German language

Deutsch redirects here. For other uses, see Deutsch 1.1

(disambiguation).

Origins

German (Deutsch [dt] ( )) is a West Germanic language. It derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.[10]
A number of words are derived from Latin and Greek,
and fewer from French and English. Widely spoken
languages which are most similar to German include
Luxembourgish, Dutch, the Frisian languages, English
and the Scandinavian languages.
German is written using the Latin alphabet. In addition
to the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with
umlauts (/, /, and /) and the letter (a special
kind of s(s)", called Eszett or scharfes Es"; it originated as a ligature of archaic forms of the letters s and z,
which were represented as and , respectively, that is,
+ = = ).
German is spoken natively by about 100 million people,
making it the most widely spoken native language in the
European Union and one of the major languages of the
world.[11]

The Germanic-speaking area of the Holy Roman Empire around

AD 962.

German is a pluricentric language, with multiple countries having their own standardised variants (e.g. Austrian
German, Swiss Standard German) as well as many dialects. There is also one variant referred to as Standard
German.

The history of the language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, separating Old High German dialects from Old Saxon. The
earliest evidence of Old High German is from scattered
Elder Futhark inscriptions, especially in Alemannic, from
the sixth century AD; the earliest glosses (Abrogans)
date to the eighth; and the oldest coherent texts (the
Hildebrandslied, the Muspilli and the Merseburg Incantations) to the ninth century. Old Saxon at this time belonged to the North Sea Germanic cultural sphere, and
Low Saxon was to fall under German rather than AngloFrisian inuence during the Holy Roman Empire.

German is the only ocial language of Germany,

Austria, and Liechtenstein; one of the ocial languages
of Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium; and a recognised minor language in many other countries, such as
Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Namibia, and Poland. At the
same time, German is the second most commonly used
scientic language and the third largest contributor to research and development, as well as an important language
in business and culture. Worldwide, Germany is ranked
number 5 in terms of annual publication of new books.
One tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world
are published in German.[12][13] German is also the second most used content language for websites.[14]

As Germany was divided into many dierent states, the

only force working for a unication or standardization of
German for several hundred years was the general wish of
writers to be understood by as many readers as possible.

1.2 Modern German

1.2.1 Germany

History

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

Main article: History of German

HISTORY

The ethnic groups of Austria-Hungary in 1910 according to

Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary by William R. Shepherd, 1911.

The widespread popularity of the Bible translated into German

by Martin Luther helped establish modern German

Ethnolinguistic map of AustriaHungary, 1910.

tion mainly on the bureaucratic standard language used

in Saxony (schsische Kanzleisprache), also known as
Meiner-Deutsch (German from the city of Meissen).
This language was based on Eastern Upper and Eastern Central German dialects and preserved much of the
grammatical system of Middle High German (unlike the
spoken German dialects in Central and Upper Germany,
which had already at that time begun to lose the genitive
case and the preterite tense).

corporation into the Habsburg domain. Others, such as

Pozsony (German: Pressburg, now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. A few cities remained mainly
non-German. However, most cities, such as Prague,
Budapest, Bratislava, Zagreb (German: Agram), and
Ljubljana (German: Laibach), were primarily German
during this time, although surrounded by territory where
other languages were spoken. In the eastern provinces
of Banat and Transylvania (German name: Siebenbrgen), German was the predominant language not only in
the larger townssuch as Temeswar (Timisoara), Hermannstadt (Sibiu) and Kronstadt (Brasov)but also in
many smaller localities in the surrounding areas.

Copies of the Bible featured a long list of glosses for each

region that translated words unknown in the region into
the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected
Luthers translation and tried to create their own Catholic
standard (gemeines Deutsch)the dierence in relation
to Protestant German was only minor. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted
standard was created, thus ending the period of Early
New High German.
1.2.3 Switzerland
Until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language: in urban northern Germany, the local
dialects of Low Saxon or Low German were spoken;
Standard German, which was markedly dierent, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered
the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides; however, the actual pronunciation of Standard German varies
from region to region.
1.2.2

The Austrian empire

German was the language of commerce and government

in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large
area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid19th century it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant, an urbanite, irrespective of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague
(German: Prag) and Budapest (Buda, German: Ofen),
were gradually Germanized in the years after their in-

linguistic map of Switzerland, 2000

In Switzerland, a number of local dialects are spoken in

the German-speaking cantons, but the Swiss variety of
Standard German is used as a written language. It is one
of the main languages, along with French, Italian and Romansh.

3
1.2.4

Standardization

1852 and 1860. In 1860, grammatical and orthographic

rules rst appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, this
was declared the standard denition of the German language. Ocial revisions of some of these rules were not
issued until the controversial German orthography reform
of 1996 was ocially promulgated by governments of all
German-speaking countries.

2 Geographic distribution

Spread of the German language in 1910

Main article: List of territorial entities where German is

an ocial language
See also: German diaspora
German-speaking communities can be found in the
former German colony of Namibia as well as in
other destinations of German emigration such as
the USA, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic,
Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Peru,
Venezuela (where the dialect Alemn Coloniero developed), Jordan,[15] South Africa and Australia. In
Namibia, German Namibians retain German educational
institutions.

Spread of the German language since 1950

In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with
a complete standardization of the German language in
its written form. The Deutsche Bhnensprache (literally,
German stage language) had established conventions for
German pronunciation in theatre (Bhnendeutsch) three
years earlier; however, this was an articial norm not corresponding to any traditional spoken dialect, but based
on the pronunciation of Standard German in Northern
Germany (where it was a foreign language for most inhabitants, whose native dialects were Low German, and
usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in
fact, Standard German remained an exclusively or almost
exclusively written language, not identical with any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until
well into the 19th century), although it was subsequently
frequently regarded as a general prescriptive norm, despite diering pronunciation traditions especially in the
Upper-German-speaking regions that persist until the
present day in part (especially the pronunciation of the
ending -ig as [k] instead of []).

Examples of German language in Namibian everyday life

2.1 Europe
Main articles: German-speaking Europe and German as
a minority language
The German language is the most widely spoken rst language in the European Union, with around 100 million
native speakers.[26]

German is primarily spoken in Germany (where it is

the rst language for more than 95% of the population), Austria (89%), Switzerland (65%), the majority
of Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein - the latter being the
only state with German as the sole ocial and spoken
The most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the language.
German language is found within the Deutsches Wrter- German is also one of the three ocial languages of
buch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm Belgium, alongside Dutch and French. Speakers are priand is composed of 16 parts, which were issued between marily concentrated within the German-speaking ComMedia and written works are now almost all produced in
Standard German (often called Hochdeutsch (High German)) which is understood in all areas where German is
spoken.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION

2.3 North America

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

Knowledge of the German language throughout Europe. German

has around 100 million native speakers.

munity region in eastern Belgium, and form about 1% of

the countrys population.
Other European German-speaking communities are
found in Northern Italy (in South Tyrol and in some municipalities in other provinces), in the French regions of
Alsace and Lorraine, and in some border villages of the
former South Jutland County of Denmark.
German-speaking communities can also be found in
parts of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland,
Romania, Serbia, Russia and Kazakhstan. Forced expulsions after World War II and massive emigration to Germany in the 1980s and 1990s have partly depopulated
these communities.

2.2

Africa

Main article: German language in Namibia

In the United States, the states of North Dakota and

South Dakota are the only states where German is the
most common language spoken at home after English
(the second most spoken language in other states is
Spanish, French or Tagalog).[27] German geographical
names can also be found throughout the Midwest region of the country, such as New Ulm and many other
towns in Minnesota; Bismarck (North Dakotas state capital), Munich, Karlsruhe, and Strasburg in North Dakota;
New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Weimar, and Muenster
in Texas; Corn (formerly Korn), Kiefer and Loyal (formerly Kiel) and Berlin in Oklahoma; and Kiel, Berlin,
and Germantown in Wisconsin.
Between 1843 and 1910, more than 5 million Germans
emigrated overseas,[17] mostly to the United States.[28]
German remained an important medium for churches,
schools, newspapers, and even the administration of the
United States Brewers Association[29] through the early
20th century, but was severely repressed during World
War I. Over the course of the 20th century many of
the descendants of 18th century and 19th century immigrants ceased speaking German at home, but small populations of speakers can still be found in Pennsylvania
(Amish, Hutterites, Dunkards and some Mennonites historically spoke Hutterite German and a West Central German variety of German known as Pennsylvania German
or Pennsylvania Dutch), Kansas (Mennonites and Volga
Germans), North Dakota (Hutterite Germans, Mennonites, Russian Germans, Volga Germans, and Baltic
Germans), South Dakota, Montana, Texas (Texas German), Wisconsin, Indiana, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Ohio
(72,570).[30] A signicant group of German Pietists in
Iowa formed the Amana Colonies and continue to practice speaking their heritage language. Early twentieth
century immigration was often to St. Louis, Chicago,
New York, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

The dialects of German which are or were primarily

spoken in colonies or communities founded by Germanspeaking people resemble the dialects of the regions the
founders came from. For example, Hutterite German resembles dialects of Carinthia. Texas German is a dialect
spoken in the areas of Texas settled by the Adelsverein,
such as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. In the Amana
Colonies in the state of Iowa, Amana German is spoken.
Plautdietsch is a large minority language spoken in Northern Mexico by the Mennonite communities, and is spoken
by more than 200,000 people in Mexico. Pennsylvania
German is a West Central German dialect spoken by most
There are a number of communities where German of the Amish population of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Inis spoken in South Africa, especially in and around diana and resembles Palatinate German dialects.
Wartburg.
Hutterite German is an Upper German dialect of the
German is spoken by about 25-30,000 people as a mother
tongue in the former German colony of Namibia. Though
it no longer enjoys status as an ocial language, it
is used in a wide variety of spheres, especially business and tourism, as well as churches (most notably
the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Namibia (GELK)), schools (e.g., the Deutsche Hhere
Privatschule Windhoek), literature (German-Namibian
authors include Giselher W. Homann), radio (Germanlanguage programming of the Namibian Broadcasting
Corporation), and music (e.g., artist EES).

