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The History of Germanic Languages by Renata Urban page 1

inlingua PDP Workshop

The History of Germanic Languages

(with a focus on English and German)

by Renata Urban (All information below was gathered by Renata Urban from sources listed in the 'Bibliography' on the last page and may be incomplete; this manual may be used by other inlingua instructors for professional development purposes; this manual may NOT be used by others as basis of their own presentation) It is estimated, that there are about 6,500 to 7,000 languages in existence today. Papua New Guinea boasts the highest diversity in local languages (more than 480 languages), there are many languages completely unknown to the public (e.g. Bhadrawahi = a language of India, or Yagnobi = a language of Tajikistan), and even languages that are extinct (e.g. Osco-Umbrian = a form of Latin that used to be spoken in Italy, or Manx = a form of Celtic that used to be spoken on the Isle of Man). Languages can be summarized and traced by means of language family trees, however, there is great controversy among linguists as to how many of them really exist (at least 150 language families). The American missionary organization SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) provides a good overview on the current 'head count' of world languages and language families called "Ethnologue: Languages of the World: www.ethnologue.com/browse/families One of those many language families is Indo-European (more than 440 language families), which are usually separated into Centum Indo-European languages and Satem Indo-European languages. This differentiation was made according to how the dorsal consonants (sounds of 'k' and 'g') have developed:

Familiar dorsal consonants

IPA symbol Name of the consonant Language Example IPA

⟨j⟩ Palatal approximant

English

yellow /ˈjɛloʊ/

⟨ɡ⟩ Voiced velar stop garden /ˈgɑrdən/

⟨k⟩ Voiceless velar stop cake /ˈkeɪk/

⟨ɣ⟩ Voiced velar fricative Modern Greek góma (γόμα) /ˈɣoma/

⟨x⟩ Voiceless velar fricative Malay akhir /a:ˈxir/

⟨w⟩ Labio-velar approximant English water /ˈwɔːtər/

⟨q⟩ Voiceless uvular stop Arabic Qurʾān (قرآن) /qurʔaːn/

⟨ʁ⟩ Voiced uvular fricative or approximant

French Paris /paʁi/

⟨χ⟩ Voiceless uvular fricative German Bach /baχ/


Satem Indo-European language families are:

• Albanian

• Armenian

• Balto-Slavic, e.g. Latvian, Russian, Croatian, Czech, Bulgarian

• Indo-Iranian, e.g. Sanskrit, Hindi, Nepali, Panjabi, Kurdish Centum Indo-European language families are:

• Germanic [we'll talk about that later]

• Hellenic (Greek)

• Italic (e.g. Latin, Italian, Sardinian, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese)

• Celtic (e.g. Breton, Cornish, Welsh, Irish, Scottish)

• and other languages, e.g. Anatolian (Hittite) & Tocharian [both extinct] Examples of how Indo-European languages have words in common or have drifted apart: English foot West Frisian foet Danish fod Swedish fot, etc. in fact related to the Latin ped Lithuanian peda Sanskrit pada, etc. due to the shifting of the 'p' to 'f' and the 'd' to 't'. Other consonants were 'k' to 'h' and 't' to 'th'. Examples of the consonant cluster change "sk" "sh" During the 6th Century, the Anglo-Saxon consonant cluster "sk" (which can still be found in Scandinavian languages today) changed to "sh", e.g. skield shield disk dish skip ship Examples of modern Frisian and modern English: miel (meal), laam (lamb), goes (goose), bûter (butter), tsiis (cheese), see (sea), boat (boat), stoarm (storm), rein (rain), snie (snow), frieze (freeze), froast (frost), mist (mist), sliepe (sleep), blau (blue), trije (three), fjour (four), etc.


Germanic languages are: (A) North Germanic languages (1) Old Norse (Faroese, Norwegian, Icelandic) (2) Danish (3) Swedish (B) East Germanic languages Gothic (extinct) (C) West Germanic languages (1) High German (Modern High German, Yiddish) (2) Low German

• Modern Low German; German dialects that are not High German, e.g. Bavarian

• Frisian

• English

• Old Dutch (Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans)

Distribution of Germanic languages (from Wikipedia)

(A) Development of English Proto-Indo-European language family Germanic language family West Germanic language family Low German English (B) Development of German Proto-Indo-European language family Germanic language family West Germanic language family High German Modern High German


(A) Development of English Proto-Indo-European language family Germanic language family West Germanic language family Low German English 5th & 6th century Anglo-Saxons (Germanic invaders from the north-western European coastline) settled in Britain. They spoke a variety of Germanic languages (Dutch, Frisian, German, Gothic, and a variety of Scandinavian languages). There is little written evidence of the language predominantly spoken in Britain at that time; probably a mixture of languages with great regional diversity. Celtic had already existed on the British Islands before Anglo-Saxons arrived, but Celtic languages and Germanic languages have never mixed (only a few loan words). 7th, 8th, 9th century 'Old English' writing begins to appear, but there is still a great deal of regional variation. In the 9th century, Alfred the Great (King of Wessex 871-899, the dominant ruler of England at the time, who had success- fully defended England against the Vikings from Denmark), first coined the language spoken in Wessex as "English". mid 9th century Norsemen invaded the northern and eastern parts of Britain and brought their North Germanic languages with them. 11th century Norsemen had invaded the whole of Britain; there was even a Danish King (Canute) ruling England. By that time, Old English and North Germanic languages had mixed and created a new hybrid language. However, this was mainly a spoken language and had not influenced 'Old English' writing to a large degree. 1066 and after The Norman Conquest had a huge effect on the language spoken in Britain and led to a transition from 'Old English' to 'Middle English'. 'Old English' was characterized by a rich inflectional system with distinctive word endings and highly complicated grammar influenced by North Germanic languages, whereas 'Middle English' got rid of those irregularities and streamlined English to something that looks a lot more like the English we speak today. The Norman Conquest also brought along an enormous number of French and Latin based words that made their way into English. Aristocrats, royals and tradesmen were usually trilingual (English, French, Latin) and many common words used in society, politics and trade easily crossed over from language to language (cross-pollination).


14th & 15th century During this period, English became more standardized (at (late medieval period) least south of the Scottish border). There was more and more writing and the technology of printing helped spread the written word. At the time, there was a 'London standard', which was considered 'good English' and used a lot in printing. At the same time, regional varieties continued to exist, but were stigmatized as lower class English lacking social prestige and education. During this period of time, the so-called 'Great Vowel Shift' occurred, which was a purely linguistic sound change not affecting writing and spelling much. 'Pure' vowel sounds (like the Italic or North Germanic a, e, i, o, u). Many phonetic pairings of long and short vowel sounds were lost, which has created all the exceptions in pronunciation we see in Modern English today. (e.g. "gh" words: laugh, cough, enough, although, dough, caught, fought, thought, eight, night, ..... silent letters: climb, comb, subtle, know, knife, knee, often, listen, castle, scent, scissors, science, folk, yolk, calm, .... homophones: sun/ son, see/ sea, weight/ wait, where/ wear, hear/ here, road/ rode, ...... other irregularities: food/ foot, lives/ lives, read/ read, nature/ mature, woman/ women, umbrella/ university, hug/ huge, low/ cow, chemical/ church/ champagne, .....) 17th century English continued to spread throughout the world due to and later colonization and globalization. It has since been massively influenced by other languages through trading and diplomatic relationships. Over time, other forms of English have emerged (Indian English, Jamaican English, South African English, etc.). The fact that so many people use English as a second language today, has turned English into a true 'Lingua Franca'. This will continue shaping the English we speak and write in the future.


Language Influence Indo-European languages Italic, Hellenic, and Celtic (Centum languages) [Neolithic/ stone age languages; and Slavo-Baltic, Indo-Iranian (Satem ~ 5000 BC -] languages) split off around 1000 BC Germanic languages split into North, East, and West Germanic languages Old English [7th - 11th century] Anglo-Saxons (Angles & Saxons coastal [e.g. 'Beowulf'] region of Northern Germany), Jutes Denmark ), Frisians (North/ West Germany and Holland) and Vikings (Scandinavia) brought North Germanic languages to Britain and created a hybrid language. This was a slow process over century. Middle English [1066 - 13th cent.] Norman Conquest: French and Latin [e.g. Geoffrey Chaucer's started changing Old English tremendously 'Canterbury Tales'] (massive change in grammar & vocabulary) Standardized English/ The 'Great Vowel Shift' (English lost pure Early modern English vowel sounds and vowel pairings) - [14th - 16th cent.] printing technology - 'English Renaissance' [e.g. Shakespeare = - international trade early modern English] Late modern English Industrialization, colonization, globalization [17th - 20th century] English today International trade / Lingua Franca / technology / jargon and slang / regional variations of English


