|
Don't know what should go here. Talk to me!
{{language|name=German|nativename=Deutsch
|familycolor=lawngreen
|states=[[Germany]], [[Switzerland]], [[Austria]], and 38 other countries.
|region=[[Europe]]
|speakers=120 million|rank=9
|family=[[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]<br> [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]<br> [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]<br> [[Old High German]]<br> [[Middle High German]]<br> [[German language|Modern German]]<br>
|nation=[[Germany]], [[Liechtenstein]], [[Austria]], [[Belgium]], [[Switzerland]], [[Italy]], [[Denmark]].
|agency=-
|iso1=de|iso2=ger (B)/deu (T)|sil=GER}}
'''German''' (called '''''Deutsch''''' in German; in German the term ''germanisch'' is equivalent to English ''Germanic''), is a member of the western group of [[Germanic languages]] and is one of the world's major [[language]]s. It is the language with the most native speakers in the [[European Union]]. It is spoken primarily in [[Germany]], [[Austria]], [[Liechtenstein]], the major part of [[Switzerland]], [[Luxembourg]], the [[South Tyrol]] (in German, ''Südtirol'') region of [[Italy]], the [[German_speaking_community_in_Belgium|East Cantons]] of [[Belgium]], parts of [[Romania]], [[Poland]], [[Alsace]] (in German, ''Elsass'') and parts of the Lorraine (in German, ''Lothringen'') region of [[France]]. Additionally, several former colonial possessions of these countries, such as [[Namibia]], have sizable German-speaking populations, and there are German-speaking minorities in several eastern European countries, including [[Russia]], [[Hungary]] and [[Slovenia]], and in [[North America]] (particularly [[Canada]] and the [[United States]]) as well as in [[Iceland]]. Some [[South America|South American]] areas, such as [[Argentina]] and the [[Brazil]]ian states of [[Rio Grande do Sul]], [[Santa Catarina]], [[Paraná]], and [[Espírito Santo]], also have German-speaking minorities.
Actually, what I meant was, if you'd like to know something. Ask!
The [[Amish]], [[Hutterites]] and some [[Mennonites]] also speak a dialect of German. Approximately 120 million people, or a quarter of all Europeans, speak German. German is the third most popular [[foreign language]] taught worldwide, and the second most popular in [[Europe]] (after English) and the [[United States|USA]] (after French). It is one of the [[Languages_of_the_European_Union|official languages]] of the [[European Union]].
[[User:ZackStone|ZackStone]] 17:50, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
==History==
The [[dialect]]s subject to the [[second Germanic sound shift]] (High German dialects as opposed to Low German dialects) during medieval times are regarded as part of the modern German language.
As a consequence of the colonization patterns, the [[Völkerwanderung]], the routes for trade and communication (chiefly the rivers), and of physical isolation (high mountains and deep forests) very different regional dialects developed. These dialects, sometimes mutually unintelligible, were used across the [[Holy Roman Empire]].
As Germany was divided into many different [[state]]s, the only force working for a unification or [[standard language|standardization]] of German during a period of several hundred years was when writers would try to write in a way that could be understood in the largest possible area.
When [[Martin Luther]] translated the [[Bible]] (the [[New Testament]] in [[1521]] and the [[Old Testament]] in [[1534]]) he based his translation mainly on this already developed language, which was the most widely understood language at this time. In the beginning, copies of the Bible had a long list for each region, which translated words unknown in the region into the regional dialect. [[Roman Catholics]] rejected Luther's translation in the beginning and tried to create their own Catholic standard (''Gemeines Deutsch''). It took until the middle of the 18th century to create a standard that was widely accepted, thus ending the period of [[Early New High German]].
German used to be the language of commerce and government in the [[Habsburg Empire]], which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-nineteenth century it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire. It indicated that the speaker was a [[merchant]], an urbanite, not their nationality. Some cities, such as [[Prague]] and [[Budapest]], were gradually [[Germanisation|Germanized]] in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg ___domain. Others, such as [[Bratislava]] (''Preßburg''), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. A few cities such as [[Milan]] remained primarily non-German. However, most cities were primarily German during this time, such as Prague, [[Budapest]], Bratislava, [[Zagreb]], and [[Ljubljana]], though they were surrounded by territory that spoke other languages.
Until about 1800, Standard German was almost only a written language. In this time, people in urban northern Germany, who spoke dialects very different from Standard German, learnt it almost like a foreign language and tried to pronounce it as close to the spelling as possible. Prescriptive pronunciation guides used to consider that northern German pronunciation to be the standard. However, the actual pronunciation of standard German varies from region to region.
