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94-592: Variants of the dialect include Western and Eastern South Jutlandic (including Alsisk). The former variant in Angeln (Danish: Angel ) and Schwansen ( Svansø ) was known as Angel Danish . The other dialects classified as belonging to the Jutlandic or Jutish ( Jysk ) group of dialects are West , East , and North Jutlandic . Many older people will still speak a distinct South Jutlandic dialect, both in towns and rural areas. Younger people and children are more likely to use

188-416: A dialect of German or even Dutch has been a point of contention. Although Low German is mostly regarded as an independent language linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criterion to decide the question. Scholarly arguments have been put forward for classifying Low German as a German dialect. As stated above, the arguments are not linguistic but rather sociopolitical and revolve mainly around

282-473: A dialect-tinted version of Standard Danish, but everything ranging from relatively pure dialect to Standard Danish can be found. Many are able to switch between both varieties. A renewed popular interest in preserving the South Jutlandic dialect has been seen in recent years. This revival has been fuelled by the works of several local artists and authors as well as Æ Synnejysk Forening, a society working for

376-409: A following among the more rurally oriented inhabitants, launching Low Saxon as a sub-culture. They inspired contemporary dialect artists and rock bands, such as Daniël Lohues  [ nl ] , Mooi Wark  [ Nl ] , Jovink en de Voederbietels  [ Nl ] , Hádiejan  [ Nl ] Nonetheless, the position of the language is vulnerable according to UNESCO. Low Saxon

470-607: A language for its computer desktop environment, as does the GNOME Desktop Project. Open-source software has been translated into Low German; this used to be coordinated via a page on SourceForge, but as of 2015, the most active project is that of KDE. In the early 20th century, scholars in the Netherlands argued that speaking dialects hindered language acquisition, and it was therefore strongly discouraged. As education improved, and mass communication became more widespread,

564-578: A low degree of mutual intelligibility . Eastern Low German and Plautdietsch are classified as part of Greater East Low German, while Eastphalian, Westphalic, and the North Low Saxon languages, German Northern Low Saxon and Gronings, are classified as part of West Low German. Low German has been recognized by the Netherlands and by Germany (since 1999) as a regional language according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Within

658-571: A part of western Lithuania , and the German communities in Estonia and Latvia, most notably their Hanseatic cities. German speakers in this area fled the Red Army or were forcibly expelled after the border changes at the end of World War II. The language was also formerly spoken in the outer areas of what is now the city-state of Berlin , but in the course of urbanisation and national centralisation in that city,

752-419: A strong cultural and historical value and was the native language of students in northern Germany, it had a place in the classroom. On the other hand, High German was considered the language of education, science, and national unity, and since schools promoted these values, High German was seen as the best candidate for the language of instruction. Initially, regional languages and dialects were thought to limit

846-455: Is a West Germanic language . It is documented from the 9th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German . It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany by Saxon peoples . It is closely related to Old Anglo-Frisian ( Old Frisian , Old English ), partially participating in the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law . Only a few texts survive, predominantly in baptismal vows

940-656: Is a distinction between the German and the Dutch Low Saxon/Low German situation. After mass education in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries, the slow decline which Low German had been experiencing since the end of the Hanseatic League turned into a free fall. The decision to exclude Low German in formal education was not without controversy, however. On one hand, proponents of Low German advocated that since it had

1034-566: Is a part of the continental West Germanic dialect continuum . To the West, it blends into the Low Franconian languages , including Dutch . A distinguishing feature between the Low Franconian varieties and Low German varieties is the plural of the verbs. Low German varieties have a common verbal plural ending, whereas Low Franconian varieties have a different form for the second person plural. This

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1128-566: Is a standardized example) have historically been spoken south of those lines. Like Frisian, English, Dutch and the North Germanic languages , Low German has not undergone the High German consonant shift , as opposed to Standard High German , which is based on High German dialects . Low German evolved from Old Saxon (Old Low German) , which is most closely related to Old Frisian and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) . The Low German dialects spoken in

1222-452: Is an independent town, the Angeln peninsula belongs to the district of Schleswig-Flensburg , Germany's northeasternmost district. This comparatively rural district had approximately 200,025 inhabitants in 2018. The largest North Angeln lakes are: The largest South Angeln lakes are: The chain of hills running across Angeln between Husby and Kappeln constitutes the drainage divide between

