East Central German

Variety of Central German

East Central German
East Middle German (German: Ostmitteldeutsch)
Geographic distribution	Thuringia, Saxony, Berlin, Brandenburg, Silesia
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Central German East Central German
Subdivisions	Thuringian Upper Saxon Erzgebirgisch Lusatian Silesian High Prussian Wymysorys (separate language) Alzenau
Glottolog	`east2832` (East Middle German) `uppe1400` (Central East Middle German)
German dialects after 1945 and the expulsions of the Germans from their eastern homelands Thuringian (17) North Upper Saxon (18) South Märkisch (19) Upper Saxon (20)

East Central German or East Middle German (German: Ostmitteldeutsch) is the eastern Central German language and is part of High German. Present-day Standard German as a High German variant,^[1] has actually developed from a compromise of East Central (especially Upper Saxon that was promoted by Johann Christoph Gottsched) and East Franconian German. East Central German dialects are mainly spoken in Central Germany and parts of Brandenburg, and were formerly also spoken in Silesia and Bohemia.

Dialects

East Central German is spoken in large parts of what is today known as the cultural area of Central Germany (Mitteldeutschland).

It comprises according to Glottolog:^[2]

Central East Middle German
- High Prussian (Hochpreußisch) (nearly extinct)
- Thuringian (Thüringisch)
- Upper Saxon (Obersächsisch)
  - Anhaltisch
  - Meißnisch
  - Osterländisch
  - Westlausitzisch
  - Erzgebirgisch
- Nordobersäschisch-Südmärkisch
Schlesisch–Wilmesau
- Silesian (Schlesisch) (nearly extinct)
  - Old Zipser (Altzipserisch)
- Wymysorys
- Eastern Yiddish (which is a form of Yiddish besides Western Yiddish)

Nordobersächsisch-Südmärkisch

The dialect area of Nordobersächsisch-Südmärkisch lies north of Upper-Saxon and north-western of Silesian, in the south it includes parts of Lusatia and in the north, depending on definition, it can include the region around Berlin. It consists of multiple sub-parts, where the switch to High German (from Low German or Sorbian) occurred at different times and under different conditions.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

References

^ ~~"Ethnologue: East Middle German". Retrieved 2010-11-24.~~
"Ethnologue: East Middle German". Retrieved 2021-09-27.
^ Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "East Middle German". Glottolog 4.3.
^
Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Nordobersächsisch-Südmärkisch". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
But Glottolog lists the following varieties which can be confused:
- Eastern Low German
  - Märkisch
    - Südmärkisch (lit. South Markish; a form of Low German to which Südmärkisch belonged in the Middle Ages)
- East Middle German
  - Central East Middle German
    - Nordobersächsisch-Südmärkisch (lit. North Upper Saxon–South Markish)
    - Upper Saxon
      North Upper Saxon
      
      South Upper Saxon
^ Peter Wiesinger: Die Einteilung der deutschen Dialekte. In: Dialektologie. Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung. Herausgegeben von Werner Besch, Ulrich Knoop, Wolfgang Putschke, Herbert Ernst Wiegand. Zweiter Halbband. Volume 1.2 of Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (HSK). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York, 1983, p. 807ff., here p. 865ff. (sub-chapter: Das Nordobersächsisch-Südmärkische)
^ "Dialekt-Karte_neu « atlas-alltagssprache". Atlas zur deutschen Alltagssprache (AdA). Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-02-20. Annotated with: "Abb. 20: Die Gliederung der deutschen Dialekte (Wiesinger)"
^
Map Deutsche Dialekte: Historische Verteilung by Jost Gippert. A previous version of it was published in: H. Glück (ed.), Metzler Lexikon Sprache, Stuttgart / Weimar, 1993, and later editions.
- Gippert, Jost. "TITUS Didactica: Deutsche Dialekte / German Dialects". titus.uni-frankfurt.de. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. (older than the URLs below)
- Gippert, Jost. "TITUS Didactica: Deutsche Dialekte / German Dialects". titus.uni-frankfurt.de.
- Gippert, Jost. "TITUS Didactica: Deutsche Dialekte / German Dialects". titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de.

