126-492: The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice ( German : Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht – Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit [beː.ɛsˈveː] , BSW ) is a political party in Germany founded on 8 January 2024. It has been described as left-wing populist , left-wing nationalist , socialist , culturally conservative , socially conservative and Eurosceptic . The party is sceptical of green politics and support for Ukraine in
252-460: 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
378-402: 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
504-587: 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
630-500: A "communist". The Guardian described the party as "combining both leftwing and rightwing policies – campaigning on everything from more generous pensions and an increase in the minimum wage to constraining climate protection measures and toughening asylum regulations". The political positions of the BSW include further restrictions on immigration, a plan for deglobalisation , opposition to green politics , ending military aid to Ukraine, and
756-477: A "militaristic, imperialist alliance par excellence". Many members and activists within the party were relieved that Wagenknecht was leaving after months of hinting and speculation. Party members criticized BSW members of the Bundestag for not returning back their mandates they had won for The Left. Some politicians of The Left expressed disappointment at the behavior of Wagenknecht's followers. Schirdewan said that he
882-517: A ceasefire is needed. BSW also focuses on energy police, criticizing the German Greens and arguing that renewable energies alone will not suffice to cover the energy needs; the party proposes to invest in nuclear power plants instead. The party argues that while it is concerned about the environment, the German economy is industry-heavy and its energy supply cannot be secured through renewable energies and
1008-601: A fair wage policy and extensive social security system. For BSW, the main reason behind current wealth inequality were neoliberal reforms and globalisation, which oriented the economy towards low-paid basic service jobs, which became the majority of the workers. This also marked the emergence of "knowledge societies" composed of elite universities' graduates, which do not experience economic hardship. According to BSW, markets and competition are no longer functioning, as "financial groups" consolidated power and have imposed their laws on society and "destroyed democracy". The party advocates
1134-475: A former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Mannheim , who has studied Wagenknecht's political rise, commented: "We can't really say exactly how many people align themselves with left-conservative values. But what we can say is that it's a significant group. We have never seen this combination in a party in Germany before." Carsten Linnemann described Wagenknecht as a "left, and/or right-wing extremist" and
1260-556: 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
1386-410: A lack of places in schools and housing. To Wagenknecht, the welfare state is based on citizens' loyalty and their willingness to pay taxes, and "if there is no longer any difference between citizens and non-citizens of a country, there is of course no longer any duty of a state to protect its population in a special manner". She argues that the result is a removal of welfare and social support. The party
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#17328527274561512-453: 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
1638-518: A negotiated settlement to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Wagenknecht considers the BSW to stand primarily in opposition to Alliance 90/The Greens . In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Wagenknecht stated that her party is "obviously not right-wing", instead being left-wing in the sense of "striving for more social justice, good wages, decent pensions" and "a foreign policy that returns to
1764-517: A new economic system where the market would be severely limited, and where the groups that hitherto dominated it would be broken. The party is considered to have some culturally conservative stances, such as its opposition to immigration, scepticism of gender-inclusive language and trans rights . The party presents its anti-immigration stance as a way to protect the German welfare state, arguing that it needs social solidarity to function that mass immigration could disturb. Wagenknecht argued: "The stronger
1890-433: A policy that weakens cohesion and valuable mutual connections that previously offered people security and support". The party believes that immigration is exploitative as it represents a net loss for countries of origin, seeing it as a "convenient way for rich countries to cream off human resources". At the same time, the BSW argues that immigration lowers the quality of life in Germany due to not only welfare expenses, but also
2016-562: A politician who represents a right-wing position." Similarly, Aiko Wagner describes BSW as a "as a socio-economic left-wing and socio-cultural right-wing party", which he classifies as left-wing authoritarian. Political scientist Thorsten Holzhauser classifies the party as syncretic, arguing that the party is not a classic left-wing or socialist party but represents, among others, some social-democratic, conservative and even ordoliberal positions. Political scientist Hajo Funke rejects labelling BSW as either syncretic or right-wing, arguing that
2142-679: 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
2268-580: A prominent left-wing politician, was a member of The Left and its predecessors, such as the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS); her political positions are generally identified as left-wing populist . Although she was co-leader of The Left from 2015 to 2019, conflict with other party members on topics, such as the German refugee policy , COVID-19 vaccination , and