1316-710: Is because northwestern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands were the area of settlement of the Saxons ( Old Saxony ), while Low German spread to northeastern Germany through eastward migration of Low German speakers into areas with an originally Slavic-speaking population. This area is known as Germania Slavica , where the former Slavic influence is still visible in the names of settlements and physiogeographical features. It has been estimated that Low German has approximately 2–5 million speakers in Germany, primarily Northern Germany (ranging from well to very well), and 2.15 million in

1410-471: Is complicated in that in most Low Franconian varieties, including standard Dutch , the original second-person plural form has replaced the singular. Some dialects, including again standard Dutch, innovated a new second-person plural form in the last few centuries, using the other plural forms as the source. To the South, Low German blends into the High German dialects of Central German that have been affected by

1504-490: Is due in part to the grouping stretching mainly across two different countries and to it being a collection of varieties rather than a standardised language. There are different uses of the term "Low German": In Germany, native speakers of Low German call their language Platt , Plattdütsch , Plattdüütsch , Plattdütsk , Plattdüütsk , Plattduitsk (South-Westphalian), Plattduitsch (Eastphalian), Plattdietsch (Low Prussian), or Nedderdüütsch . In

1598-883: Is final devoicing of obstruents, as exemplified by the words 'good' and 'wind' below. This is a characteristic of Dutch and German as well and involves positional neutralization of voicing contrast in the coda position for obstruents (i.e. t = d at the end of a syllable.) This is not used in English except in the Yorkshire dialect , where there is a process known as Yorkshire assimilation . For instance: water [wɒtɜ, ˈwatɜ, ˈwætɜ] , later [ˈlɒːtɜ, ˈlaːtɜ, ˈlæːtɜ] , bit [bɪt] , dish [dis, diʃ] , ship [ʃɪp, skɪp, sxɪp] , pull [pʊl] , good [ɡou̯t, ɣɑu̯t, ɣuːt] , clock [klɔk] , sail [sɑi̯l] , he [hɛi̯, hɑi̯, hi(j)] , storm [stoːrm] , wind [vɪˑnt] , grass [ɡras, ɣras] , hold [hoˑʊl(t)] , old [oˑʊl(t)] . The table below shows

1692-715: Is hilly, dotted with numerous lakes. The largest towns are Flensburg , Schleswig and Kappeln . Angeln is notable for being the original homeland of the Angles , a Germanic tribe that migrated from its original homeland in what is now Northern Germany to Great Britain during the Age of Migrations and founded the kingdoms of Mercia , Northumbria and East Anglia . The Angles would ultimately give their name to England . Glücksburg Castle in Glücksburg and Gottorf Castle in Schleswig were

1786-516: Is mastered as well and is taught in schools, along with Standard German. South Jutlandic is still spoken to some degree in villages up to about 15 km south of the Danish-German border, but hardly in the major city of Flensburg, where the Danish speakers speak Standard Danish. Most people will be able to speak or understand Low German and sometimes North Frisian. All will know High German, often being

1880-508: Is possible that the early-medieval Danish settlers did worship Thor, the name is more likely to be traced back to a hill with a Viking-Age burial ground and finds, the Thorsberg. The settlement density in Angeln apparently decreased dramatically in the 5th and 6th centuries and many villages fell into disrepair. A sharp decline in grain pollen suggests that fields were deserted. Locations with heavy clay soils were abandoned first. Since more pollen

1974-734: Is spoken in the Western hemisphere, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Belize, Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. In some of these countries, the language is part of the Mennonite religion and culture. There are Mennonite communities in Ontario , Saskatchewan , Alberta , British Columbia , Manitoba , Kansas and Minnesota which use Low German in their religious services and communities. These Mennonites are descended from primarily Dutch settlers that had initially settled in

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2068-596: Is still spoken more widely than in Northern Germany. Efforts are made in Germany and in the Netherlands to protect Low German as a regional language . As with the Anglo-Frisian and North Germanic languages , Low German has not been influenced by the High German consonant shift except for old /ð/ having shifted to /d/ . Therefore, a lot of Low German words sound similar to their English counterparts. One feature that does distinguish Low German from English generally

2162-466: Is tenuous in many places, and has died out in many places where assimilation has occurred. Members and friends of the Historical Society of North German Settlements in western New York ( Bergholz, New York ), a community of Lutherans who trace their immigration from Pomerania in the 1840s, hold quarterly "Plattdeutsch lunch" events, where remaining speakers of the language gather to share and preserve

