Re: Low German and Dutch (was Re: Aesthetics)

Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:
> Hallo!
> In Notker's time, the concept of "Germany" already existed, but the
> concept of "Switzerland" didn't - the Swiss Confederacy was founded
> in 1271, and before that (and even after that, actually until 1648
> when Switzerland ceased to be part of the Holy Roman Empire) the
> area we now call Switzerland was considered a part of Germany
> (as were, BTW, the Netherlands, which also were part of the HRE
> until 1648).
Perhaps you know why if Holland and Switzerland left "Germany" at the
same time, what differences in history account for a standard Dutch
language, but no standard Swiss German language? Being a separate state
obviously is not a sufficient quality but it probably was necessary at
the time... (Consider Scotland, where Scots ceased to be considered a
separate language from English at a similar time, because of the merger
with England.)

--
Tristan.