Editing High German languages (section)

==Classification==
[[File:Map of German dialects (according to Wiesinger & König).png|350px|thumb|[[German dialects|German dialect area]], defined as all [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] varieties using [[Standard German]] as their literary language:<ref>W. Heeringa: ''Measuring Dialect Pronunciation Differences using Levenshtein Distance.'' University of Groningen, 2009, pp. 232–234.</ref><ref>Peter Wiesinger: ''Die Einteilung der deutschen Dialekte.'' In: Werner Besch, Ulrich Knoop, Wolfgang Putschke, Herbert Ernst Wiegand (Hrsg.): ''Dialektologie. Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung,'' 2.&nbsp;Halbband. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1983, ISBN 3-11-009571-8, pp. 807–900.</ref><ref>Werner König: ''dtv-Atlas Deutsche Sprache.'' 19. Auflage. dtv, München 2019, ISBN 978-3-423-03025-0, pp. 230.</ref><ref>C. Giesbers: ''Dialecten op de grens van twee talen.'' Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2008, pp. 233.</ref>

{{legend|#df772a|[[Frisian languages|Frisian]]}}
{{legend|#8c506e|[[Low Franconian]]}}
{{legend|#3e9abc|[[Low Saxon]] or [[Low German]]}}
{{legend|#f5ef47|[[Central German]]}}
{{legend|#ecca09|[[Upper German]]}}]]

As a technical term, the "high" in High German is a geographical reference to the group of dialects that forms "High German" (i.e., "Highland" German), out of which developed [[Standard German]], [[Yiddish]] and [[Luxembourgish]]. It refers to the [[Central Uplands]] (''[[Mittelgebirge]]'') and [[Alps|Alpine]] areas of central and southern Germany; it also includes Luxembourg, Austria, Liechtenstein, and most of Switzerland. This is opposed to [[Low German]], which is spoken in the lowlands and along the flat sea coasts of the [[North German Plain]].<ref>Compare the definition of "high" in the Oxford English Dictionary (Concise Edition): "... situated far above ground, sealevel, etc; upper, inland, as ... High German".</ref>

High German can be subdivided into [[Upper German]] (''Oberdeutsch'') and [[Central German|Central or Middle German]] (''Mitteldeutsch'', this includes [[Luxembourgish language|Luxembourgish]], which itself is now a [[standard language]]).<ref>E.g.
* Hermann Niebaum, Jürgen Macha, ''Einführung in die Dialektologie des Deutschen'' (series: ''Germanistische Arbeitshefte''), 2nd ed., Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen, 2006, p. 220 [1st ed. 1999, 3rd ed. 2014]<!-- : „In den ''niederdeutschen'' (und ''niederfränkischen'') Mundarten [...], während in den ''hochdeutschen'' Mundarten (unter diesem Terminus werden die ''mitteldeutschen'' und ''oberdeutschen'' Mundarten zusammengefasst) [...]“ -->
* Gabriele Graefen, Martina Liedke-Göbel, ''Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft: Deutsch als Erst-, Zweit- oder Fremdsprache'', 3rd ed.,  2020, p. 31.

For the Middle High German time e.g.:
* Howard Jones & Martin H. Jones, ''The Oxford Guide to Middle High German'', Oxford University Press, 2019, p. 7
* M. O'C. Walshe, ''A Middle High German reader with grammar, notes, and glossary'', Oxford University Press, 1974, p. 3
</ref>

High German varieties are distinguished from other West Germanic varieties in that they took part in the [[High German consonant shift]] ({{circa|AD 500}}) to various degrees. To see this, compare the following:<ref>[[Orrin W. Robinson (philologist)|Robinson, Orrin]]. Old English and its Closest Relatives. Routledge, 1994.</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2023}}

{| class="wikitable"
! [[English language|English]] !! [[Low German]] !! Standard High German !! Consonant shift
|-
| pan || Pann || Pfanne || {{IPA|[p]}} to {{IPA|[p͡f]}}
|-
| two || twee || zwei || {{IPA|[t]}} to {{IPA|[t͡s]}}
|-
| make || maken || machen || {{IPA|[k]}} to {{IPA|[x]}}
|}
In the southernmost [[High Alemannic German|High Alemannic]] dialects, there is a further shift: ''Sack'' (like English/Low German "sack/Sack") is pronounced {{IPA|[z̥ak͡x]}} ({{IPA|[k]}} to {{IPA|[k͡x]}}).