2256-829: The Danevirke and around the Viking settlement of Hedeby , which constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Angeln is served by the Neumünster–Flensburg Railway , part of the Jutland Line, and the Kiel–Flensburg Railway . There is also a heritage railway , the Angeln Steam Railway  [ de ] , which runs between Süderbrarup and Kappeln. The Bundesautobahn 7 runs along the western edge of Angeln, connecting Schleswig and Flensburg, before merging into

2350-468: The Flensborg Fjord . The Low German dialect of Angel still has a great deal of Danish words and grammatical influence, which makes it difficult to understand for other Low German speakers. During the 19th century the South Jutlandic dialect had a status inferior to Low German, and parents started to encourage their children to speak Low German, so they would be better prepared for school, where education

2444-571: The Flensburg Firth . The western part of the peninsula is known as Luusangeln  [ de ; da ] ("light Angeln") because of its relatively light and sandy soil. This region represents a transition zone between the Angeln Uplands to the east and the Schleswig Geest to the west. The Schleswig Geest in turn merges into the tidal marshes of North Frisia . Apart from Flensburg, which

2538-815: The High German consonant shift . The division is usually drawn at the Benrath line that traces the maken – machen isogloss . To the East, it abuts the Kashubian language (the only remnant of the Pomeranian language ) and, since the expulsion of nearly all Germans from the Polish part of Pomerania following the Second World War, also by the Polish language . East Pomeranian and Central Pomeranian are dialects of Low German. To

2632-551: The Italian ones (with only Venetian communities in areas of highly Venetian presence conserving Talian , and other Italian languages and dialects fading out elsewhere). The language grouping of Low German is referred to, in the language itself as well as in its umbrella languages of German and Dutch, in several different ways, ranging from official names such as Niederdeutsche and Nederduits to more general characterisations such as "dialect". The proliferation of names or characterisations

2726-708: The Oxbek  [ de ; da ] (which is also called Mühlenau, and whose longest tributary is the Flaruper Au). The Füsinger Au flows into the Schlei at Winningmay (municipality of Schaalby ), east of Schleswig. There are 10 officially designated nature reserves ( Naturschutzgebiete ) in Angeln: There is also one nature park, Naturpark Schlei  [ de ; da ] . The Haithabu-Dannewerk  [ de ] nature reserve lies just southwest of Angeln. It stretches along

2820-601: The Vistula delta region of Prussia in the 16th and 17th centuries before moving to newly acquired Russian territories in Ukraine in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and then to the Americas in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The types of Low German spoken in these communities and in the Midwest region of the United States have diverged since emigration. The survival of the language

2914-458: The palatalization and assibilation of / k / (compare palatalized forms such as English cheese , Frisian tsiis to non-palatalized forms such as Low German Kees or Kaise , Dutch kaas , German Käse but Low German Sever/Sebber while German Käfer ) However, since Anglo-Frisian features occur in Low German and especially in its older language stages, there is a tendency to prefer

South Jutlandic - Misplaced Pages Continue

3008-848: The Angles: From the Angles, that is, the country which is called Angulus, and which is said, from that time, to remain desert to this day, between the provinces of the Jutes and the Saxons, are descended the East Angles, the Midland Angles, Mercians, all the race of the Northumbrians, that is, of those nations that dwell on the north side of the River Humber, and the other nations of the English. The phrase "north of

3102-604: The Baltic and North Seas. East of it, small streams mostly called Auen flow towards the Baltic. West of it, most streams flow towards the Treene and later the Eider and hence into the North Sea. The Treene is the longest tributary of the Eider, and its two headstreams, Bondenau  [ de ; da ] and Kielstau  [ de ; da ] , rise in and flow through Angeln. The sources of

3196-718: The Bondenau are in Mohrkirch and in Sörup -Sörupholz. At Mittelangeln -Bondebrück the Südensee Au  [ de ] joins the Bondenau. The Kielstau rises in Sörup -Schwensby, passes through the Winderatter See and flows into the Bondenau at Großsolt , just before the Bondenau enters the Treßsee. Upon leaving the lake the river takes on the name Treene and leaves Angeln to the west. It enters

3290-578: The Danish Sønderjyske Motorvej  [ da ] . The language most spoken in Angeln is German. However the peninsula is also part of the language area of Danish and Low German . The latter is more closely related to English than German is, since it was not affected by the High German consonant shift . Before the 9th century Angeln was inhabited by the Angles, who spoke a West Germanic dialect that would later evolve into English. A language shift to North Germanic occurred following

