How old is german language

The result of this sound change is the peculiar consonant system of German, which remains different from all other West Germanic languages. By the midth century there was a simplification of the inflectional grammar of German, caused by the reduction of vowels in unstressed syllables. In the middle period a relatively uniform written language developed in government, but Middle High German had no standardized spelling. Different combination of certain dialects of Middle High German replaced the Latin that had been widely used in official writings of that time.

Texts were written in the Latin alphabet, in Gothic minuscules. The main features were:. The absence of the marking of vowel length; 2. The absence of the marking of umlauted vowels; 3. This work was based on already developed language, which was the most widely understood at this time. Copies of the Bible had a long list for each region, where unknown words were translated into the regional dialect. A widely accepted standard was created in the middle of the 18th century; it was the end of Early New High German.

Fell ger. Fisch ger. Neffe ger. Donner ger. Hund ger. The northern German dialects, on the other hand, did not develop their own written language — with the notable exception of Dutch, which was one of the German dialects in the Middle Ages and became its own language in the 16th Century.

When the majority of German-speaking territories became a part of the German Reich in , people saw increased need for a singular set of spelling conventions for their new nation-state.

And obviously, the 20th Century also brought new discoveries and societal changes, many of which resulted in words borrowed from English such as Computer , Job and Team. Besides, the German language today is anything but unified, for the numerous German dialects that were developed hundreds of years ago still exist today.

Generally the further south you go, the more pronounced they get, which is why a resident of Hamburg will have a terrible time following the conversation in a Viennese coffeehouse. And as with all languages, German is also in constantly changing.

Try Babbel. Toggle Menu. Ready to learn? Pick a language to get started! Herzeliebez Vrouwelin : Middle High German CE Knights, Minnesang and fiefdom: The High Middle Ages were shaped by economic and cultural growth, but also by political fragmentation: From on, the German-speaking world was divided into a patchwork of individual domains, and the German language developed in a similarly multifaceted manner.