2.4

South America

5
Durango, and Zacatecas.

2.4 South America

In Brazil, the largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where
Riograndenser Hunsrckisch developed), Santa Catarina,
Paran, So Paulo and Esprito Santo. There are also
important concentrations of German-speaking descendants in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Peru
and Bolivia. In the 20th century, over 100,000 German political refugees and invited entrepreneurs settled in Latin America, in countries such as Costa Rica,
Panama, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic, to establish German-speaking enclaves, and reportedly there
is a small German immigration to Puerto Rico. Nearly
all inhabitants of the city of Pomerode, a municipality
where this language is co-ocial[31][32] in the state of
Santa Catarina in Brazil, can speak German.
German-language newspapers in the U.S. in 1922

In most locations where German immigrants settled,

the vast majority of their descendents no longer speak
German, as they have been largely assimilated into
the host language and culture of the specic location of settlement; generally English in North America, and Spanish or Portuguese in Latin America. However, the Brazilian state Esprito Santo has Pomeranian
and German as linguistic heritages ocially approved
statewide,[33][34][35][36] while Rio Grande do Sul has
Riograndenser Hunsrckisch German as linguistic heritage ocially approved statewide.[37][38] Moreover,
some cities in Brazil have the German or Pomeranian as
co-ocial languages. They are:

Austro-Bavarian variety of the German language, which

is spoken by Hutterite communities in Canada and the
United States. Hutterite is spoken in the U.S. states of
Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and
Minnesota; and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Its speakers belong to some
Schmiedleit, Lehrerleit, and Dariusleit Hutterite groups,
but there are also speakers among the older generations of
Prairieleit (the descendants of those Hutterites who chose
not to settle in colonies). Hutterite children who grow up
in the colonies learn to speak Hutterite German before Municipalities that have co-ocial Pomeranian (or
learning English, the standard language of the surround- Pommersch) language:
ing areas, in school. Many of these children, though, con- Esprito Santo:
tinue with German Grammar School, in addition to public school, throughout a students elementary education.
Domingos Martins[39][40][41]
In Canada, there are 622,650 speakers of German ac Laranja da Terra[40][41]
cording to the most recent census in 2006,[20] while people of German ancestry (German Canadians) are found
Pancas[40][42][43]
throughout the country. German-speaking communi Santa Maria de Jetib[40][44]
ties are particularly found in British Columbia (118,035)
[20]
and Ontario (230,330).
There is a large and vibrant
Vila Pavo[40][45]
community in the city of Kitchener, Ontario, which was
at one point named Berlin. German immigrants were
instrumental in the countrys three largest urban areas: Minas Gerais:
Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver; while post-Second
Itueta (only in the district of Vila Nietzel)[46][47][48]
World War immigrants managed to preserve a uency in
the German language in their respective neighborhoods
and sections. In the rst half of the 20 century, over a Santa Catarina:
million German-Canadians made the language Canadas
third most spoken after French and English.
Pomerode[49]
In Mexico there are also large populations of German
ancestry, mainly in the cities of: Mexico City, Rio Grande do Sul:
Puebla, Mazatln, Tapachula, Ecatepec de Morelos, and
larger populations scattered in the states of Chihuahua,
Canguu (under approval)[50]

3 STANDARD GERMAN

German language center in Chandigarh.

the Barossa Valley near Adelaide. Usage of German

sharply declined with the advent of World War I, due to
the prevailing anti-German sentiment in the population
and related government action. It continued to be used
as a rst language into the twentieth century but now its
use is limited to a few older speakers.

Municipalities where Pomeranian dialects are co-ocial in

Esprito Santo, Brazil.
Rondnia:

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

German migration to New Zealand in the 19th century

was less pronounced than migration from Britain, Ireland, and perhaps even Scandinavia. Despite this there
were signicant pockets of German speaking communities which lasted until the rst decades of the 20th
century. German-speakers settled principally in Puhoi,
Nelson, and Gore. At the last census (2006), 37,500 people in New Zealand spoke German, making it the third
most spoken European language after English and French
and overall the ninth most spoken language.

There is also an important German creole being studMunicipalities that have co-ocial language Ri- ied and recovered, named Unserdeutsch, spoken in the
former German colony of German New Guinea, across
ograndenser Hunsrckisch language:
Micronesia and in northern Australia (i.e. coastal parts
Santa Catarina:
of Queensland and Western Australia), by a few elderly
people. The risk of its extinction is serious and eorts to
Antnio Carlos[55]
revive interest in the language are being implemented by
scholars.
Treze Tlias (language teaching is compulsory in
schools, standing on stage in public ocial of the
municipality)[56][57][58]

3 Standard German

Rio Grande do Sul:

Santa Maria do Herval (under approval)[59]

2.5

Oceania

Main article: Standard German

Standard German originated not as a traditional dialect
of a specic region, but as a written language. However,
there are places where the traditional regional dialects
have been replaced by new vernaculars based on standard
German; this is the case in large stretches of Northern
Germany, but also in major cities in other parts of the
country. It is important to note, however, that this colloquial standard German diers greatly from the formal
written language, especially in grammar and syntax, in
which it has been inuenced by dialectal speech.

In Australia, the state of South Australia experienced a

pronounced wave of immigration in the 1840s from Prussia (particularly the Silesia region). With the prolonged
isolation from other German speakers and contact with
Australian English, a unique dialect known as Barossa
German has developed and is spoken predominantly in Standard German diers regionally, between German-

3.2

German as a foreign language

7
gion), Italy (Gressoney valley), Namibia, Poland (Opole
region), and Russia (Asowo and Halbstadt).
German is one of the 23 ocial languages of the European Union and one of the three working languages. It
is the language with the largest number of native speakers in the European Union and is the second-most spoken language in Europe, just behind English and ahead
of French.

3.2 German as a foreign language

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

Main article: German as a foreign language

German is the third most taught foreign language in the

speaking countries, in vocabulary and some instances of

pronunciation, and even grammar and orthography. This
variation must not be confused with the variation of local dialects. Even though the regional varieties of standard German are only to a certain degree inuenced by
the local dialects, they are very distinct. German is thus
considered a pluricentric language.
In most regions, the speakers use a continuum from more
dialectal varieties to more standard varieties according to
Knowledge of German as a foreign language (second language
circumstances.
in Luxembourg) in the EU member states (+Turkey), in per cent
In the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, mixtures
of dialect and standard are very seldom used, and the
use of standard German is largely restricted to the written language. This situation has been called a medial
diglossia. Swiss Standard German is used in the Swiss
education system, while Austrian Standard German is ofcially used in the Austrian education system. A mixture
of dialect and standard also does not occur in Northern
Germany. The traditional dialects there are Low German, while Standard German is a High German language.
Because the dialects of this region are of a completely different language, they don't mesh with Standard German
the way High German dialects (e.g. Bavarian, Swabian,
Hessian) are able to.

3.1

Ocial status

Standard German is the only ocial language in Liechtenstein; it shares ocial status in Germany (with Danish,
Frisian, Romany and Sorbian as minority languages), in
Austria (with Slovene, Croatian, and Hungarian as minority languages), Switzerland (with French, Italian and
Romansh), Belgium (with Dutch and French) and Luxembourg (with French and Luxembourgish). It is an ocial regional language in Italy (South Tyrol), as well as in
the cities of Sopron (Hungary), Krahule (Slovakia) and
several cities in Romania. It is the ocial language of
command (together with Italian) of the Vatican Swiss
Guard.

of the adult population (+15), 2005.

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

German is the main language of about 95[2] 100
million[26] people in Europe (as of 2005), or 13% of all
Europeans; it is the 2nd most spoken native language in
Europe after Russian, above French (67 million speakers
in 2004) and English (64 million speakers in 2004). It
is therefore the most spoken rst language in the EU. It
is the 2nd most known foreign language in the EU.[63] It
is one of the ocial languages of the European Union,
and one of the three working languages of the European
Commission, along with English and French. Among citizens of the EU-15 countries, 32% say they can converse
in German (either as a mother tongue or as a second or
foreign language).[64] This is assisted by the widespread
availability of German TV by cable or satellite.
German was once, and still remains to some extent,
a lingua franca in Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe.[65]

4 Dialects

Main article: German dialects

German is a member of the West Germanic language of
the Germanic family of languages, which in turn is part of
the Indo-European language family. The German dialect
continuum is traditionally divided most broadly into High
German has an ocially recognized status as a regional or German and Low German, also called Low Saxon. Yet,
auxiliary language in Denmark[61] (Southern Jutland re- historically, High German dialects and Low Saxon/Low

4 DIALECTS
the most powerful German states of that period were located in Middle and Southern Germany.
The 18th and 19th centuries were marked by mass
education in Standard German in schools. Gradually
Low German came to be politically viewed as a mere
dialect spoken by the uneducated. Today Low Saxon
can be divided in two groups: Low Saxon varieties with
a reasonable standard German inux and varieties of
Standard German with a Low Saxon inuence known as
Missingsch. Sometimes, Low Saxon and Low Franconian varieties are grouped together because both are unaected by the High German consonant shift. However,
the proportion of the population who can understand and
speak it has decreased continuously since World War II.

4.2 High German

Main article: High German languages

Distribution of the native speakers of major continental WestGermanic dialectal varieties.

German dialects do not belong to the same language.

Nevertheless, in todays Germany, Low Saxon/Low German is often perceived as a dialectal variation of Standard German on a functional level, even by many native
speakers. The same phenomenon is found in the eastern Netherlands, as the traditional dialects are not always
identied with their Low Saxon/Low German origins, but
with Dutch.[66]

High German is divided into Central German, High

Franconian (a transitional dialect), and Upper German.
Central German dialects include Ripuarian, Moselle
Franconian, Rhine Franconian, Central Hessian, East
Hessian, North Hessian, Thuringian, Silesian German,
Lorraine Franconian, Mittelalemannisch, North Upper
Saxon, High Prussian, Lausitzisch-Neumrkisch and
Upper Saxon. It is spoken in the southeastern Netherlands, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of France,
and parts of Germany roughly between the River Main
and the southern edge of the Lowlands. Modern Standard
German is mostly based on Central German, although the
common (but not linguistically correct) German term for
modern Standard German is Hochdeutsch, that is, High
German.

