Benrath line
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In German linguistics, the Benrath line (German: Benrather Linie) is an isogloss, or bundle of isoglosses, marking the border between the Northern Low German dialects and the High and Central German dialects in the south. The Line runs from Benrath (part of Düsseldorf) to East Germany in the area of Berlin and Magdeburg.
In the course of the High German consonant shift (3rd to 9th centuries AD), in the first three phases of which the Low German dialects did not participate, the West Germanic languages were separated along this line. The group of languages south of the line developed into High German – while the other West Germanic languages (English, Dutch, Frisian, and Low German) developed separately.
The Benrath line is also known as the "Maken-machen line", as it marks the boundary between maken in the Low German dialects and machen in the High German ones (both mean "to make").
Since the beginning of the 1990s the eastern end of the Benrath line has moved northwards, so the predominant dialect in Saxony-Anhalt has become an East Central German Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialect, heavily influenced by Standard German. Until the Second World War, in the North, by far the majority of areas spoke East Low Saxon dialects.
External links
- Varieties of German (http://www.deutsch-lernen.com/learn-german-online/german_language.htm)
- Maps of the Benrath line (http://www.ned.univie.ac.at/publicaties/taalgeschiedenis/dt/benrath.htm)af:Benrather Lyn
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