2394-527: A receptacle for the protest vote. The association BSW – Für Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit e.V. , based in Karlsruhe, was entered in the association register at the district court in Mannheim on 26 September 2023. In mid-October, over fifty members of The Left submitted an application for Wagenknecht's exclusion from the party in order to prevent her from building a new party with the resources of The Left. Members of
2520-450: A resolution of incompatibility ( Unvereinbarkeitsbeschluss ) with BSW. Shortly after the press conference was announced, a fake website was registered under www.bswpartei.de that presented itself as the official website of the party, using copyrighted imagery and Wagenknecht's office address in its imprint. Wagenknecht filed a criminal report against the website, which is now offline. It is still unclear who created it. Members of BSW in
2646-532: A resolution of incompatibility should also apply to BSW, while Lower Saxony CDU leader Sebastian Lechner stated that there was a need for clarification, as BSW cannot be subsumed under the CDU's incompatibility decision with The Left and AfD, and that Wagenknecht's new party would have to make its own decision. CDU chairman Friedrich Merz said that BSW could take votes from the AfD, while former president Joachim Gauck (who never
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#17328527274562772-475: 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
2898-507: A right-wing code". Party researchers generally assume that BSW could challenge the AfD for votes due to its views about the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine , and migration. Deutschlandfunk commented: "For the AfD, a Wagenknecht party would be direct competition that could cost it a few percentage points and reduce its own voter potential among those disappointed by politics. Both
3024-411: A small and intentionally limited membership base. Unlike other parties, BSW distinguishes between full members and "registered supporters". Applicants for membership must be vouched for by an existing member, and all applications must be approved by the party's federal executive board. The membership was initially capped at 450, most of them being close associates of Wagenknecht and party functionaries with
3150-422: A system that causes inflation, concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, as well as a system responsible for a situation where companies reach record dividends "while the queues in front of food banks become longer and longer". The party focuses on redistributive politics, stating that until now, "redistribution worked from the hard-working to the upper 10,000". As a solution, it proposes additional taxation of
3276-580: 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
3402-584: Is also described as hard left. Some also consider it left-wing , while others argue that the party is conservative on some cultural issues such as immigration; this combination of stances has been compared to those of Old Left parties such as the Socialist Party (SP) in the Netherlands and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Sarah Wagner, a lecturer in political science at Queen's University Belfast, and
3528-596: 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
3654-546: 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
3780-472: 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
3906-430: 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
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4032-467: Is critical of sending weapons to Ukraine and its supporters in the Russo-Ukrainian War , and blames NATO for escalating the conflict. Wagenknecht argues that the war was provoked by ‘NATO expansionism’ and the ‘unwillingness of Western countries to respond to negotiation readiness by Putin’; BSW rejects sanctions against Russia as driving an economic crisis for the workers. The party attacks NATO as
4158-520: 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
4284-595: 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
4410-497: Is highly critical of gender-inclusive modifications of the German language. Wagenknecht argued that while everyone "should live their own way", Germany has an issue where "people with a traditional family no longer feel valued and someone who is white, male and heterosexual almost has to apologize for it". She advocated a "gender ban" in schools and public institutions on example of the one enacted in Bavaria by Markus Söder , which enforces
4536-559: 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
4662-416: Is not a single political measure that is linked to her political activity where something has become better for people", and added that as Wagenknecht is rarely present in the Bundestag, he is not too worried about her new party. The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), which passed a resolution of incompatibility with both The Left and the AfD, discussed ways to deal with BSW. Wagenknecht offered to
4788-435: 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
4914-587: 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
5040-621: Is opening up – stressing social justice, and at the same time ... [Wagenknecht] positioning herself in a more migration-sceptical way – has potential." In Italy, the Corriere della Sera described BSW as the "mirror image of the AfD". 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
5166-401: 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
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5292-438: Is poorly thought out, poorly crafted and useless in terms of climate policy". The party rejects environmental and green energy efforts which it considers to be "blind, haphazard eco-activism, which makes people's lives even more expensive but actually does nothing at all for the climate". BSW's foreign policy has been labelled and criticised as Russophile , which is denied by Wagenknecht. It is also described as anti-NATO. The BSW