3384-405: The Danish ending -næs (peninsula) being replaced by -nitz , an unrelated Slavic ending which is common in eastern Germany. Such arbitrary translations were often made by the central Prussian government after the whole of Slesvig was ceded to Prussia after the war of 1864 . The South Jutlandic name of the town of Schleswig (Slesvig), from which the region derives its name, was Sljasvig with

3478-531: The Danish language had a much larger extension in South Slesvig than today. South Jutlandic was spoken down to the Danevirke wall south of Schleswig town, close to the Viking town of Hedeby , and to Eckernförde on the east coast. South of this was a sparsely inhabited area which after the Viking Age became populated with Saxon settlers whose language is now better known as Low German . The western islands and

3572-603: The Eider at Friedrichstadt , which in turn enters its extensive estuary, the Purrenstrom  [ de ] , at Tönning . The largest river system that flows entirely in Angeln from its sources to its mouth is the system of the Füsinger Au . This river is called Loiter Au in its upper course and is formed by the confluence of the Boholzer Au (which is called Wellspanger Au  [ de ; da ] in its upper course) and

3666-461: The German authorities and Nedersaksisch (Nether or Low Saxon) by the Dutch authorities. Plattdeutsch , Niederdeutsch and Platduits , Nedersaksisch are seen in linguistic texts from the German and Dutch linguistic communities respectively. In Danish it is called Plattysk , Nedertysk or, rarely, Lavtysk . Mennonite Low German is called Plautdietsch . "Low" refers to

3760-574: The Humber" refers to the northern kingdom of Northumbria, which included most of northern England and part of southern Scotland. Mercia was located in central England and broadly corresponds to the English Midlands . This account can be related to the evidence of archaeology, notably the distribution of types of fibulae , or brooches, worn by both men and women in antiquity. Eastern and northern Britain were settled by groups wearing cruciform brooches, of

3854-514: The Ingvaeonic classification instead of the Anglo-Frisian one, which also takes Low German into account. Because Old Saxon came under strong Old High German and Old Low Franconian influence early on and therefore lost many Ingvaeonic features that were to be found much more extensively in earlier language states. The question of whether today's Low German should be considered a separate language or

South Jutlandic - Misplaced Pages Continue

3948-408: The Low German dialects of Denmark can be considered moribund at this time. Dialects of Low German are spoken in the northeastern area of the Netherlands ( Dutch Low Saxon ) by approximately 1.6 million speakers. These dialects are written with an unstandardized orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. The position of the language is, according to UNESCO, vulnerable. Between 1995 and 2011

4042-508: The Low Saxon dialects further declined, although decline has been greater in urban centres of the Low Saxon regions. When in 1975 dialect folk and rock bands such as Normaal and Boh Foi Toch  [ nl ] became successful with their overt disapproval of what they experienced as "misplaced Dutch snobbery" and the Western Dutch contempt for (speakers of) Low Saxon dialects, they gained

4136-614: The Netherlands (ranging from reasonable to very well). It has been estimated that Low German has approximately two to five million speakers (depending on the definition of 'native speaker') in Germany, primarily in Northern Germany. Variants of Low German are spoken in most parts of Northern Germany , for instance in the states of Lower Saxony , North Rhine-Westphalia , Hamburg , Bremen , Schleswig-Holstein , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , Saxony-Anhalt , and Brandenburg . Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon-speaking too. Historically, Low German

4230-515: The Netherlands are mostly referred to as Low Saxon , those spoken in northwestern Germany ( Lower Saxony , Westphalia , Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg , Bremen , and Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe ) as either Low German or Low Saxon, and those spoken in northeastern Germany ( Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Brandenburg , and Saxony-Anhalt east of the Elbe) mostly as Low German, not being part of Low Saxon. This

4324-523: The Netherlands, native speakers refer to their language as dialect , plat , Nedersaksisch , or the name of their village, town or district. Officially, Low German is called niederdeutsche Sprache or plattdeutsche Sprache (Nether or Low German language), Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch (Nether or Low German) in High German by the German authorities, nedderdüütsche Spraak (Nether or Low German language), Nedderdüütsch or Plattdüütsch (Nether or Low German) in Low German by