Language Influence Indo-European languages Italic, Hellenic, and Celtic (Centum [Neolithic/ stone age languages) as well as Slavo-Baltic languages; ~ 5000 BC] and Indo-Iranian (Satem languages) split off around 1000 BC There is no evidence of writing; the earliest writing dates back to Sumeria ~ 3000 BC. Lithuanian is believed to be the closest still existing language to Proto-Indo-European. The Celts (from Greek 'keltoi' meaning 'barbarians') lived on the British isles from around 6000 BC; they are believed to have spoken Celtic. Whereas Scotland was mainly inhabited by Picts speaking Pictish; they later became Scots speaking Scottish. Even though Celtic once was the main language spoken on the British isles, Celtic had very little influence on English and split off. However, it is thought to have had an influence on English grammar, since the continuous form (e.g. 'He is walking' as opposed to 'he walks') comes from Celtic and not from Germanic languages, most of which do not have a continuous verb form. The Romans conquered and occupied the southern part of Britain from roughly 55 BC until 410 AD, and had completely withdrawn by 436 AD. Their reign had had an immense impact on culture and infrastructure, but surprisingly not on the language, except for a few loanwords that remained, such as 'win' (wine), 'piper' (pepper), 'candel' (candle), 'munt' (mountain), pund (pound) or 'cycene' (kitchen). Language Influence Germanic languages split into North, East, and West Germanic languages

Old English [7th - 11th century] Anglo-Saxons, Jutes, Frisians and Vikings [e.g. 'Beowulf'] brought their languages to Britain and created a hybrid language (slow process over centuries)

During the 7th century, Celts and Jutes formed an alliance against the Picts and Scots. Therefore, Jutes were allowed to settle in today's Kent/ Hampshire area. Their language had a lot more influence on what was to become English than Celtic and Latin. Celtic and Gaelic speaking peoples were pushed away from the mainland towards Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man, where their languages survived, however, some of them have now died out. Meanwhile, different dialects of Old English started forming in the mainland - the land of the Angles - or Angle Land later England, whereas people living in Wales were called "weales", meaning "slaves or foreigners", which later became "Wales". The influencing languages were:

• West Germanic/ Low German (Anglo-Saxons coastal region of Northern Germany & Jutes Denmark)

• Frisian North/ West Germany and Holland

• North Germanic/ Old Norse (Vikings) Scandinavia


http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/anglo_saxons/who_were_the_anglo-saxons/

http://www.wnccoins.com/0018.htm "Beowulf" shows that a sophisticated written form of Old English had developed by then, consisting of a mixtures of Northumbrian, West Saxon and Anglian dialects. Old English already had broad vocabulary using many synonyms for man, battle or ship and had already formed interesting compound nouns, such as "hronrad" (literally, whale-road, meaning the sea), "banhus" (bone-house, meaning body) and "beadoleoma" (battle-light, meaning sword). "Beowulf" is an epic poem written by an unknown Anglo-Saxon poet around the late 10th/ early 11th century. The whole manuscript is also known as the "Nowell Codex"; the original is being preserved by and housed at the British Museum in London. "Beowulf" is the name of the protagonist; a brave warrior or knight from Geatland (Götaland = today's Sweden) who offers his services to Hrothgar, the King of the Danes to fight a monster named Grendel. Beowulf later becomes King of the Geats and keeps fighting many heroic battels before he is fatally wounded while slaying a dragon.


The writing would have looked like this (original manuscript):

image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf Excerpt from Beowulf:

Old English: Translation:

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum, Listen! We of the spear Danes in the days of yore, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, of those clan kings - heard of their glory hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. how those nobles performed couragous deeds. Oft Scyld Scéfing sceaþena þreatum, Often Scvld, son of Scéf, from enemy hosts, monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, from many tribes seized the mead benches, egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð and terrorised the fearsome Heruli. After first he feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad, was found helpless, fate then repaid him: weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah, for he waxed under the clouds, in wealth he throve, oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra until to him each of the bordering tribes, ofer hronrade hyran scolde, beyond the whale-road, heard his mandate, gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning! and give tribute: that was a good king! ðæm eafera wæs æfter cenned, To him an heir was born then, geong in geardum, þone god sende a son in his halls, whom God sent folce to frofre; fyrenðearfe ongeat to comfort the people; he had seen their dire þe hie ær drugon aldorlease distress that they suffered before, leaderless for lange hwile. Him þæs liffréä, a long while. The Lord endowed him, wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf; the ruler of glory, granted honour on earth. Beowulf wæs breme Beowulf was famed blæd wide sprang his renown spread wide Scyldes eafera Scedelandum in Scyld's heir, in the Scandinavian lands. Swa sceal geong guma gode gewyrcean So ought a young man by deeds deserve, fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme by fine gifts, while in his father's keeping, þæt hine on ylde eft gewunigen that him in old age shall again stand by. wilgesiþas þonne wig cume willing companions when war comes leode gelæsten lofdædum sceal people serve him, by glorious deeds must in mægþa gehwære man geþeon amongst his people everywhere prosper.

Listen to Beowulf in Old English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH-_GwoO4xI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH-_GwoO4xI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH-_GwoO4xI


As it evolved, Old English became a very complex language (actually more complex than modern English!), e.g. nouns had three genders (male, female and neuter - like in German today) and could be inflected for up to 5 cases (German still has 4 cases). Verbs were conjugated (as in German today), verb endings and adjectives changed depending on number, tense or gender (as German still does today), etc.

Vowel shift in Old English: a shift from 'back of the mouth' vowel sounds (like several still existing German 'Umlaut' sounds) to 'front of the mouth' vowel sounds. During this period of time, some of the still existing irregular plural forms emerged replacing old Germanic inflections with a different vowel sound, e.g. foot/feet (German: Fuß/ Füße), goose/geese (German: Gans/ Gänse), man/men (German: Mann/ Männer), mouse/mice (German: Maus/ Mäuse), as well as blood/bleed, foul/filth, broad/breadth, long/length, old/elder, heal/health, etc.

This is how Old English became the basis for modern English, and we can still trace back a lot of high frequency vocabulary to their Anglo-Saxon Old English origin, such as: be, brother, come, daughter, day, drink, earth, eat, eye, family, farm, field, fight, find, fish, friend, ground, home, house, laughter, like, look, love, live, man, moon, mouth, night, nose, see, sing, son, strong, time, sun, water, what, when, where, wife, work, etc.

During the 8th century, Vikings (mainly from today's Denmark, Norway and Sweden) started raiding and pillaging towns and monasteries in Northern England, and later also further south. In the 9th century, Alfred the Great (King of Wessex 871-899) signed a treaty with the invading Norsemen to stop the carnage. The contract named 'Danelaw' split the country in half giving the Norsemen control over the North and the Anglo Saxons control over the south. The Vikings spoke Old Norse. Therefore, today's dialects of Northern England are still heavily influenced by that. Over time, Old Norse and Old English gradually merged and many Old Norse words with their hard consonant sounds made their way into English, such as awkward, bag, bank, birth, dirt, egg, freckle, gate, get, kick, leg, mistake, neck, root, score, skill, skin, skirt, skull, sky, take, together, ugly, want, wrong, etc. While some Old English words were replaced by Old Norse words, others just became synonyms, which explains some of the variety of synonyms modern English has today, e.g. sick/ ill, dike/ ditch, wrath/ anger, skin/ hide, etc. Also some inflections spilt over from Old Norse into Old English, such as they/ them/ their or he/ his/ him, while other inflections were later replaced by prepositions such as to, with, from, by, etc. By the 10th century, Alfred the Great's hard work to make the vernacular English spoken at the time the standard language had paid off, and the Old English dialect once only spoken in Wessex became the standard language at the time, which can be found in poetry of that era, e.g. Aelfrich’s 10th Century 'Homily on St. Gregory the Great': Eft he axode, hu ðære ðeode nama wære þe hi of comon. Him wæs geandwyrd, þæt hi Angle genemnode wæron. þa cwæð he, "Rihtlice hi sind Angle gehatene, for ðan ðe hi engla wlite habbað, and swilcum gedafenað þæt hi on heofonum engla geferan beon.


• In this example we can see some words that are identical to today's English: he, of, him, for, on.

• Other words are very similar: 'nama' name, 'comon' come, 'wære' were, 'wæs' was

• And words that have made it into modern English in altered form: 'axode' asked, 'hu' how, 'rihtlice' rightly, 'engla' angels, 'habbað' have, 'swilcum' such, 'heofonum' heaven, 'beon' be

• And words that do not exist in modern English anymore: 'ðeode' people/ nation, 'cwæð' said/ spoke, 'gehatene' called/ named, 'eft' again, 'wlite' appearance/ beauty, 'geferan' companions

• There are also letters in Old English, such as þ ('thorn') and ð ('edh' or 'eth') that have since been replaced by 'th' in modern English.]

Language Influence Middle English [1066 - 13th cent.] Norman Conquest: French and Latin

[e.g. Geoffrey Chaucer's started changing Old English tremendously 'Canterbury Tales'] (massive change in grammar & vocabulary) Old English transitioned into Middle English after the Norman Conquest of 1066, when William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy and, later, William I of England) invaded Britain (under King Harold II). This was the second invasion of Norsemen, since the Normans from the north of France were descendants of Vikings who had settled there earlier. However, linguistically, it was different, because the Normans did not speak Old Norse, but French, which is a Romance language and not a Germanic language, although their French was different from the standard French spoken in Paris at the time. Subsequently, Anglo-Norman French became the official language in England for more than 300 years, besides Latin, which was mainly used by the church and for official documents. At the same time, peasants and members of the lower class continued speaking Old English. Only over time, Old English and Anglo-Norman French would merge, which became to be known as Middle English. Examples of Anglo-Norman French that had an influence on English words and can still be seen in modern English today:

• noun suffixes: -age, -ance/-ence, -ant/-ent, -ment, -ity, -tion

• noun prefixes: con-, de-, ex-, trans-, pre-

• vocabulary: prince, count, duke, baron, noble, sovereign, government, court, judge, arrest, verdict, contract, damage, prison, armor, archer, guard, courage, servant, peasant, mansion, beauty, mirror, jewel, appetite, banquet, herb, sauce, biscuit, art, color, language, literature, poet, chapter, question, etc.

