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Northern Germany (the Low German area) is characterized by a loss of dialects: standard German is the vernacular, with very few regional features even in informal situations. [12] In Central Germany (the Middle German area) there is a tendency towards dialect loss. [12] In Southern Germany (the Upper German area) dialects are still in use. [12]
These countries (with the addition of South Tyrol of Italy) also form the Council for German Orthography and are referred to as the German Sprachraum (German language area). Since 2004, Meetings of German-speaking countries have been held annually with six participants: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland: [ 1 ]
In linguistics, a sprachraum (/ ˈ s p r ɑː k r aʊ m /; German: [ˈʃpʁaːxˌʁaʊm], "language area", plural sprachräume, German: [ˈʃpʁaχˌʁɔʏmə]) is a geographical region where a common first language (mother tongue), with dialect varieties, or group of languages is spoken.
Southern Germany primarily contrasts with Northern Germany and defines the territories of modern Germany that did not form part of the North German Confederation in the 19th century. Between Northern and Southern Germany is the loosely defined area known as Central Germany ( Mitteldeutschland ), roughly corresponding to the areal of Central ...
German adjectives take different sets of endings in different circumstances. Essentially, the adjectives must provide case, gender and number information if the articles do not. This table lists the various endings, in order masculine, feminine, neuter, plural, for the different inflection cases.
High Germany (German: Hochdeutschland) is a geographical term referring to the mountainous southern part of Germany. The term is first found in medieval Latin as Germania Superior , for example in chapter 23 of the Imago mundi of Honorius Augustodunensis (12th century, Regensburg ): Ab Danubio usque ad Alpes est Germania Superior , "From the ...
Today German, together with French, is a common second foreign language in the western world, with English well established as a first foreign language. [5] [15] German ranks second (after English) among the best known foreign languages in the EU (on a par with French) [5] as well as in Russia. [16]
Land der Dichter und Denker (Land of poets and thinkers) is a phrase used by many Germans to refer to Germany, [7] [8] [9] though it is hardly known in non-German-speaking countries. It is occasionally used to describe certain cities as well ( Stadt der Dichter und Denker ), such as Tübingen [ 10 ] and Jena .