4418-421: The North Angeln Lake Group (Ger. Nordangeliter Seengruppe ) and the South Angeln Lake Group ( Südangeliter Seengruppe ). The River Treene , with its main headstreams, Bondenau and Kielstau, rises in Angeln before flowing westwards to join the Eider , the historic border between the Danish and German realms. The northernmost part of Angeln is the Holnis  [ de ; da ] peninsula, which projects into

4512-423: The North and Northwest, it abuts the Danish and the Frisian languages . In Germany, Low German has replaced the Danish and Frisian languages in many regions. Saterland Frisian is the only remnant of East Frisian language and is surrounded by Low German, as are the few remaining North Frisian varieties, and the Low German dialects of those regions have influences from Frisian substrates. Most linguists classify

4606-433: The Saxons were required to perform at the behest of Charlemagne . The only literary texts preserved are Heliand and the Old Saxon Genesis . The Middle Low German language ( Mittelniederdeutsch ) is an ancestor of modern Low German. It was spoken from about 1100 to 1600. The neighbouring languages within the dialect continuum of the West Germanic languages were Middle Dutch in the West and Middle High German in

4700-415: The South, later substituted by Early New High German . Middle Low German was the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League , spoken all around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea . It had a significant influence on the Scandinavian languages and other languages around the Baltic Sea. Based on the language of Lübeck , a standardized written language was developing, though it was never codified. There

4794-500: The West Germanic tribe of the Angles. Numerous important and rich cultural and historical finds were made in the bog in the 19th century. The current name does not allow the assumption that the sanctuary was already consecrated to the god Thor at the time of the Angles. Rather, the naming is based on early medieval Danish influence, especially in the Viking Age. With the migration of most Angles to Britain came widespread discontinuity in settlement and cultural structure in Angeln. Whilst it

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4888-417: The adverse effect, reinforcing anti-Danish sentiment. A pattern emerged, with the poorest in rural areas sticking to South Jutlandic, the wealthier peasants speaking Low German as the lingua franca and the educated townsmen speaking High German. A variety of South Jutlandic was spoken until the 1940s in an area west of the town of Schleswig, 40 km south of the present border. Called Fjoldedansk after

4982-422: The chapter of Haderslev and Danish was spoken in church. The church language border was very similar to the present-day Danish-German border which was created by plebiscite in 1920. During the 17th and the 18th centuries, the population in the area south of the Schlei (Sli) inlet switched to Low German, few details being known about their former South Jutlandic dialect. The people of Angeln (Danish Angel ),

5076-399: The chronicler Æthelweard reported that the most important town in Angeln was Hedeby . The unofficial coat of arms of Angeln was designed by Hans Nicolai Andreas Jensen and appeared for the first time in 1847. It consists of nine fields, all but one of which represent the historic Danish hundreds (Danish: herreder , German: Harden ) of Angeln: In the original draft of the coat of arms,

5170-438: The colours of Schleswig-Holstein and the other showing the Nordic cross from the flag of Denmark . 54°40′N 9°40′E  /  54.667°N 9.667°E  / 54.667; 9.667 Low German [REDACTED]   Germany [REDACTED]   Bolivia (70,000) [REDACTED]   Paraguay (30,000) Low German is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and

5264-401: The countryside between Flensburg and the Schlei where the Angles who settled England also originally came from, kept to their South Jutlandic dialect for a longer time, but often had some knowledge of Low German as well. The Angel dialect became extinct around 1900. A few records of it exist and show that it was similar to the South Jutlandic of the Sønderborg area in North Slesvig, across

5358-459: The departure of the Angles, when the peninsula was occupied by Danes. Danish became the main language of the region between the 9th and 19th centuries. In the 19th century another language shift occurred and the predominant language changed from the North Germanic Danish to the West Germanic Low German . Low German has since been gradually superseded by a variety of Standard German with Low German traits. The variety of Danish indigenous to Angeln

5452-406: The dialect. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Belize, and Chihuahua , Mexico, have made Low German a "co-official language" of the community. East Pomeranian is also spoken in parts of southern and southeastern Brazil, in the latter especially in the state of Espírito Santo , being official in five municipalities, and spoken among its ethnically European migrants elsewhere, primarily in

5546-541: The dialects of Low German together with English and Frisian as the North Sea Germanic or Ingvaeonic languages. However, most exclude Low German from the group often called Anglo-Frisian languages because some distinctive features of that group of languages are only partially preserved in Low German, for instance the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law (some dialects have us , os for "us" whereas others have uns , ons ), and because other distinctive features almost do not occur in Low German at all, for instance