• Curiously, though, the Anglo-Saxon words cyning (king), cwene (queen), erl (earl), cniht (knight), ladi (lady) and lord persisted.

• While the animals in the field generally kept their English names (e.g. sheep, cow, ox, calf, swine, deer), once cooked and served their names often became French (e.g. beef, mutton, pork, bacon, veal, venison, etc.).

• 'hw' changed to 'wh' (mainly for consistency with the existing letter combinations 'ch' and 'th'), e.g. 'hwaer' became where, 'hwaenne' became when, 'hwil' became 'while' and 'hwo' became who.


• The fact that Old English and Anglo-Norman French have coexisted for so long, also explains the sheer number of synonyms in modern English, e.g. maternity/ motherhood, infant/ child, amity/ friendship, battle/ fight, liberty/ freedom, labor/ work, desire/ wish, commence/ start, conceal/ hide, close/ shut, demand/ ask, chamber/ room, annual/ yearly, odor/ smell, pardon/ forgive, aid/ help, etc.

• During the 12th century, is was considered 'chic' to import even more French words into Middle English, e.g. regard, real, royal, romance, courtesy, honor, tournament, virtue, music, desire, passion, client, adjacent, combine, expedition, nervous, private, popular, legal, history, library, recipe, scripture, tolerance, etc.

While noble people spoke Middle English and the church used Latin, the commoner on the street largely spoke a regional dialect of Old English, usually referred to as Northern (Northumbrian), Midlands (Mercian), Southern (West Saxon) and Kentish. Hence people living just 50 miles away would not be able to communicate with each other. Between the 12th and the 14th century, Middle English spoken in and around London became the most dominant dialect. Evidence can be found in Geoffrey Chaucer's texts and books (hand-copied!!!) by the Oxford and Cambridge university, which were founded in 1167 and 1209. During this period of time, Middle English underwent some major changes and became the new 'lingua franca':

• more and more vowel sounds were dropped and replaced by the common English unstressed 'schwa' (like the 'e' in taken, or the 'i' in pencil)

• word order became very important as more and more inflections were dropped

• the subject-verb-object word order found in modern English started to emerge

• the Old English letters ð ('edh' or 'eth') and þ ('thorn') disappeared and were replaced with 'th'; the letter 3 ('yogh') was replaced with 'g' or 'gh'

• ''þe' (the) gradually replaced the highly complex range of Old English definite articles, and most nouns had lost their inflected case endings

• 'cw' was replaced by 'qu' (e.g. 'cwic' 'quick', 'cwene' 'queen')

• 'c' was often replaced by 'k', 'ck' or 'ch' (e.g. cyning/cyng king, boc bock book, cild child, cese cheese)

• the Old English 'h' at the beginning of words like 'hring' (ring) and 'hnecca' (neck) was deleted, whereas an 'h' was added at the beginning of many Romance loanwords, such as honor, heir, honest, habit, herb, etc.

• 'f' and 'v' began to be differentiated (e.g. feel and veal), as did 's' and 'z' (e.g. seal and zeal) and 'ng' and 'n' (e.g. thing and thin), while 'v' and 'u' were often considered the same and interchangeable, e.g. under/ vnder, have/ haue

• the long Old English 'a' vowel changed to the typical Middle English 'o' sound, e.g. 'ham' home, 'stan' stone, 'ban' bone, etc

• long vowel sounds were expressed with double vowels (e.g. 'boc' 'booc', 'se' 'see') and the trailing 'e' became silent (e.g. nose, name)

• short vowels were identified by consonant doubling (e.g. 'siting' sitting)

• 'en' plural endings of Old English nouns disappeared (e.g. 'house/ housen' 'house/ houses', 'shoe/ shoen' 'shoe'/ 'shoes') and were replaced with the French plural ending 's'. Only very few irregular form remind us of the 'en' endings, such as 'children' or 'oxen'

• 'ye' was introduced as a formal YOU, while the Old English 'thou' was kept as an informal singular YOU


Example of Middle English: Geoffrey Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' (a collection of 24 stories), 1387-1400 Prologue, lines 1-18: Middle English Translation

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote When April with its sweet-smelling showers

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, Has pierced the drought of March to the root,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour And bathed every vein in such liquid

Of which vertu engendred is the flour; By which power the flower is created;

Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth When the west wind also with its sweet breath,

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth In every wood and field has breathed life into

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne The tender new leaves, and the young sun

Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne, Has run half its course in Aries,

And smale foweles maken melodye, And small fowls make melody,

That slepen al the nyght with open ye Those that sleep all the night with open eyes

(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages), (So Nature incites them in their hearts),

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,

And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, And professional pilgrims to seek foreign shores,

To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; To distant shrines, known in various lands;

And specially from every shires ende And specially from every shire's end

Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende, Of England to Canterbury they travel,

The hooly blisful martir for to seke, To seek the holy blessed martyr,

That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke. Who helped them when they were sick.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Canterbury-Tales

Listen to the Pologue of the Canterbury Tales in Middle English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXqiwRRJTxA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXqiwRRJTxA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXqiwRRJTxA


Standardized English/ The 'Great Vowel Shift' (English lost pure Early modern English vowel sounds and vowel pairings)

[14th - 16th cent.] - English Renaissance [e.g. Shakespeare = - Printing technology early modern English] - International trade

The Great Vowel Shift Vowel shifts have always happened and continue to happen today in all languages, however, the 'Great Vowel Shift' in English was quite sudden and dramatic in linguistic terms, and it is not entirely clear what the exact cause was. The term 'Great Vowel Shift' was coined by the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen (1860 - 1943).

http://facweb.furman.edu/~mmenzer/gvs/what.htm (or listen to Prof. Dr. Jürgen Handke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhZ8NQOZeo)

There were 7 long monophones in Middle English that changed: (1) /iː/ high front vowel like in "team" (2) /eː/ mid high front vowel like in German ("gehen")

(3) // mid low front vowel like in "met" (4) /ɑː/ low central vowel like in "art" (5) /ɔː/ mid low back vowel like in "got" (6) /oː/ mid high back vowel like in "ho, ho, ho" (German "o" like in "Sofa") (7) /uː/ high back vowel like in "food" (German "u" like in "Bus") And 2 diphthongs: (1) /əɪ/ like "a" in "lake" (2) /əu/ like "o" "home"

Multi-stage upwards chain shift: [Vowels were raised or became diphthongs with step one setting the entire sound shift into motion; what followed was a chain reaction]

Step 1: /iː/ /əɪ/ (modern English "e" to "a") /tiːde/ /təɪde/ [today: tide]

Step 1: /uː/ /əu/ (modern English "oo" to "o") /huːs/ /həus/ [today: house]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhZ8NQOZeo


Step 2: /eː/ /iː/ (modern German "e" to modern English "e") /greːn/ /griːn/ [today: green] Step 2: /oː/ /uː/ (modern German "o" to modern English "oo") /foːd/ /fuːd/ [today: food] Steps 3+4+5:

/ɑː/ /æ/ // (modern English "a" like in "art" to "a" like in "air" to "e" like in "bed")

/mɑːken/ /mæken/ /mk/ [today: make]

Steps 4+7: // /eː/

(modern English "e" like in "bed" to modern German "e" like in "gehen") /mt/ /meːt/ [today: meat] AND /ɔː/ /oː/ (modern English "o" like in "got" to modern German "o" like in "Sofa") /gɔːt/ /goːt/ [today: goat] Step 6: /eː/ /iː/ (modern German "e" to modern English "e") /meːt/ /miːt/ [today: meat] [This step created a lot of homophones, such as meet/ meat, see/ sea, piece/ peace, etc.] Step 8: /əɪ/ /aɪ/ (modern English "a" to "i") /təɪde/ /taɪd/ [like today: tide] AND /əu/ /au/ (modern English "o" to "ou") /həus/ /haus/ [like today: house] Not all varieties of English have gone through the same changes, which explains deviating pronunciation patterns, e.g. in Canadian English or English spoken in the North of England, or the difference between British and American English. This has also led to a lot of irregularities (ea or oo), such as bear/ swear/ wear or dead/ head/ read vs. great/ break/ steak, and food/ moon/ soon vs. book/ foot/ good, etc. as well as many discrepancies between pronunciation and spelling. But during this period of time, also consonants started to change, e.g.:

• (German) "lachen" /laxen/ laugh /lax/ laugh /læf/

• (German) "acht" /axt/ eight /æxt/ eight /iːxt/ eight /əɪxt/ eight /əɪt/

• (German) "Burg" place names ending in -burgh or -borough

• and some consonant became voiceless, such as: climb, comb, debt, doubt, knight, knee, island, scissors

• whereas other letters were added, e.g. the Middle English 'perfet' and 'verdit' became perfect and verdict, 'faute' and 'assaut' became fault and assault, and 'aventure' became adventure

• and some words show us even today that some old pronunciation pattern were maintained, such as: derby, clerk, Berkeley, Berkshire.