5418-510: 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
5544-750: 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 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 ),
5670-566: 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
5796-433: 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
5922-542: Is used in part due to its far-left economic positions and right-wing stances on some social issues, which have been described by Wurthmann as being popular among anti-establishment and right-leaning voters. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations classified BSW as a part of the European radical left, and noted that the party originates from the "reform communist" faction within Die Linke led by Wagenknecht, which
6048-673: 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
6174-410: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , had led to speculation since 2021 that she would leave The Left and found a new political party. Speculation increased in the run-up to the 2023 Hessian state election and the 2023 Bavarian state election on 8 October, in which The Left failed to reach the 5% electoral threshold while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged in both. The success of
6300-484: The 2024 European Parliament election in Germany and announced that it had already created a full list of candidates due to be approved at the first party conference. The University of Potsdam developed a political test, BSW-O-Mat (name being a reference to the Wahl-O-Mat by the bpb ), based on the first party manifesto. The test was released on the same day as the manifesto. It was announced on 1 December 2023 that
6426-627: 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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#17328527274566552-689: The Berlin House of Representatives , by Alexander King , the Hamburg Parliament , by Metin Kaya and, the Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate by Andreas Hartenfels , a former member of Alliance 90/The Greens . The party was officially founded on 8 January 2024, followed by a two hour long press conference. This formation process saw the creation of a new website and the publishing of the first party manifesto for BSW. The party also named its lead candidates for
6678-659: The Chinese Communist Party , describing them as "an exemplary model for how to manage a national economy". The BSW strongly criticizes the involvement of German troops in the South China Sea , opposing proposals to deploy ships there and calling for negotiations instead . The party is highly skeptical of globalisation and European integration, criticizing the European Union as vulnerable to lobbying, undemocratic in its decision-making system, and economically unfair to
6804-557: 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
6930-522: 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
7056-417: 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
7182-514: 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
7308-724: 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
7434-644: 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
7560-513: The Russo-Ukrainian War , and has been described as Russophilic . The party originated as a split from the party The Left ( Die Linke ). In September 2023, Sahra Wagenknecht , Amira Mohamed Ali , Christian Leye , Lukas Schön, and several other long time Left party members announced their intention to form a new party. It was subsequently joined by others including former Left party leader Klaus Ernst , Fabio De Masi , and former mayor of Düsseldorf Thomas Geisel . The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance
7686-640: 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
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#17328527274567812-536: 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
7938-503: 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
8064-462: 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
8190-460: The "element of the personality cult". The Guardian stated that, along with the surge of far-right AfD in the polls, the rise of Wagenknecht's party signals rising discontent of the general population with the ruling Scholz cabinet , which Wagenknecht described as "the worst government in its history"; according to the polls, if an election were to take place in October 2023, BSW could win up to 20% of
8316-401: The "globalised elites". The party puts an emphasis on traditional family values and regional identities, criticizing social progressivism as an extension of market-liberal policies that "weaken cohesion and valuable mutual connections that previously offered people security and support". The party is described as pro-China. The BSW also strongly supports the economic and industrial policies of
8442-528: The AfD led Wagenknecht to claim that a left-wing populist party could compete with the AfD while also respecting the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany . Sahra Wagenknecht blames Die Linke 's successive electoral failures (the party's national share of the vote having fallen from 12% in 2009 to 5% in 2021) on its emphasis on policies to combat sexist , racist or homophobic discrimination, to
8568-592: The CDU a coalition government if there was no majority without the AfD in the 2024 Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg state elections. The Brandenburg CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann said that they should wait and see the next developments, a position that was also reflected by the CDU in Thuringia. CDU deputy party leader Andreas Jung told Die Welt : "Anti-Americanism, proximity to Putin, and socialism are completely incompatible with our stance." Former agriculture minister Julia Klöckner expressed her view that
