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{{Infobox language
| name = Upper Saxon
| nativename = {{lang|sxu|Obersächsisch}}
| states = [[Germany]]
| region = [[Saxony]]
| speakers = 2 million
| date = 1998
| ref = e18
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3 = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4 = [[Elbe Germanic]]
| fam5 = [[
| fam6 = [[
| iso3 = sxu
| glotto = uppe1465<!--Glottolog has ISO [sxu] as equivalent to [uppe1400] 'Central East Middle German', the MI language that includes Upper Saxon. However, the scope of [sxu] 'Upper Saxon' in Ethnologue is the Upper Saxon of this article.-->
| glottorefname = Upper Saxon
| notice = IPA
| map = Mitteldeutsche Mundarten.png
| mapcaption = Central German dialects after 1945 and the [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|expulsions of the Germans]]
{{legend|#668000|Upper Saxon (8)}}
| fam7 = [[East Central German]]
}}
'''Upper Saxon''' ({{
[[Standard German]] has been heavily based on Upper Saxon, especially in its lexicon and grammar. This is due to it being used as the basis for early developments in the standardization of German during the early 1500s, including the [[Luther Bible|translation of the Bible]] by [[Martin Luther]].<ref>[https://www.dw.com/de/s%C3%A4chsische-hochsprache/a-4246184 Sächsische Hochsprache], [[Deutsche Welle]]. Retrieved 10 January 2021. (in German)</ref>
==History==
Upper Saxon evolved as a new [[Variety (linguistics)|variety]] in the course of the medieval German
In the [[Middle Ages]], a variety of Upper Saxon called ''[[Meißen|Meißner]] Kanzleisächsisch'' developed as the "[[Chancery (medieval office)|chancery]] language" of Saxony. This was the official, literary language of the Margravate of Meissen (respectively the [[Electorate of Saxony]] after 1423), replacing [[Latin]] as the language of administrators during the period of [[Renaissance humanism in Northern Europe|Renaissance humanism]] (15th to 16th century). It was less influenced by Upper German features than the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] chancery language, and thus intelligible to speakers of both Upper and Low German dialects. In the context of the [[Bible translations into German|Bible translation]] by [[Martin Luther]], it played a large part in the development of the [[Early New High German]] language as a [[Standard German|standard]] variety.<ref name="Siebenhaar2011">{{Cite book |first=Beat |last=Siebenhaar |title=Der sächsische Dialekt |editor1=Matthias Donath |editor2=André Thieme |
Due to the influence and prestige of the Electorate of Saxony during the Baroque era (17th to 18th century), and especially its role as a focal point of artists and scientists, the language of the Upper Saxon elite (but not of its ordinary people) was considered the exemplary variant of German during that period. The literary theorist [[Johann Christoph Gottsched]] (1700–1766), who spent most of his adult life in Leipzig, considered Saxony's upper-class speech as the guiding form of standard German. When [[Johann Christoph Adelung]] published his High German dictionary (''Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart''), he made clear that "High German" to him meant the parlance of educated Upper Saxons. He claimed that the Upper Saxon variety was to the German language what [[Attic Greek|Attic]] was to [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Tuscan dialect|Tuscan]] to [[Italian language|Italian]]. One motive of the parents of German national poet [[Johann Wolfgang Goethe]] (a native of [[Frankfurt]]) to send him to study in Leipzig was to adopt a more sophisticated language.<ref name="Siebenhaar2011"/>
With Saxony's loss of political power after the [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–63), its dialect lost prestige as well
According to linguist [[Beat Siebenhaar]], Upper Saxon — defined as a cohesive linguistic system with its own, clear rules for [[pronunciation]], [[word formation]] and [[syntax]] — became largely extinct during the second half of the 19th to early 20th century. This was due to the increased adoption of the [[Standard German|standard language]] among the Saxony populace. Since then, (Upper) Saxon merely refers to a colloquial, regional variety of Standard German and not a dialect in the proper sense.<ref name="LIZ_2011"/><ref name="Siebenhaar2011"/>
Spoken by leading communists
==Features==
Like many other German languages, Upper Saxon features the unrounding of vowel sounds descended from [[Middle High German]] (/
The most notable distinguishing feature of the dialect is that the letters ''o'' and ''u'' are pronounced as centralized vowels ({{IPA|[ɞ]}} and {{IPA|[ɵ]}}, respectively, when short; {{IPA|[ɵː]}} and {{IPA|[ʉː]}}, respectively, when long). Speakers of other German dialects that do not have these sounds tend to perceive these sounds as being ''ö'' {{IPA|[øː]}} and ''ü'' {{IPA|[yː]}} respectively. For example, they hear {{IPA|[ˈɵːma]}} 'grandma' as if written ''Öma'' (Standard ''Oma'' {{IPA|[ˈoːma]}}). Front [[Roundedness|rounded]] vowels are pronounced as non-rounded (''ö'' = {{IPA|[eː]}}, ''ü'' = {{IPA|[iː]}}). Final ''-er'' is pronounced {{IPA|[oˤ]}} (or similarly, depending on the subdialect), which speakers of other German dialects tend to hear as {{IPA|[oː]}}; e.g. {{IPA|[ˈheːo̯ˤ]}} 'higher' (Standard {{IPA|[ˈhøːɐ̯]}} ''höher'') is misheard as if written ''hä(h)er''.{{citation needed||date=October 2023}}
The Upper Saxon varieties ''outside'' the Ore Mountains can be easily recognized by the supposed "softening" ([[lenition]]) of the voiceless stop consonants {{IPA|/p/, /t/}} and {{IPA|/k/}}. Speakers of other dialects hear these as if they were "b", "d" and "g" respectively. In reality, these are merely non-aspirated versions of the same {{IPA|/p/, /t/}} and {{IPA|/k/}}, a widespread feature among Central German dialects, as opposed to strongly aspirated {{IPA|[pʰ]}}, {{IPA|[tʰ]}} and {{IPA|[kʰ]}} in dominant German dialects.
In contrast to neighboring Thuringian, Upper Saxon infinitives end in -en as in Standard German rather than -e
==Subgroups==
The
*Meißen dialect, which remained in the former margraviate after the development of the New High German standard variety, spoken from [[Meissen (district)|Meißen District]] and [[Mittelsachsen|Central Saxony]] up the Elbe River to [[Sächsische Schweiz|Saxon Switzerland]] including the [[Dresden]] metrolect.
*[[North Upper Saxon]] dialect with stronger Low German features, spoken in [[Nordsachsen|Northern Saxony]] in and around the city of Leipzig, from [[Torgau]] and [[Eilenburg]] down to [[Borna, Leipzig|Borna]], and in the adjacent territory of [[Saxony-Anhalt]] up to the Saale River at [[Weißenfels]] in the west
*[[Erzgebirgisch]], a distinct dialect, is spoken in the villages of the Central [[Ore Mountains]]. Until the post-war [[Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia|expulsions]] it also included the "Northwestern [[Bohemia]]n" language in the adjacent ''[[Sudetenland]]'' territories to the south, today part of the [[Czech Republic]].<ref>Ludwig Erich Schmitt (editor): ''Germanische Dialektologie''. Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 143</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.uni-marburg.de/sprache-in-hessen/flash/dt.swf |title=
==See also==
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