The English Renaissance (16th & 17th century)

• also knows as the "Elizabethan Era" or the "Age of Shakespeare"

• characterized by an influx of more and more vocabulary from Latin and Greek, such as genius, species, radius, criterion, focus, nausea, frugal, enthusiasm, area, complex, temperature, premium, system, catastrophe, or lexicon

• more and more scholars started adopting new words of Latin or Greek origin into English, which were at first deprecated as "inkhorn" words; some of these creations survived into today's English (impede, commit, transmit, dismiss, disagree, celebrate, encyclopedia, superiority, external, exaggerate, capacity, ingenious, etc.), whereas others didn't (expede, demit, disaccustom, disacquaint, unhair, abruption, appertainments, vastidity, ventositous, inquisiturient, etc.)

• while new words were being created, writers and poets were trying to resurrect old words with Germanic roots at the same time (e.g. "gleeman" instead of musician, "inwit" instead of conscience, "yeartide" instead of anniversary, "foresayer" instead of prophet, "starlore" instead of astronomy, "birdlore" instead of ornithology, "fleshstrings" instead of muscles, "grosswitted" instead of stupid, or "speechcraft" instead of grammar), but their existence were short-lived

Printing and the standardization of English

• The printing press was invested by Johann Gutenberg in Germany in 1439

• The new technology was brought to England by William Caxton about 25 years later, and as literacy was on the rise, more and more books were printed

• The church was very keen on spreading the "word of God" and the Chancery of Westminster was very successful in standardizing the language for that purpose

• More and more publishing houses that settled in and around London as well as Oxford and Cambridge University started having an influence on standardization of the English language

• Examples of spelling variations: he vs. hi, her vs. hir, him vs. hem, book vs. booke or boke, had vs. hadd or hadde, dog vs. dogg or dogge, which vs. whiche, or even fellow vs. a variety of options, such as felow, felowe, fallow, or fallowe

• Old spelling variations such as "Ye olde shoppe" still remind us of that era

• Double vowels (soon) or silent 'e' endings (name) were introduced to indicate a long vowel sounds, and double consonants (sitting) were introduced to indicate short vowel sounds

• 'u' and 'v', as well as 'i' and 'j' became separate letters

• Robert Cawdrey, an English school teacher, published the first English dictionary in 1604, naming it "A Table Alphabeticall"; it contained 2,543 words (the title page of the dictionary spelt the word 'words' the way we do now, but also 'wordes' on another occasion, which shows how hard it must have been to standardize language at the time)

• In the 18th century, there were several attempts to 'purify' or 'tidy up' the English language, but they were highly unsuccessful, as opposed to the efforts of standardization of the Academie Française in France, the Real Academia Española in Spain or the publication of the 'Duden' in Germany. In 1712, Jonathan Swift called for the creation of an 'Academy of the English Language', but there was never enough support and eventually the movement died. Instead, efforts were made to document the current situation as was. Thus, many dictionaries and grammar books started to emerge.


• The 'Golden Age of English Literature' (16th - 19th century) gave rise to scholars and writers publishing their work in English, such as Thomas More (lawyer, philosopher and humanist), Isaac Newton (mathematician, astronomer, and physicist ), Sir Francis Bacon (philosopher, scientist and author; Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England), Thomas Wyatt (politician and poet), Alexander Pope, Edmund Spenser and John Milton (all poets), Christopher Marlowe (playwright, poet and translator), John Webster (dramatist), and of course William Shakespeare (poet, playwright and actor).

A passage from Shakespeare's "King Lear" (1623) to compare Early modern English with English today:

Sir, I loue you more than words can weild ye matter, Deerer than eye-sight, space, and libertie, Beyond what can be valewed, rich or rare, No lesse then life, with grace, health, beauty, honor: As much as Childe ere lou'd, or Father found. A loue that makes breath poore, and speech vnable, Beyond all manner of so much I loue you.

Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour, As much as childe e'er loved, or father found. A love that makes breath poor and speech unable, Beyond all manner of 'so much' I love you.

Shakespeare Globe London Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s International Trade Thanks to international trade in the 16th and 17th century, not only goods, but also words were imported and have left a mark on the English language, e.g.:

• French: ballet, chocolate, salon, comrade, volunteer, detail, passport, machine, cuisine, prestige, garage, moustache, vogue, etc.

• Italian: carnival, fiasco, arsenal, casino, miniature, design, bankrupt, grotto, studio, umbrella, balcony, macaroni, piano, opera, violin, etc.

• Spanish: armada, cargo, maroon, cafeteria, plaza, potato, salsa, barricade, banana, bolero, cigarette, puma, suave, tango, vigilante, etc.

• Portuguese: breeze, palaver, cobra, flamingo, tank, fetish, port, marmalade, molasses, lambada, albino, etc.

• German: kindergarten, fest, noodle, strudel, dumb, hex, wanderlust, angst, delicatessen, gimmick, waltz, abseil, seminar, dachshund, weltanschauung, etc.

• Dutch/Flemish: bale, spool, stripe, holster, skipper, dam, booze, scrap, curl, scum, sketch, landscape, easel, smuggle, caboose, yacht, cruise, dock, buoy, keelhaul, reef, bluff, freight, leak, snoop, spook, sleigh, brick, pump, etc.

• Norwegian: maelstrom, iceberg, ski, slalom, troll, etc. • Icelandic: mumps, saga, geyser, etc. • Finnish: sauna • Arabic: harem, jar, magazine, algebra, algorithm, almanac, alchemy, zenith,

admiral, saffron, coffee, alcohol, mattress, syrup, hazard, etc. • Turkish: coffee, yoghurt, caviar, chess, kiosk, tulip, turban, etc. • Russian: sable, mammoth, samovar, vodka, kefir, commissar, tsar, etc. • Japanese: tycoon, geisha, karate, samurai. etc. • Malay: bamboo, amok, caddy, gong, ketchup, etc. • Chinese: tea, typhoon, kowtow, etc. • Polynesian: taboo, tattoo, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s


Late modern English Industrialization Colonization [17th - 20th century] Globalization The exact transition from early to late modern English is difficult to determine, but late modern English is mainly characterized by the influence of the industrial and scientific revolution on the English language. Some main factors were:

• Added vocabulary due to new technologies and concepts (e.g. railroad, steam engine, assembly line, electricity, telephone, photograph, oxygen, nuclear, vaccine, bacteria, chronometer, economy, biology, physics, etc.)

• The expansion of the British Empire adopting even more foreign words into English and creating and even larger variety of vocabulary (the height of British colonization was between the 18th and 20th century)

• Industrialization, colonization and globalization gave rise to new forms of English that continued developing independently of their British origin (e.g. American English, Canadian English, Australian English, South African English, Caribbean English, Jamaican English, Black English, or South Asian English)

• British colonization was far-ranging, covering almost one quarter of the earth and spanning the globe from the Americas to Australia, to Africa, to Asia

• Scholars at the time predicted that all new forms of English would evolve into separate languages (like German and English), however, they never did, except for minor differences, and "modern global English" is even more likely to become more harmonized or standardized than ever due to globalization

English today International trade Technology/ Lingua Franca Jargon and slang Regional variations of English English keeps evolving and we keep adding new vocabular to our dictionaries, such as selfie, texting, online platform, download, shareware, freeway, metro rail, jet engine, edutainment, bromance, gastropub, Disneyfication, YOLO, LOL, CU, etc. as well as any other word that makes it into the Urban Dictionary and other lists of new vocabulary. www.statista.com (2017): English has proven to be a true 'Lingua Franca' these days with approx. 1,500 million speakers of English worldwide (and only 375 million of whom being native speakers of English) see chart below: (www.statista.com/statistics/266808/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide)


www.statista.com English spelling today: Not only are there regional spelling variations today, such as British vs. American English spelling, but English spelling has become highly inconsistent due to all the changes the language has gone through. English has about 40-50 different sounds, but there are over 200 ways to spell these sounds. Here are just a few examples:

• 'sh' can be spelt: shoe, sugar, passion, ambitious, ocean, champagne, etc.

• a long 'o' can be spelt: go, show, beau, sew, though, depot, etc.

• a long 'e' can be spelt: me, seat, seem, ceiling, siege, people, key, machine, phoenix, pediatric, etc.

• a long 'a' can be spelt: hey, stay, make, maid, freight, great, etc.


(B) Development of German Proto-Indo-European language family Germanic language family West Germanic language family High German Modern High German Historically, Jacob Grimm (1785 - 1863), a German philologist, author and linguist, who wrote books about the history of the German language, German grammar books and mythology books, divided the development of German into three periods: "Althoch-deutsch" (Old High German; 600 - 1100 AD), "Mittelhochdeutsch" (Middle High German; 1100 - 1450 AD), and "Neuhochdeutsch" (New High German; since 1450 AD). Jacob Grimm became also famous for discovering the first Germanic sound shift, along with Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, which was later called 'Grimm's Law' or sometimes 'Rask-Grimm-Rule'. However, Wilhelm Scherer's division of the development of German into four periods has established itself as the leading theory these days. Wilhelm Scherer (1841 - 1886), a German philologist and historian of literature, posited that the development of German had to be separated not the following four periods:

• "Althochdeutsch" (Old High German; 750 - 1050 AD)

• "Mittelhochdeutsch" (Middle High German; 1050 - 1350 AD)

• "Frühneuhochdeutsch" (Early New High German; 1350 - 1650 AD)

• "Neuhochdeutsch" (New High German; since 1650 AD) However, since German is a Germanic language with Proto-Germanic and therefore Proto-Indo-European roots, its history goes back much further:

• Proto-Germanic (approx. 2000 BC - 500 BC)

• Germanic (approx. 500 BC - 750 AD) Additionally, "Modern German" (20th/ 21st century) is often listed as a separate period.