Media and written works are almost all produced in standard German (often called ''Hochdeutsch'' in German), which is understood in all areas of German languages (except by pre-school children in areas which speak only dialect - but in this age of TV, even they now usually learn to understand Standard German before school age).
The first dictionary of the [[Brothers Grimm]], the 16 parts of which were issued between [[1852]] and [[1960]], remains the most comprehensive guide to the words of the German language. In [[1860]], grammatical and orthographical rules first appeared in the ''[[Duden Handbook]]''. In [[1901]], this was declared the standard definition of the German language. Official revisions of some of these rules were not issued until [[1998]], when the [[German spelling reform of 1996]] was officially promulgated by governmental representatives of all German-speaking countries. Since the reform, German spelling has been in an eight-year transitional period where the reformed spelling is taught in most schools, while traditional and reformed spelling co-exist in the media. See [[German spelling reform of 1996]] for an overview of the heated public debate concerning the reform.
During the 1870s, the German language successfully replaced Latin as the dominant language in all major European and North American universities, thanks to the prominence of German universities at the time. Most important research in the sciences for some decades afterward was published in German, and new universities preferred German instead of Greek or Latin mottos (e.g., [[Stanford University]].)
==Classification and related languages==
German is a member of the West branch of the [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] family of languages, which in turn is part of the [[Indo-European language family]].
German is grammatically similar in many ways to [[Dutch language|Dutch]], but is very different in speech. A speaker of one may require some practice to effectively understand a speaker of the other. Compare, for example:
:''De kleinste kameleon is volwassen 2 cm groot, de grootste kan wel 80 cm worden.'' (Dutch)
:''Das kleinste Chamäleon ist erwachsen 2 cm groß, das größte kann gut 80 cm werden.'' (German)
(Which translates as "The smallest chameleon is fully grown 2 cm long, the longest can easily attain 80 cm.")
In some places, German and Dutch are spoken almost interchangeably. Dutch speakers are generally able to read German, and German speakers who can speak English are generally able to read Dutch, even if they find the spoken language very amusing.
===Official status===
German is the only official language in [[Germany]], [[Liechtenstein]], and [[Austria]]; it shares official status in [[Belgium]] (with [[French (language)|French]] and [[Dutch (language)|Dutch]]), [[Italy]] (with [[Italian (language)|Italian]] and [[French (language)|French]]), [[Switzerland]] (with [[French (language)|French]], [[Italian (language)|Italian]] and [[Romansh]]), [[Luxembourg]] (with [[French (language)|French]] and [[Luxembourgish language|Luxembourgish]]), and [[Denmark]] (with [[Danish language|Danish]]). It is one of the 20 official languages of the [[European Union]].
It is also a minority language in [[Canada]], [[France]], [[Russia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Poland]], [[Romania]], [[Togo]], [[Cameroon]], the [[United States|USA]], [[Namibia]], [[Brazil]], [[Paraguay]], [[Hungary]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], [[the Netherlands]], [[Slovenia]], [[Ukraine]], [[Croatia]], [[Moldavia]], [[Australia]], [[Latvia]], [[Estonia]], and [[Lithuania]].
German was once the [[lingua franca]] of central, eastern and northern Europe. Increasing influence from the [[English language]] has affected German recently. However, German remains one of the most popular foreign languages taught worldwide, and is more popular than French as a foreign language in Europe. 38% of all European citizens say they can converse in German (native speakers not counted). In Poland, for example, one is more likely to find someone who speaks decent German than English. This is because one can easily receive German TV by cable or satelite. Boys, especially, learn German by watching series like [[Star Trek]] in German.
===Dialects===
The term "German" is used for the dialects of Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland (i.e., outside the [[French language|French]]-, [[Italian language|Italian]]-, and [[Romansh language|Romansch]]-speaking areas) and some areas in the surrounding countries, as well as for several [[colony|colonies]] and other ethnic concentrations founded by German-speaking people (e.g. [[German in the United States|in North America]]).
Only the traditional regional varieties are called dialects, not the different varieties of standard German. This is because standard German has originated not as a traditional dialect of a specific region, but as a written language. However, there are places where the traditional regional dialects have been replaced by standard German (especially in the cities and in northern Germany). However, the use of Standard German itself also differs regionally, especially between German-speaking countries. E.g. the pronunciation and vocabulary at public occasions used in Austria is quite different from the one used in Germany, but also from any dialect. German is thus considered a [[pluricentric language]].