5640-521: The end of the settlement period of the Angles in Angeln and their arrival in eastern and central England up to 100 years passed. The Angles would have initially moved west, to the Schleswig Geest, before leaving their home completely. For the years 449–455 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , written around 890, describes how Vortigern , a British king, invited the Angles to come and receive land in return for helping him defend his realm against marauding Picts . Those successful Angles sent word back that good land

5734-401: The fact that Low German has no official standard form or use in sophisticated media. The situation of Low German may thus be considered a "pseudo-dialectized abstand language " (" scheindialektisierte Abstandsprache "). In contrast, Old Saxon and Middle Low German are generally considered separate languages in their own right. Since Low German has strongly declined since the 18th century,

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5828-600: The flat plains and coastal area of the northern European lowlands , contrasted with the mountainous areas of central and southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, where High German (Highland German) is spoken. The colloquial term Platt denotes both Low German dialects and any non- standard Western variety of German ; this use is chiefly found in northern and Western Germany and is not considered to be linguistically correct. The ISO 639-2 language code for Low German has been nds ( niedersächsisch or nedersaksisch, neddersassisch ) since May 2000. Low German

5922-424: The functional limits of the language that may still be cited as objective criteria for a mere dialect (such as the virtually complete absence from legal and administrative contexts, schools, the media, etc.). At the request of Schleswig-Holstein , the German government has declared Low German as a regional language . German offices in Schleswig-Holstein are obliged to accept and handle applications in Low German on

6016-715: The home, but not in formal schooling. In their opinion, it simply did not match the nationally unifying power of High German. As a result, while Low German literature was deemed worthy of being taught in school, High German was chosen as the language of scholarly instruction. With High German the language of education and Low German the language of the home and daily life, a stable diglossia developed in Northern Germany. Various Low German dialects are understood by 10 million people, but many fewer are native speakers . Total users of Low German (nds) are approximately 2.5 million, with 300,000 native speakers in Brazil and 1,000 in Germany as of 2016. The KDE project supports Low German (nds) as

6110-447: The hundred of Husby was symbolically represented by two crossed arrows with a heart in front of them. From 1906 at the latest, the stylized house corresponding to the old hundred seal appeared instead. The original version of the coat of arms can therefore still be found occasionally. The Uggelharde  [ de ; da ] , which only partially lay in Angeln, is not represented in the arms. Two unofficial flags are in use, one showing

6204-439: The intellectual ability of their speakers. When historical linguists illustrated the archaic character of certain features and constructions of Low German, this was seen as a sign of its "backwardness". It was not until the efforts of proponents such as Klaus Groth that this impression changed. Groth's publications demonstrated that Low German was a valuable language in its own right, and he was able to convince others that Low German

6298-412: The island of Great Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries. Thorsberg moor is a peat bog in the municipality of Süderbrarup. This inconspicuous body of water is an important archaeological site and was a Germanic sacrificial bog from the times of the Roman Empire. In the period from the 1st century to the early 5th century objects were sacrificed in several phases in Thorsberg Moor, presumably by members of

6392-511: The language has vanished (the Berlin dialect itself is a northern outpost of High German , though it has some Low German features). Today, there are still speakers outside Germany to be found in the coastal areas of present-day Poland (minority of ethnic German East Pomeranian speakers who were not expelled from Pomerania , as well as the regions around Braniewo ). In the Southern Jutland region of Denmark there may still be some Low German speakers in some German minority communities, but

6486-403: The largest Danish-speaking minorities are Flensburg, Schleswig and Glücksburg. Many Angeln place-names are of Danish origin, including those ending in - by (town), such as Brodersby , Nieby and Husby , and -rup (hamlet), such as Sörup , Sterup and Tastrup . The region was home to the Germanic Angles, some of whom, together with Saxons and Jutes , left their homeland to migrate to

6580-488: The nationalism of their ancestors, being more likely to accept marriages of its members with Brazilians of origins other than a Germanic Central European one than to assimilate with Brazilians of Swiss , Austrian , Czech , and non-East Pomeranian-speaking German and Prussian heritage – that were much more numerous immigrants to both Brazilian regions (and whose language almost faded out in the latter, due to assimilation and internal migration) , by themselves less numerous than

