[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] High German and Low German

[Loren Koehler]

Here is an explanation of this term by Dr. Russell Block, professor of
German at Fachhochschule München in his book The German Language: A Guide
for Inquisitive Students.

The standard German dialect ... is surprisingly not the pronunciation of any
influential city or region (cf. Paris as the source of the French standard
or Florence for Italian). Rather, the “official” pronunciation of German is
based on the way speakers of Low German (‘Plattdeutsch’) pronounce the
written literary standard based on the chancellery language developed in
Upper Saxony (Meißen, Leipzig) during the fourteenth century.

Where do people speak the “purest” Hochdeutsch? Why in Hannover, they say.
But, a glance at the dialect map shows us that Hannover is located in Low
German territory! The confusion is partially terminological. Strictly
speaking High German refers to that group of dialects spoken in the
highlands south of the Benrath line and Low German to the northern
dialects in the lowland coastal regions. That is, properly, the terms are
purely geographical. Nevertheless, the political dominance of High German
led to an interpretation of the term “Hochsprache” as ‘official language’ or
perhaps ‘superior language’. This misinterpretation is now firmly
established and has even been extended to other languages. Thus, we have
“Hocharabisch” for the Arabic literary language, etc. The classification of
official literary varieties as “high” is an unfortunate fact of life.
But, what is it that distinguishes the German spoken in Hannover? It is
simply “High German” with a “Low German” accent. It is a “spelling
pronunciation” of the standard without interference of local dialect
characteristics, cf. Hamburg, where the local dialect, known as “Messings,”
i.e., ‘brass’(an alloy of two different metals) is a mixture of spelling
pronunciation and local Low German peculiarities.

The history of the pronunciation of High German among the Low Germans
provides an interesting proof of the influence of orthography on
pronunciation. The Low Germans had to learn the High German written language
more than other Germans because of the distance between High German and
their customary dialect. For this reason, the popular dialect had that much
less influence on the pronunciation of High German among educated Low
Germans.