West Germanic languages

West Germanic
Geographic distribution	Originally between the Rhine, Alps, Elbe, and North Sea; today worldwide
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic
Subdivisions	North Sea Germanic Weser-Rhine Germanic Elbe Germanic
Language codes
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   Frisian   Dutch   Low German   High German Dots indicate areas where multilingualism is common.

The West Germanic Languages are a branch of Germanic languages first spoken in Central Europe and the British Isles. The branch has three parts: the North Sea Germanic languages, the Weser-Rhine Germanic languages, and the Elbe Germanic languages. The most spoken languages in the branch are English, German, and Dutch.

These languages were spread around the world in the Colonial Era. English is now spoken by around 400 million people natively.

Branches

There are three branches of West Germanic languages:

• North Sea Germanic / Ingvaeonic languages
  • Anglo-Frisian languages
    • English Languages/Anglic
      • English
      • Scots
      • Yola (extinct)
      • Fingalian (extinct)
    • Frisian languages
      • West Frisian
      • East Frisian
      • North Frisian
  • Low German / Low Saxon
    • Northern Low Saxon
    • Schleswig dialects
    • Holstein dialects
    • Westphalian
    • Eastphalia dialects
    • Brandenburg dialects ("Märkisch")
    • Pomeranian (moribund)
    • Low Prussian (moribund)
    • Dutch Low Saxon
• Weser-Rhine Germanic / Istvaeonic languages / Netherlandic / Low Frankish
  • Dutch
    • West Flemish
    • East Flemish
    • Zeelandic
    • Hollandic
    • Brabantine
    • Clevian/Meuse-Rhenish
    • Limburgian
  • Afrikaans
• Elbe Germanic / Irminonic languages / High German
  • German
    • Alemannic, including Swiss German and Alsatian
    • Swabian
    • Austro-Bavarian
    • East Franconian
    • South Franconian
    • Rhine Franconian, including the dialects of Hessen, Pennsylvania German, and most of those from Lorraine
    • Ripuarian
    • Thuringian
    • Upper Saxon German
    • Silesian (moribund)
    • Lombardic AKA Langobardic (extinct, unless Cimbrian and Mocheno are in fact Langobardic remnants.)
    • High Prussian (moribund)
  • Luxembourgish
  • Pennsylvania German language
  • Yiddish (a language based on Eastern-Central dialects of late Middle High German/Early New High German)

References

Sources

• Crystal, David (2006). "Chapter 9: English worldwide". In Denison, David; Hogg, Richard M. (eds.). A History of the English Language. Cambridge University Press. pp. 420–439. ISBN 978-0-511-16893-2.