THE GERMAN DIALECTS. From the earliest times German has been divided into several dialects. Of course, these dialects must not be regarded as representing a corrupted form of the written language. On the contrary, they are—in Ger many, as elsewhere—the natural and genuine off shoots of the language, whereas the written lan guage represents one of their number artificially restrained in its natural development. It is only by drawing constantly on the dialectic vocabulary and by adapting itself more or less to the grammar of the living dialects that the written language succeeds in sustaining its vital ity.
Except in the territory formerly held by the Slays, the distribution of the German dialects has within the last thousand years undergone few changes, and a map of the Old High German dialects may be brought up to date with com paratively slight alterations. There is little doubt that dialectic differences were originally the outcome of ethnographical divisions of the German tribes, and since as early as the third century A.D. we meet with tribal unions, such as the Alemanni, the Franks, and the Saxons, we may date back to this time the origin of the corresponding dialects. At first the differences between these dialects were slight; but in the course of several centuries they became more pro nounced.
One event in the history of the German lan guage is in this respect of special importance, the second or High German shifting of con sonants. This second shifting is similar to the first, which had occurred several centuries ear lier; so similar, indeed, that the formula known as `Grimm's law' (q.v.) applies, with slight modifications, to the second as well as to the first shifting. There are, however, some im portant differences. First: While by the first shifting three classes of sounds (the tenues, media', and aspirates) were concerned, the sec ond is limited to only two classes, the tenues p, t, k, and the mediae b, d, g. Second: While the first shifting is essentially the same in all Ger manic languages, the second or High German shifting varies from dialect to dialect. In some
of the dialects the shifting of the tenues and mediae is almost as systematic as in the case of the first shifting, whereas in others it is confined to only a few among the six consonants con cerned.
The second shifting began in the seventh cen tury A.D. It started from the Alps in the most southern region of the German territory, and spread with unbroken force over the Alemannic and Bavarian dialects. It then advanced, with diminishing energy, farther north into the Fran conian territory, making its entry from the southeast, and progressing from there along the Main and Rhine rivers. By the time it had reached Cologne most of its energy was spent, and soon afterwards, after crossing the 51st de gree of latitude, it came to a stop entirely, with out reaching the northern Franconian or the Saxon dialects.
As a result of the second shifting we have a clearly defined division of the German dialects into three main groups (the second having va rious subdivisions), according to the degree in which they have been affected by the shifting.
I. Upper dialects in which the second shifting has been carried out to its full extent. They are divided into (1) Alemannic (west of the River Lech), and (2) Bavarian (east of the Lech). The Alemannic is again sub divided into (a) South Alemannic in Switzerland and in the southern districts of Baden and Wilrttemberg, (b) Alsatian, (c) Swabian. The subdivisions of the Bavarian are: (a) Upper Bavarian and Austrian, which constitute the main body of the Bavarian dialect; (b) the dia lect of the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) in Northern Bavaria, west of the Bohemian Forest. It may be noted that the German dialects spoken in Hungary (especially in the Transylvanian Saxon Land) belong to the Midland, not to the Upper German type. It may be inferred from their dialect that these Germans are immigrants from Western Germany, and that most of them came from the lower Rhine.