The variation among the German dialects is considerable,

with often only neighbouring dialects being mutually intelligible. Some dialects are not intelligible to people who
only know standard German. However, all German di- The Moselle Franconian varieties spoken in Luxembourg
alects belong to the dialect continuum of High German have been ocially standardised and institutionalised and
and Low Saxon languages.
are usually considered a separate language known as
Luxembourgish.

4.1

Low German

Main article: Low German

Middle Low German was the lingua franca of the
Hanseatic League. It was the predominant language in
Northern Germany. This changed in the 16th century:
in 1534 the Luther Bible was published. This translation
is considered to be an important step towards the evolution of the Early New High German. It aimed to be understandable to a broad audience and was based mainly
on Central and Upper German varieties. The Early New
High German language gained more prestige than Low
German and became the language of science and literature. Around the same time, the Hanseatic league, based
around northern ports, lost its importance as new trade
routes to Asia and the Americas were established, while

The two High Franconian dialects are East Franconian

and South Franconian.
Upper German dialects include Northern AustroBavarian, Central Austro-Bavarian, Southern AustroBavarian, Swabian, East Franconian, High Alemannic
German, Highest Alemannic German, Alsatian and Low
Alemannic German. They are spoken in parts of the
Alsace, southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and
the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy.
Wymysorys is a High German dialect of Poland native
to Wilamowice, and Sathmarisch and Siebenbrgisch are
High German dialects of Romania. The High German
varieties spoken by Ashkenazi Jews (mostly in the former Russian Empire) have several unique features, and
are usually considered as a separate language, Yiddish. It
is the only Germanic language that does not use the Latin
script as the basis of its standard alphabet.

5.1

4.3

Noun inection

Varieties of standard German

In German linguistics, German dialects are distinguished

from varieties of standard German.
The German dialects are the traditional local varieties. They are traditionally traced back to the different German tribes. Many of them are hardly understandable to someone who knows only standard
German, since they often dier from standard German in lexicon, phonology and syntax. If a narrow
denition of language based on mutual intelligibility
is used, many German dialects are considered to be
separate languages (for instance in the Ethnologue).
However, such a point of view is unusual in German
linguistics.
The varieties of standard German refer to the dierent local varieties of the pluricentric standard German. They only dier slightly in lexicon and phonology. In certain regions, they have replaced the traditional German dialects, especially in Northern Germany.

Grammar

Main article: German grammar

German is an inected language with three grammatical
genders; as such, there can be a large number of words
derived from the same root.

5.1

Noun inection

Declension of the German denite articles, der, die and das

(the).

German nouns inect by case, gender, and number:

four cases:
accusative.

nominative, genitive, dative, and

three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.

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

9
...ismus (-ism) are masculine. Others are more variable, sometimes depending on the region in which
the language is spoken; and some endings are not
restricted to one gender, e.g. ...er (-er), e.g. Feier
(feminine), celebration, party, Arbeiter (masculine),
labourer, and Gewitter (neuter), thunderstorm.
two numbers: singular and plural
This degree of inection is considerably less than in Old
High German and other old Indo-European languages
such as Latin, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit, and also
somewhat less than, for instance, Old English, modern
Icelandic and Russian. The three genders have collapsed
in the plural, which now behaves, grammatically, somewhat as a fourth gender. With four cases and three genders plus plural there are 16 permutations of case and gender/number, but there are only six forms of the denite article, which together cover all 16 permutations. In nouns,
inection for case is required in the singular for strong
masculine and neuter nouns, in the genitive, and sometimes in the dative. Both of these cases are losing ground
to substitutes in informal speech. The dative noun ending is considered somewhat old-fashioned in many contexts and is often dropped, but it is still used in proverbs
and the like, in formal speech, and in written language.
Weak masculine nouns share a common case ending for
genitive, dative and accusative in the singular. Feminine
nouns are not declined in the singular. The plural does
have an inection for the dative. In total, seven inectional endings (not counting plural markers) exist in German: -s, -es, -n, -ns, -en, -ens, -e.
In German orthography, nouns and most words with the
syntactical function of nouns are capitalised, to make it
easier for readers to determine the function of a word
within a sentence (Am Freitag ging ich einkaufen."On
Friday I went shopping."; Eines Tages kreuzte er endlich
auf."One day he nally showed up.) This convention
is almost unique to German today (shared perhaps only by
the closely related Luxemburgish language and several insular dialects of the North Frisian language), although it
was historically common in other languages such as Danish (which abolished the capitalization of nouns in 1948)
and English.
Like most Germanic languages, German forms noun
compounds where the rst noun modies the category
given by the second, for example: Hundehtte (dog
hut"; specically: dog kennel). Unlike English,
where newer compounds or combinations of longer
nouns are often written in open with separating
spaces, German (like some other Germanic languages)
nearly always uses the closed form without spaces,
for example: Baumhaus (tree house).
German
allows arbitrarily long compounds, as English does
to some extent. (See also English compounds.) In
German these are quite common. The longest German
word veried to be actually in (albeit very limited) use is
Rindeischetikettierungsberwachungsaufgabenbertragungsgesetz,

10

5 GRAMMAR

which, literally translated, is beef labelling supervision

duty assignment law [from Rind (cattle), Fleisch (meat),
Etikettierung(s) (labelling), berwachung(s) (supervision), Aufgaben (duties), bertragung(s) (assignment),
Gesetz (law)]. However, examples like this are perceived by native speakers as excessively bureaucratic,
stylistically awkward, and even satiric.

5.2

Verb inection

Main article: German verbs

The meaning of basic verbs can be expanded, and sometimes radically changed, through the use of a number
of prexes. Some prexes have a specic meaning; the
prex zer- refers to destruction, as in zerreien (to tear
apart), zerbrechen (to break apart), zerschneiden (to cut
apart). Other prexes have only the vaguest meaning
in themselves; ver- is found in a number of verbs with
a large variety of meanings, as in versuchen (to try)
from suchen (to seek), vernehmen (to interrogate) from
nehmen (to take), verteilen (to distribute) from teilen
(to share), verstehen (to understand) from stehen (to
stand).

Other examples include haften (to stick), verhaften (to detain); kaufen (to buy), verkaufen (to sell); hren (to hear),
aufhren (to cease); fahren (to drive), erfahren (to expe two main conjugation classes: weak and strong (as in rience).
English). Additionally, there is a third class, known Many German verbs have a separable prex, often with an
as mixed verbs, whose conjugation combines fea- adverbial function. In nite verb forms this is split o and
tures of both the strong and weak patterns.
moved to the end of the clause, and is hence considered by
some to be a resultative particle. For example, mitgehen
three persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
meaning to go along would be split, giving Gehen Sie
mit? (Literal: Go you with?" ; Formal: Are you going
two numbers: singular and plural
along?").

Inection of standard German verbs includes:

three moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive (in Indeed, several parenthetical clauses may occur between
addition to innitive)
the prex of a nite verb and its complement: e.g.
two voices: active and passive; the passive voice uses
auxiliary verbs and is dividable into static and dynamic.
two tenses without auxiliary verbs (present,
preterite) and four tenses constructed with auxiliary
verbs (perfect, pluperfect, future and future perfect)

Er kam am Freitagabend nach einem harten

Arbeitstag und dem blichen rger, der ihn
schon seit Jahren immer wieder an seinem Arbeitsplatz plagt, mit fraglicher Freude auf ein
Mahl, das seine Frau ihm, wie er hote, bereits
aufgetischt hatte, endlich zu Hause an .

the distinction between grammatical aspects is A selectively literal translation of this example to illustrate
rendered by combined use of subjunctive and/or the point might look like this:
preterite marking: thus the plain indicative voice
He came on Friday evening, after a hard day
uses neither of those two markers; the subjunctive
at work and the usual annoyances that had time
by itself conveys second-hand information; subjuncand again been troubling him for years now at
tive plus preterite marks the conditional state; and
his workplace, with questionable joy, to a meal
the preterite alone shows either plain indicative (in
which, as he hoped, his wife had already put on
the past), or functions as a (literal) alternative for
the table, nally at home on.
either second-hand-information or the conditional
state of the verb, when necessary for clarity.
the distinction between perfect and progressive aspect is and has at every stage of development been
a productive category of the older language and
in nearly all documented dialects, but, strangely
enough, is nowadays rigorously excluded from written usage in its present normalised form.

5.3 Word order

There are two common word orders: one is for main

clauses and another for subordinate clauses. In normal afrmative sentences the inected verb always has position
2. In polar questions, exclamations, and wishes it always
has position 1. In subordinate clauses the verb occurs at
disambiguation of completed vs. uncompleted the very end.
forms is widely observed and regularly generated by German requires that a verbal element (main verb or
common prexes (blicken - to look, erblicken - to see auxiliary verb) appear second in the sentence. The verb
[unrelated form: sehen - to see]).
is preceded by the topic of the sentence. The element in
Verb prexes

focus appears at the end of the sentence. For a sentence

without an auxiliary this gives, amongst other options:

5.3

Word order
Der alte Mann gab mir gestern das Buch. (The
old man gave me yesterday the book; normal
order)
Das Buch gab mir gestern der alte Mann. (The
book gave [to] me yesterday the old man)
Das Buch gab der alte Mann mir gestern. (The
book gave the old man [to] me yesterday)
Das Buch gab mir der alte Mann gestern. (The
book gave [to] me the old man yesterday)
Gestern gab mir der alte Mann das Buch. (Yesterday gave [to] me the old man the book, normal order)
Mir gab der alte Mann das Buch gestern. ([To]
me gave the old man the book yesterday (entailing: as for you, it was another date))

11
Both time expressions in front:
Gestern um 10 Uhr betrat der Direktor mit einem Schirm in der Hand
sein Bro.
Yesterday at 10 o'clock entered the
manager with an umbrella in the
hand his oce.
The full time specication Gestern um 10 Uhr
is highlighted.
Another possibility:
Gestern um 10 Uhr betrat der Direktor sein Bro mit einem Schirm in
der Hand.
Yesterday at 10 o'clock the manager entered his oce with an umbrella in his hand.