Proto-Germanic/ Germanic (approx. 2000 BC - 750 AD) What separated Germanic languages from other Proto-Indo-European language families, such as Italic, Hellenic, or Indo-Iranian language families was the "Great Germanic Sound Shift", first described by Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask in 1818, later extended by German philologist, jurist, author and linguist Josef Grimm, and mainly named 'Grimm's Law' or the 'Rask-Grimm-Rule' in the late 1820s. During the "Great Germanic Sound Shift", the most significant changes occurred in consonants, especially in the stop consonants: p f/ v, t d, v w, k/ c h/ ch [/x/ sound] Examples: Sanskrit Greek Latin German (today) English (today) pitár patéras pater Vater father matsya psári piscis Fisch fish anipsiós nepos Neffe nephew trisrah treis tres drei three tu du you hunda kýon canis Hund hound (dog) zrgga kérato cornu Horn horn rectus Recht right karpos carpere Herbsternte harvest


Proto-Germanic was mainly a spoken language. First written records are isolated words and names, often cited by Latin authors of the 1st century BC. Later, from the 1st century AD, more written artifacts can be found in the form of carved inscriptions using a 24-letter runic alphabet, often referred to as the "Elder Futhark":

In comparison, a 33-letter runic alphabet was later found in England (5th century). Apparently, 9 letters had to be added when the Anglo-Saxons brought the "Elder Futhark" to England to accommodate the additional sounds that the encountered. The 33-letter runic alphabet is often called "Futhorc" (a slightly different spelling):

During the 9th century, the co-called "Younger Futhark" emerged throughout Scandinavia, but it only had 16 letters:


At the end of the Germanic language period, and transitioning into the Old High German period, further consonant shifts occurred that can still be seen when comparing current day English and German words:

• p/ pp pf/ ff (apple Apfel; plough Pflug; swamp Sumpf; pan Pfanne; pound Pfund; penny Pfennig; hope hoffen; etc.)

• th d & t s/ z (three drei; that das; thank Dank; thick dick; path Pfad; thorn Dorn; brother Bruder; better besser; water Wasser; what was; ten zehn; sit sitzen; bite beissen; foot Fuß; etc.)

• k ch [/x/ sound] (make machen; speak sprechen; rake Rechen; break brechen; hake Hecht; etc.)

'Grimm's Law' or the 'Rask-Grimm-Rule' was later extended by 'Verner's Law', stated by Karl Verner in 1875. Karl Verner (1846 - 1896), a Danish linguist, described how the voiceless fricatives *f, *t, *s and *x, when immediately following an unstressed syllable in the same word, became voiced and were pronounced *b, *d, *z and *g. Verner refined 'Grimm’s Law' by accounting for a seeming exception for consonants that occur between unaccented and accented vowels and named his theory 'Verner's Law'. The tables below sum up Grimm’s and Verner’s Laws:

http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/indo-european.html There was also another sound shift towards the end of the 8th century that happened irregularly in different Germanic dialects, such as "Alemanisch" (Alemannic), "Bairisch" (Bavarian), "Ostfränkisch" (East Franconian), "Ostfriesisch" (East Frisian), "Sächsisch" (Saxon), "Schwäbisch" (Swabonian), etc., which caused a difference between "Oberdeutsch" (upper German) spoken in the southern part of today's Germany and Austria, "Mitteldeutsch" (middle German) spoken in the middle part of today's Germany, and "Niederdeutsch" (lower German) spoken in the low-lying parts of today's northern Germany/ Holland. Therefore, there was no homogeneous version of German spoken at the time, but people would speak regional dialects, some of which could be highly incomprehensible to speakers of other regional dialects. In fact, this is something we still find in German today, just that Germans nowadays also speak High German in addition to their regional dialect so that they can communicate with each other. At the same time, the now extinct language Gothic was still in existence (Gotland in today's Sweden, parts of Scandinavia, Northern Europe around the Baltic Sea and parts of Eastern Europe). Thanks to a translation of the Bible into Gothic by Bishop Wulfila in the late fourth century, the existence of Gothic can be proven, even though the language does not exist anymore today.


Gothic prayer: atta unsar þu in himinam weihnai namo þein qimai þiudinassus þeins wairþai wilja þeins swe in himina jah ana airþai hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga jah aflet uns þatei skulans sijaima swaswe jah weis afletam þaim skulam unsaraim jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai ak lausei uns af þamma ubilin unte þeina ist þiudangardi jah mahts jah wulþus ïn aiwins amen

German translation (literal): Vater unser, du in Himmeln, weihe Namen dein. Komme [König]reich dein. Werde Wille dein, wie in [dem] Himmel und auf Erden. Laib unseren den täglichen gib uns [an] diesem Tage. Und ablasse uns, dass wir Schuldner seien, so wie auch wir ablassen den Schuldnern unseren. Und nicht bringe uns in Versuchung, sondern löse uns ab dem Üblen. Denn dein ist [König]reich und Macht und Wohlstand in Ewigkeiten. Amen.

German translation (current): English translation:

Vater Unser im Himmel! Our Father who art in heaven, Geheiligt werde Dein Name. Hallowed be Thy name. Dein Reich komme. Thy kingdom come. Dein Wille geschehe Thy will be done on earth, wie im Himmel, so auf Erden. as it is in heaven. Unser tägliches Brot gib uns heute. Give us today our daily bread. Und vergib uns unsere Schuld, And forgive us our trespasses. wie auch wir vergeben unseren As we forgive those who trespass against us. Schuldigern. And lead us not into temptation, Und führe uns nicht in Versuchung, But deliver us from evil. sondern erlöse uns von dem Bösen. For Thine is the kingdom, Denn dein ist das Reich und die Kraft The power and the glory, und die Herrlichkeit in Eweigkeit. Forever, Amen. Amen.

Most letters of the Gothic text are legible, with the exception of the letter 'þ', which represents the English 'th'. Here are some pointers on how certain letters and diphthongs would have sounded:

• Diphthong 'ai' was pronounced as open sounding German 'e' /eː/

• Diphthong 'ei' was pronounced as a long German sounding 'i' /iː/

• Diphthong 'au' was pronounced as a long German 'o' /oː/

• 'h' before a consonant was pronounced as a German 'ch' /x/, e.g. "hlaif" (originally, this was the German word "Laib" meaning "body", later changing into the word "Brot" meaning "bread"; however a "loaf of bread" is still called "Laib Brot" in German), or "machts" (German "Macht" "power")

• 'q' was pronounced as a 'k' (e.g. "qimai", which is "komme" in German meaning "come"

• 'gg' was pronounced as 'ng' (e.g. 'briggais', which is "bringe" in German meaning "bring", even though the translation says "lead us not into temptation" the original words were "bring us not into temptation"


Gothic was a highly complex synthetic language that used, similar to Latin, conjugation, declination, cases, singular and plural forms, etc. However, possessive pronouns were placed after the subject, and Gothic only had two tenses, present tense and past tense.

Gothic is not an early form of German; conversely it is a different language. German, English and Gothic are all Germanic languages, but Gothic is an East Germanic language, while German and English are West Germanic languages that branched into Low German languages (one of them being English), and High German languages (one of them being Modern High German).

"Althochdeutsch" (Old High German) / 'Theodisk'

(approx. 750 - 1050 AD)

The second half of the 8th century was the beginning of documented Old High German writing, but the language was often called 'Theodisk'. These documented examples of Old High German were a selection of those dialects that had gone through all sound changes representing a "new language" after spoken forms of Germanic had seen so many changes. The term 'Theodisk' was chosen to represent sounds in many existing dialects and was later transformed into "Diutisc", "Diutsch" and finally into "Deutsch" meaning "German". The word developed from the Germanic root "diot" meaning "people" or "folk" from which the adjective "diotisc" was derived and eventually turned into "Theodisk" meaning the language of the people, or "Volkssprache" ("folk speech" or vernacular language). The purpose was to clearly distinguish between the language the people spoke and Latin, Greek or Old French that was used by church dignitaries, nobility and scholars. It didn't take long for the "new language" to become so popular that even the church would use it to 'spread the word of god' making sure that not only church dignitaries, priests and monks could understand the message, but also commoners. It is actually those early church texts that provide a lot of evidence and examples of the early form of Old High German: Excerpt from the Old Saxon/ Old German catholic text "Der Heiland" ("The Savior") written by a monk living in the Fulda Monastery in the 9th/ 10th century: Old Saxon/ Old German Modern German English Matheus endi Marcus, Matthäus und Markus, Matthrew and Mark, so uuarun thai man hetana. so heißen die Männer. so the men are called. Lucas endi Hohanes, Lukas und Johannes, Luke and John, sie uuarun liebe gode. sie waren Gott lieb. they were loved by God. However, the handwriting would have looked more like this:


Later, in addition to religious texts, more and more epic poetry and sagas were written in "Theodisk", the new "Volkssprache" (vernacular language), e.g. "Das Ludwigslied" (the song of Ludwig), or "Die Merseburger Zaubersprüche" (the pagan magic chants of Merseburg): Merseburger Zaubersprüche (Old German): Translation (Modern German):

