Because the Germanic people in Britain originally settled in present-day North Germany, the dialect of Anglo-Saxon, together with old English, has a strong consistency with Lower German (old Saxon). In the Middle Ages, although its original kinship was still clearly visible, its similarity was greatly reduced due to the interference of French (Romance) and the reduction of English grammar. Therefore, English still retains the basic features of West Germanic.
With the eastward expansion (eastern colonization), Gude also expanded. Then until 1225, Middle Low German continued to spread eastward. The kaleidoscope of new languages came into being: mecklenburg, Pomersch, Nanmeck (Brandenburg, Sü ddeutsche Zeitung &; AumlRkisch/Brandenburgisch), Lower Prussia (Niederpreu &; SzligIsch, not the old Prussian language of the Baltic Sea), the low German of cities and farms along the Baltic Sea or Scandinavia. In addition, middle and low German successfully pushed Danish and North Frisian to the north, while East Frisian was pushed to Ostfrisian. All the low German-speaking areas are so-called colonial written languages or colonial dialects with unique grammar and vocabulary. Therefore, today, the pronunciation rules of verbs in dialects in this area are still the same, such as the plural change of verb "do" in highland German, western lowland German and eastern lowland German, and Schleiger Platt and eastern frys are different. As shown below: Highland German, low German in the west, low German in the east, Wirmach-en Wimak-t Wimak-en in China, ihrmach-tjimak-en in our country, Siemach-en Semak-t Semak-en in yours. Their historically common low German-speaking areas are all over the Netherlands, the low German-speaking areas of the German Empire and/kloc-0.
After that, the French (Niederfr &; AumlNkisch) uses written and cultural languages as symbols of independent countries in the Netherlands and Belgium. Compared with the form of standard German or standard Dutch, the dialects of low German in Germany and Holland have gradually deteriorated. Today, only in rural areas will this language be used for daily communication.
The continuous decline of low German can be divided into two stages. At the turn of 16 and 17 century, written language was first replaced by standard German. Educated citizens obey the rulers of cities and fiefs and use standard German in written language. Although most residents in North Germany still use low German in their spoken language, the language has lost its function and importance, so that with the passage of time, the social class has accepted the standard German used by other classes. Finally, the ancient language in this area has essentially become the daily language of a few people, especially rural people.
With the modernization of society, the development and survival opportunities of low German are getting smaller and smaller. 19, the process of social development in the 20th century forced it to become a neglected popular language. Industrialization and urbanization not only greatly limit people's opportunities to use low German, but also promote the decline and disintegration of local languages that should have a place in the local people's languages. Through the popularization of schools and education, the bureaucratization of social life and the democratization of education, the most urgent thing is to promote and stabilize the popular language used by the people to become standard German.
For a long time, low German in the 20th century has been excluded from churches, schools, politics, literature and science, and families. Since the Second World War, a large number of people from other dialect areas have also been accomplices in the erosion of this language in the past 50 years. However, due to the rapid development of mass media, regional efforts to revive this language are not enough.
German was once an important written language, and it was also the language used by Hanseatic League, and it was the lingua franca of North Sea and Baltic Sea. Language researchers refer to the historical development period of these languages as middle and low German (about 1200 BC to 1600 BC). Low German is not only a written language, but also a diversified dialect at that time (it is difficult to rebuild now). Even so, until modern times, the written language of middle and low German can still be found in documents, books and certificates. The language center at that time was located in Rubek, a big city of Hanseatic League. After the disintegration of the city alliance, low German continued to be used at the regional level.
The written language of North Germany, low German, is constantly threatened by standard German and reduced to dialect level. Hamburg and Bremen Until ten years ago, the daily language of low German was more noble than other rural dialects, and it was the last remnant of the elegant written language of the past.