Originally between the Rhine, Alps, Elbe, and North Sea; today worldwide
Linguistic classification
Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
Subdivisions
North Sea Germanic – Anglo-Frisian, Low German
Weser–Rhine Germanic – Central German dialects, Hunsrik, Luxembourgish, Dutch, Afrikaans, Limburgish
Elbe Germanic – Upper German dialects, Lombardic, Yiddish
ISO 639-5
gmw
Linguasphere
52-AB & 52-AC
Glottolog
west2793
Extent of Germanic languages in present day Europe
North Germanic languages
Icelandic
Faroese
Norwegian
Swedish
Danish
West Germanic languages
Scots
English
West, North and Saterland Frisian
Dutch
Low German
High German
Dots indicate areas where multilingualism is common.
Extent of Germanic languages in present day Africa
West Germanic languages
Afrikaans
The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into three branches: Ingvaeonic, which includes English and the Frisian languages; Istvaeonic, which encompasses Dutch and its close relatives; and Irminonic, which includes German and its close relatives and variants.
English is by far the most-spoken West Germanic language, with more than 1 billion speakers worldwide. Within Europe, the three most prevalent West Germanic languages are English, German, and Dutch. Frisian, spoken by about 450,000 people, constitutes a fourth distinct variety of West Germanic. The language family also includes Afrikaans, Yiddish, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Scots. Additionally, several creoles, patois, and pidgins are based on Dutch, English, or German.
and 24 Related for: West Germanic languages information
The Germaniclanguages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe...
North Germaniclanguages make up one of the three branches of the Germaniclanguages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic...
The Germaniclanguages include some 58 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects that originated in Europe; this language family is part of the Indo-European...
East Germanic is one of the primary branches of Germaniclanguages, along with North Germanic and WestGermanic. The only East Germaniclanguage of which...
North Sea Germanic, also known as Ingvaeonic (/ˌɪŋviːˈɒnɪk/ ING-vee-ON-ik), is a postulated grouping of the northern WestGermaniclanguages that consists...
WestGermanic gemination was a sound change that took place in all WestGermaniclanguages around the 3rd or 4th century AD. It affected consonants directly...
Northwest Germanic is a proposed grouping of the Germaniclanguages, representing the current consensus among Germanic historical linguists. It does not...
proto-languages. North Sea Germanic Weser–Rhine Germanic Stefan Müller, Germanic syntax: A constraint-based view, series: Textbooks in Language Sciences...
the group of Germaniclanguages—a stricter term for that same proposition, but with an alternative chronography, is Proto-Germaniclanguage. As an identifiable...
took place separately in various Germaniclanguages starting around 450 or 500 CE and affected all of the early languages except Gothic. An example of the...
Proto-Germanic, the resulting language, Old High German (henceforth, OHG), can be neatly contrasted with the other continental WestGermaniclanguages, which...
Germanic. South Germanic mythology East Germanic languages North GermaniclanguagesWestGermaniclanguages Marchand 2016. Sonderegger 1979. Schwarz 1951...
The Frisian languages (/ˈfriːʒən/ FREE-zhən or /ˈfrɪziən/ FRIZ-ee-ən) are a closely related group of WestGermaniclanguages, spoken by about 400,000 Frisian...
In the Germaniclanguages, weak verbs are by far the largest group of verbs, and are therefore often regarded as the norm (the regular verbs). They are...
*Frenkisk), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the WestGermaniclanguage spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 9th century. After the Salian...
turn divided into North, West and East Germanic groups, and ultimately produced a large group of mediaeval and modern languages, most importantly: Danish...
Scandinavian languages. This common, but not direct, ancestor (proto-language) of all contemporary Germaniclanguages is called Proto-Germanic, commonly...
In the Germaniclanguages, a strong verb is a verb that marks its past tense by means of changes to the stem vowel. The majority of the remaining verbs...
the use of ancient and early medieval Germaniclanguages and are thus equated at least approximately with Germanic-speaking peoples, although different...
mainly Romance, languages. As a Germaniclanguage, Gothic is a part of the Indo-European language family. It is the earliest Germaniclanguage that is attested...
Saxon) and Low Franconian (including Dutch) within the continental WestGermanic dialect continuum. As a technical term, the "high" in High German is...
research into the Germaniclanguages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary texts in the earlier phases of the languages. Early modern...
Frisian and English, with which it forms the North Sea Germanic group of the WestGermaniclanguages. Like Dutch, it has historically been spoken north of...
Global Information
