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Upper Saxon
Obersächsisch
Native to
Germany
Region
Saxony
Native speakers
(2 million cited 1998)[1]
Language family
Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
High German
Central German
East Central German
Upper Saxon
Language codes
ISO 639-3
sxu
Glottolog
uppe1465
Central German dialects after 1945 and the expulsions of the Germans
Upper Saxon (8)
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Upper Saxon (German: Obersächsisch, pronounced[ˈoːbɐˌzɛksɪʃ]; Upper Saxon:[ɵːb̥oˤˈsɛɡ̊sʃ]) is an East Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it is mostly extinct and a new regiolect (also known as obersächsische Umgangssprache) has emerged instead.[2] Though colloquially called "Saxon" (Sächsisch), it is not to be confused with the Low Saxon dialect group in Northern Germany. Upper Saxon is closely linked to the Thuringian dialect spoken in the adjacent areas to the west.
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 translation of the Bible by Martin Luther.[3]
^Upper Saxon at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
UpperSaxon (German: Obersächsisch, pronounced [ˈoːbɐˌzɛksɪʃ]; UpperSaxon: [ɵːb̥oˤˈsɛɡ̊sʃ]) is an East Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern...
The UpperSaxon Circle (German: Obersächsischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, created in 1512. The circle was dominated...
Present-day Standard German as a High German variant, has actually developed from a compromise of East Central (especially UpperSaxon that was promoted...
West Saxon dialect, one of the four main dialects of Old English UpperSaxonGerman, an East Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern German State...
varieties of German are conventionally grouped into UpperGerman, Central German and Low German; Upper and Central German form the High German subgroup....
zebra The flehmen response (/ˈfleɪmən/; from German flehmen, to bare the upper teeth, and UpperSaxonGerman flemmen, to look spiteful), also called the...
to be in or near the German North Sea coast where they appear later, in Carolingian times. In Merovingian times, continental Saxons had been associated...
UpperGerman (German: Oberdeutsch [ˈoːbɐdɔʏtʃ] ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (Sprachraum)...
the light of this caveat. High German Central German (German: Mitteldeutsch) East Central German Thuringian UpperSaxon, including Erzgebirgisch South...
dialect is a distinct German dialect of the city of Chemnitz and an urban variety of Vorerzgebirgisch, a variant of UpperSaxonGerman. /m, p/ are bilabial...
Pennsylvania German (spoken by the Amish and other groups in southeastern Pennsylvania East Central German Thuringian UpperSaxon North UpperSaxon–South Markish...
Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe) as either Low German or Low Saxon, and those spoken in northeastern Germany (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg...
High German, including medieval forms of UpperSaxonGerman, East Franconian German and Thuringian. The German-speaking inhabitants of Silesia are thought...
was originally called the Saxon Circle (German: Sächsischer Kreis) before later being better differentiated from the UpperSaxon Circle by the more specific...
with Germany. Some Dutch Low Saxon dialects like Tweants show features of Westphalian, a Low German dialect spoken in adjacent Northern Germany. From...
(Low German/Low Franconian) by the Benrath line isogloss and separated from Southern Germany (UpperGerman) by the Speyer line. Central German is spoken...
Yiddish, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Scots. Additionally, several creoles, patois, and pidgins are based on Dutch, English, or German. The Germanic...
Saxon Switzerland (German: Sächsische Schweiz) is a hilly climbing area and national park in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. It is located around the Elbe...
Bavaria. It is close to UpperSaxon spoken mainly in the state of Saxony, therefore both are also regarded as one Thuringian-UpperSaxon dialect group. Thuringian...
Transylvanian Saxon dialect UpperGermanUpperSaxonGerman Viennese German Vogtlandian Vorerzgebirgisch Walser German Werdersch West Central German West Low...
Vorerzgebirgisch is a variety of UpperSaxonGerman. It is a transitional dialect between Meißnisch, Vogtländisch and Erzgebirgisch. An example of an urban...
in the Thuringian-UpperSaxon dialect area after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the fifth largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East) Berlin...
The official language of Germany is German, with over 95 percent of the country speaking Standard German or a dialect of German as their first language...
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