West Germanic Languages
| West Germanic languages | |
|---|---|
| Region | originally from the Rhine , the Alps , the Elbe and the North Sea ; global distribution today |
| Classification by family | |
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-5 | GMW |
| IETF | GMW |
change  | |
West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the family of Germanic languages , including in particular the German , the English and Dutch , but also the Afrikaans , the Frisian and Yiddish.
Summary |
Origins and characteristics
Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups: West Germanic languages, Eastern and Northern :
- after the loss of the w ng;
- the gemination of consonants (except r) before / j / ;
- replacing the ending -t-i to the second person singular in the past tense ;
- the appearance of short forms of the verbs be and go up (and German gehen stehen, Dutch gaan staan cons and the Old Norse ganga and standa);
- the development of the gerund.
However, many linguists doubt the existence of a common ancestor of West Germanic languages newer than the Proto-Germanic, that is to say a "proto-Germanic West" . Thus, some believe that after the separation of the eastern group, the remaining Germanic languages were divided into four main dialects : the Germanic north and the other three groups, collectively called "West Germanic"
- the Germanic North Sea , or ingvaeonique , ancestor of the Anglo-Frisian and Low German ;
- Germanic of the Elbe , the forefather High German ;
- Germanic the Weser and the Rhine , the ancestor of Frankish and Dutch.
The evidence for this theory comes from several linguistic innovations that are found in both the northern and western Germanic languages , including:
- mutation of proto-Germanic worms,
- development of the umlaut ;
- the rhotacism z to r;
- Development of demonstrative pronoun in the origin of this English.
From this point of view, the common properties of West Germanic languages does not come from a "proto-Germanic West" original, but rather from contacts that the Germanic peoples had them in central Europe and Scandinavian peoples which have been denied. Nevertheless, it has been argued that, after nearly identical syntax, the West Germanic languages were, initially at least, close enough to be mutually understandable .
Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages , the West Germanic languages found themselves divided island due to the development of Middle English on the one hand, and the second sound shift on the continent to the other. The second separated the consonant shift High German and other West Germanic languages. In early modern times, a wide variety of dialects exist between top-speaking south (the Upper Valais is the Germanic dialect alive southernmost) and the Low Saxon northern north. Although these two extremes are regarded as Germanic dialects, they are not mutually intelligible. Indeed, unlike the southern dialects, the northern ones were not affected by the second sound shift.
Among the variants of modern German, the Low German is closer to modern English. The district of Angeln , who gave his name to England , is at the extreme northern Germany , near the border with Denmark and the Baltic Sea. South of Angeln is the region where the Saxons lived (now included in the Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony ). The Anglo-Saxons , two Germanic tribes , were a mixture of many peoples of northern Germany and al peninsula Jutland.
List and classification
The divisions between subfamilies of West Germanic languages are rarely precisely defined and are rather continued language , dialects are inter-comprehensible adjacent unlike more distant dialects.
Comparison
The following table shows the relationships that bind the major West Germanic languages (English, Dutch and High German) using words from root proto-Germanic * se / * Tea, * hwa, and * he. (These roots are actually simplifications of three sets of roots of similar forms sharing the same initial consonant or alternating between two consonants in the case of * himself / * tea.)
- Middle English / West Midlands Franais
- Middle High German
References
- (In) This article is partially or entirely from the article in English entitled " West Germanic languages (see the list of authors )
- IETF language code : GMW
- (en) John A. Hawkins, The World's Major Languages, Oxford University Press, 1987 ( ISBN 0-19-520521-9 ), "Germanic languages", p. 68-76
- a , b and c (in) Orrin W. Robinson, Old and Its Closest Franais Deals, Stanford University Press, 1992 ( ISBN 0-8047-2221-8 )
- Hans Kuhn, "Zur Gliederung der Germanischer Sprachen," Zeitschrift fr deutsches in und deutsche Literatur Altertmer, vol. 66, 1955-56, p. 1-47
- But see Fausto Cercignani , Indo-European e in Germanic, in "Zeitschrift fr vergleichende Sprachforschung, 86 / 1, 1972, pp. 104-110.
- Graeme Davis (2006:154) notes: "the Germanic group of languages during the former period are much closer than previously believed. Indeed, it seems not unreasonable to see as dialects of one language. They are undoubtedly much closer together than are the various dialects of modern Chinese, for example. A modern analogy would be reasonable Arabic, where a considerable dialect diversity exists within the concept of a single Arabic. "In: (en) Graeme Davis, Comparative Syntax of Old Icelandic and Old Franais: Linguistic, Literary and Historical Implications Peter Lang, Bern, 2006 ( ISBN 3-03910-270-2 )
See also
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