Phôl ende Wuodan fuorun zi holza. Phol und Wodan begaben sich in den Wald dû wart demo balderes folon sîn fuoz birenkit. Da wurde dem Balders Fohlen sein Fuß verrenkt thû biguol en Sinthgunt, Sunna era swister; Da besprach ihn Sinthgunt, Sunna ihre Schwester thû biguol en Frîja, Folla era swister; Da besprach ihn Frija, Folla ihre Schwester; thû biguol en Wuodan, sô hê wola conda: Da besprach ihn Wodan, wie er es wohl verstand: sôse bênrenki, sôse bluotrenki, So Knochenrenke, so Blutrenke, sôse lidirenki: so Gliedrenke: bên zi bêna, bluot zi bluoda, Knochen zu Knochen, Blut zu Blut, lid zi geliden, sôse gelîmida sîn. Glied zu Glied, so sind sie geleimt. (Attempted, rather literal) translation into English:

Phol and Wodan betook themselves into the woods There the Balders foal's foot was sprained Then, Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister conjured him Then, Frija, Folla's sister conjured him Then, Wodan conjured him the way he understood: So appendages wring and set yourselves right Bone to bone, blood to blood, extremity to extremity, until they are glued

As demonstrated by the example above, Old German was still a synthetic language throughout the 8th and 9th century, i.e. it was still using a complete inflectional morphology system, declinations, conjugated verb forms, articles, cases, etc. This era was also called the "Karolinger Zeit" (the age of the 'Karolinger'), the period of time when "Karl der Große" (Charlemagne, 742 - 814) ruled much of Europe as the King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and King of the Romans and spread his "imperium christianum" (Christian imperium). Texts to spread his political and religious message were written in "Theodisk" and transformed the "Volkssprache" (vernacular language), which was regarded as a language for commoners only, into a widely accepted language for spoken and written communication. Words that "Theodisk" was missing were borrowed from Latin and Greek, and added to the language, such as:

• from Greek: kyrikón (Kirche; meaning 'church'), ángelos (Engel; meaning 'angel'), or epískopos (Bischoff; meaning 'bishop')

• from Latin: scribere (schreiben; meaning 'write'), corpus (Körper; meaning 'body'), discus (Tisch; meaning 'table), or fenestra (Fenster; meaning 'window')

As far as written proof of the language is concerned, there was a gap while the three German and Holy Roman Emperors Otto I (912 - 973), Otto II (955 - 983), Otto III (980 - 1002) ruled the Empire, which was coined the "Ottonische Lücke" ('Ottonic gap'). While Charlemagne was focused on spreading the word and fostering literature and poetry, successive emperors were more focused on creating a social gap between nobility and commoners, which meant the spoken "Volkssprache" (vernacular language) for the commoners and the noble written languages of Latin and Greek for nobility and clergy.


"Mittelhochdeutsch"/ "Dütsch" (Middle High German) (approx. 1050 - 1350 AD) The transition from Old High German to Middle High German was a slow and gradual one and is mainly characterized by the development of the German 'Umlaut' (ä, ö. ü) and unstressed additional syllable vowels, e.g.

• 'salbôn' 'Salben' (meaning 'ointment')

• 'gibirgi' 'Gebirge' (meaning 'mountain range')

• 'taga' 'Tage' (meaning 'days) The beginning and the middle of the 11th century saw a dramatic change in society. The church was no longer regarded the only source of knowledge and education and "Mittelhochdeutsch" or "Dütsch" was increasingly used to teach and educate members of the public. Besides the church's continued leadership, more and more secular influencers, different levels of nobility and a highly regarded class of merchants and guildsmen started to emerge. The new common language also attracted poets and writers to compose 'chivalric poetry' about kings, queens, knights and dragons in "Dütsch". These writers also started borrowing words from French, some of which can still be found in German, e.g.:

• 'couple' (Old French) 'Kuppel' (German); originally meaning a couple of horses to pull a carriage, later a linkage of horses to pull a wagon, and today there is the word 'Kupplung' meaning clutch, hitch or connector

• 'berser' (Old French) 'birschen'/ later 'pirschen' (German); meaning to slowly approach and stalk game while hunting

During this period of time, chivalry and knighthood became fashionable, and in 1037, Emperor Konrad II decreed the 'Constitutio de feudis', a law the would allow not only sons of nobility to inherit land and valuable items, but also commoners who were often bondsmen, servants or slaves called "Leibeigene" ("Leib" meaning body and "eigene" meaning owned, i.e. their bodies were owned by someone else). This would allow them to rise in society and gain the right to own property or being educated. This period was called "Stauferzeit" (the 'Staufer period' named after the 'Staufer', an important and influential noble family at the time), and the virtues of knighthood, chivalry and courtly romance grew in real life as well as in literature. Three important knights and poets of the time were Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg. So-called "Minnesänger" (troubadours), with Walter von der Vogelweide being one of the most famous ones, also gained importance and produced a number of linguistic evidence of the language used in literature, poetry and songs at the time. Excerpt from Hartmann von Aue's "Der arme Heinrich" (The poor Heinrich) about himself:

Middle German Modern German Modern English Ein ritter sô gelêret was, Es war einmal ein Ritter, There was a knight who was daz er an den buochen las, der so gelehrt war, dass er educated enough to read and swaz er dar an alles, was er in Büchern ge- understand everything written geschriben vant: schrieben fand, lesen konnte. in books. der was Hartmann genannt, Er hieß Hartmann, His name was Hartmann, dienstman was er zouwe und war Lehnsmann zu Aue. and he was a vassal/ leud in Aue.


However, the handwriting would have looked like this:

"Prolog: Der arme Heinrich" (Prologue: "The poor Heinrich"; Heidelberg University Library)

Throughout the 12th and 13th century "Dütsch"-speaking settlers moved to the east where mainly Slavic languages were spoken. But "Dütsch" became the main language to communicate and trade. Therefore the use of the language kept spreading, even though there were many regional differences and nuances.


"Frühneuhochdeutsch" (Early New High German; 1350 - 1650 AD) Evidence from written church texts, reports of local events, literature, poems and song lyrics show that, by the beginning of the 14th century, "Dütsch" had gone back to a high variety of regionally different dialects that resembled the locally spoken language. There were no efforts to achieve trans-regional standardization, on the contrary, each region had become very territorial and proud to express their local identity through their dialect in order to distinguish themselves from other regions. People were highly reluctant to learn a different way of speaking or writing, so they preferred to stay in their local area. Overview of German dialects:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Continental_West_Germanic_languages.png


Interestingly, several of those dialects underwent the following sound changes during the 14th and 15th century:

• lengthening of short vowels in open syllables (e.g. "lebben" "leben", meaning to live)

• shortening of long vowels in closed syllables (e.g. "haßt" "hast", meaning have/ conjugated form, second person singular; "hôchgezît" "Hochzeit", meaning wedding)

• diphthongization of long vowels (e.g. "liute" Leute, meaning people; "mîn niuwes hûs" "mein neues Haus", meaning my new house; etc.)

• monophthongization of 'ei', 'uo' and 'üe' to 'iß' and 'uß' (e.g. "füeze" "Füße", meaning feet; "brüeder" "Brüder", meaning brothers; "suochen" "suchen", meaning search/ look for; etc.)

Those sound changes did not happen everywhere, and therefore, some of the old ways of pronouncing words are still common in certain dialects in Modern High German, e.g. in West Upper German or Alemannic "Zeit" (time) and "Haus" (house) are still pronounced 'zit' and 'hus', while in Bavarian and Swabonian, "lieb" (nice/ friendly/ love) and "gut" (good) are still pronounced 'liab/liëb' and 'guat/guët'. Due to regional expansion into eastern territories and the need for trading, several local dialects started merging over the course of the 14th and 15th century giving rise to six major categories of dialects:

• Österreichisch/ Bairish (Austro-Bavarian)

• Schwäbisch (Swabonian)

• Rheinisch (Rhine and Lorrainian Franconian)

• Zürich Dütsch (Zurich Swiss German)

• Ostmitteldeutsch (Eastern Middle German)

• Nordmitteldeutsch (Northern Middle German) In 1389, Ratsherr Ulmann Stromer, a city councilor of the City of Nürnberg (Nuremberg) opened the first paper mill, which made paper for writing cheaper and more available. However, any written word was still handwritten back then until Johannes Gutenberg (circa 1395/ 1400 - 1468), originally called Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, introduced the first printing press in 1439. He was a German blacksmith and goldsmith who used his knowledge, experience and craft to conceive the first printing press. Subsequently, more and more papermills and printing houses opened, which led to an enormous increase in spreading the written word for all sorts of purposes. Since printing houses could not publish papers and books in very small quantities for each existing dialect in each region, printing houses would only print in any of the six major categories of "Deutsch" (German) as listed above calling them "Druckersprachen" (printing languages). In addition to that, Martin Luther (1483 - 1546), a German professor of theology, monk, writer and protagonist in the Protestant Reformation movement, had a major influence on the development of a more standardized form of "Deutsch" (German) by using trans-regional dialects as opposed to regional dialects for his proclamations to publicly denounce the selling of indulgences by the catholic church. Luther spent most of his life in Eisleben/ Sachsen (Saxony) and had therefore a preference for the trans-regional


dialect "Ostmitteldeutsch" (Eastern Middle German). Luther became famous for translating the New Testament from Hebrew into "German", however, what is little known is the fact that it was not yet the type of German that is spoken in Germany today, but it was "Ostmitteldeutsch" (Eastern Middle German), a trans-regional dialect of "Deutsch" (German). Luther's new version of the Bible as well as other religious texts and proclamations became so widespread that "Ostmitteldeutsch" (Eastern Middle German) made its way into other parts of what is today Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxemburg and Holland. It is often posited, yet controversially discussed, that Martin Luther was the "creator of Modern High German". It would be fair to say that he had a major influence on providing a prototype for a language that would be used across a whole nation, however, at the same time, it cannot be ignored that the general spreading of the printed word thanks to the invention of the printing press had a significant influence as well. Over his lifespan, Martin Luther kept improving his translations and kept changing vocabulary and spelling to represent the most commonly used and most widely acceptable vocabulary and grammar, basically 'inventing' a new version of German that had the biggest common denominator among all trans-regional dialects. But even the earliest version of his "New Bible" is fully intelligible to speakers of today's German, e.g.:

