86-551: The Ecological Democratic Party ( German : Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei , ÖDP ) is a green conservative and ecologist minor party in Germany . The ÖDP was founded in 1982. The strongest level of voting support for the ÖDP is in Bavaria , where in federal state elections they have remained stable with 1.6-2% of the votes since 1990, and at municipal level have increased their mandate count in 2014 from 320 to around 380. The ÖDP
172-708: A chancellor candidate for the first time, usually a title reserved for the main election leaders of the SPD and CDU/CSU. This was met with general derision and Westerwelle was excluded from the chancellor television debate, the first one, against which he unsuccessfully sued. The table below lists parties represented in the 14th Bundestag: candidate Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Freie Demokratische Partei Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus Although most opposition parties gained seats, and
258-460: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
344-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
430-587: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
516-546: A differing view of feminism. It was one of the earliest supporters (since 1989) of a green tax shift , an idea which later gained broader support and has been partially implemented in Germany since the Social Democratic Party and The Greens were elected to form the Federal government in 1998. The party is predominantly Catholic - according to a 2008 survey, 70% of the party was composed of Catholics. A majority (55%) of
602-556: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
688-545: A narrow majority, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) retained their status as the largest party in the Bundestag by three seats. Several issues dominated the campaign, with the opposition CDU/CSU attacking the government's performance on the economy which fell back into recession due to the Telecoms crash and the introduction of the euro , as well as campaigning on family values and against taxes (particularly on fuel). In
774-453: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
860-514: A passive majority", and that LGBT individuals should not be allowed to marry. Party secretary Pablo Ziller said that the party's federal board was "disappointed" at the remarks and that the statements did not represent the party's position. According to Ziller, the party believes in extending marriage rights to same-sex couples. The current leader of the party is Charlotte Schmid. She succeeded Christian Rechholz in October 2022. The following table shows
946-679: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
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#17328448896111032-475: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1118-471: A single MEP . The MEP, Klaus Buchner , joined The Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) parliamentary group. In the 2017 federal election , the party received 0.3% of the national vote (144,809 votes in total). In the 2019 European parliament elections , the party received 1.0% of the national vote (369,869 votes in total). Klaus Buchner was re-elected to the European Parliament, however he
1204-530: Is a member of the World Ecological Parties . The Ecological Democratic Party is a green party that is active throughout Germany and has its clear focus in Bavaria . The party's rise is closely linked to its founder, the politician and environmentalist Herbert Gruhl . Gruhl was Member of the Bundestag from 1969 to 1980 and member of CDU . The founding of ÖDP dates back on the ecological movement in
1290-580: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1376-596: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
1462-546: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
1548-472: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
1634-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
1720-520: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
1806-595: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
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#17328448896111892-559: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
1978-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
2064-587: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
2150-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
2236-510: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
2322-566: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
2408-481: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
2494-673: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
2580-401: The 1999 European parliament elections , the party received 0.4% of the national vote (100,048 votes in total). In the 2002 federal election , the party received 0.1% of the national vote (56,898 votes in total). In the 2004 European parliament elections , the party received 0.6% of the national vote (145,537 votes in total). The ÖDP did not participate in the 2005 federal election . In
2666-627: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
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2752-611: The CDU funding scandal and by Gerhard Schröder 's personal popularity relative to the opposition's candidate for chancellor , Stoiber. The SPD was also boosted by Schröder's swift response to the August floods in eastern Germany, as compared to Stoiber, who was on vacation and responded late to the events. With Guido Westerwelle , leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), the FDP presented
2838-522: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
2924-473: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
3010-514: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
