Upper Saxon German: Difference between revisions

{{RefimproveMore citations needed|date=August 2007}}

| 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 = [[High German languages|High German]]

| fam6 = [[Central German]]

|mapcaption=Central German dialects{{legend|#668000|Upper Saxon (8)}}

'''Upper Saxon''' ({{lang-langx|de|Obersächsisch}}, {{IPA-|de|ˈoːbɐˌzɛksɪʃ|pronlabel=standard pronunciation:}};, {{IPA-dedia|ɵːb̥oˤˈsɛɡ̊sʃsxu|Upper Saxon:ɵːb̥oˤˈsɛɡ̊sʃ}}) is an [[East Central German]] dialect spoken in much of the modern German [[States of Germany|StateGerman state]] of [[Saxony]] and in the adjacent parts of southeastern [[Saxony-Anhalt]] and eastern [[Thuringia]]. LinguisticallyAs speakingof the early 21st century, it is amostly "[[regiolect]]"extinct orand "regionala vernacular"new ratherregiolect than(also aknown dialectas in{{lang|de|obersächsische theUmgangssprache}}) has strictemerged senseinstead.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://home.uni-leipzig.de/siebenh/projekt/saechsisch/index.html |first=Beat |last=Siebenhaar |title=Der obersächsische Sprachraum |publisher=Leipzig University |accessdateaccess-date=2 June 2019}}</ref> Though colloquially called "Saxon" ({{lang|de|Sächsisch}}), it is not to be confused with the [[West Low German|Low Saxon]] dialect group in [[Northern Germany]]. Upper Saxon is closely linked to the [[Thuringian dialect]] spoken in the adjacent areas to the west.

The Upper Saxon dialect evolved as a new [[Variety (linguistics)|variety]] in the course of the medieval German ''{{lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]''}} (eastern colonisation) from about 1100 onwards. Settlers descending from the [[stem duchy|stem duchies]] of [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]], [[Duchy of Franconia|Franconia]], and [[Duchy of Bavaria|Bavaria]], as well as [[Thuringia]] and [[County of Flanders|Flanders]], moved into the [[Margravate of Meissen]] between the [[Elbe]] and [[Saale]] rivers,<ref name="LIZ_2011">{{Cite web |title=Ein Leipziger Sprachforscher ist sich sicher: Sächsischer Dialekt weitgehend ausgestorben |work=Leipziger Internet Zeitung |date=17 February 2011 |url=http://www.l-iz.de/Bildung/Forschung/2011/02/Leipziger-Sprachforscher-Saechsischer-Dialekt-weitgehend-ausgestorben.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114704/http://www.l-iz.de/Bildung/Forschung/2011/02/Leipziger-Sprachforscher-Saechsischer-Dialekt-weitgehend-ausgestorben.html |archive-date=26 August 2014}}</ref> formerly populated by [[Polabian Slavs]]. As the colonists belonged to different German tribes, speaking different dialects, Upper Saxon became an intermediary, [[Koiné language|koiné dialect]] (''Kolonialdialekt''<ref name="LIZ_2011"/> or ''Ausgleichsdialekt''), having less distinct features than the older, more original dialects.<ref name="LIZ_2011"/>

In the [[Middle Ages]], a variety of Upper Saxon dialectcalled needs''[[Meißen|Meißner]] toKanzleisächsisch'' bedeveloped distinguished fromas the "[[Chancery (medieval office)|chancery]] language" of Saxony ''([[Meißen|Meißner]] Kanzleisächsisch)''. 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 Monarchymonarchy|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 |workseries=Sächsische Mythen |publisher=[[Edition Leipzig]] |year=2011 |pages=91–99}}</ref>

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]] (1732–1806) published his High German dictionary (''Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart''), he made clear that "High German"—to him—meantto 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]] (1749–1832; a native of [[Frankfurt]]) to send him to study in Leipzig was to adopt a more sophisticated language.<ref name="Siebenhaar2011"/>

According to linguist [[Beat Siebenhaar]], Upper Saxon dialect—defined— defined as a cohesive linguistic system with its own, clear rules for [[pronunciation]], [[word formation]] and [[syntax]]—became — 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"/>

The degree of [[Accent (dialect)|accent]] varies from place to place, from a relatively mild accent in the larger cities such as [[Dresden]], [[Chemnitz]] or [[Leipzig]] to a stronger form in rural areas, depending on the grade of the [[High German consonant shift]]:

*MeissenMeißen dialect, which remained in the former margraviate after the development of the New High German standard variety, spoken from [[Meissen (district)|MeissenMeißen District]] and [[Mittelsachsen|Central Saxony]] up the Elbe River to [[Sächsische Schweiz|Saxon Switzerland]] including the [[Dresden]] metrolect.

*[[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=Archived copydt.swf |accessdateaccess-date=2010-03-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610230611/http://web.uni-marburg.de/sprache-in-hessen/flash/dt.swf |archivedatearchive-date=2007-06-10 }}</ref> It is also found in [[Lower Saxony]] in the [[Upper Harz]], to where [[mining|miners]] from the Ore Mountains moved in the 16th century (see [[Mining in the Upper Harz]]).

{{reflistReflist}}