(1/ Mos/ 1, 4) 1524: vnd Gott sahe das liecht fur gut an 1534: Vnd Gott saha, das das Liecht gut war Today: Und Gott sah, daß das Licht gut war (English: And God saw that the light was good)

(1/ Mos/ 40, 7) 1523: warumb sehet yhr heutte so ubel 1534: warumb seid jr heute so traurig Today: Warum seht ihr heute so traurig aus (English: Why do you look so sad today) This period in history also saw the decline of regionally influential noble families and knights, which gave rise to aldermen and political leaders of growing cities, especially those that had cathedrals and/ or universities, such as Aachen, Köln (Cologne), Heidelberg, Dresden, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Nürnberg (Nuremberg) and München (Munich), as well as Wien (Vienna) in today's Austria, Prag (Prague) in today's Czech Republic and Bologna in today's Italy. The 15th, 16th and early 17th century saw a lot of technological inventions, increasing trade, and the discovery of what was to become the United States of America later, which added a lot of new vocabulary to all existing trans-regional dialects of "Deutsch" (German). An important prerequisite for the development of the Renaissance and blossoming of the Humanities was some kind of standardization of the language so that it could lend itself as an alternative to the previously used Latin and Greek. The early New High German of that period had also developed six tenses, auxiliary verbs to create perfect tenses, future tenses and passive voice, four cases, complex inflection, and a variety of modal verbs, which created a widely accepted form of "Neuhochdeutsch" (New High German).


"Neuhochdeutsch" (New High German; since 1650 AD) The beginning of the 17th century was characterized by the so-called "Dreißigjähriger Krieg" (the 30-year war). Between 1618 and 1648, the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations was falling apart, regions tried to regain independence fighting over territory, and new borders were drawn. While this political dispute was going on, there was also a religious war raging between the catholic south and the protestant north, as well as an increasing battle for power and influence between clerical and secular power, i.e. the church vs. the "Kaiser" (emperor). War, famine and epidemics wiped out one third of the population of the southern part of what is today Germany. The recovery from the aftermath of the 30-year war took almost a century. The end of the 30-year war was sealed with a peace treaty in 1648 known as the "Westfälischer Frieden". This treaty granted independence for territories and states that had existed before, which saw the reemergence of noble families, who alongside the church, would rule and govern those newly founded territories. There were actually more than 300 of those so-called "Kleinstaaten" (mini states or mini countries) covering the territory that is Germany today constantly battling or negotiating over territory, trade and collecting toll for passing travelers and merchants. Therefore, the newly acquired common language achieved through printing and Luther's proclamations became somewhat despised, while local dialects regained acceptance among commoners. Conversely, nobility was more and more inspired by elegant words from French and the illustrious lifestyle of Louis XIV (1638 - 1715), France's famous "sun king". However, it was the immense influence of everything French on the German language, culture and lifestyle that reunited commoners and lead to a revolt against a "frenchification" or "degermanification". As a consequence, societies to purify and foster the German language formed during this period, gaining a lot of momentum amongst commoners, while nobility and courts were still using French for the most part. During this time, new German words were created to replace the French words in existence, e.g.: German word from French Replacement words meaning in English Adresse Anschrift address Moment Augenblick moment Dialekt Mundart dialect Author Verfasser author As you can see, those words still exist in English, and they are still understood and used in German today, but so are the replacement words created at the time. There is a long list of French words that are still used in German language today, e.g.: Appartment (Wohnung), Bouillon (Brühe), Chance (Gelegenheit), Chauffeur (Fahrer), Courage (Mut), Dessert (Nachspeise), Genre, Limousine, Mayonnaise, Parcours, Parterre (Erdgeschoß), Portemonnaie (Geldbeutel), Repertoir, Rendez-vous (Verabredung/ Date), Route, Souterrain (Untergeschoß), Tête-à-tête (persönlich/ face-to-face), vis-à-vis (gegenüber), etc.


In the 17th century, Justus Georg Schottelius (1612 - 1676), a German linguist and educator, published works regarding the "Ausführliche Arbeit zur Teutschen HaubtSprache", meaning detailed documentation on the German main language. What is interesting is that the word "Teutsch" (German) is spelt like that and not "Deutsch", and that the word "Hochdeutsch" (High German) is not used, but "HaubtSprache" (main language) instead. More and more circles of scholars and linguists formed to defend and foster the "Teutsche HaubtSprache" (German main language). This movement gained momentum and support by poets and writers of the Age of Reason who saw believed that this new "German main language" would be the only way to define and unite a German nation. Since it was the Age of Reason, this new "German main language" was created in a very logical, reasonable and organized way, which would lay the foundation of the grammar of today's German. In 1624, Martin Opitz (1597 - 1639), a German poet from Schlesien (today's Poland), published his famous "Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey" (book of German poetry) outlining important guidelines for poetry during the German baroque period. He promoted the use of homogeneous language, metre, intonation and rhythm so that German poetry could thrive. And so it did ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) and Friedrich Schiller (1759 - 1805) are considered the most important representatives of the "Weimarer Klassik" (Weimar Classicism), an essential period in German literature. The type of German they used became the "kulturelle Vorbildsprache" (cultural role model language). Even though there has still been some variation in spelling due to the use of different printing houses, Goethe's language of the late 18th and early 19th century is vey close to Modern High German and can be fully understood today. For example, Goethe wrote:

Nicht ist alles Gold, was gleißt, Glück nicht alles, was so heißt; nicht alles Freude, das so scheint, damit hab ich gar manches gemeint.

Meaning: Not everything that glissens is gold, neither is everything happiness that is like that called; not everything is as pleasant as it seems, by that I refer to many different things.

The variations in printing and the final step in harmonizing written New High German was achieved by "Preußen" (Prussia). Prussia was one of the most influential kingdoms of the German Empire at the time. It had emerged from the "Haus der Hohenzollern" (the house of Hohenzollern) and was also often referred to as "The Kingdom of Prussia". This was an expansive territory that included of parts of today's Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Denmark, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Prussia was the driving force behind the unification of all German kingdoms, which was achieved in 1871. The unified German empire ("Kaiserreich Deutschland") existed from 1871 until 1918 and used a standardized form of "Hochdeutsch" (High German) as its official written language. However, regional dialects were continuously used in spoken language resulting in the fact that each citizen had to learn "Hochdeutsch" (High German) in addition to their regional dialect, which basically hasn't changed until the present day.


In 1876, the "preußische Kulturminister" (Prussian Minister of Culture) appointed the "Conferenz zur Herstellung größerer Einigung der deutschen Rechtschreibung" (Committee for the harmonization of German spelling) in Berlin. One of the leading members of the committee was the professor and educator Konrad Duden. His name was to become very famous among all Germans, and there is not a single citizen in Germany today who does not have a "Duden" on their book shelf, which is a comprehensive dictionary of the German language. Konrad Duden published his "Vollständiges Orthographisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache" (Complete Orthographical Dictionary of the German Language) in 1880. It contained 28,000 entries and became the preeminent language source of the German language that included not only spelling, but also grammar, etymology, pronunciation, synonyms, and the use of German. From there on, the German language has been streamlined, edited and adjusted over and over again. It has seen many "Rechtschreibreformen" (orthography reforms), the latest in 2017. The Duden today is in its 27th edition and has become a staple in German classrooms and on German book shelves. While "Hochdeutsch" (High German) had become the commonly used standardized language across the German Empire, regional dialects kept impacting and deteriorating the newly created ideal. Moreover, German grammar rules allow to create compound nouns consisting of as many words as needed. As opposed to English, which spells compound nouns as separate words, German spells them as one long word, which can result in a word like "Schifffahrtskapitänsmütze" (the hat of a captain of a ship, or just captain's hat). Therefore, it is no surprise, that more often than not words were created that were not listed in the Duden and that did not make sense to everybody. Philologists and historians such as Gustav Wurstmann (1844 - 1910) saw this as a red flag and were prompted to publish works of criticism about the unacceptable perversion of the German language. In 1891, Wurstmann published the book "Allerhand Sprachdummheiten. Kleine Grammatik des Zweifelhaften, des Falschen und des Häßlichen." (All kinds of linguistic stupidities. Short German manual of the dubious, the incorrect and the ugly.). Rising tensions among European nations culminated in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary in 1914. This set off a diplomatic crises and triggered a number of European wars. Colonization and military alliances turned this war into a world war. It ended in 1918. This is when the German Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic. This period saw the creation of a parliament and the birth of a democratic nation. There was a growing sentiment that all citizens are equal and should have equal opportunities. Hence, noble families were often expropriated or at least did not enjoy their privileges anymore. However, this new republic would never flourish. Since Germany lost WWI, it was burdened with reparation payments of 269 billion Marks, roughly 32 billion US$ in today's terms. On top of that, the Weimar Republic was hit hard by the world economic crisis in the 1930s. Understandably, the general public was eager to see a leader who would bring economic stability, end mass unemployment, reinstate German pride and preserve German values. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was instated as "Reichskanzler" (Chancellor of the German Reich), the Weimar Republic ended and the new Era of the German Reich began. Hitler quickly turned from Chancellor to dictator, and the rhetoric and use of the German language changed dramatically so that it could be used for propaganda purposes. Hitler made sure every citizen had a job and could enjoy a vacation to