8694-614: 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
8820-414: 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
8946-417: The German Bundestag want to continue working as a parliamentary group and have submitted a corresponding application to the President of the Bundestag . When the Wagenknecht Group was constituted in the Bundestag on 11 December 2023, Wagenknecht was elected its chairman, Klaus Ernst its deputy chairman, and Jessica Tatti its parliamentary managing director. The association also started being represented in
9072-475: 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
9198-447: 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
9324-675: 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
9450-536: The Greens as intellectual and political avant-garde. This removed them [leftists] from any chance to win a majority on their own. The BSW accuses other left-wing parties of elitism and the "new education privilege", stating that they have become dominated by urban academia and no longer represent the lower socioeconomic classes of society. The party stresses solidarity, contrasting the "somewheres" - workers that feel attachment to particular states and regions - with "anywheres",
9576-646: 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
9702-507: 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
9828-465: The aim to build the party. In March 2024, the party had 17,000 registered supporters, 8,000 applications for membership, and 500 full members. The party aimed to have "no more than" 1,000 members by the end of the year, and only around 2,000 by the 2025 German federal election . At that time, Wagenknecht explained: "We just make sure that no one comes in who doesn't share our program or who would appear destructive and chaotic." Journalists were barred from
9954-431: The bases of both parties are critical of German migration policy. About BSW attracting AfD voters, Die Zeit stated: "Even if Wagenknecht wants to limit rather than promote immigration, she is not yet known to have openly racist and right-wing extremist attitudes and resentments. In this respect, it would be welcome if at least some of the AfD voters turned to a Wagenknecht party." ' Similarly, Der Spiegel argued: "If
10080-492: The cost of neglecting blue-collar workers and the poor. She argues that mainstream left-wing parties abandoned "globalisation losers", which she defines as workers disadvantaged by migration pressures and overseas market competition. Wagenknecht identifies this "lifestyle leftism" as the main reason behind the rise of right-wing populism in Europe: Left liberal arrogance nurtures rightist gains of [political] territory. As noisier
10206-418: The detriment of economic issues. She argues for the primacy of the latter, in contrast to the intersectional approach of the party's leadership, which uses the term " classism " to refer to the social question as a form of discrimination, in the same way as sexism or racism. In her view, the working classes no longer recognize themselves in the discourse of the left, and are turning to the far-right AfD party as
10332-430: 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
10458-452: 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
10584-507: 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
10710-458: The first party conference is planned to be held on 27 January 2024. Ralph Suikat also commented at the time, that the association had thus far received an amount of donations in the seven figures, this was later clarified to be 1.4 million Euros collected during the whole of 2023. The majority (90%) of which were small donations, only 12,000 € in total were donated from non-EU foreign countries, thereof 75 € in total from Russia . On 27 January 2024,
10836-537: The founding conferences of the state associations in Lower Saxony and Bremen . The first party executive elected in February 2024 is as follows: The BSW has been variously described as populist , socialist , economically socialist , anti-capitalist , cultural conservative , social-conservative , anti-immigration , left-wing populist , left-wing nationalist , Eurosceptic , and left-conservative. The latter label
10962-449: The future Die Linke and the AfD lack charismatic figures like Wagenknecht." T-Online commented that, alongside The Left and the AfD, BSW also posed a threat to the centre-right Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), with around 26% of FDP voters willing to consider the party. It argued that although the FDP and BSW are opposites on most issues, with the FDP standing for economic liberalism ,
11088-435: 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,
11214-474: 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
11340-604: The interests of "low earners" and supports "public welfare-oriented politics", where welfare would stand above "egoistic interests". BSW is strongly critical of growing social injustice, the power and influence of multinational corporations, and the German taxation system, which it decries as unfair. It calls for state intervention against market-dominating big companies and infringing "digital monopolists", which it identifies as Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple; it argues that large corporations undermine democracy and must be broken down. The party rejects market economy, denouncing it as
11466-587: The joint second largest party in the GUE/NGL group by seat count, behind Syriza and tied with La France Insoumise . In the new Parliament, Schirdewan was elected co-chair of the GUE/NGL faction alongside French MEP Manon Aubry . At a federal Left congress in June 2022, Schirdewan was elected co-leader of the party with 341 votes (61.3%) alongside incumbent Janine Wissler . He was challenged by several candidates, including Sören Pellmann , who won 176 votes (31.6%). Within
