%A4ume962_Box.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: El bes

17.2 Images 23

• File:Austria_Hungary_ethnic.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Austria_Hungary_ethnic.svg License:Public domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia Original artist: Andrein

• File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-005795,_Deutsche_Zeitungen_in_Nordamerika.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-005795%2C_Deutsche_Zeitungen_in_Nordamerika.jpg License: CCBY-SA 3.0 de Contributors:This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperationproject. The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation only using the originals (negative and/or positive), resp. thedigitalization of the originals as provided by the Digital Image Archive. Original artist: Mayer

• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Continental_West_Germanic_languages.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Continental_West_Germanic_languages.png License: Public domain Contributors: This map has been uploaded by Electionworld from en.wikipedia.orgto enable the <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia-logo.svg' class='image'><img alt='Wikimedia-logo.svg'src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Wikimedia-logo.svg/15px-Wikimedia-logo.svg.png' width='15'height='15' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Wikimedia-logo.svg/23px-Wikimedia-logo.svg.png 1.5x,//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Wikimedia-logo.svg/30px-Wikimedia-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1024'data-file-height='1024' /></a>Wikimedia Atlas of the World <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gnome-globe.svg'class='image'><img alt='Gnome-globe.svg' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Gnome-globe.svg/15px-Gnome-globe.svg.png' width='15' height='15' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Gnome-globe.svg/23px-Gnome-globe.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Gnome-globe.svg/30px-Gnome-globe.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='48' data-file-height='48' /></a>. Original uploader to en.wikipedia.org was Rex Germanus, known as RexGermanus at en.wikipedia.org. Electionworld is not the creator of this map. Licensing information is below. Original artist: Rex Germanus

• File:De-Faust_-_Der_Tragödie_erster_Teil-Prolog_und_Auf_dem_Theater-wikisource.ogg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/De-Faust_-_Der_Trag%C3%B6die_erster_Teil-Prolog_und_Auf_dem_Theater-wikisource.ogg License: CCBY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Slartidan Tomisachef

• File:DeutschsprachigesEuropa.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/DeutschsprachigesEuropa.png Li-cense: Public domain Contributors: Own work (Original text: selbst erstellt) Original artist: BlueMars

• File:Duden_25Auflage.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Duden_25Auflage.JPG License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: DH93

• File:Flag_of_Argentina.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Flag_of_Argentina.svg License: Public do-main Contributors: Based on: http://www.manuelbelgrano.gov.ar/bandera_colores.htm Original artist: (Vector graphics by Dbenbenn)

• File:Flag_of_Australia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Flag_of_Australia.svg License: Public domain Con-tributors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Flag_of_Austria.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Flag_of_Austria.svg License: Public domainContributors: Own work, http://www.bmlv.gv.at/abzeichen/dekorationen.shtml Original artist: User:SKopp

• File:Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Flag_of_Belgium_%28civil%29.svgLicense: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Flag_of_Bolivia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Flag_of_Bolivia.svg License: Public domainContributors: Own work Original artist: User:SKopp

• File:Flag_of_Brazil.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Flag_of_Brazil.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Flag_of_Canada.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/Flag_of_Canada.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Origi-nal artist: ?

• File:Flag_of_Chile.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Flag_of_Chile.svg License: Public domain Con-tributors: Own work Original artist: SKopp

• File:Flag_of_Denmark.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Flag_of_Denmark.svg License: Public do-main Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Madden

• File:Flag_of_Europe.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Flag_of_Europe.svg License: Public domainContributors:

• File based on the specification given at [1]. Original artist: User:Verdy p, User:-xfi-, User:Paddu, User:Nightstallion, User:Funakoshi,User:Jeltz, User:Dbenbenn, User:Zscout370

• File:Flag_of_Germany.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Flag_of_Germany.svg License: ? Contributors: ?Original artist: ?