In most regions, the speakers use a continuum of mixtures from more dialectical varieties to more standard varieties according to situation. In the German speaking parts of Switzerland, however, the speakers do not use mixtures of dialect and standard, and the use of standard German is restricted to very rare situations (e.g. speaking with people who do not understand the [[Swiss German language|Swiss German dialects]] at all, or, theoretically, in school). Writings in dialect are rare, and even for writing short notes standard German is used.
The variation among the German dialects is considerable. Only the neighbouring dialects are mutually understandable. Most dialects are not understandable for someone who knows standard German.
The dialects of Germany are typically divided into [[Low German]] and [[High German]].
The Low German dialects, or [[Low Saxon]] as they are sometimes known more precisely, are more closely related to [[Lower Franconian]] languages like [[Dutch language|Dutch]] than to the High German dialects. Therefore, some linguists do not consider them to be a part of the German language proper.
The High German dialects are divided into [[Middle German language|Middle German]] and [[Upper German language|Upper German]]; Standard German is based on Middle German, while the [[Austro-Bavarian]] and the [[Alemannic German|Alemannic]]-[[Swabian language|Swabian]] dialects are Upper German.
The High German dialects spoken by Germanic communities in the former Soviet Union and [[Ashkenazi Jew]]s have several unique features, and are usually considered the separate language [[Yiddish]].
The dialects of German which are or were primarily spoken in colonies founded by German speaking people resemble the dialects of the regions the founders came from (e.g. [[Pennsylvania German language|Pennsylvania German]] resembles dialects of the [[Palatinate]], <!-- where did the speakers of [[Texas German]] come from? --> or [[Hutterite German]] resembles dialects of [[Carinthia]]).
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Creoles and other languages that are derived from this language.
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~~Sounds~~
Description of the sound set of the language. Can include phoneme charts and example words for each phoneme like in [[French language]]. If there is significant discussion here, it is probably best to divide the section into vowels and consonants subsections.
[[User:Sj|+sj]][[User Talk:Sj|+]]Vowels[[User:Sj|+sj]][[User Talk:Sj|+]]
Vowel chart and discussion of vowels.
[[User:Sj|+sj]][[User Talk:Sj|+]]Consonants[[User:Sj|+sj]][[User Talk:Sj|+]]
Consonant chart and discussion of consonants.
[[User:Sj|+sj]][[User Talk:Sj|+]]Phonology[[User:Sj|+sj]][[User Talk:Sj|+]]
Discussion of some major phonological processes, such as important [[allophone]]s or assimilation rules.
[[User:Sj|+sj]][[User Talk:Sj|+]]Historical sound changes[[User:Sj|+sj]][[User Talk:Sj|+]]
Description of important sound changes in the history of the language. (Maybe this should go under history?)
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==Grammar==
''Main article: [[German grammar]]''
German is an [[inflected language]]. In contrast to [[Latin]], the inflection affects not only the word ending but also its stem, making declension and conjugation slightly more difficult.
===Noun inflection===
German nouns inflect into:
* one of three [[declension class]]es
* one of three [[grammatical gender|genders]]: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Word endings indicate some grammatical genders; others are arbitrary and must be memorized.
* two numbers: singular and plural
* four cases: [[nominative]], [[genitive]], [[dative]], and [[accusative case]].
In the German orthography, unlike any other orthography, all nouns and most words that take the syntactical function of nouns are capitalized.
Like most Germanic languages, German forms left-branching noun [[compound (linguistics)|compound]]s, where the first noun modifies the category given by the second, e.g. ''Hundehaus'' (eng. ''doghouse'') or ''Sommerzeit'' (eng. ''summertime''). Unlike English, where newer compounds or combinations of longer nouns are often written in ''open'' form with separating spaces, German (like the other German languages) always uses the ''closed'' form without spaces, e.g., Baumhaus (eng. ''tree house''). Like English, German allows arbitrarily long compounds, but these are rare. (''See also'' [[English compounds]].)
===Verb Inflection===
* one of two conjugation classes, [[weak verb|weak]] and [[strong verb|strong]] (like English). There are about 200 irregular verbs.
* three persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
* two numbers: singular and plural
* three moods: Indicative, Conditional, Imperative
* two [[Grammatical voice|genera verbi]]: active and passive; the passive being composed and dividable into static and dynamic.
