Re: R: German dialectology

This according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Standard High German is based on,
but not identical with, the Middle German dialect used by Martin Luther in his
16th-century translation of the Bible." In many languages the standard dialect
develops around the language of the capital (English and London, Mandarin and
Beijing, French and Paris, etc.). IIRC, since Germany was not unified until
quite late, there was no political center around which a standard language
could develop. So, with the lack of some other model, the language of the Bible
became the most important source of Standard High German.

-WW

>---- Original Message ---
>On Sat, 28 Apr 2001, Mangiat wrote:
>> 1) where was High German originally spoken? Is there a particular dialect
>> playing an important role in NHG's development (as Fiorentino for Italian)?
>