• File:Flag_of_Hungary.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Flag_of_Hungary.svg License: Public domainContributors:

• Flags of the World – Hungary Original artist: SKopp• File:Flag_of_Italy.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Flag_of_Italy.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original

artist: ?• File:Flag_of_Liechtenstein.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Flag_of_Liechtenstein.svg License:

Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?• File:Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg License: Pub-

lic domain Contributors: Own work http://www.legilux.public.lu/leg/a/archives/1972/0051/a051.pdf#page=2, colors from http://www.legilux.public.lu/leg/a/archives/1993/0731609/0731609.pdf Original artist: Drawn by User:SKopp

• File:Flag_of_Mexico.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Flag_of_Mexico.svg License: Public domainContributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: Alex Covarrubias, 9 April 2006

24 17 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

• File:Flag_of_Namibia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Flag_of_Namibia.svg License: Public domainContributors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Flag_of_New_Zealand.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Flag_of_New_Zealand.svg License:Public domain Contributors: http://www.mch.govt.nz/files/NZ%20Flag%20-%20proportions.JPG Original artist: Zscout370, Hugh Jassand many others

• File:Flag_of_Paraguay.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Flag_of_Paraguay.svg License: CC0 Con-tributors: This file is from the Open Clip Art Library, which released it explicitly into the public domain (see here). Original artist: Republicadel Paraguay

• File:Flag_of_Peru.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Flag_of_Peru.svg License: Public domain Contrib-utors: Peru Original artist: David Benbennick

• File:Flag_of_Poland.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Flag_of_Poland.svg License: Public domain Contribu-tors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Flag_of_South_Africa.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Flag_of_South_Africa.svg License: Pub-lic domain Contributors: Per specifications in the Constitution of South Africa, Schedule 1 - National flag Original artist: Flag design byFrederick Brownell, image by Wikimedia Commons users

• File:Flag_of_Switzerland.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Flag_of_Switzerland.svg License: Publicdomain Contributors: PDF Colors Construction sheet Original artist: User:Marc Mongenet

Credits:• File:Flag_of_Venezuela.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Flag_of_Venezuela.svg License: Public do-

main Contributors: official websites Original artist: Zscout370• File:Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.

svg License: Public domain Contributors:

• -xfi-'s file• -xfi-'s code• Zirland’s codes of colors

Original artist:(of code): SVG version by cs:-xfi-.

• File:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg License: ?Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Gerhard_von_Kügelgen_001.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Gerhard_von_K%C3%BCgelgen_001.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Original artist: Gerhard von Kügelgen

• File:German1910.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/German1910.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Con-tributors: Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Original artist: Original uploader and author was Rex Germanus aten.wikipedia

• File:German_alphabet-2.ogg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/German_alphabet-2.ogg License: Publicdomain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia Original artist: Original uploader was Timwi at en.wikipedia

• File:German_definite_article_declension.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/German_definite_article_declension.png License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: MS Word + Photoshop Original artist: Fauban

• File:German_foreign_language_EU.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/German_foreign_language_EU.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Aaker

• File:German_language_center_for_german_language_in_Chandigarh.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/German_language_center_for_german_language_in_Chandigarh.jpg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own workOriginal artist: German.aiflc

• File:German_standard_varieties.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/German_standard_varieties.pngLicense: Attribution Contributors:

• Sprachwarietäten_Deutsch.PNG Original artist: Sprachwarietäten_Deutsch.PNG: *derivative work: Zoris Trömm (<a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Zoris_Tr%C3%B6mm' title='User talk:Zoris Trömm'>talk</a>)

• File:Globelang.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Globelang.png License: Public domain Con-tributors: <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Globe_of_letters.svg' class='image'><img alt='Globe of letters.svg'src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Globe_of_letters.svg/128px-Globe_of_letters.svg.png' width='128'height='128' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Globe_of_letters.svg/192px-Globe_of_letters.svg.png1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Globe_of_letters.svg/256px-Globe_of_letters.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='128' data-file-height='128' /></a> Original artist: User:Ikiroid

• File:Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work. Based on File:Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.svg, which is public domain. Original artist: User:Eubulides

• File:Goethe-Institut_logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Goethe-Institut_logo.svg License: Fair use Con-tributors:http://www.goethe.de/uun/prj/cod/cd/log/enindex.htm Original artist: ?

• File:Grimm1.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Grimm1.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ?Original artist: ?

17.3 Content license 25

• File:Hermann_Hesse_1927_Photo_Gret_Widmann.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Hermann_Hesse_1927_Photo_Gret_Widmann.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: Gret Widmann (†1931)

• File:Johann_Heinrich_Wilhelm_Tischbein_-_Goethe_in_the_Roman_Campagna_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg Source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Johann_Heinrich_Wilhelm_Tischbein_-_Goethe_in_the_Roman_Campagna_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: aAH2PRcepgpGwA at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximumOriginal artist: Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein

• File:Knowledge_of_German_EU_map.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Knowledge_of_German_EU_map.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors:

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