- Early New High German
Infobox Language
name=Early New High German
nativename="Deudsch"
region=southernGermany (south of theBenrath line ), parts ofAustria andSwitzerland
extinct=developed intoModern German from the1650s
familycolor=Indo-European
fam2=Germanic
fam3=West Germanic
fam4=High German
iso2=deuEarly New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the
German language , generally defined, followingWilhelm Scherer , as the period1350 to1650 . Alternative periodisations take the period to begin later; e.g. at the invention of printing with moveable type in the1450s .The term is the standard translation of the German "Frühneuhochdeutsch" (Fnhd.), introduced by Scherer. The term "Early Modern High German" is also occasionally used for this period (but the abbreviation EMHG is generally used for "Early Middle High German)".
Periodisation
The start and end dates of ENHG are, like all linguistic
periodisation s, somewhat arbitrary.In spite of many alternative suggestions, Scherer's dates still command widespread acceptance. Linguistically, the mid 14th century is marked by the phonological changes to the vowel system which characterise the modern standard language; the mid 17th sees the loss of status for regional forms of language, and the triumph of German overLatin as the dominant, and then sole, language for public discourse.Scherer's dates also have the merit of coinciding with two major demographic catastrophes with linguistic consequences: the
Black Death , and the end of theThirty Years' War . Arguably, thePeace of Westphalia in 1648, by ending religious wars and creating a Germany of many small sovereign states, brought about the essential political conditions for the final development of a universally acceptable standard language in the subsequentNew High German period.Classification
There was no standard Early New High German, but the period saw the gradual development of forms of German, in writing at least, which were not simply reflections of local
dialect . Two supra-regional "Schriftsprachen" ("written languages") rose to prominence, influencing all dialects, and each other:
* the "gemaine tiutsch" ("common German") of the Imperial Chancery of Maximilian I (Upper German )
* theEast Central German of the Saxon Chancery inMeissen (Central German )Phonology and grammar
In
phonology and morphology, the main linguistic developments of the period are:
* Changes to the longvowels anddiphthong s, which brought consequent changes to
**verb conjugation s
**syllable structure rules
* The loss of unstressedvowels in many circumstances, which contributed to
** further simplification of thenoun declensionsThese changes did not affect all dialects equally, and led to greater divergence between the dialects than inMiddle High German .Literature
The period saw the invention of
printing with moveable type (c.1455) and the Reformation (from 1517). Both of these were significant contributors to the development of the Modern German Standard language, as they further promoted the development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area — even the illiterate, who were read "to". The most important single text of the period was Luther's Bible translation, the first part of which was published in1522 , though this is now not credited with the central role in creating the standard that was once attributed to it. This is also the first period in whichprose works, both literary and discursive, became more numerous and more important than verse.Example Text
Luther, 1545 Modern German Authorised Version
# Im anfang war das Wort, vnd das Wort war bey Gott, vnd Gott war das Wort,
# das selbige war im anfang bey Gott.
# Alle ding sind durch dasselbige gemacht, vnd on das selbige ist nichts gemacht, was gemacht ist.
# Jn jm war das Leben, vnd das leben war das Liecht der Menschen,
# vnd das liecht scheinet in der finsternis, vnd die Finsternis habens nicht begriffen.
# Im Anfang war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und Gott war das Wort.
# Dasselbe war im Anfang bei Gott.
# Alle Dinge sind durch dasselbe gemacht, und ohne dasselbe ist nichts gemacht, was gemacht ist.
# In ihm war das Leben, und das Leben war das Licht der Menschen.
# Und das Licht scheint in der Finsternis, und die Finsternis hat nicht ergriffen.
# In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
# The same was in the beginning with God.
# All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
# In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
# And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."The opening verses of John's Gospel" ee also
*
German language
*Middle High German
*New High German
*Early Modern English
*German literature of the Baroque period External links
* [http://www.germanstudies.org.uk/enhg_dic/enhg_dica.htm Early New High German - English Dictionary]
* [http://www.ikp.uni-bonn.de/dt/forsch/fnhd/ Das Bonner Frühneuhochdeutschkorpus] The Bonn Corpus of Early New High German
* [http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Lutherbibel Luther's Bible translation] from German Wikisource
* [http://demo.fruehneuhochdeutsch.is.guad.de/ Early New High German Search Engine]ources
*R.E.Keller, "The German Language", London 1978. ISBN 0-571-11159-9
*"Lexikon der Germanistischen Linguistik", ed. Hans Peter Althaus, Helmut Henne, Herbert Ernst Weigand, 2nd revised edition, Tübingen 1980. ISBN 3-484-10396-5
*Wilhelm Scherer , "Zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache" (Berlin 1868)
*C.J.Wells, "German. A Linguistic History to 1945", Oxford 1987. ISBN 0-19-815809-2
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