East Central German or East Middle German () is the eastern Central German language and is part of High German. Present-day Standard German, as a High German variant, has actually developed from a compromise of East Central (especially Upper Saxon, which was promoted by Johann Christoph Gottsched) and East Franconian German. East Central German dialects are mainly spoken in Central Germany and parts of Brandenburg, and they were formerly also spoken in Silesia and Bohemia.

Dialects East Central German is spoken in large parts of what is today known as the cultural area of Central Germany (Mitteldeutschland).

It comprises according to Glottolog: Central East Middle German High Prussian (Hochpreußisch) (nearly extinct) Thuringian (Thüringisch) Upper Saxon (Obersächsisch) Anhaltisch Meißnisch Osterländisch Westlausitzisch Erzgebirgisch Nordobersäschisch-Südmärkisch Schlesisch–Wilmesau Silesian (Schlesisch) (nearly extinct) Old Zipser (Altzipserisch) Wymysorys Eastern Yiddish (which is a form of Yiddish besides Western Yiddish)

Nordobersächsisch-Südmärkisch The dialect area of lies north of Upper-Saxon and north-western of Silesian, in the south it includes parts of Lusatia and in the north, depending on definition, it can include the region around Berlin. It consists of multiple sub-parts, where the switch to High German (from Low German or Sorbian) occurred at different times and under different conditions, including:Peter Wiesinger: Die Einteilung der deutschen Dialekte. In: Dialektologie. Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung. Herausgegeben von Werner Besch, Ulrich Knoop, Wolfgang Putschke, Herbert Ernst Wiegand. Zweiter Halbband. Volume 1.2 of Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (HSK). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York, 1983, p. 807ff., here p. 865ff. (sub-chapter: Das Nordobersächsisch-Südmärkische) Annotated with: "Abb. 20: Die Gliederung der deutschen Dialekte (Wiesinger)"Map Deutsche Dialekte: Historische Verteilung by Jost Gippert. A previous version of it was published in: H. Glück (ed.), Metzler Lexikon Sprache, Stuttgart / Weimar, 1993, and later editions. (older than the URLs below)

Eastern Low German

(lit. South Markish; a form of Low German to which belonged in the Middle Ages) East Middle German Central East Middle German (lit. North Upper Saxon–South Markish) Upper Saxon North Upper Saxon South Upper Saxon

See also West Central German

References