Editing Hesse (section)

=== Language ===

Three different languages or dialect groups are spoken in Hesse: The Far North is part of the [[Low German|Low Saxon]] language area, divided into a tiny [[Eastphalian language|Eastphalian]] and a larger [[Westphalian language|Westphalian]] dialect area. Most of Hesse belongs to the [[West Middle German]] dialect zone. There is some disagreement as to whether all Hessian dialects south of the [[Benrath line]] may be subsumed under one dialect group: Rhine Franconian, or whether most dialects should be regarded as a dialect group of its own: Hessian, whereas only South Hessian is part of Rhine Franconian. Hessian proper can be split into Lower Hessian in the north, East Hessian in the East around [[Fulda]] and Central Hessian, which covers the largest area of all dialects in Hesse. In the extreme Northeast, the [[Thuringian]] dialect zone extends into Hesse, whereas in the Southeast, the state border to [[Bavaria]] is not fully identical to the dialect border between [[East Franconian]] and East Hessian.

Since approximately World War II, a spoken variety of [[Standard German]] with dialect substrate has been superseding the traditional dialects mentioned so far. This development knows a north-to-south movement, the north being early to supplant the traditional language, whereas in the south, there is still a considerable part of the population that communicates in South Hessian. In most of the areas, however, the traditional language is close to extinction, whereas until the first half of the 20th century, almost the entire population spoke dialect in almost all situations. The Upper Class started to speak Standard German beginning in the late 19th century, so for decades, the traditional language served as a sociolect.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

The prominent written language in Hesse has been Standard German since the 16th century. Before, the Low Saxon part used [[Middle Low German]], the rest of the Land [[Early Modern German]] as prominent written languages. These had supplanted [[Latin]] in the [[High Middle Ages]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}