There was a lot that happened before German became the modern language it is today. This article explains where modern German originated and how the language has evolved over time.
Popular Theories About the Evolution of Proto-Germanic Languages
The primeval roots of the modern German language can be traced back to the 4th millennium BC, when the original homelands of the Indo-Germanic-speaking peoples are believed to have been located north and east of the Black Sea.
The original Germanic language, also known as Grimm's Law, was created in the first millennium BC when the Germanic Sound Shift, or the first Germanic Sound Shift, occurred. The evolution of Germanic was then shaped by historical events.
Grimm's Law describes the Proto-Indo-European stops consonants in the Proto-Germanic languages of the first millennium BC. Grimm's Law, first systematically proposed by Jacob Grimm in the 1st millennium BC, establishes regular correspondences between certain Indo-European stop consonants and early Germanic fricatives.
Fricatives, or consonant sounds, are produced by constricting and causing friction in the vocal tract as air passes through.
Verner's Law was named after a famous linguist, Karl Verner. He explained the exceptions to Grimm’s Law in linguistic terms.
Verner's Law is important because it highlights the importance of accentuation, or stress, in the development of Germanic languages. It states, in essence, that all non-initial voicesless fricatives in Indo-European and Sanskrit became voiced when they followed a voiced syllable.
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· Old High German and Old Low German
Old High German was derived from Proto-Germanic by the High German Consonant Shift or Second Germanic Consonant Shift - a sound shift that gradually occurred in the southern areas of the West Germanic Dialect continuum. The "second Germanic consonant-shift" is called this to differentiate it from laws developed by Grimm and Verner.
The High German consonant change began between the 3rd to 5th centuries and was completed before the 8th, when the first written records of High German were created.
Old Low German (also known as Old Saxon) was also first recorded in the 8th Century. It is also important because it is the oldest recorded form of Low German, which is spoken today in parts of northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands and southern Denmark.
Old Low German, which did not take part in the High German shift of consonants, has preserved its stop consonants, which have been changed in Old High German into different fricatives or affricates.
· Martin Luther and the Habsburg Empire - Urbanization, Development of High German
Martin Luther's translation of the Bible did not, contrary to popular belief start the development of German modern. It actually began gradually around 1650. Remember that the present-day High German is very different from the language spoken by the people back then.
The Habsburg monarchy ruled from 1526 until 1867/1918, and this was what drove the development of German.
The Habsburg Monarchy is a collective term that refers to the collection of Habsburg kingdoms and lands, where Germans were the majority language group. German became the official language of Imperial Russia in 1784.
Between 1871 and 1910 the German Empire underwent a period of industrialization on a large scale and urbanization. This resulted in literacy spreading to every aspect of life. Urbanization had a significant impact on language. If you want to learn german, you can check here, German Language Classes in Pune.
· German Spelling Reform of 1997
The German spelling and punctuation was simplified in 1996 to make the German orthography easier to learn. The German orthography Reform of 1996 is the name given to these changes.
The reform was based upon an international agreement that was signed in Vienna between the governments of German-speaking nations, including Germany and Austria. The reform rules apply to the correspondence between written and spoken sounds, capitalization, joined or separate words, hyphenated spells, punctuation and hyphenation of lines.
You may also be interested in our article on the German alphabet.
In schools and public administration, the reformed spelling was made mandatory. The reform was opposed by a large number of people. After a long public debate, the Council for German Orthography agreed to remove some of the controversial changes in 2006.
· Recent Developments
We believe strongly that language is the mirror of the universe. What are the current trends in German?
The use of anglicisms is a trend that has been noticed in many languages. An anglicism can be defined as a word or phrase borrowed from English and used in another language. German has a high concentration of anglicisms.
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