Re: High/low German language
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In reply to:
High/low German language
4/14/00
I recently attended a genealogy seminar, at which the speaker, a German history professor, explained the difference between high and low German as geographic.
Germany was not a single country with specific borders, but a group of independent states or nations, with a common language, which has many dialects.
The southern area of Germany, including Switzerland and Austria, is rather mountainous (the Alps), and the language spoken is high German.The northern-most areas of Germany adjacent to The Netherlands and Belgium (the Lowlands) are at or below sea level, and the people spoke low German or Platte Deutsch.And, by default, in the area between the mountains and the sea, the middle of the German lands, the people spoke a dialect which was somewhere between high and low German.When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German for the common man to read, he chose to use this middle German dialect and this influence helped make that dialect the standard for the German language.
The terms have nothing to do with social or economic class.However, knowing whether a family spoke high or low German could help narrow down place of origin, at least a little bit.
More Replies:
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Re: High/low German language
4/15/00
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Re: High/low German language
4/15/00
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Re: High/low German language
4/16/00
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Re: High/low German language
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Re: High/low German language