The position of a noun in a German sentence has no bearing on its being a subject, an object, or another argument.
Both the time specication and the fact he carIn a declarative sentence in English, if the subject does
ried an umbrella are accentuated.
not occur before the predicate, the sentence could well be
misunderstood. This is not so in German. The exibility
to vary the word order allows one to emphasise specic Swapped adverbs:
words:
Normal word order:
Der Direktor betrat gestern um 10
Uhr mit einem Schirm in der Hand
sein Bro
The manager entered yesterday at
10 o'clock with an umbrella in the
hand his oce.
Object in front:

Der Direktor betrat mit einem

Schirm in der Hand gestern um 10
Uhr sein Bro.
The manager entered with an umbrella in the hand yesterday at 10
o'clock his oce.
The phrase mit einem Schirm in der
Hand is highlighted.
Swapped object:

Sein Bro betrat der Direktor gestern

um 10 Uhr mit einem Schirm in der
Hand.
His oce entered the manager yesterday at 10 o'clock with an umbrella in the hand.

Der Direktor betrat gestern um 10

Uhr sein Bro mit einem Schirm in
der Hand.
The warden entered yesterday at 10
o'clock his oce with an umbrella
in his hand.

The object Sein Bro (his oce) is thus highlighted; it could be the topic of the next sentence.

The time specication and the object sein Bro

(his oce) are lightly accentuated.

Adverb of time in front:

Gestern betrat der Direktor um 10
Uhr mit einem Schirm in der Hand
sein Bro. (aber heute ohne Schirm)
Yesterday entered the manager at
10 o'clock with an umbrella in the
hand his oce. (but today without
umbrella)

The exibility to use dierent word orders also broadens

the options to use language tools (e.g. poetic meter and
gures of speech) more freely.
Auxiliary verbs
When an auxiliary verb is present, it appears in second
position, and the main verb appears at the end. This occurs notably in the creation of the perfect tense. Many
word orders are still possible, e.g.:

12

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

Modal verbs
Sentences using modal verbs place the innitive at the
end. For example, the English sentence Should he go
home?" would be rearranged in German to say Should
he (to) home go?" (Soll er nach Hause gehen?). Thus in
sentences with several subordinate or relative clauses the
innitives are clustered at the end. Compare the similar
clustering of prepositions in the following (highly contrived) English sentence: What did you bring that book
which I don't like to be read to out of up for?"
Multiple innitives
German subordinate clauses have all verbs clustered at
the end. Given that auxiliaries encode future, passive,
modality, and the perfect, this can lead to very long chains Duden dictionary.
of verbs at the end of the sentence. In these constructions,
the past participle in ge- is often replaced by the innitive.
Man nimmt an, dass der Deserteur wohl erschossenV wordenpsv seinperf sollmod
One suspects that the deserter probably shot become be
should
(It is suspected that the deserter probably should have
been shot)
The order at the end of such strings is subject to variation,
though the latter version is unusual.
Er wusste nicht, dass der Agent einen Nachschlssel hatte
machen lassen
He knew not that the agent a picklock had make let
Er wusste nicht, dass der Agent einen Nachschlssel
machen lassen hatte
He knew not that the agent a picklock make let had
(He did not know that the agent had had a picklock
made)

Vocabulary

Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the European language family. However, there is a signicant amount of loanwords from
other languages, in particular from Latin, Greek, Italian,
French[67] and most recently English.[68]
Latin words were already imported into the predecessor
of the German language during the Roman Empire and

underwent all the characteristic phonetic changes in German. Their origin is thus no longer recognizable for most
speakers (e.g. Pforte, Tafel, Mauer from Latin porta, tabula, murus). Borrowing from Latin continued after the
fall of the Roman Empire during Christianization, mediated by the church and monasteries. Another important
inux of Latin words can be observed during Renaissance
humanism. In a scholarly context, the borrowings from
Latin have continued until today, in the last decades often
indirectly through borrowings from English. During the
15th to 17th centuries, the inuence of Italian was great,
leading to many Italian loanwords in the elds of architecture, nance, and music. The inuence of the French
language in the 17th to 19th centuries resulted in an even
greater import of French words. The English inuence
was already present in the 19th century, but did not become dominant until the second half of the 20th century.
At the same time, the eectiveness of the German language in forming equivalents for foreign words from its
inherited Germanic stem repertory is great. Thus, Notker
Labeo was able to translate Aristotelian treatises in pure
(Old High) German in the decades after the year 1000.
The tradition of loan translation was revitalized in the
18th century, with linguists like Joachim Heinrich Campe
who introduced hundreds of words that are still used in
modern German. Even today, there are movements that
try to promote the Ersatz (substitution) of foreign words
deemed unnecessary with German alternatives.[69] It is
claimed that this would also help in spreading modern

7.1

Present

13

or scientic notions among the less educated, and thus Written texts in German are easily recognisable as such
democratise public life, too.
by distinguishing features such as umlauts and certain
As in English, there are many pairs of synonyms due orthographical featuresGerman is the only major lanto the enrichment of the Germanic vocabulary with guage that capitalizes all nouns, a holdover from when it
loanwords from Latin and Latinized Greek. These words was widely done in Northern Europe in the early modern
often have dierent connotations from their Germanic era (including English for a while, in the 1700s)
counterparts and are usually perceived as more scholarly. and the frequent occurrence of long compounds.
The longest German word that has been published is
"Donaudampfschiahrtselektrizittenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtenge
Historie - historical, (Geschichte, geschichtlich)
made of 79 characters. Since legibility and convenience
set certain boundaries, compounds consisting of more
Humanitt - humaneness, (Menschlichkeit)
than three or four nouns are almost exclusively found in
humorous contexts. (In contrast, while English can also
Millennium - millennium, (Jahrtausend)
string nouns together, it usually separates the nouns with
Perzeption - perception, (Wahrnehmung)
spaces.)
Vokabular - vocabulary, (Wortschatz)

7.1 Present
The size of the vocabulary of German is dicult to estimate. The Deutsches Wrterbuch (The German Dictionary) initiated by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm already
contained over 330,000 headwords in its rst edition. The
modern German scientic vocabulary is estimated at nine
million words and word groups (based on the analysis of
35 million sentences of a corpus in Leipzig, which as of
July 2003 included 500 million words in total).[70]

Before the German orthography reform of 1996, replaced ss after long vowels and diphthongs and before
consonants, word-, or partial-word-endings. In reformed
spelling, replaces ss only after long vowels and diphthongs. Since there is no capital , it is always written
as SS when capitalization is required. For example,
Maband (tape measure) is capitalized MASSBAND. An
exception is the use of in legal documents and forms
when capitalizing names. To avoid confusion with similar names, a "" is to be used instead of SS. (So:
7 Orthography
KRELEIN instead of KRESSLEIN.) A capital
has been proposed and included in Unicode (""; UniMain articles: German orthography and German braille
code character U+1E9E), but it is not yet recognized as
German is written in the Latin alphabet. In addition to
standard German. In Switzerland, is not used at all.

German alphabet in handwritten conventions

the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with

Umlaut, namely , and , as well as the Eszett or
scharfes s (sharp s), . In Switzerland ss is used instead of "". Additionally, when written in capitals, ""
is replaced with SS in Germany, while in Austria it is
traditionally replaced with SZ (the same digraph used
in Hungarian for the s sound); there are some exceptions to these rules (see below).

Umlaut vowels (, , ) are commonly transcribed with

ae, oe, and ue if the umlauts are not available on the keyboard or other medium used. In the same manner can
be transcribed as ss. Some operating systems use key
sequences to extend the set of possible characters to include, amongst other things, umlauts; in Microsoft Windows this is done using Alt codes. German readers understand those transcriptions (although they look unusual),
but they are avoided if the regular umlauts are available because they are a makeshift, not proper spelling.
(In Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, city and family
names exist where the extra e has a vowel lengthening
eect, e.g. Raesfeld [rasflt], Coesfeld [kosflt] and
Itzehoe [tsho], but this use of the letter e after a/o/u
does not occur in the present-day spelling of words other
than proper nouns.)
There is no general agreement on where letters with umlauts occur in the sorting sequence. Telephone directories treat them by replacing them with the base vowel
followed by an e. Some dictionaries sort each umlauted
vowel as a separate letter after the base vowel, but more
commonly words with umlauts are ordered immediately
after the same word without umlauts. As an example in
a telephone book rzte occurs after Adressenverlage but
before Anlagenbauer (because is replaced by Ae). In a

14

8 PHONOLOGY

dictionary rzte comes after Arzt, but in some dictionaries rzte and all other words starting with may occur
after all words starting with A. In some older dictionaries
or indexes, initial Sch and St are treated as separate letters and are listed as separate entries after S, but they are
usually treated as S+C+H and S+T.

which made a short issue of it, claiming that the states had
to decide for themselves and that only in schools could the
reform be made the ocial ruleeverybody else could
continue writing as they had learned it. After 10 years,
without any intervention by the federal parliament, a major revision was installed in 2006, just in time for the
Written German also typically uses an alternative opening coming school year. In 2007, some traditional spellings
inverted comma (quotation mark) as in Guten Morgen!. were nally invalidated, while in 2008, on the other hand,
many of the old comma rules were again put in force.

7.2

Past

Further information: 2nd Orthographic Conference

(German), Antiqua-Fraktur dispute and German orthography reform of 1944
Until the early 20th century, German was mostly printed
in blackletter typefaces (mostly in Fraktur, but also in
Schwabacher) and written in corresponding handwriting
(for example Kurrent and Stterlin). These variants of
the Latin alphabet are very dierent from the serif or sans
serif Antiqua typefaces used today, and particularly the
handwritten forms are dicult for the untrained to read.
The printed forms, however, were claimed by some to
be more readable when used for Germanic languages.[71]
(Often, foreign names in a text were printed in a normal
typeface even though the rest of the text was in Fraktur.)
The Nazis initially promoted Fraktur and Schwabacher
since they were considered Aryan, although they abolished them in 1941, claiming that these letters were Jewish. The Fraktur script remains present in everyday life
in pub signs, beer brands and other forms of advertisement, where it is used to convey a certain rusticality and
antiquity.
A proper use of the long s, (langes s), , is essential for
writing German text in Fraktur typefaces. Many Antiqua
typefaces include the long s also. A specic set of rules
applies for the use of long s in German text, but nowadays it is rarely used in Antiqua typesetting. Any lower
case s at the beginning of a syllable would be a long s, as
opposed to a terminal s or short s (the more common variation of the letter s), which marks the end of a syllable;
for example, in dierentiating between the words Wachtube (guard-house) and Wachstube (tube of polish/wax).
One can easily decide which s to use by appropriate hyphenation, (Wach-tube vs. Wachs-tube). The long s
only appears in lower case.