* 2 non-composed tenses (Present, [[Preterite]]) and 4 composed tenses (Perfect, Plusquamperfect, Future I, Future II)
* no distinction between aspects (in English, perfect and progressive)
There are also a lot of ways to expand the meaning of a base verb through several prefixes.
The word order is much more flexible than in English. The word order can be changed for subtle changes of a sentence's meaning.
Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the [[Indo-European language family]], although there are significant minorities of words derived from [[Latin]], [[French language|French]], and most recently [[English language|English]].
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This section should contain a discussion of any special features of the vocabulary (or lexicon) of the language, like if it contains a large number of borrowed words or a different sets of words for different politeness levels, taboo groups, etc.
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==Writing system==
German is written using the [[Latin alphabet]]. In addition to the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with [[Umlaut]], namely ''ä'', ''ö'' and ''ü'', as well as a special symbol for "ss", which is only used after long vowels or diphthongs (and not used at all in [[Switzerland]]): [[ß|ß]].
Until early 20th century, German was mostly printed in [[blackletter]] [[typefaces]] (mostly in [[fraktur (typeface)|fraktur]], but also in [[Schwabacher]]) and written in corresponding [[handwriting]] (e.g. [[Sütterlin]]). These variants of the Latin alphabet are very different from the serif or sans serif [[antiqua]] typefaces used today, and are difficult for the untrained to read. They were abolished by the [[Nazis]] in [[1941]] and this has been retained since for broader and easier usability.
==Alphabet==
''Main article: [[German alphabet]]''.
==Pronunciation==
''Main article: [[German pronunciation]]''.
==Examples==
* [[Common phrases in various languages]]
* [[List of German expressions in English]]
There are many German words that are [[cognate]] to English words, although meanings in either language have changed through the centuries. It is sometimes difficult for both English and German speakers to discern the relationship.
{| border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"
! bgcolor="FFDEAD" | '''German'''
! bgcolor="FFDEAD" | Meaning of German word
! bgcolor="FFDEAD" | English cognate
|-
|drehen
|to turn
|to throw
|-
|werfen
|throw
|to warp
|-
|Kind
|child
|kind
|-
|raten
|to guess
|to read
|-
|ritzen
|to scratch
|to write
|-
|Schmerz
|pain
|smart
|-
|rächen
|to take revenge
|to wreak (havoc)
|-
|Gift
|poison
|gift
|}
==See also==
* [[Umlaut]], [[ß|ß]]
* [[German spelling reform]]
* [[Germish]]
* [[German family name etymology]]
* [[German placename etymology]]
* [[Ethnic German]]
* [[German as a Minority Language]]
* [[List of German proverbs]]
==Names of the German language in other languages==
Because of the turbulent history of both Germany and the German language, the names that other peoples have chosen to use to refer to it varies more than for most other languages.
In general, the names for the German language can be arranged in five groups according to their origin:
{| border="0" cellpadding="5"
|- valign="top"
| '''1.''' From the proto-Germanic word for "people", "folk":
*[[Afrikaans language|Afrikaans]]: ''Duits''
*[[Chinese language|Chinese]]: ''德语'' (''déyǔ'') or ''德意志语'' (''déyìzhiyǔ'')
*[[Danish language|Danish]]: ''tysk''
*[[Dutch language|Dutch]]: ''Duits''
*[[Faroese language|Faroese]]: ''týskt''
*[[German language|German]]: ''Deutsch''
*[[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]: ''þýska''
*[[Italian language|Italian]]: ''tedesco''
*[[Japanese language|Japanese]]: ''ドイツ語'' (''doitsu-go'')
*[[Korean language|Korean]]: ''독일어'', ''獨逸語'' (''dog-il-eo'')
<!-- *[[Latvian language|Latvian]]: ''vācu'' or ''vāciešu''
*[[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]: ''vokiečių kalba'' -->
*[[Norwegian language|Norwegian]]: ''tysk''
*[[Swedish language|Swedish]]: ''tyska''
*[[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]: ''tiếng Đức''
*[[Yiddish]]: טײַטש (''daytsch'' or ''daytsh'')
| '''2.''' From the name of the Germanic people:
*[[Albanian language|Albanian]]: ''gjermanishte''
*[[English language|English]]: ''German''
*[[Esperanto language|Esperanto]]: ''germana lingvo''