recharge their batteries every year, that their kids went to school, that basic groceries and products were available to everyone (like the "Volksempfänger", the people's radio or the "Volkswagen", the people's car), that streets were maintained and kept clean, and that everybody reported crimes and enemies of the German Reich. It was only later that Hitler's true agenda became apparent, and it are in fact Hitler's war crimes that will always be remembered. The world kept watching, but when Hitler continued to annex other countries, WWII (1939 - 1945) was inevitable.

"Modernes Hochdeutsch" (Modern High German; since 1950) This is basically the same type of German as described before (New High German), but socio-cultural and technological changes have had a major influence on today's German starting in the 1950s, or the post-war era. After WWII, speakers of East and North East German dialects had to flee territories in the East that would later become Eastern Germany, Poland, The Czech Republic or parts of the then existing Soviet Union. The migration of these linguistic and cultural refugees to the German homelands brought about a mix of dialects, but also a decline of dialects that were less popular. In addition, the presence of American occupying forces changed the German language giving rise to more and more modern English words entering the German language, especially when it comes to concepts that did not previously exist in the language or new technology that needed to be named. Communicating new words had also become much easier, since there was not only the printed word, but more and more media to broadcast information, such as newspapers, movies, radio and TV. Needless to say that the computer age or internet age later increased the spreading of language exponentially, to the point that there is "Cyberdeutsch" (cyber German) today including words like Computer, Internet, Email, log-in, downloaden (to download), klicken (to click), Maus (mouse), Laptop, Tablet, Handy (cell phone), Smartphone, Passwort (password), Enter Taste (enter key), Social Media, Online Chat, Online Dating, Online Banking, Software, Browser, Scanner, etc. The reason why these words are capitalized is that all nouns are capitalized in German. Other than that, it is very clear to any English speaker what they mean. Interestingly, more and more of these anglicized compound nouns are actually written as two separate words, as opposed to the usual German spelling, which would pull them together as one word. However, English has not been the only language that has since influenced German. German has seen a huge influx of "Gastarbeiter" (migrant workers), at first from Italy and Turkey, and later from everywhere. These immigrants have left their mark on the German language, but also on German food and culture. Even Germans who do not speak a single word of Italian know what is meant by: Pizzeria, Gelatti, Cappuccino, Parmigiano, Pesto, Tagliatelle, Gnocchi, Scampi, Calamari, Bruschetta, or Lambrusco. Likewise, even without having ever studied Turkish, every German knows these popular food items, and there is no German word to replace them, e.g. "Döner" (gyro meat and salad wrapped in pita bread), "Börek" (savory pastry with beef filling), "Baklava" (sweet pastry made from nuts and honey), "Dolmades" (stuffed vine leaves), "Şiş Kebap" (lamb meat on a skewer), "Köfte" (Turkish meat balls), "Ekmek" (pita bread), or "Ayran" (a thick slightly sour tasting yogurt drink).


Throughout the 21st century, German has been adding more and more English words, to the point that there is a renewed trend to go back to 'original' German words instead of anglicizing German too much. For example:

• Germans go to a "Meeting" (even though there is the word "Besprechung"), have a "Brainstorming", make a "Marketing Plan", send an "Update" and call a "Call Center")

• Germans eat and drink at a "Restaurant", "Snack Bar", "Bistro" or "Café" (even though German has a multitude of words for those places such as Wirtshaus, Gaststube, Kneipe, Kantine, Imbissbude, etc.)

• Germans leave messages on someone's "Voicemail" (even though they could say "Anrufbeantworter") and "chatten online" (chat online)

• Germans "downloaden" a file (instead of using "herunterladen")

• Germans can work as a "Broker" (even though there is the word "Börsenmakler") or as a "Tour Guide" (well, there is a German word for "guide" or "leader" which is "Führer", but it hasn't been very popular since the 1940s as Adolf Hitler was referred to as the "Führer")

• Germans "sponsor" an event (probably because the alternative would be to say "finanziell unterstützen", meaning to support financially, which is too complicated)

• Germans also wear "Blue Jeans", buy "Tickets", go to "Events", eat "Fast Food" such as a "Cheeseburger" with "Ketchup", have a "Cocktail" during "Happy Hour" and go to a "Party" instead of using German words

• and many other loanwords from English that have made their way into Modern High German.

Today, Modern High German is taught and used as a written language in all parts of Germany, even though regional dialects are still preferred for verbal communication. However, when someone from Munich needs to speak with someone from Berlin, they can both revert to "Hochdeutsch" (High German) so that they can communicate. If they used their local dialects, communication could be hindered. In addition to High German being the official language of Germany today, there are still Low German languages in use, such as Plattdeutsch, Friesisch and Niederdeutsch. The only difference to other dialects such as Bavarian, Franconian or Swabonian is that these are also written languages, whereas Bavarian, Franconian or Swabonian are not. So-called "Mundartkünstler" (dialect artists) have made an attempt to write down songs, poems or dialogues in local dialogue, but since the spelling is unclear, these treasures of local dialects are often hard to read and hard to understand to anyone who was not born and raised in that area. In 2017, German is spoken by more than 100 million people, mainly in Germany (ca. 81 million), Austria (ca. 8.5 million) and Switzerland (ca. 8 million), but also in Liechtenstein, parts of Luxembourg, parts of Italy (Südtirol), parts of Belgium or parts of Brazil (Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul).


Comparison of Old English, Modern German and Modern English words to illustrate the similarity: Old English Modern German Modern English brycg Brücke bridge dag Tag day dohtor Tochter daughter ēage Auge eye ealdor (der) Ältere (the) elder etan essen (to) eat fæder Vater father fisc Fisch fish frēond Freund friend gæst Gast guest ge-broc gebrochen broken giefan geben (to) give giong jung young habban haben (to) have hæld Held hero hálig heilig holy hand Hand hand healf halb half hring Ring ring hund Hund hound/ dog hundraþ Hundert hundred hús Haus house ic ich I lomb/ lamb Lamm lamb módor Mutter mother séon sehen (to) see stán Stein stone swæger Schwiegermutter mother-in-law (?) (Schwager) (brother-in-law) swín Schwein swine/ pig þancung Dank/ Danke/ Dankung thanks/ thanking þíof Dieb thief þréotíene dreizehn thirteen þríe drei three witan wissen (to) know/ to have wit word Wort word


Bibliography: (All information presented above was retrieved from the following sources and may or may not be fully accurate) http://linguistics.online.uni-marburg.de (The virtual linguistics campus of the University of Marburg including publications and You Tube contributions by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Handke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhZ8NQOZeo)

https://folksprak.org/common/material/pdf/A-Grammar-of-Proto-Germanic.pdf (A Grammar of Proto Germanic by Winfred P. Lehmann)

http://zentrum.virtuos.uos.de/wikifarm/fields/english-language/field.php/ EarlyModernEnglish/GreatVowelShift (ELLO - English Language and Linguistics Online)

www.thehistoryofenglish.com

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/the-history-of-english

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory

www.statista.com/statistics/266808/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH-_GwoO4xI (Beowulf in Old English)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXqiwRRJTxA (Canterbury Tales in Middle English)

www.baer-linguistik.de/sprachgeschichte (Die Geschichte der deutschen Sprache - "The history of the German language" - website in German by Jochen A. Bär/ University of Vechta)

https://www.reclam.de/data/media/978-3-15-011056-0.pdf (Geschichte der deutschen Sprache - "The history of the German language" - website in German by Jörg Riecke; Reclam Studienbuch Germanistik)

http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/german.html (A Brief History of the German Language by Aaron D. Alder, Brigham Young University)

http://www.historyofgerman.net/index.html (The website provides additional information and resources as a companion to the book "A History of German: What the past reveals about today's language" by Joseph Salmons, Oxford University Press, 2012.)

www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/German (The History of the German Language)

www.britannica.com/topic/German-language (The History of the German Language)

www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac62 (The History of Germany)

http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/indo-european.html (Grimm's Law and Verner's law tables) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages (Graphics and tables)

www.worldatlas.com/articles/territories-and-countries-where-german-is-an-official-language.html www.thoughtco.com/where-is-german-spoken-1444314

Bildatlas der Sprachen, Bechtermünz Verlag (Deutsche Erstausgabe 1996/ 98)


Visuals from the PPT presentation:


Thank you - Goodbye in Gothic, Old English, Modern English, Old German and Modern German

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