(which I prefer to call hochdeutsch, since german is a nationalist contruct that erases many other languages spoken by peoples living in Germany-Switzerland-Austria.)
Quite a bit to unpack here.
“Hochdeutsch” isn’t the term usually used in linguistics for two reasons: First, Hochdeutsch (or High German) refers to something else which is the upper and middle dialect groups (Ober- und Mitteldeutsch) combined, basically everything except lower German (Niederdeutsch aka Plattdeutsch). Second, “hoch” sounds like a value statement. As if it was the higher form of the language witch it is not. It’s the standardized form, hence Standard German (Standarddeutsch).
Which other languages are you talking about? Romani? Sorbian? Migrant languages? Because most if not all others are German dialects. Source: They have no army of their own.
And that’s basically my point: Someone from Oldenburg will have a much easier time understanding someone from Groningen than someone from Vienna, despite the fact that both speak German dialects and not Dutch. Now you can argue that Low German (Plattdeutsch) is its own language in its own right but, again, someone from Cologne will get along with someone from Duisburg (linguistically at least) while Duisburg is Low German and Cologne is Middle German. Where ever you draw the lines and how many lines you might draw, they are always arbitrary.
Now it makes more sense to me to speak of dialect groups where neighboring groups are mutually intelligible. This model comes much closer to the real dialect continuum that continental western Germanic languages form (it’s called “continental western Germanic dialect continuum” or in German “Kontinentalwestgerrmanisches Dialektkontinuum” and I had a linguistics docent who really loved this term). You can’t group these dialect groups to languages because each time you try, you will end up with neighboring groups in different languages. It’s better to just abolish the very concept of distinct languages as a nationalist idea. #nobordernonation
And sorry for the cliff hanger if you happened to read the comment before the edit. I hit “send” by accident.
Quite a bit to unpack here.
And that’s basically my point: Someone from Oldenburg will have a much easier time understanding someone from Groningen than someone from Vienna, despite the fact that both speak German dialects and not Dutch. Now you can argue that Low German (Plattdeutsch) is its own language in its own right but, again, someone from Cologne will get along with someone from Duisburg (linguistically at least) while Duisburg is Low German and Cologne is Middle German. Where ever you draw the lines and how many lines you might draw, they are always arbitrary.
Now it makes more sense to me to speak of dialect groups where neighboring groups are mutually intelligible. This model comes much closer to the real dialect continuum that continental western Germanic languages form (it’s called “continental western Germanic dialect continuum” or in German “Kontinentalwestgerrmanisches Dialektkontinuum” and I had a linguistics docent who really loved this term). You can’t group these dialect groups to languages because each time you try, you will end up with neighboring groups in different languages. It’s better to just abolish the very concept of distinct languages as a nationalist idea. #nobordernonation
And sorry for the cliff hanger if you happened to read the comment before the edit. I hit “send” by accident.