*[[Greek language|Greek]]: ''Γερμανικά'' (''germaniká'')
*[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: ''גרמנית'' (''germanit'')
*[[Irish language|Irish]]: ''Gearmáinis''
*[[Romanian language|Romanian]]: ''germană''
| '''3.''' From the name of the Saxonian tribe:
*[[Estonian language|Estonian]]: ''saksa''
*[[Finnish language|Finnish]]: ''saksa''
|- valign="top"
| '''4.''' From the Old Slavic word for "mute":
*[[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]: ''немски''
*[[Croatian language|Croatian]]: ''njemački''
*[[Czech language|Czech]]: ''němčina''
*[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]: ''német''
*[[Polish language|Polish]]: ''niemiecki''
*[[Romanian language|Romanian]]: ''nemţeşte''
*[[Russian language|Russian]]: ''неме́цкий''
*[[Serbian language|Serbian]]: ''nemački''
*[[Slovak language|Slovak]]:''nemčina''
*[[Slovenian language|Slovenian]]: ''nemščina''
*[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]: ''німецька''
| '''5.''' From the name of the Alemannian tribe:
*[[Arabic language|Arabic]]: ''ألمانية'' (''alimāniyyah'')
*[[Catalan language|Catalan]]: ''alemany''
*[[French language|French]]: ''allemand''
*[[Persian language|Persian]]: ''آلمانی'' (Âlmâni)
*[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: ''alemão''
*[[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''alemán''
*[[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Alman''
*[[Welsh language|Welsh]]: ''Almaeneg''
|}
Note: The Romanian language used to use in the past the Slavonic term "nemţeşte", but "germană" is now widely used. Hungarian "német" is also a Slavonic loan-word. The Arabic name for Austria, "an-namsa" (النمسا), is derived from the Slavonic term.
==External links==
{{InterWiki|code=de}}
{{book}}
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=GER Ethnologue report for German]
* [http://www.travlang.com/languages/german/ihgg/ Internet Handbook of German Grammar]
* [http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ German resources] at the University of Michigan
* [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,1595,2469,00.html Deutsche Welle's Online German Courses]
* [http://www.vds-ev.de Verein Deutsche Sprache] (in German)
* A beginning [http://wikibooks.org/wiki/German German Language Textbook] under development at [http://wikibooks.org/ Wikibooks]
* [http://www.diwa.info/ Digital Wenker-Atlas] Project publishing the 19th century ''Linguistic Atlas of the German Empire''
* [http://www.geocities.com/language_directory/languages/german.htm List of online German-related resources]
* [http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/german/index.html Why learn German? A German language profile]
===Phrase and word translations===
* [http://dict.leo.org/ The LEO Online Dictionary] German-English-German dictionary.
* [http://dict.cc An English-German Dictionary] from dict.cc
* [http://www.fdicts.com/german/ Project maintaining free German dictionaries]
* [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/German-english/ German - English Dictionary]: from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition.
* [http://www.canoo.net/index_en.html A dictionary and grammar].
== Reference ==
* [[George Oliver Curme|George O. Curme]], ''[[A Grammar of the German Language]]'' (1904, 1922) - the most complete and authoritative work in English
[[Category:Fusional languages]]
[[Category:High German languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Belgium]]
[[Category:Languages of France]]
[[Category:Languages of Germany]]
[[Category:Languages of Italy]]
[[Category:Languages of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Languages of Austria]]
[[Category:Uvular R]]
[[af:Duits]]
[[als:Deutsche Sprache]]
[[ang:Þéodisc sprǽc]]
[[az:German_qrupu]]
[[cs:N%C4%9Bm%C4%8Dina]]
[[ca:Alemany]]
[[da:Tysk sprog]]
[[de:Deutsche Sprache]]
[[eo:Germana lingvo]]
[[es:Idioma alemán]]
[[et:Saksa keel]]
[[fi:Saksan kieli]]
[[fr:Allemand]]
[[he:גרמנית]]
[[is:Þýska]]
[[it:Lingua tedesca]]
[[ja:ドイツ語]]
[[ko:독일어]]
[[la:Lingua Germanica moderna (theotisca)]]
[[ms:Bahasa Jerman]]
[[nds:Düütsch]]
[[nl:Duits]]
[[no:Tysk språk]]
[[pl:Język niemiecki]]
[[pt:Língua alemã]]
[[ro:Limba germană]]
[[ru:Немецкий язык]]
[[simple:German language]]
[[sl:Nemščina]]
[[sv:Tyska]]
[[th:ภาษาเยอรมัน]]
[[vi:Tiếng Đức]]
[[tr:Almanca]]
[[tt:Alman tele]]
[[zh-cn:德语]]
[[zh-tw:德語]]
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