3096-724: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
3182-644: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
3268-640: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
3354-536: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
3440-503: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
3526-462: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
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3612-480: The 1970s. Gruhl gained attention by publishing a best-seller in 1975: "Ein Planet wird geplündert" (A Planet is Being Plundered). In the book he criticized the growth-oriented economy of industrial society. He also attacked nuclear energy policy and thus represented a clear minority position among Christian Democrats, while an intensive discussion was already developing in the SPD about a possible nuclear phase-out. Gruhl left
3698-450: The 2009 European parliament elections, the party received 0.5% of the national vote (134,893 votes in total). In the 2009 federal election , the party received 0.3% of the national vote (132,249 votes in total). In the 2013 federal election , the party received 0.3% of the national vote (127,088 votes in total). In the 2014 European parliament elections , the party received 0.7% of the national vote (185,119 votes in total) and returned
3784-465: The CDU in 1978 but stayed as non-partisan member of the Bundestag until 1980. He founded the "Grüne Aktion Zukunft" (GAZ), which later became part of The Greens . Gruhl lost the election for party chairman. Gruhl had a more conservative consistent life ethic ("Lebensschutzkonzeption"), which addresses besides environmentalism also the rejection of abortion , euthanasia and the death penalty . Also his policy
3870-714: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
3956-522: The European parliament. Defunct Defunct In its peak in the 1990s, the political position of the party was unclear. However, most political scientists considered the party to be nominally right of centre. German political scientist Jürgen Wüst called the party centre-right in 1993, cited the party's ideological proximity to the Catholic philosopher Robert Spaemann . The party repositioned itself following
4042-718: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
4128-524: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
4214-447: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
4300-675: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
4386-646: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
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#17328448896114472-1008: The Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
4558-507: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
4644-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
4730-452: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
4816-507: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
4902-439: The electoral collapse and loss of many members in early 2000s - the party lost two-thirds of its electorate in the 2002 German federal election , and did not participate in the 2005 German federal election at all. Afterwards, the party had undergone a "profound shift to the left". From 2005 onwards, the party is considered centre-left by German political scientists such as Heinz-Siegfried Strelow. Some commentators have said that
4988-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
5074-483: The immediate shutdown of nuclear power plants, appropriate housing of animals in agriculture, efforts to reduce meat consumption and the ecological restructuring of agriculture. On 17 December 2014, a single member of the Memmingen / Unterallgäu chapter of the ÖDP said at a meeting, that the proposed gender mainstreaming law was a "state license to corrupt children" and would give LGBT individuals "too much influence over
5160-417: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
5246-510: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . 2002 German federal election First Schröder cabinet SPD – Green Second Schröder cabinet SPD – Greens Federal elections were held in Germany on 22 September 2002 to elect the members of the 15th Bundestag . Incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schröder 's centre-left "red-green" governing coalition retained
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#17328448896115332-435: The media. Economically, the party is left-wing and committed to degrowth . It focuses on sustainable economics, and calls for Germany to have 100% of its energy from renewable sources, a comprehensive "mobility transition" that would reduce car traffic by at least 50%, a publicly-owned national water supply, and an introduction of universal basic income for parents to cover the material costs of children. The ÖDP also calls for
5418-444: The members very well and are able to act as a bracket for the ‘Christian Greens’. The party is said to follow Christian values, and the German political scientist Oliver Geden described the party as "left-Catholic". It is also said to be morally conservative. Following the Catholic social teaching , a central principle of the party's program is "respect for life", which is considered "sacred in all its forms". This results in demands for
5504-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
5590-416: The national vote (11,028 votes in total). In the 1984 European parliament elections , the party received 0.3% of the national vote (77,026 votes in total). In the 1987 federal election , the party received 0.3% of the national vote (109,152 votes in total). In the 1989 European parliament elections , the party received 0.7% of the national vote (184,309 votes in total). In the 1990 federal election ,
5676-423: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