6674-426: The northeastern Netherlands . The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. Low German is most closely related to Frisian and English , with which it forms the North Sea Germanic group of the West Germanic languages. Like Dutch , it has historically been spoken north of the Benrath and Uerdingen isoglosses , while forms of High German (of which Standard German

6768-609: The numbers of parent speakers dropped from 34% in 1995 to 15% in 2011. Numbers of child speakers dropped from 8% to 2% in the same period. According to a 2005 study 53% speak Low Saxon or Low Saxon and Dutch at home and 71% could speak it in the researched area. The total number of speakers is estimated at 1.7 million speakers. There are speakers in the Dutch north and eastern provinces of Groningen , Drenthe , Stellingwerf (part of Friesland ), Overijssel , Gelderland , Utrecht and Flevoland , in several dialect groups per province. There are also immigrant communities where Low German

6862-431: The official terminology defined in the charter, this status would not be available to a dialect of an official language (as per article 1a), and hence not to Low German in Germany if it were considered a dialect of German. Advocates of the promotion of Low German have expressed considerable hope that this political development will at once lend legitimacy to their claim that Low German is a separate language, and help mitigate

6956-467: The only language of young people and children. Members of the Danish minority are taught Standard Danish as well in schools, but often choose to communicate in German in everyday life. Language, especially spoken language, is not necessarily linked with national identification. Family ties and informal local contact across the border used to be very common, with South Jutlandic being the first language of both Danish-minded and German-minded people. Sometimes,

7050-618: The original seats of two historically important dynasties, the House of Glücksburg and the House of Holstein-Gottorp . The place-name is first attested in Widsith , an Old English poem dating to the 6th or 7th century. It has been linked to the Germanic roots * angulaz ("hook") and * angw - ("narrow"), and may have originated as a name for the Schlei. It is unclear whether the ancient Angeln corresponded to

7144-508: The perceived similarities with High German or Dutch may often be direct adaptations from the dominating standard language, resulting in a growing inability by speakers to speak correctly what was once Low German proper. Others have argued for the independence of today's Low German dialects, taken as continuous outflow of the Old Saxon and Middle Low German tradition. Glottolog classifies six varieties of Low German as distinct languages based on

7238-615: The promotion of the dialect. Several schools now offer the dialect as an optional subject, but Rigsdansk , the official Danish, remains a compulsory subject. Members of the South Jutlandic minority on the German side of the border tend to emphasize their South Jutlandic identity. Many members of this minority are in one way or another connected with agriculture, the dialect being more prevalent in rural communities. The German minority usually speak South Jutlandic with each other and with Danish-minded people alike, but prefer German for writing and official occasions such as meetings. Standard Danish

7332-420: The purest South Jutlandic may be found among older people who identify as German. Since they have not attended Danish schools, their speech is not influenced by Standard Danish. With urbanisation in the recent decades, the crisscross of dialects and national sentiment has faded, with High German becoming the first choice everywhere, but some South Jutlandic words are often retained in the vocabulary. Historically,

7426-594: The region now denoted by the name or whether it was of greater extent. Angeln is one of four peninsulas lining the Baltic coast of Schleswig-Holstein , along with Schwansen, Danish Wahld and Wagrien . As part of the Schleswig-Holstein Morainic Uplands (Ger. Schleswig-Holsteinisches Moränenhügelland ), formed during the Weichselian glaciation , these peninsulas are hilly and dotted with several glacial lakes . The Angeln lakes are subdivided into

7520-601: The relationship between Low German consonants which were unaffected by this chain shift and their equivalents in other West Germanic languages. Contemporary Swedish and Icelandic shown for comparison; Eastern and Western North Germanic languages, respectively. The table below shows the relationship between Low German consonants which were unaffected by this chain shift and their equivalents in other West Germanic languages. Contemporary Swedish and Icelandic shown for comparison; Eastern and Western North Germanic languages, respectively. Notes : Like English and Frisian, Low German

7614-486: The same footing as Standard High German applications. The Bundesgerichtshof ruled in a case that this was even to be done at the patent office in Munich , in a non–Low German region , when the applicant then had to pay the charge for a translator, because applications in Low German are considered not to be written in the German language. Old Saxon ( Altsächsisch ), also known as Old Low German ( Altniederdeutsch ),

7708-410: The school language to be Danish in areas where the peasantry spoke Danish and even in an area stretching further south, into the Low German speaking area. Church language would alternate between Danish and German. Standard Danish had never been widely used in South Slesvig even where the populace spoke a Danish dialect. The dominant official language was German, and the measures of the government had quite

