West Germanic languages
| West Germanic | |
|---|---|
| Ethnicity: | West Germanic peoples |
| Geographic distribution: |
Originally between the Rhine, Alps, Elbe, and North Sea; today worldwide |
| Linguistic classification: |
Indo-European
|
| Subdivisions: | |
| ISO 639-5: | |
| Linguasphere: | 52-AB & 52-AC |
| Glottolog: | west2793 |
The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages).
The three most prevalent West Germanic languages are English, German, and Dutch. The family also includes other High and Low German languages and dialects including Luxembourgish and Yiddish, in addition to other Franconian and Ingvaeonic languages such as the Frisian languages, Scots and Afrikaans (which are closely related to but separate from English and Dutch, respectively). Additionally, several creoles, patois, and pidgins are based on Dutch and English as they were languages of colonial empires.
The West Germanic languages share many lexemes not existing in North Germanic and/or East Germanic—archaisms as well as common neologisms.
Most scholars doubt that there was a Proto-West-Germanic proto-language common to the West Germanic languages and no others, though a few maintain that Proto-West-Germanic existed. Most agree that after East Germanic broke off (an event usually dated to the 2nd or 1st century BC), the remaining Germanic languages, the Northwest Germanic languages, divided into four main dialects: North Germanic, and the three groups conventionally called "West Germanic", namely
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