Germanic languages

According to contemporary philology

West

Anglo-Frisian

Anglic

English
- dialects
- Old English
- Middle English
- Modern English
  - Early Modern English
Irish Middle English
- Fingallian
- Kildare
- Yola
Scots
- Early Scots
- Middle Scots

Frisian

Historical forms	Old Frisian Middle Frisian
East Frisian	Ems Saterland Frisian Weser Wangerooge Frisian Wursten Frisian
North Frisian	Insular Eiderstedt Föhr–Amrum Föhr Amrum Heligolandic Sylt Mainland Bökingharde Mooring Halligen Goesharde Northern Central Southern Karrharde Strand Wiedingharde
West Frisian	Hindeloopen Schiermonnikoog Westlauwers–Terschellings Mainland West Frisian Clay Frisian Wood Frisian Westereendersk Terschelling

Low German

Historical forms	Old Saxon Middle Low German
West Low German	Dutch Low Saxon Stellingwarfs Tweants Gronings Drèents Gelders-Overijssels Achterhooks Sallaans Urkers Veluws Northern Low Saxon East Frisian Low Saxon Eastphalian Westphalian
East Low German	Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Brandenburgisch Central Pomeranian East Pomeranian Low Prussian Plautdietsch / Mennonite Low German

Low Franconian

Historical forms	Frankish Old Dutch Middle Dutch
Standard variants	Dutch Afrikaans (Kaaps)
West Low Franconian	Central Dutch Hollandic Kleverlandish West Flemish French Flemish Zeelandic East Flemish Brabantian Surinamese Dutch Jersey Dutch Mohawk Dutch Stadsfries/Bildts/Amelands/Midslands
East Low Franconian	Limburgish Southeast Limburgish
Cover groups	Meuse-Rhenish

High German

Historical forms

Old High German
Middle High German
New High German
- Early New High German

Standard German

Non-standard variants
and creoles

Central German

West Central German	Central Franconian Ripuarian Colognian Moselle Franconian Luxembourgish Transylvanian Saxon Hunsrückisch Hunsrik Rhine Franconian Lorraine Franconian Palatine Volga German Pennsylvania Dutch Hessian Central Hessian Amana German
East Central German	Thuringian Upper Saxon Erzgebirgisch Lusatian Silesian German High Prussian Wymysorys Halcnovian

Upper German

North and East

North

Historical forms	Proto-Norse Old Norse Old West Norse Old East Norse Old Gutnish
West	Norwegian Bergensk Kebabnorsk Sognamål Trøndersk Valdris Vestlandsk Vikværsk Bokmål (written) Nynorsk (written) Old Norwegian Middle Norwegian Faroese Icelandic Old Icelandic Middle Icelandic Greenlandic Norse Norn
East	Swedish Swedish dialects Danish Danish dialects Insular Danish Jutlandic South Jutlandic East Danish Bornholmsk Scanian Southern Schleswig Danish Gøtudanskt Perkerdansk Old Danish Middle Danish Dalecarlian Elfdalian
Gutnish Mainland Gutnish Fårö Gutnish

East

Philology

Language subgroups	North East West Elbe (Irminonic) Weser-Rhine (Istvaeonic) North Sea (Ingvaeonic) Northwest Gotho-Nordic South
Reconstructed	Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic grammar Germanic parent language Ancient Belgian language
Diachronic features	Grimm's law Verner's law Holtzmann's law Sievers's law Kluge's law Germanic substrate hypothesis West Germanic gemination High German consonant shift Germanic a-mutation Germanic umlaut Germanic spirant law Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law Great Vowel Shift
Synchronic features	Germanic verb Germanic strong verb Germanic weak verb Preterite-present verb Grammatischer Wechsel Indo-European ablaut