11592-558: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Martin Schirdewan Martin Schirdewan (born 12 July 1975) is a German journalist and politician who has been serving as co-chairman of The Left since June 2022. He has sat as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2017, and
11718-485: The left. She added: "The real danger that I see is that our country is moving more and more to the right. If The Left parliamentary group no longer exists in the Bundestag, it will be even more difficult to stand against the governing coalition." The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) general secretary Kevin Kühnert commented that "Sahra Wagenknecht has been a very established one-woman opposition for 30 years. But there
11844-564: The lower classes. Amidst the Israel–Hamas war , Wagenknecht described the Gaza Strip as an "open-air prison". In an August 2024 interview she stated "I will always defend Israel's right to exist. [Israel does have the right to defend itself against] Hamas and its terrible attack in October. But the campaign of destruction in the Gaza Strip has long ceased to be self-defence." She also stated that
11970-402: 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
12096-552: The national vote. The newspaper also commented that the new party puts The Left at risk of political irrelevance, as the party has long suffered from infighting and declining electoral returns. Political scientist Andrea Römmele described BSW as "an alternative to the Alternative for Germany", arguing that the party could claim support lost by The Left to the AfD in the new states. Political scientist Benjamin Höhne commented: "The niche BSW
12222-630: 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
12348-545: The party and political commentators blamed the ongoing speculation about the founding of a new party and the resulting breakup of the Left for its poor results in the state elections. Martin Schirdewan , federal chairman of The Left and co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL , declared that the party would expel members who committed to the founding of a rival party by BSW. The Federal Executive Board of The Left passed
12474-568: The party executive of The Left. Since being appointed to the European Parliament, Schirdewan has served as a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), and as a substitute for the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). Schirdewan was one of The Left's top candidates in the 2019 European Parliament election in Germany alongside Özlem Demirel . The party won 5.5% of votes and five seats, making it
12600-657: The party held its first party conference and invited 450 of its founding members. The party elected its executive committee and formulated a draft program for the 2024 European Parliament election in Germany , which included criticisms of the European Union in its current form and demands for more decision-making power to the member states and significant restriction of migration to Germany. The party won six seats, and saw particular strength in East Germany. In September 2024, BSW faced its first large electoral test in Landtag elections in
12726-406: The party is "pragmatic, socially and economically left-wing, and peace-policy-oriented." Funke also questions the "left-wing conservative" label, arguing that the conservative positions of the BSW such as restrictive attitude towards immigration reflect "the consensus of the established democratic parties". On the left–right political spectrum , the party is widely regarded as a far-left party. It
12852-471: The party is founded, the new movement could lure away voters from the AfD. That would not be a bad thing on the surface: left-wing populism à la Wagenknecht is still better than a party on the far right. That is why they are afraid of the new group there." Handelsblatt commented that Wagenknecht could do what Merz has failed to do, namely "the halving of the AfD". In Britain, The Spectator questioned whether Wagenknecht would succeed with her party, citing
12978-456: The party, he is considered a reformer close in outlook to moderates such as Dietmar Bartsch . On 2 March 2022, Schirdewan was one of 13 MEPs who voted against a motion condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine . He stated that, though he condemned the invasion as a blatant breach of international law, he opposed arms shipments to Ukraine on the grounds that it violated EU directives on exports to war and crisis zones. On 15 September 2022, he
13104-481: The perception of racism" as opposed to "poverty and an ever-growing gap between rich and poor." The BSW supports economic interventionism and greater welfare social benefits, which are to be financed by the wealthy, while assets and inheritances should be spared. Wagenknecht published a five-page manifesto that focused on issues like deteriorating bridges and roads, bad mobile phone reception, slow internet, and overwhelmed administrations. The party claims to represent
13230-462: 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
13356-399: The rightist attacks, as more left liberals feel justified in their position. Nazis oppose migration? Thus, every critic of migration must be a crypto Nazi… [i]nstead of addressing … majorities with a programme attractive to them, [the] SPD and Left party have helped the AfD to electoral triumphs, turning it into the leading “workers’ party”. In an altogether submissive manner, they also accepted
13482-463: The states of Brandenburg , Saxony and Thuringia . In Saxony and Thuringia, the BSW came in third place. In Brandenburg, the BSW competed with largely unknown candidates. Although 13 BSW candidates were elected to the state parliament on September 22, their names were missing from the state party's homepage before and after the election. The BSW has a unique organisation compared to other parties in Germany. Compared to its electoral performance, it has
13608-541: 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,
