Upper German language

Upper German ( ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area ().

History

In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High German time, East Franconian and sometimes South Franconian are added to this. Swabian splits off from Alemannic due to the New High German diphthongisation ().Frank Janle, Hubert Klausmann: ''Dialekt und Standardsprache in der Deutschdidaktik: Eine Einführung.'' Narr Francke Attempto Verlag, Tübingen, 2020, p. 30f. (chapter ''3.1.2 Die Gliederung der Dialekte'')

Family tree

Upper German proper comprises the Alemannic and Bavarian dialect groups. Furthermore, the High Franconian dialects, spoken up to the Speyer line isogloss in the north, are often also included in the Upper German dialect group.
Whether they should be included as part of Upper German or instead classified as Central German is an open question, as they have traits of both Upper and Central German and are frequently described as a transitional zone. Hence, either scheme can be encountered. Erzgebirgisch, usually lumped in with Upper Saxon on geographical grounds, is closer to East Franconian linguistically, especially the western dialects of Erzgebirgisch.

Roughly

Upper German is divided roughly in multiple different ways, for example in:''Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch. Herausgegeben von Robert R. Anderson, Ulrich Goebel, Oskar Reichmann. Band 1. Bearbeitet von Oskar Reichmann.'' Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York, 1989, p. 118f., noting that the dialect borders in the Early New High German and later New High German times have not changed much and giving:
* „Nordoberdeutsch“: „Südfränkisch“, „Ostfränkisch“ (including „Nürnbergisch“)
* „Westoberdeutsch“: „Alemannisch“ („Niederalemannisch“, including „Elsässisch“ and „östliches Niederalemannisch“; „Hochalemannisch“, including „Westhochalemannisch“ and „Osthochalemannisch“), „Schwäbisch“
* „Ostoberdeutsch“: „nördliches Ostoberdeutsch, Nordbairisch“, „mittleres Ostoberdeutsch, Mittelbairisch“ (including „Südmittelbairisch“), „südliches Ostoberdeutsch, Südbairisch“ (including „Tirolisch“)
Similar in:
''Oskar Reichmann, Klaus-Peter Wegera (Hrsg.): Frühneuhochdeutsche Grammatik von Robert Peter Ebert, Oskar Reichmann, Hans-Joachim Solms und Klaus-Peter Wegera.'' Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen, 1993, p. 5f.

* North Upper German (): East Franconian and South Franconian
* West Upper German (): Swabian and Alemannic
* East Upper German (): Bavarian (North, Middle and South Bavarian)
or:
* West Upper German: Alemannic (Low and Highest Alemannic, Swabian), East Franconian
* East Upper German: Bavarian (North, Middle and South Bavarian)
or:
* West Upper German: Alemannic in the broad sense (i.e. Alemannic in the strict sense, including Alsatian, and Swabian), South Franconian, East Franconian
* East Upper German: Bavarian (North, Middle and South Bavarian)
or writing dialects (, ) in the Early New High German times:
* West Upper German: South Franconian, Swabian, Alemannic
* East Upper German: Bavarian, East Franconian

In English there is also a grouping into:
* South Upper German: South and Middle Alemannic, South Bavarian, South Middle Bavarian "on the east bank of the Lech" – where the "state of initial consonants is largely that of Old High German"
* North Upper German: North Alemannic, North Bavarian, Middle Bavarian – which "have allegedly weaking many initial fortes"

Attempts to group East Franconian and North Bavarian together as ''North Upper German'' are not justified and were not sustainable.

Detailed

* High Franconian or Upper Franconian (German: , sometimes ), spoken in the Bavarian Franconia region, as well as in the adjacent regions of northern Baden-Württemberg and southern Thuringia
** East Franconian (German: , , colloquially just ')
*** Main-Franconian, mainly spoken in Bavarian Franconia, in the adjacent Main-Tauber-Kreis of Baden-Württemberg, as well as in Thuringia south of the Rennsteig ridge in the Thuringian Forest
**** Itzgründish (), spoken in the Itz Valley
*** Vogtlandish (), spoken in Vogtland, Saxony '' ometimes; sometimes classified as East Central German separated from Upper Franconian">East_Central_German.html" ;"title="ometimes; sometimes classified as East Central German">ometimes; sometimes classified as East Central German separated from Upper Franconian'
** South Franconian German">South Franconian