Early New High German


Early New High German is a term for the period in the history of the German language generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650, developing from Middle High German and into New High German.
The term is the standard translation of the German Frühneuhochdeutsch, introduced by Scherer. The term Early Modern High German is also occasionally used for this period.

Periodisation

The start and end dates of ENHG are, like all linguistic periodisations, somewhat arbitrary. In spite of many alternative suggestions, Scherer's dates still command widespread acceptance. Linguistically, the mid-14th century is marked by the phonological changes to the vowel system that characterise the modern standard language; the mid-17th sees the loss of status for regional forms of language, and the triumph of German over Latin as the dominant, and then sole, language for public discourse.
Scherer's dates also have the merit of coinciding with two major demographic catastrophes with linguistic consequences: the Black Death, and the end of the Thirty Years' War. Arguably, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, by ending religious wars and creating a Germany of many small sovereign states, brought about the essential political conditions for the final development of a universally acceptable standard language in the subsequent New High German period.
Alternative periodisations take the period to begin later, such as the invention of printing with moveable type in the 1450s.

Geographical variation

There was no standard Early New High German, and all forms of language display some local or regional characteristics. However, there was increasing harmonisation in the written and printed word, the start of developments towards the unified standard which was codified in the New High German period.

Dialects

With the end of eastward expansion, the geographical spread and the dialect map of German in the ENHG period remained the same as at the close of the MHG period.
ENHG DialectsWestEast
Central German
Ripuarian
Moselle Franconian
Rhine Franconian
Hessian
Thuringian
Upper Saxon
Silesian
Bohemian
High Prussian
Upper German
South Franconian
Swabian
Low Alemannic
High Alemannic
East Franconian
North Bavarian
Middle Bavarian
South Bavarian

, "printers' languages"

Since the printers had a commercial interest in making their texts acceptable to a wide readership, they often strove to avoid purely local forms of language. This gave rise to so-called Druckersprachen, which are not necessarily identical to the spoken dialect of the town where the press was located. The most important centres of printing, with their regional Druckersprachen are:
While the language of the printers remained regional, the period saw the gradual development of two forms of German, which were supra-regional: the Schriftsprachen of the chanceries of the two main political centres.
The language of these centres had influence well beyond their own territorial and dialect boundaries.
Emperor Maximilian's chancery was the first concerted and successful effort to introduce a standardised form of German for all German chanceries, and hence avoided the most idiosyncratic features of Austrian Upper German standards in favour of Central German alternatives. Emperor Maximilian's Prague Chancery and the Saxon Chancery used similar standards of German as they were bordering each other, both dialects originating from the linguistic admixture in the course of eastward German settlement. In addition, many Bohemians had fled to Saxony during the Hussite Wars, reinforcing the similarities between the dialects.
The influence of the Saxon Chancery was due in part to its adoption for his own published works by Martin Luther, who stated, "Ich rede nach der sächsischen Canzley, welcher nachfolgen alle Fürsten und Könige in Deutschland".
He also recognized the standardising force of the two chanceries: "Kaiser Maximilian und Kurf. Friedrich, H. zu Sachsen etc. haben im römischen Reich die deutschen Sprachen also in eine gewisse Sprache gezogen".

Low German

, spoken across the whole of Northern Germany north of the Benrath Line in the Middle Ages, was a distinct West Germanic language. From the start of the 16th century, however, High German came increasingly to be used in this area not only in writing but also in the pulpit and in schools. By the end of the ENHG period, Low German had almost completely ceased to be used in writing or in formal and public speech and had become the low-status variant in a diglossic situation, with High German as the high-status variant.

Phonology and orthography

For a number of reasons it is not possible to give a single phonological system for ENHG:
  • dialectal variation
  • the differing times at which individual dialects introduced even shared sound changes
  • the lack of a prestige variant
Also, the difficulty of deriving phonological information from the complexity of ENHG orthography means that many reference works do not treat orthography and phonology separately for this period.

Vowels

The MHG vowel system undergoes significant changes in the transition to ENHG and their uneven geographical distribution has served to further differentiate the modern dialects.

Diphthongization

The long high vowels, and are diphthongized to, and, spelt, and. In many dialects they fall together with the original MHG diphthongs, and , which are all lowered.
Examples:
  • MHG snîden > NHG schneiden
  • MHG hût > NHG Haut
  • MHG liute > NHG Leute.
This change started as early as the 12th century in Upper Bavarian, and only reached Moselle Franconian in the 16th century. It does not affect Alemannic or Ripuarian dialects, which still retain the original long vowels. The map shows the distribution and chronology of this sound change. In Bavarian, the original diphthongs are monophthongized, avoiding a merger with the new diphthongs.

Monophthongisation

The MHG falling diphthongs, and are monophthongised, replacing the long high vowels lost in the diphthongisation. In the case of > the MHG spelling is retained and in Modern German indicates the long vowel.
Examples:
  • MHG liebe > NHG Liebe
  • MHG bruoder > NHG Bruder
  • MHG brüeder > NHG Brüder
This change, sometimes called the Central German Monophthongisation, affects mainly the Central German dialects, along with South Franconian and East Franconian. The other Upper German dialects largely retain the original diphthongs.

Changes in vowel quantity

There are two changes in vowel quantity in ENHG, the lengthening of short vowels and the shortening of long vowels. Both show wide variation between dialects but appear earlier and more completely in Central German dialects. Many individual words form exceptions to these changes, though the lengthening is carried out more consistently.
1. Lengthening: MHG short vowels in open syllables tend to be lengthened in the ENHG period. This is not reflected directly in spelling, but it is the source of the Modern German spelling convention that a vowel ending a syllable is always long.
Examples:
  • MHG sagen > NHG sagen
  • MHG übel > NHG Übel
2. Shortening: MHG long vowels tend to be shortened in the ENHG period before certain consonants and before certain consonant combinations.
Examples:
  • MHG hât > NHG hat
  • MHG dâhte > NHG dachte
  • MHG lêrche > NHG Lerche
  • MHG jâmer > NHG Jammer
This shortening seems to have taken place later than the monophthongisation, since the long vowels which result from that change are often shortened.
Examples:
  • MHG muoter // "mother" > NHG Mutter
  • MHG lieht // "light" > NHG Licht )

    Consonants

The overall consonant system of German remains largely unchanged in the transition from MHG to Modern German. However, in many cases sounds changed in particular environments and therefore changed in distribution. Some of the more significant are the following.
  1. MHG had two sibilants, written / and /. The difference between these is uncertain, but in ENHG both fell together in.
  2. Before vowels this becomes voiced to, e.g. MHG sehen > NHG sehen.
  3. Initially before consonants becomes, indicated by the grapheme , e.g. MHG snîden > NHG schneiden. Before and this is not indicated in spelling, e.g. MHG stein > NHG Stein.
  4. In initial position the bilabial fricative becomes the labio-dental, though this is not reflected in any change in spelling, e.g. MHG wil > NHG will. In a few words, this also takes place between vowels, e.g. ewig .
  5. Otherwise it is either lost, e.g. MHG snėwes > NHG Schnees, or forms a diphthong with a neighbouring vowel > NHG Braue.
  6. Medial is lost, though it remains in spelling to indicate the length of the preceding vowel, e.g. MHG sehen > NHG sehen.
The loss of and the : contrast are the only structural changes to the consonant system.