13734-496: 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
13860-615: The tradition of détente instead of relying more and more on the military card". However, Wagenknecht omitted the label left-wing ( links ) within the name of the new party, saying that "many people today associate [it] with completely different content" and with "elitist debates", and that the BSW would appeal to a "broad spectrum of potential voters". Wagenknecht felt that The Left had become socially liberal and what she called "left-lifestyle" rather than left-wing, and accused progressives in The Left of being "too focused on diet, pronouns , and
13986-461: The usage of traditional German grammar in regards to gender. The party is also against loosening regulations on legally changing one's gender; Wagenknecht believes that such a law "turns parents and children into guinea pigs for an ideology that only benefits the pharmaceutical lobby." Wagenknecht seeks to distance herself and her party from what she considers "lifestyle leftists" that focus on identity politics and "an attitude of moral superiority", at
14112-503: The usage of traditional fuels should be tolerated to some extent. Wagenknecht criticized the Scholz cabinet for depriving the German economy of the cheap Russian gas and providing no alternative sources of affordable energy; similarly, BSW is critical of the EU's heating law and plans to ban combustion engine cars - Wagenknecht described these policies as "an attack on citizens' wealth and property; it
14238-481: The wealthy, dissolution and decentralisation of large companies, and anti-lobbyism laws. The party's economic proposals include the demand to break away from the capitalist system, redistribution of wealth and economic interventionism. The main economic theme of the party is social justice - it presents itself as a defender of the poor and proposes social measures to protect the disadvantaged groups. It calls for an economically oriented towards "the common good", advocated
14364-438: The welfare state, the more of a sense of belonging there must be. Because if people have no connection to those who receive social benefits, then at some point they will refuse to pay for those benefits." Wagenknecht considers supporting immigration a "market liberal" stance rather than a left-wing one, arguing: "[t]he CDU of Angela Merkel stands for flexibility, economic liberalism, globalisation and high levels of migration, i.e.
14490-543: 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
14616-579: 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
14742-514: The youth wing of The Left, was pleased with Wagenknecht's exit from the party, stating: "Our fight has finally paid off: we were longingly awaiting her departure and called on the party to kick her out. The party can now begin the process of renewal." The Left deputy parliamentary group leader Gesine Lötzsch said that a party founded by Wagenknecht should not be viewed as an opponent or enemy but as competition. She said they would look closely at how this party develops and what positions it takes up from
14868-456: Was "personally disappointed" with the defectors, who he said had damaged the party, and called on them to return their seats in the Bundestag to The Left. The Left vice-chairman Lorenz Gösta Beutin described Wagenknecht's formation of the party as motivated by personal financial gain: "The millionaire Wagenknecht is founding a party for Wagenknecht in order to collect corporate donations for a Wagenknecht party." The council of Left Youth Solid ,
14994-429: 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
15120-562: Was a CDU member) commented that BSW could also attract dissatisfied SPD voters. After the announcement of BSW's formation, the Brandenburg branch of the AfD reportedly feared a loss of votes in eastern Germany for the September 2024 Brandenburg state election . In Germany, the Bild described Wagenknecht as a right-wing socialist , while Die Tageszeitung said that she promotes "socialism with
15246-689: Was a researcher for a Bundestag member from The Left and was senior editor of Sacco & Vanzetti , the youth magazine of socialist daily newspaper Neues Deutschland . From 2015 until his appointment to the European Parliament , he was head of the Brussels office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and of its Athens "liaison office", as well as establishing a liaison office in Madrid. From 2012 to 2015 and again in 2018, Schirdewan served on
15372-530: 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
15498-623: Was elected co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) parliamentary group in 2019. Schirdewan was born in East Berlin . From 1998 to 2003, he studied at the Free University of Berlin , before achieving a doctorate in political science in 2007. Between 2001 and 2008, Schirdewan was editor of the magazine Utopie kreativ ( Creative Utopia ), published by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation . From 2006 until 2015, he
15624-485: 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
15750-458: Was in conflict with the democratic socialist majority faction. In response to descriptions of the party as far right or socially right-wing, political scientist Thorsten Faas said that Wagenknecht was still a politician with a left-wing profile, even within the Left Party, and commented: "I would be a bit cautious about that, because it is of course a clearly left-wing project. This is certainly not
15876-577: Was officially founded in January with Wagenknecht and Mohamed Ali as its leaders. In February, they formed a group in the Bundestag . The BSW contested its first elections in May. In June, the party won 6.1% of votes nationally in the European Parliament elections . In September, it won between 11% and 16% in three eastern state elections in Saxony , Thuringia , and Brandenburg . Wagenknecht, who has been described as
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