5762-417: The party has moved over the years in a more liberal direction regarding some issues since the mid-2000s. In many issues it emphasizes, such as the environment and trade, it is similar to the Alliance '90/The Greens . It differs from them by being less supportive of immigration and restrictions on state powers in criminal justice issues, not focusing on gay and lesbian rights as part of its platform, and having
5848-454: The party members attend religious services at least monthly, which is higher than in Christian confessional parties like the CDU and CSU. The ÖDP is influenced by Catholicism in many of its programmatic stances - it strongly opposes restricting the right to asylum, harsher criminal punishment, and abortion. Additionally, the ÖDP strongly support an extension of the German welfare state and a complete nuclear phase-out. According to Uwe Kranenpohl ,
5934-442: The party received 0.4% of the national vote (205,206 votes in total), its best result in a federal election. In the 1994 European parliament elections , the party received 0.8% of the national vote (273,776 votes in total). In the 1994 federal election , the party received 0.4% of the national vote (183,715 votes in total). In the 1998 federal election , the party received 0.2% of the national vote (98,257 votes in total). In
6020-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
6106-621: The protection of nature and the environment and a fundamental scepticism towards "artificial" interventions in nature. In this, the party includes abortion, euthanasia and medical interventions to prolong life. To this end, the party opposes aborton, euthnasia and death penalty. The party's focus in environmentalism, which is often combined with moral conservatism - for example, its 2009 "for real non-smoking protection" campaign that attracted national attention condemned smoking on both environmental and moral grounds. The party proposes more restrictions and harsher persecution of violence and pornography in
6192-651: The result was in doubt for most of the election night, the governing coalition retained a narrow majority. In particular, the SPD was able to partially offset declines in their vote share in the West with an increase in the East, with the PDS falling below both the 5% threshold and the 3-seat threshold, either of which is required to qualify a party for top-up seats. Consequently, the PDS held only two directly elected seats. Second vote ( Zweitstimme , or votes for party list) The coalition between
6278-645: The results of the most recent state elections the party contested: German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and
6364-608: The run up to the election, the CSU/CDU held a huge lead in the opinion polls and Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Edmund Stoiber famously remarked that "... this election is like a football match where it's the second half and my team is ahead by 2–0." However, event soon overtook Stoiber and the CDU/CSU campaign. The SPD and the Greens were helped by broad support for its opposition to an invasion of Iraq , continued media attention on
6450-541: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
6536-496: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
6622-543: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
6708-579: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
6794-472: The ÖDP's opposition to abortion is even stronger than in CDU/CSU; Kranenpohl writes: The attitudes towards the abortion issue are particularly noteworthy: unsurprisingly, the differences between the members of the ÖDP and the Greens are greatest here - the former reject liberalisation to the same extent as the latter support it - but a third of CDU and CSU members are also in favour of less strict regulation of this issue, which also reveals clear differences with
6880-400: The ÖDP. [...] In terms of their denominational structure and church affiliation, the ÖDP is similar to the members of the CDU/CSU party, but draw different conclusions from their Christian orientation and consistently and to a large extent consensually represent the concept of comprehensive protection of life: these core points of the party programme therefore reflect the political convictions of
6966-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
7052-530: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
7138-485: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
7224-534: Was referred as ethno-centric . Gruhl left the Greens and, in 1982, founded the ÖDP. Though a minor party – it has not gained seats in a state parliament or in the Bundestag – the ÖDP became notable for its involvement in the opposition to a Czech nuclear reactor in Temelín , across the border from Bavaria. It led an initiative for a popular referendum to abolish the Bavarian Senate (that state's upper house) which
7310-455: Was replaced in July 2020 with Manuela Ripa . In the 2021 federal election , the party received 0.2% of the national vote (112,131 votes in total). This was its poorest performance in a federal election since 2005, when it did not participate. In the 2024 European parliament elections , the party received a decreased 0.7% of the national vote (257,968 votes in total). Manuela Ripa was re-elected to
7396-483: Was successful. It brought a lawsuit against a law in North Rhine-Westphalia which requires parties to receive 5% of the vote in order to take their seats in local councils, as well as a national law which reserves state financing only for parties that got more than one percent of the vote in at least three state elections; both laws were overturned. In the 1983 federal election , the party received 0.03% of
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