The subdivision of

West Central German West Central German () belongs to the Central German, Central, High German languages, High German dialect family of German language, German. It includes the following sub-families: * Central Franconian () ** Ripuarian language, Ripuarian (), spok ...

into a series of dialects, according to the differing extent of the

High German consonant shift In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development (sound change) that took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic languages, West Germanic dialect continuum. The ...

, is particularly pronounced. It is known as the Rhenish fan (, ) because on the map of dialect boundaries, the lines form a fan shape.Rheinischer Fächer – Karte des Landschaftsverband Rheinland
Here, no fewer than eight isoglosses, named after places on the

Rhine River The Rhine ( ) is one of the major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Cons ...

, run roughly west to east. They partially merge into a simpler system of boundaries in East Central German. The table below lists the isoglosses (bold, in light fields) and the main resulting dialects (italics, in dark fields), arranged from north to south.

Chart

Notes

References

{{reflist History of the German language Central German languages