Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the

Rennsteig The () is a ridge walk as well as an historical boundary path in the Thuringian Forest, Thuringian Highland and Franconian Forest in Central Germany. The long-distance trail runs for about from and the valley in the northwest to and the r ...

ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to

Upper Saxon Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's m ...

spoken mainly in the state of Saxony, therefore both are also regarded as one Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialect group. Thuringian dialects are among the Central German dialects with the highest number of speakers.

History

Thuringian emerged during the medieval German ''

Ostsiedlung (, literally "East-settling") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration-period when ethnic Germans moved into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire (that Germans had al ...

'' migration from about 1100, when settlers from Franconia ( Main Franconia), Bavaria, Saxony, and Flanders settled in the areas east of the Saale River previously inhabited by Polabian Slavs.

Characteristics

The Thuringian dialect is characterized by a rounding of the vowels, the weakening of consonants of Standard German (the lenition of the consonants "p," "t," and "k"), a marked difference in the pronunciation of the "g" sound (which is most common in the areas of North Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt areas), and a highly-idiosyncratic, melodic intonation of sentences. The second German consonant shift manifested itself in a manner different from that elsewhere in the areas that spoke High German. In many words, "b" is pronounced as "w" or "f" would be in

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...

. For example, the word "aber" (but) is pronounced as "awer". The Thuringian dialect has advanced beyond the stage of

basilect A post-creole continuum (or simply creole continuum) is a dialect continuum of varieties of a creole language between those most and least similar to the superstrate language (that is, a closely related language whose speakers assert or asserted d ...

Classification

Grouping according to German dialectology:Wolfgang Putschke: * ''Ostmitteldeutsch.'' In: ''Lexikon der Germanistischen Linguistik. Herausgegeben von Hans Peter Althaus, Helmut Henne, Herbert Ernst Wiegand.'' 2nd ed., Max Niemeyer Verlag Tübingen, 1980 (1st ed. 1973), p. 474ff., here p. 474–477 * ''Ostmitteldeutsche Dialektologie''. In: Ludwig Erich Schmitt (ed.): ''Germanische Dialektologie. Festschrift für Walther Mitzka zum 80. Geburtstag. I''. (''Zeitschrift für Mundartforschung. Beihefte, Neue Folge 5''.) Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 105–154, here p. 132 and 143 ses the terms ''ostmitteldeutscher Dialektraum'' on the 1st level, then on the 2nd level ''(adjective ending in -er) Dialektverband'' and on the 3rd ''(adjective ending in -e) Dialektgruppe''/ref>C. A. M. Noble: ''Modern German Dialects.'' Peter Lang, New York / Berne / Frankfort on the Main, p. 131 * (East Middle German, East Central German) ** (Thuringian) *** (Central Thuringian) **** (West Thuringian) **** (East Thuringian) *** (North Thuringian) **** **** **** **** Another way to subdivide it is:Karl Spangenberg: ''Thuringian.'' In: Charles V. J. Russ (ed.): ''The Dialects of Modern German: A Linguistic Survey.'' Routledge, first published 1990, reprinted 2000, transferred to Digital Printing 2006,

SBN 0-415-00308-3 SBN can mean: * Naval Aircraft Factory SBN, a scout/torpedo bomber from the mid-1930s * Sehar Broadcasting Network, a television channel in Pakistan * Servizio bibliotecario nazionale, the National Library Service of Italy * Small Business Network, ...

p. 265–289, here 267–278 (in the chapter ''Dialect Structure and Dialect Features'')

t also mentions some East Franconian T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

!-- namely: * East Franconian ** Lower East Franconian *** Hennebergisch *** Itzgründisch ** Upper East Franconian --> * / Thuringian ** / North Thuringian: around

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and bec ...

and Nordhausen *** : in

Eichsfeld The Eichsfeld ( or ; English: ''Oak-field'') is a historical region in the southeast of the state of Lower Saxony (which is called "Untereichsfeld" = lower Eichsfeld) and northwest of the state of Thuringia ("Obereichsfeld" = upper Eichsfeld) in th ...

** / North-east Thuringian: spoken around

Artern Artern is a town in the Kyffhäuserkreis district, Thuringia, Germany. The former municipalities Heygendorf and Voigtstedt were merged into Artern in January 2019. Geography Artern is situated at the confluence of the rivers Unstrut and Helme, ...

as well as in the adjacent areas of Querfurt,

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

and Merseburg of Saxony-Anhalt *** : in Mansfeld ** / West Thuringian: around Bad Salzungen and Eisenach, with transitions into the East Franconian ( Henneberg) and (East)

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

dialect area ** /

Central Thuringian Central Thuringian (german: Zentralthüringisch) is a Thuringian Dialect, Thuringian dialect, that is spoken in the region of central Germany covered by the districts of Landkreis Gotha, Gotha, Landkreis Sömmerda, Sömmerda and Ilm-Kreis as well a ...

: spoken around the Turingian capital

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

, Gotha, and

Ilmenau Ilmenau () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany. It is the largest town within the Ilm district with a population of 38,600, while the district capital is Arnstadt. Ilmenau is located approximately south of Erfurt and north of Nuremberg w ...

** / Ilm Thuringian: around Rudolstadt, Jena, and Weimar ** / East Thuringian: spoken around

Eisenberg Eisenberg is a German name in geography and a surname. Literally translated it means ″iron mountain″. ''Eisenberg'' may refer to: Mountains * Eisenberg (Knüll), a mountain in Hesse * Eisenberg (Korbach), a mountain in Hesse * Eisenberg (Ore ...

and

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

as well as in the adjacent area of Naumburg, Weissenfels and Zeitz in Saxony-Anhalt ** / South-east Thuringian: around Schleiz, Greiz, Saalfeld and Gera, as well as around Ludwigsstadt in neighbouring Bavaria

References

{{Authority control Central German languages German dialects Languages of Germany Thuringia