7.3

Reform of 1996

Main article: German orthography reform of 1996

The orthography reform of 1996 led to public controversy
and considerable dispute. The states (Bundeslnder) of
North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria would not accept
it. The dispute landed at one point in the highest court,

The most noticeable change was probably in the use of

the letter , called scharfes s (Sharp S) or ess-zett (pronounced ess-tsett). Traditionally, this letter was used in
three situations: 1) after a long vowel or vowel combination, 2) before a t, and 3) at the end of a syllable, thus
Fe, pat, and da. Currently only the rst rule is in effect, thus Fe, passt, and dass. The word Fu 'foot' has
the letter because it contains a long vowel, even though
that letter occurs at the end of a syllable. The logic of
this change is that an '' is a single letter whereas 'ss obviously are two letters, so the same distinction applies as
for instance between the words 'den' and 'denn'.

8 Phonology
Main article: German phonology

8.1 Vowels
In German, vowels (excluding diphthongs; see below) are
either short or long, as follows:
Short // is realized as [] in stressed syllables (including
secondary stress), but as [] in unstressed syllables. Note
that stressed short // can be spelled either with e or with
(for instance, htte 'would have' and Kette 'chain', rhyme).
In general, the short vowels are open and the long vowels
are close. The one exception is the open // sound of long
; in some varieties of standard German, // and /e/ have
merged into [e], removing this anomaly. In that case,
pairs like Bren/Beeren 'bears/berries or hre/Ehre 'spike
(of wheat)/honour' become homophonous (see: Captain
Bluebear).
In many varieties of standard German, an unstressed /r/
is not pronounced [r], but vocalised to [].
Whether any particular vowel letter represents the long
or short phoneme is not completely predictable, although
the following regularities exist:
If a vowel (other than i) is at the end of a syllable
or followed by a single consonant, it is usually pronounced long (e.g. Hof [hof]).
If a vowel is followed by h or if an i is followed by
an e, it is long.

8.2

Consonants

If the vowel is followed by a double consonant (e.g.

, ss or tt), ck, tz or a consonant cluster (e.g. st or
nd), it is nearly always short (e.g. hoen [hfn]).
Double consonants are used only for this function of
marking preceding vowels as short; the consonant
itself is never pronounced lengthened or doubled, in
other words this is not a feeding order of gemination
and then vowel shortening.

15

The voiceless stops /p/, /t/, /k/ are aspirated except

when preceded by a sibilant, exactly as in English.

The voiced stops /b/, /d/, // are devoiced to /p/,

/t/, /k/, respectively, in word-nal position.

5 /d/ and // occur only in words of foreign (usually

English or French) origin.

Where a stressed syllable has an initial vowel, it is

Both of these rules have exceptions (e.g. hat [hat] 'has is
preceded by []. As its presence is predictable from
short despite the rst rule; Mond [mont], 'moon' is long
context, [] is not considered a phoneme.
despite the second rule). For an i that is neither in the
combination ie (making it long) nor followed by a double
consonant or cluster (making it short), there is no gen- Consonant spellings
eral rule. In some cases, there are regional dierences:
In central Germany (Hessen), the o in the proper name
c standing by itself is not a German letter. In bor (before ,
Homann is pronounced long while most other Gerrowed words, it is usually pronounced [ts]
mans would pronounce it short; the same applies to the
u, e, i, , , y) or [k] (before a, o, u, and consoe in the geographical name "Mecklenburg" for people in
nants). The combination ck is, as in English, used
that region. The word Stdte 'cities, is pronounced with
to indicate that the preceding vowel is short.
a short vowel [tt] by some (Jan Hofer, ARD Televi ch occurs most often and is pronounced either []
sion) and with a long vowel [tt] by others (Marietta
(after , ai, u, e, ei, eu, i, , and consonants; in
Slomka, ZDF Television). Finally, a vowel followed by
the diminutive sux -chen; and at the beginning of
ch can be short (Fach [fax] 'compartment', Kche [k]
a word), [x] (after a, au, o, u), or [k] at the begin'kitchen') or long (Suche [zux] 'search', Bcher [by]
ning of a word before a, o, u and consonants. Ch
'books) almost at random. Thus, Lache is homographous
never occurs at the beginning of an originally Gerbetween [lax] Lache 'puddle' and [lax] Lache 'manner
man word. In borrowed words with initial Ch beof laughing' (colloquial) or lache! 'laugh!' (imperative).
fore bright vowels (Chemie chemistry etc.), [] is
German vowels can form the following digraphs (in writconsidered standard. However, Upper Germans and
ing) and diphthongs (in pronunciation); note that the proFranconians (in the geographical sense) replace it
nunciation of some of them (ei, u, eu) is very dierent
with [k], as German as a whole does before darker
from what one would expect when considering the comvowels and consonants such as in Charakter, Chrisponent letters:
tentum. Middle Germans (except Franconians) will
borrow a [] from the French model. Both agree
Additionally, the digraph ie generally represents the
in considering each others variant, and Upper Gerphoneme /i/, which is not a diphthong. In many varimans also the standard in [], as particularly awketies, an /r/ at the end of a syllable is vocalised. However,
ward and unusual.
a sequence of a vowel followed by such a vocalised /r/
is not considered a diphthong: Br [b] 'bear', er [e]
dsch is pronounced [d] (like j in Jungle) but appears
'he', wir [vi] 'we', Tor [to] 'gate', kurz [kts] 'short',
in a few loanwords only.
Wrter [vt] 'words.
In most varieties of standard German, syllables that begin
with a vowel are preceded by a glottal stop [].

8.2

Consonants

With approximately 25 phonemes, the German consonant system exhibits an average number of consonants in
comparison with other languages. One of the more noteworthy ones is the unusual aricate /pf/. The consonant
inventory of the standard language is shown below.
1 /x/ has two allophones, [x] and [], after back and
front vowels, respectively.
2 /r/ has three allophones in free variation: [r], []
and []. In the syllable coda, the allophone [] is
found in many varieties.

f is pronounced [f] as in "father.

h is pronounced [h] as in "home at the beginning of
a syllable. After a vowel it is silent and only lengthens the vowel (e.g. Reh = roe deer).
j is pronounced [j] in Germanic words (Jahr [ja]).
In recent loanwords, it follows more or less the respective languages pronunciations.
l is always pronounced [l], never *[] (the English
"dark L").
q only exists in combination with u and appears in
both Germanic and Latin words (quer; Qualitt).
But as most words containing q are Latinate, the letter is considerably rarer in German than it is in English. The digraph qu is pronounced [kv].

16
r is usually pronounced in a guttural fashion (a
voiced uvular fricative [] or uvular trill []) in
front of a vowel or consonant (Rasen [azn]; Burg
[buk]). In spoken German, however, it is commonly vocalised after a vowel (er being pronounced
rather like []Burg [buk]). In some varieties,
the r is pronounced as a tongue-tip r (the alveolar
trill [r]).
s in Germany, is pronounced [z] (as in "zebra) if
it forms the syllable onset (e.g. Sohn [zon]), otherwise [s] (e.g. Bus [bs]). In Austria and Switzerland, it is always pronounced [s]. A ss [s] indicates
that the preceding vowel is short. st and sp at the beginning of words of German origin are pronounced
[t] and [p], respectively.

10 LITERATURE
8.2.1 Consonant shifts
For more details on this topic, see High German consonant shift.
German does not have any dental fricatives (as English
th). The th sounds, which the English language still has,
disappeared on the continent in German with the consonant shifts between the 8th and the 10th centuries.[73] It
is sometimes possible to nd parallels between English
and German by replacing the English th with d in German: Thank in German Dank, this and that
dies and das, "thou" (old 2nd person singular pronoun) du, think denken, thirsty durstig
and many other examples.
Likewise, the gh in Germanic English words, pronounced
in several dierent ways in modern English (as an f, or
not at all), can often be linked to German ch: to laugh
lachen, through and thorough durch, high
hoch, naught nichts, light leicht or Licht, sight
Sicht, daughter Tochter, neighbour Nachbar.

(a letter unique to German called scharfes S or

Eszett) was a ligature of a double s and of an sz and
is always pronounced [s]. Originating in Blackletter
typeface, it traditionally replaced ss at the end of
a syllable (e.g. ich muss ich mu; ich msste
ich mte); within a word it contrasts with ss [s]
in indicating that the preceding vowel is long (compare in Maen [in masn] with moderation and in 9 German language media worldMassen [in masn] in loads). The use of has rewide
cently been limited by the latest German spelling reform and is no longer used for ss after a short vowel
(e.g. ich mu" and ich mte were always pro- A visible sign of the geographical extension of German
nounced with a short U/); Switzerland and Liecht- language are the German language media outside the
German-speaking countries.
enstein already abolished it in 1934.[72]
According to W3Techs, 6% of websites are written in
sch is pronounced [] (like sh in shine).
German,[74] making it the second most used language on
the Internet.
tion in Latin loanwords is pronounced [tsion].
v is pronounced [f] in words of Germanic origin,
such as Vater [fat], Vogel bird, von from, of,
vor before, in front of, voll full and the prex
ver-. It is also used in loanwords, where it is, traditionally, supposed to be pronounced [v]. This pronunciation is retained for example in Vase, Vikar,
Viktor, Viper, Ventil, vulgr, and English loanwords;
however, pronunciation tends to [f] the further you
travel south. Some words, such as Ventil and the
name Valentin (not, for example, Vase) have reached
a plain f in Bavaria and Swabia.

10 Literature
Main article: German literature

The German language is used in German literature

and can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the
most notable authors of the period being Walther von
der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The
Nibelungenlied, whose author remains unknown, is also
an important work of the epoch. The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm
w is pronounced [v] as in "vacation (e.g. was [vas]). Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout
the world.
y is pronounced as [y] (like in Hygiene ; Labyrinth
or Gymnasium) except in ay and ey which are both
pronounced [ai]. It is also often used in loanwords
and pronounced like in the original language like in
Style or Recycling.

Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for the
modern High German language. Among the most
well known German poets and authors are Lessing,
Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Homann, Brecht, Heine and
Schmidt. Thirteen German speaking people have won
(e.g. zog [tsok]).

z is always pronounced [ts]

A tz the Nobel Prize in literature: Theodor Mommsen, Rudolf
indicates that the preceding vowel is short.
Christoph Eucken, Paul von Heyse, Gerhart Hauptmann,

12.3

Deutsche Welle

17

Carl Spitteler, Thomas Mann, Nelly Sachs, Hermann 12.3 Deutsche Welle
Hesse, Heinrich Bll, Elias Canetti, Gnter Grass,
Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Mller.
Main article: Deutsche Welle
The German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle is the
11 German loanwords in the En- equivalent of the British BBC World Service and provides
radio and television broadcasts in German and 30 other
glish language
languages across the globe.[77] Its German language services are tailored for German language learners by being
For a list of German loanwords to English, see spoken at slow speed. Deutsche Welle also provides an
E-learning website to learn German.
Category:German loanwords.
English has taken many loanwords from German, often
without any change of spelling (aside from, often, the
elimination of umlauts and not capitalizing nouns):

13 See also
Deutsch (disambiguation)

12

Organisations

German family name etymology

German toponymy

The use and learning of the German language are promoted by a number of organisations.

Germanism (linguistics)
List of German exonyms

12.1

Goethe-Institut

Main article: Goethe-Institut

The government-backed Goethe-Institut[75] (named af-

List of German expressions in English

List of non-English-language newspapers in New
South Wales#German language newspapers
List of pseudo-German words adapted to English
List of terms used for Germans
Names for the German language
Otto Basler

Goethe-Institut logo

ter the famous German author Johann Wolfgang von

Goethe) aims to enhance the knowledge of German culture and language within Europe and the rest of the
world. This is done by holding exhibitions and conferences with German-related themes, and providing training and guidance in the learning and use of the German
language. For example the Goethe-Institut teaches the
Goethe-Zertikat German language qualication.

12.2

Verein Deutsche Sprache

The Dortmund-based Verein Deutsche Sprache (VDS),

which was founded in 1997, supports the German language and is the largest language association of citizens
in the world. The VDS has more than thirty-ve thousand
members in over seventy countries. Its founder, statistics
professor Dr. Walter Krmer, has remained chairperson
of the association from its beginnings.[76]

14 References
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largest languages in 2010]. Nationalencyklopedin (in
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[2] Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009). Ethnologue: Languages of
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[3] Deutsch in Namibia (PDF) (in German). Supplement
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[4] CIA World Fact book Prole: Namibia cia.gov. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
[5] Oooops... We didn't nd the page you are looking for....
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[6] Map on page of Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration (MSWiA)". Retrieved 15 March 2010.

18

[7] Rat fr deutsche Rechtschreibung - ber den Rat.

Rechtschreibrat.ids-mannheim.de. Retrieved 11 October
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[8] Nordho, Sebastian; Hammarstrm, Harald; Forkel,
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[9] Nordho, Sebastian; Hammarstrm, Harald; Forkel,
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Evolutionary Anthropology.
[10] European Commission (2004). Many tongues, one family. Languages in the European Union (PDF). Europa
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[11] German 'should be a working language of EU', says
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[12] Why Learn German?". Goethe Institute. Retrieved 28
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[13] Why Learn German?". SDSU - German Studies Department of European Studies. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
[14] Usage Statistics of Content Languages for Websites, January 2015.
[15] Germans in Jordan - German expats in Jordan. InterNations. InterNations GmbH. 2013. Retrieved 19 December
2013.
[16] Handwrterbuch des politischen Systems der Bundesrepublik (in German). Source lists German expatriate citizens only for Namibia and South Africa!

14

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[33] O povo pomerano no ES
[34] Plenrio aprova em segundo turno a PEC do patrimnio.
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[17] Henry Steele Commager (1961). "Immigration and American history: essays in honor of Theodore C. Blegen". U
of Minnesota Press. p.102. ISBN 0-8166-5735-1

[37] Sistema Legis.

[18] Brazil. Ethnologue.

[19] Hunsrik. Ethnologue.

[39] A escolarizao entre descendentes pomeranos em

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[20] Statistics Canada 2006. 2.statcan.ca. 2010-01-06. Retrieved 2010-03-15.

[40] O povo pomerano no ES (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24

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[21] Composicin tnica de las Tres reas Culturales del

Continente Americano al Comienzo del Siglo XXI
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[41] A co-ocializao da lngua pomerana (in Portuguese).

Retrieved 24 August 2011.

[22] Bolivia. WorldStatesMen. Retrieved 16 June 2013.

white 10% (of which German 3%) (2001)
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on Mennonite Frontier, New York Times
[24] Los menonitas en Bolivia - CNNMxico.com. 7 June
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[25] Cascante, Manuel M. (8 August 2012). Los menonitas
dejan Mxico. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 February
2013. Los cien mil miembros de esta comunidad anabaptista, establecida en Chihuahua desde 1922, se plantean
emigrar a la repblica rusa de Tartaristn, que se ofrece a
acogerlos

[38] Texto da Norma.

[42] Pomerano!?" (in Portuguese).

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Retrieved 24 August

[43] No Brasil, pomeranos buscam uma cultura que se perde

(in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.
[44] Lei dispe sobre a coocializao da lngua pomerana
no municpio de Santa maria de Jetib, Estado do Esprito
Santo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.
[45] Vila Pavo, Uma Pomernia no norte do Espirito Santo
(in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.
[46] Descendentes de etnia germnica vivem isolados em rea
rural de Minas (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August
2011.

19

[47] Pomeranos em busca de recursos federais (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.
[48] Resistncia cultural - Imigrantes que buscaram no Brasil
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[65] von Polenz, Peter (1999). 6.5. Inter- und bernationale

Beziehungen. Deutsche Sprachgeschichte vom Sptmittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. de Gruyter Studienbuch (in
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[66] nl:Nederduits

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[67] some of which might be reborrowings from Germanic

Frankish

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[68] a phenomenon known in German as Denglisch or in English as Germish or Denglisch

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[53] Percurso linguistico dos pomeranos de Espigo D OesteRO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 November 2011.
[54] Comunidade Pomerana realiza sua tradicional festa folclrica (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2011.
[55] Coocializao da lngua alem em Antnio Carlos
[56] Vereadores de Treze Tlias se reuniram ontem (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 August 2011.
[57] BOL - VilaBOL.
[58] Um pedao da Astria no Brasil (in Portuguese). Treze
Tlias. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
[59] Dialetos Hunsrik e Talian na ofensiva no Sul - Em
Santa Maria do Herval, regio de Novo Hamburgo, RS,
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Sache.
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[77] Who we are. DW.DE. 31 December 2011. Retrieved
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15 Bibliography
Fausto Cercignani, The Consonants of German:
Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979.
Michael Clyne, The German Language in a Changing Europe (1995) ISBN 0-521-49970-4
George O. Curme, A Grammar of the German Language (1904, 1922)the most complete and authoritative work in English

[63] After English; Europeans and Language (PDF).

European Commission. 2005. Retrieved 8 December
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Anthony Fox, The Structure of German (2005) ISBN

0-19-927399-5

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W.B. Lockwood, German Today: The Advanced

Learners Guide (1987) ISBN 0-19-815850-5

20

16

Ruth H. Sanders. German: Biography of a Language (Oxford University Press; 2010) 240 pages.
Combines linguistic, anthropological, and historical
perspectives in a biography of German in terms of
six signal events over millennia, including the Battle of Kalkriese, which blocked the spread of Latinbased language north.

16

External links

The Goethe Institute: German Government sponsored organisation for the promotion of the German
language and culture.
Texts on Wikisource:
"German Language", Encyclopdia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911
Mark Twain, The Awful German Language,
1880
Carl Schurz, The German Mothertongue,
1897
German (language) at DMOZ
USA Foreign Service Institute German basic course
(requires audio)