7802-520: The southernmost area. Typical Scandinavian endings include -by, -bøl, -trup, -lund, -ved, -toft (in German form: -by, -büll, -trup, -lund, -witt, -toft ). In some cases the South Jutlandic form has been eradicated from the Standard Danish variety of the name, but is still visible in the Germanised version: In many other cases the Germanised versions are out of etymological context. Examples include

7896-562: The states of Rio de Janeiro and Rondônia . East Pomeranian-speaking regions of Southern Brazil are often assimilated into the general German Brazilian population and culture, for example celebrating the Oktoberfest , and there can even be a language shift from it to Riograndenser Hunsrückisch in some areas. In Espírito Santo , nevertheless, Pomeranian Brazilians are more often proud of their language, and particular religious traditions and culture, and not uncommonly inheriting

7990-603: The stress on the second syllable. Angeln Angeln ( Danish : Angel ) is a peninsula on the Baltic coast of Jutland , in the Bay of Kiel . It forms part of Southern Schleswig , the northernmost region of Germany . The peninsula is bounded on the north by the Flensburg Firth , which separates it from Sundeved and the island of Als in Denmark , and on the south by the Schlei , which separates it from Schwansen . The landscape

8084-445: The style in fashion at the time in coastal Scandinavia , Denmark , and Schleswig-Holstein south to the lower Elbe and east to the Oder , as well as a pocket in coastal Friesland . After the Angles departed from Angeln, by the 8th century the region was occupied by Danes . This is reflected in the large number of place names ending in -by (town) in the region today. In the 10th century

8178-549: The village Fjolde (German: Viöl) or sydslesvigsk (southern Schleswigian), the dialect had many archaic features otherwise lost in Danish, such as verbs fully inflected in person and number. The village was isolated between surrounding moorland, creating a language island , similar to the case of the Saterland Frisian language . Place names in South Slesvig are of almost exclusively Danish origin, except in North Frisia and

8272-459: The west coast were settled by Frisians . A little further inland Frisians and Danes were mixed. With the reformation in the 16th century the national language was installed in church instead of Latin. In Slesvig this meant not the language of the peasantry, but that of the dukes and gentry, being first Low German and later High German. German was the language of administration in all of Slesvig. In Northern Slesvig, however, priests were educated at

8366-481: Was Angel Danish , a dialect of South Jutlandic (the southernmost variety of Danish spoken on the Jutland peninsula, formerly spoken as far south as Eckernförde ). Danish continues to be spoken in Angeln by a minority but the dialects spoken nowadays are Southern Schleswig Danish , which are not dialects of the previously indigenous South Jutlandic but (Low) German-influenced dialects of Standard Danish. The cities with

8460-507: Was also spoken in formerly German parts of Poland (e.g., Pomerania and Silesia ), as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic provinces (modern Estonia and Latvia . The Baltic Germans spoke a distinct Low German dialect, which has influenced the vocabulary and phonetics of both Estonian and Latvian. The historical sprachraum of Low German also included contemporary northern Poland, East Prussia (the modern Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia),

8554-525: Was available and that the British were "worthless". A wholesale emigration of Angles and kindred Germanic peoples followed. The Chronicle , commissioned by Alfred the Great , drew on earlier oral traditions and on the few written fragments available. The best of these, written around 730, was by the monk Bede , whose history of English Christianity contains the following brief account of the origin and distribution of

8648-463: Was found at some locations of the Schleswig Geest (the region neighbouring Angeln), it is assumed that the climate had changed. Increased rainfall could explain this move to the sandy geest areas. Another reason for leaving settlements near the coast is believed to be attacks from the sea. This initially regional migration would also explain another phenomenon: it is now considered likely that between

8742-578: Was in High German. Some scholars assume that centuries with German spoken in church made people identify with the German nationality, even if they still spoke a Danish vernacular at home. The Danish government, for political reasons, wished to halt this language shift from Danish to German. After the First War of Schleswig , in 1851, the government issued the Slesvig Language Rescripts, ordering

8836-400: Was suitable for literary arts and was a national treasure worth keeping. Through the works of advocates like Groth, both proponents and opponents of Low German in formal education saw the language's innate value as the cultural and historical language of northern Germany. Nevertheless, opponents claimed that it should simply remain a spoken and informal language to be used on the street and in

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