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Era developed into Modern German from the 1650s Early forms Old High GermanMiddle High GermanEarly New High German | ||
Early New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the German language, generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650.
Contents
Alternative periodisations take the period to begin later, such as the invention of printing with moveable type in the 1450s.
The term is the standard translation of the German Frühneuhochdeutsch (Fnhd., Frnhd.), introduced by Scherer. The term Early Modern High German is also occasionally used for this period (but the abbreviation EMHG is generally used for Early Middle High German).
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.
Classification
There was no standard Early New High German, but the period saw the gradual development of forms of German, in writing at least, which were not simply reflections of local dialect. Two supra-regional Schriftsprachen ("written languages") rose to prominence, influencing all dialects, and each other:
Phonology and grammar
In phonology and morphology, the main linguistic developments of the period are:
which brought consequent changes to
These changes did not affect all dialects equally, and led to greater divergence between the dialects than in Middle High German.
Literature
The period saw the invention of printing with moveable type (c.1455) and the Reformation (from 1517). Both of these were significant contributors to the development of the Modern German Standard language, as they further promoted the development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area — even the illiterate, who were read to. The most important single text of the period was Luther's Bible translation, the first part of which was published in 1522, though this is now not credited with the central role in creating the standard that was once attributed to it. This is also the first period in which prose works, both literary and discursive, became more numerous and more important than verse.