EXTERNAL LINKS

21

17
17.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

German language Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%20language?oldid=646677203 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, AxelBoldt, Brion VIBBER, Mav, Jeronimo, Malcolm Farmer, Andre Engels, Eob, Danny, XJaM, JeLuF, Toby Bartels, Enchanter, Deb,
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Hardy, Alan Peakall, Ezra Wax, Kwertii, Gdarin, Kku, Gabbe, Stewacide, Mic, Zeno Gantner, Sannse, Delirium, Kosebamse, Mkweise,
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Delpino, Lpetrazickis, HaeB, Bobierto, Dmn, Adam78, Argasp, Ancheta Wis, Tosha, Giftlite, Crculver, Graeme Bartlett, DocWatson42,
MPF, Marnanel, Djinn112, Fantamic, Sj, Haeleth, Seabhcan, var Arnfjr Bjarmason, Lee J Haywood, Meursault2004, Ferkelparade,
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MeltBanana, Eric Shalov, Saintswithin, Dbachmann, Mani1, Gronky, SpookyMulder, Tsujigiri, Bender235, Klenje, Neko-chan, Evice,
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Bob A, Amire80, Tangotango, Tawker, Mo-Al, Arbor, LjL, DoubleBlue, Olessi, SanGatiche, RobertG, Musical Linguist, GnuDoyng,
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DTOx, Jared Preston, Volunteer Marek, Bgwhite, WriterHound, Gwernol, YurikBot, Noclador, Wavelength, Hairy Dude, , Maldus,
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Mardus, DVD R W, Zvi Alon, Luk, Sassisch, Veinor, SmackBot, WilliamThweatt, YellowMonkey, Historian932, Enlil Ninlil, Reedy,
Jasy jatere, KnowledgeOfSelf, Martin.Budden, McGeddon, TBH, Unyoyega, C.Fred, Aadavalus, Bomac, Jacek Kendysz, Davewild, Big
Adamsky, Lsommerer, Geo.powers, Yelgrun, Adammathias, Opinoso, Wakuran, HeartofaDog, Rueckk, HalfShadow, Sebesta, Yamaguchi , Peter Isotalo, Gilliam, Ohnoitsjamie, Skizzik, ERcheck, Kaibab, Jmsanta, Bluebot, Keegan, Jm307, DStoykov, Rex Germanus,
Jprg1966, Marbehraglaim, MalafayaBot, Greatgavini, SchftyThree, K4zem, Xx236, Bazonka, Aszev, Zooplah, Baronnet, DHN-bot, The
Moose, Croquant, Torzsmokus, Hongooi, A. B., Scwlong, Pittnat, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Alphathon, Neo139, HolgerPollmann,
Onorem, LucVerhelst, Avb, JonHarder, Levimanthys, Rrburke, Binrapt, Bolivian Unicyclist, Muckapedia, Rassilon, SundarBot, Elendils
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Epf, Vina-iwbot, Motorbiker, Skinnyweed, Andrew Dalby, Cyberevil, Spacejumper, LN2, EmirA, Cast, The undertow, SashatoBot, Fertuno, Yohan euan o4, Tanadeau, Wutzofant, Csladic, NikoSilver, MegA, Freakazette, John, Darkildor, J. Finkelstein, LUCPOL, Teiresias84, Lucius1976, NewTestLeper79, Svartkell, Bydand, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, JorisvS, Mgiganteus1, Zarniwoot, Majorclanger, Jaywubba1887, IronGargoyle, Deviathan, Pfold, Fernando S. Aldado, BioTube, DanielMrakic, MarkSutton, Nbatra, Kaeboy,
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Toddsschneider, Joseph Solis in Australia, Fitzwilliam, Andrew Hampe, Antonius Block, Destro, Foundert, Courcelles, Anger22, Yonosnada, Bruinfan12, Hemzlee, Redtitan, MrBoo, Tawkerbot2, Pithecanthropus, Bearingbreaker92, Facingthetrend, WolfgangFaber, JForget, VoxLuna, Phillip J, CmdrObot, Deon, Nri06, Zarex, Van helsing, Helenarose1, Blue-Haired Lawyer, Dub8lad1, R9tgokunks, Green
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Athenon, Mojo Hand, Nalvage, WhyNotFreedom, Marek69, John254, Merbabu, Evanescenceboy, Michael A. White, Dezidor, Secutor7,
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PhilKnight, Mikli, GoodDamon, Naval Scene, Hurmata, Unoensive text or character, Magioladitis, Agoston, Bongwarrior, VoABot
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Edward321, Felisopus, JdeJ, CapnPrep, TheRanger, Curiosus, KMJagger, Eschnett, NatureA16, FisherQueen, Fuseau, Learngermanwords, Hdt83, MartinBot, Skyler13, Arjun01, Ulkomaalainen, Rettetast, Edimmer, Uriel8, Mschel, R'n'B, AlexiusHoratius, Nono64,
Konchevnik81, Vanwhistler, J.delanoy, Pharaoh of the Wizards, Moozine, Darbouka International, Euku, Rrrperson, Numbo3, Psycho Kirby, Tcvanp3570, Uncle Dick, Chtrede, Yonidebot, Zzzyyy, Thegreenj, Cocoaguy, Kazakhstan rocks, Jerry, WarthogDemon,
Neotribal42, Ownage2214, Created Equal, The One I Love, Spl908455, GiordanoBruno683, Bot-Schafter, Gman124, McSly, Rammstein
Viking, Keizers, AntiSpamBot, Robpasley, M-le-mot-dit, Sundar1, Warut, Oddeven2002, NewEnglandYankee, Nwbeeson, Pundit, 2help,
KylieTastic, Juliancolton, WalterFaber, Zu, Stolpi, Treisijs, Binris, Brentt4, Bonadea, Regenspaziergang, Davecrosby uk, Squids and
Chips, Arael2, CardinalDan, Idioma-bot, Spellcast, Benstrider, ACSE, Vaber134, Lights, Caribbean H.Q., Kyonides, Chipppy, VolkovBot,
ABF, Imalegend, Tesscass, VasilievVV, Bovineboy2008, Thakurji, Jukkapietil, SexyBern, Philip Trueman, TXiKiBoT, Bbik, Snorr, Hqb,
Peter Erwin, Rei-bot, Lukecutforth, Qxz, Bort79, Ocolon, Lradrama, Sintaku, DanishWolf, Clarince63, Seraphim, Don4of4, Maharashtraexpress, PDFbot, Breathe, RicChic2517, Anteeru, Atelaes, Chaotic cultist, Billinghurst, Captain Cusack, Adam.J.W.C., Synthebot,
Falcon8765, RaseaC, Kerem Ozcan, SchumiChamp, Monty845, Northfox, BosnianDragon, Doc James, Berndf, AlleborgoBot, SalJyDieBoereKomLei, Feetonthedesk, Captain Future, Logan, Munci, HansHermans, ConnTorrodon, EmxBot, Dpgoronzy500, S.rvarr.S,
Demmy, BF109 pilot, FrederikHertzum, HhhDIS, Tibullus, SieBot, Pro Game Master87, YonaBot, Cokes360, Work permit, BotMultichill, PeterPredator, Raghu.rk, Ori, Nbanic, Goebbi, Caltas, MilesM11, Trigaranus, Chriswik, Stevekass, Whiteghost.ink, Domaleixo,
Johnneson, Nummer29, Purbo T, Lethrinus, Caveman 07, Loveless2, Andrew647, Riwnodennyk, Oda Mari, Chridd, JSpung, Ljpernic, Corpsemuncher, Cameron, Phil Bridger, Thecrystalcicero, Oxymoron83, Antonio Lopez, Targeman, KoshVorlon, AnonGuy, Lightmouse, Tombomp, Khvalamde, El bes, Danielrocks15, Kneper, Naindelamontagne, Maelgwnbot, Helmut Cabbage, Harry Fritz, SpartanJames, Cheese45123, StaticGull, Tradereddy, Mr. Stradivarius, Hooiwind, Macdaddyfolife, Dabomb87, Kaiser1877, Angelo De La Paz,
Amazonien, Squash Racket, Faithlessthewonderboy, Beeblebrox, Elassint, ClueBot, SummerWithMorons, GorillaWarfare, Timeineurope,
PipepBot, Samsknee, Ewawer, Kneperle, Shark96z, Lysis rationale, Mollester, Fiet Nam, Cp111, Mild Bill Hiccup, Al Sass, Niemeyerstein en, Skpperd, Hafspajen, Chieron, Blanchardb, LizardJr8, Pudelek, Worldlypeeps, Tlustulimu, ElSaxo, D.scain.farenzena, NuclearVacuum, DragonBot, Rksanthosh23, Rbakels, Excirial, Alexbot, Davidgrunwald, Seader, WenLaxton, Jacky89, Jotterbot, MarathonMan2008, Radhakrud, Mtsmallwood, Kwj2772, Dougiebeck, Remitonova, Matt10001, Thingg, Wikinv, Aitias, G.broadwell, Versus22,
MrMichael1968, IJA, Qwfp, SoxBot III, Loonie87, Yessakimon, Editor2020, Goodvac, Classicrockfan42, DumZiBoT, Darkicebot, FelixBlumstrau, XLinkBot, Spitre, Pichpich, Auslli, Infoporn, Dylans Username, Real^chaldean, Fraucote, Luz del Fuego, Facts707,
Skarebo, SilvonenBot, Noctibus, Schigu195, MystBot, Batmen, Kbdankbot, HexaChord, CalumH93, Zolstijers, Macca33, Freakmighty,
Atethnekos, Mcdiarmidc, Dans tes rves, Fieldday-sunday, Kman543210, Vishnava, CanadianLinuxUser, Download, Ccacsmss, 37ophiuchi, WorzGumm, AndersBot, Trinsath, Favonian, LinkFA-Bot, Xpolarx, Wahslek, TGruel, Numbo3-bot, Ehrenkater, Nikosvolt, Komischn, Erutuon, Tide rolls, Squonk64, Solid State, Pietrow, Wladi001, Matj Grabovsk, Andrevruas, Rcb5, Ralich, Historylover9893, LuK3,
Ale66, The Bushranger, Luckas-bot, ZX81, Yobot, 2D, Fraggle81, Diebitchesdie!, TaBOT-zerem, Padmanabhanmsec, Poko, Melvalevis,
Yngvadottir, Lycaon.cl, ComradeMicha, KamikazeBot, Superwelshman, AdvCentral, South Bay, Magog the Ogre, Russian Luxembourger,
Laryngoskop, AnomieBOT, John Holmes II, Grey Fox-9589, Six words, Jim1138, JackieBot, SupremBanana96, Kingpin13, Ulric1313,
Nick UA, Crecy99, Flewis, Mahmudmasri, Materialscientist, O.Peterson, Aurumpotestasest, Elm-39, Marauder09, Bob Burkhardt, Maxis
ftw, SupaRebel35, GB fan, Neurolysis, ArthurBot, MauritsBot, Xqbot, NSK Nikolaos S. Karastathis, TinucherianBot II, 4I7.4I7, The
sock that should not be, Estlandia, Kivertone, Js94, 4twenty42o, Learngerman, Jerey Mall, Lele giannoni, Bradshaws1, Teedy12, TheGreenwalker, Coretheapple, Petropoxy (Lithoderm Proxy), GrouchoBot, Moalli, Ataleh, Alumnum, Ashleyanne93, Dayubcpd, RibotBOT,
MadGeographer, Nubemet, Tombuk1, The Wiki ghost, GhalyBot, MerlLinkBot, Shadowjams, Eugene-elgato, Nameless23, Hornymanatee, Woolfyhouse, Sinnierer, A.amitkumar, Haldraper, Universityoelicity, FrescoBot, LucienBOT, Tobby72, Retrominer, Abisch, ChryZ
MUC, Giftpanze, Joshualockeylovesmathsandscience, Angeluser, BenzolBot, Egmontbot, Civilizededucation, Louperibot, HamburgerRadio, Nightsturm, Shanghainese.ua, Galloramenu, Zoris Trmm, Pinethicket, I dream of horses, Elockid, HRoestBot, Rameshngbot,
A8UDI, FergusRossFerrier, Jajataz, MastiBot, ContinueWithCaution, le ottante, Luph25, Jrobbinz123, Bgpaulus, Jeppiz, Max Duchess,
Horst-schlaemma, FoxBot, TobeBot, Eirik.lingas, , Leon9999, Ajballin305, Holdendawsey, Jocme, Orangesodakid, Lotje,
Teddycom, JKGREINEDER, Duoduoduo, Seahorseruler, Ard Seethorn, Robert Clausen, IRISZOOM, Tbhotch, Glorndel Goldscheitel,
Gartenzwerg2012, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Onel5969, The Legendary Sky Attacker, Aidan Kehoe, Alph Bot, Annimaj, Ripchip Bot, Jpony,
DEagleBot, Wikiaryeh, NerdyScienceDude, Cybersystem, Emmaschleefan, Steve03Mills, Esoglou, EmausBot, Mamalala, John of Reading, WikitanvirBot, Tscherpownik, -kayac71-, Michschm, Honestrosewater, XxjesusxX, Dewritech, Cubsdude, Open work, Britannic124,
GoingBatty, Laughoutloud069, Pirosko, Wikipelli, K6ka, Deusdemona, Jezebel280, Andremarees, SidoniaBorcke, Vrp pradeep, ZroBot,
Shuipzv3, Jereyjahja, WeijiBaikeBianji, The Nut, Kategori7, H3llBot, Ka15574, Tennisballs1234, SporkBot, LukasHemming, Zzzyzx,
Docj707, Neddy1234, StasMalyga, Iwilleatyourheart, Mr.Right.Perfect, NearEMPTiness, Ocean Shores, Ein stra mann, Sahimrobot,
MerlynCooper, Donner60, Waster45, Bernardbonvin, Mjbmrbot, , Tty29a, ClueBot NG, GoetheFromm, Michaelmas1957, Dr. Persi, CocuBot, Movses-bot, Rafer90, RJFF, Amrboghdady, TheExtraEditor, Frietjes, Joel Batchler, O.Koslowski, Rezabot,
Costesseyboy, Widr, Namaacha, Helpful Pixie Bot, Krmer, Calabe1992, GonzaPe8, Zyztem2000, Lowercase sigmabot, BG19bot, Aperitis25, Carlie210, Lo Ximiendo, Juro2351, Endrju1984, Ich901, PhnomPencil, HIDECCHI001, MusikAnimal, Frze, AvocatoBot, Pprboy,
Bondaruk85, Megakacktus, Quintoxicon, Compfreak7, Hipersonhi1, NotWith, Ernio48, TomeHale, Kbefx, Applesdude101, Glacialfox,
Unknown445, Benjaminwilson, Kfcdesuland, RscprinterBot, Liambroad98, Matzkalt2, Nobith, AskMeAnythingHamsterRelated, Peacock28, Grachifan, Alexandra Golda, Pratyya Ghosh, KATANAGOD, Gtgloner, Sinemet25-250, ChrisGualtieri, David Regimbal, SilverFox183, Soulparadox, Ekren, MadGuy7023, Kwabena194, Fauban, Dmsander, Xtreem306, DA - DP, Syhatamleh, Dexbot, 123fairy,
Dairy Princess, User332572385, Bunbumtoothcake, Lugia2453, Isarra (HG), Ryanjhague97, Jamesx12345, Krakkos, Zyma, The Anonymouse, JustAMuggle, Reatlas, Hansina, Thekutchkutch, Loup Solitaire 81, Vogtwe, GHab6, Midlothian09, Lfdder, NJRobbie, JamesMoose, Magma1976, Jan Kaninchen, So Aly, Chell0wFTW, Vitani III, Monochrome Monitor, -Piggynator-, Ugog Nizdast, JoeySmough,
Glaisher, Pshocks, Phinumu, Ginsuloft, Quenhitran, Atotalstranger, Werddemer, Archlinux, Bond127, Ilja Frank, Riaz butt numl, Konijnvalstrik, Jinfengopteryx, Hellojebediah, Yoyo360, Andrew J.Kurbiko, CyberXRef, SpiralTurtle, LusatianMan90, Dictton, Tmj34, RLoutfy,
Monkbot, DtheZombie, Greedo8, Cameron4959, Gabriel Haute Maurienne, Navid pmb, Zorono Suomenlainen, Ischmachdischfrtg, Sara
Tallec, Trackteur, Carlos Estuardo, Aitzi.bego, Louis69king, Soggy65274, Fewatwrsa, KarinWich, Huseyin1992, Comitus, Starfoullah,
SwitzerWorld, Kippers1999, Daft old ratbag, GivInfer890, Fimatic, Forzacraiova, Hldinger, Allison1219, Wikimaster906, Schlickmann
and Anonymous: 2074

17.2

Images

File:AlthochdeutscheSprachrume962_Box.jpg
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/
AlthochdeutscheSprachr%C3%A4ume962_Box.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: El bes

17.2

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File:Austria_Hungary_ethnic.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Austria_Hungary_ethnic.svg License:

Public domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia Original artist: Andrein
File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-005795,_Deutsche_Zeitungen_in_Nordamerika.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/e/ec/Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-005795%2C_Deutsche_Zeitungen_in_Nordamerika.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 de Contributors:
This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation
project. The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation only using the originals (negative and/or positive), resp. the
digitalization of the originals as provided by the Digital Image Archive. Original artist: Mayer
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
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Germanic_languages.png License: Public domain Contributors: This map has been uploaded by Electionworld from en.wikipedia.org
to enable the <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia-logo.svg' class='image'><img alt='Wikimedia-logo.svg'
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width='15'
height='15' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Wikimedia-logo.svg/23px-Wikimedia-logo.svg.png 1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Wikimedia-logo.svg/30px-Wikimedia-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1024'
data-le-height='1024' /></a>Wikimedia Atlas of the World <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gnome-globe.svg'
class='image'><img
alt='Gnome-globe.svg'
src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Gnome-globe.svg/
15px-Gnome-globe.svg.png' width='15' height='15' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Gnome-globe.
svg/23px-Gnome-globe.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Gnome-globe.svg/30px-Gnome-globe.
svg.png 2x' data-le-width='48' data-le-height='48' /></a>. Original uploader to en.wikipedia.org was Rex Germanus, known as Rex
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File:De-Faust_-_Der_Tragdie_erster_Teil-Prolog_und_Auf_dem_Theater-wikisource.ogg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/
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BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Slartidan Tomisachef
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artist: ?
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File:Flag_of_Denmark.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Flag_of_Denmark.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Madden
File:Flag_of_Europe.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Flag_of_Europe.svg License: Public domain
Contributors:
File based on the specication given at [1]. Original artist: User:Verdy p, User:-x-, User:Paddu, User:Nightstallion, User:Funakoshi,
User:Jeltz, User:Dbenbenn, User:Zscout370
File:Flag_of_Germany.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Flag_of_Germany.svg License: ? Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Hungary.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Flag_of_Hungary.svg License: Public domain
Contributors:
Flags of the World Hungary Original artist: SKopp
File:Flag_of_Italy.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Flag_of_Italy.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Liechtenstein.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Flag_of_Liechtenstein.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work http://www.legilux.public.lu/leg/a/archives/1972/0051/a051.pdf#page=2, colors from http://www.
legilux.public.lu/leg/a/archives/1993/0731609/0731609.pdf Original artist: Drawn by User:SKopp
File:Flag_of_Mexico.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Flag_of_Mexico.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: Alex Covarrubias, 9 April 2006

24

17

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:Flag_of_Namibia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Flag_of_Namibia.svg License: Public domain

Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_New_Zealand.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Flag_of_New_Zealand.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: http://www.mch.govt.nz/files/NZ%20Flag%20-%20proportions.JPG Original artist: Zscout370, Hugh Jass
and many others
File:Flag_of_Paraguay.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Flag_of_Paraguay.svg License: CC0 Contributors: This le is from the Open Clip Art Library, which released it explicitly into the public domain (see here). Original artist: Republica
del Paraguay
File:Flag_of_Peru.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Flag_of_Peru.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Peru Original artist: David Benbennick
File:Flag_of_Poland.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Flag_of_Poland.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_South_Africa.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Flag_of_South_Africa.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Per specications in the Constitution of South Africa, Schedule 1 - National ag Original artist: Flag design by
Frederick Brownell, image by Wikimedia Commons users
File:Flag_of_Switzerland.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Flag_of_Switzerland.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: PDF Colors Construction sheet Original artist: User:Marc Mongenet
Credits:
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File:Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.
svg License: Public domain Contributors:
-x-'s le
-x-'s code
Zirlands codes of colors
Original artist:
(of code): SVG version by cs:-x-.
File:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg License: ?
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Gerhard_von_Kgelgen_001.jpg Source:
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BCgelgen_001.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN
3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Original artist: Gerhard von Kgelgen
File:German1910.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/German1910.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Original artist: Original uploader and author was Rex Germanus at
en.wikipedia
File:German_alphabet-2.ogg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/German_alphabet-2.ogg License: Public
domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia Original artist: Original uploader was Timwi at en.wikipedia
File:German_definite_article_declension.png Source:
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File:German_foreign_language_EU.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/German_foreign_language_
EU.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Aaker
File:German_language_center_for_german_language_in_Chandigarh.jpg Source:
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commons/b/b2/German_language_center_for_german_language_in_Chandigarh.jpg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own work
Original artist: German.aic
File:German_standard_varieties.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/German_standard_varieties.png
License: Attribution Contributors:
Sprachwarietten_Deutsch.PNG Original artist: Sprachwarietten_Deutsch.PNG: *derivative work: Zoris Trmm (<a href='//commons.
wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Zoris_Tr%C3%B6mm' title='User talk:Zoris Trmm'>talk</a>)
File:Globelang.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Globelang.png License: Public domain Contributors:
<a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Globe_of_letters.svg' class='image'><img alt='Globe of letters.svg'
src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Globe_of_letters.svg/128px-Globe_of_letters.svg.png'
width='128'
height='128'
srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Globe_of_letters.svg/192px-Globe_of_letters.svg.png
1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Globe_of_letters.svg/256px-Globe_of_letters.svg.png 2x' data-lewidth='128' data-le-height='128' /></a> Original artist: User:Ikiroid
File:Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
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Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work. Based on File:Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.
svg, which is public domain. Original artist: User:Eubulides
File:Goethe-Institut_logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Goethe-Institut_logo.svg License: Fair use Contributors:
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File:Grimm1.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Grimm1.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?

17.3

Content license

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File:Hermann_Hesse_1927_Photo_Gret_Widmann.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Hermann_

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File:Johann_Heinrich_Wilhelm_Tischbein_-_Goethe_in_the_Roman_Campagna_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
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