Language Resources - Germanic
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See Additional Resources on the English page.
- Germanic Family
- Low German - All Low German | Dutch | Afrikaans | Scots (Lallans)
- High German - Old High German | German | Yiddish
- North Germanic - All Scandinavian | Old Norse | Danish | Icelandic | Norwegian | Swedish
Germanic Family
Evolution of German Language and Culture Part 1 - Course page for German 471, University of Victoria. Has syllabus and links.
Seven Distinctive Features of Germanic - Short list of key Germanic linguistic features.
Campus Program German Language Wikipedia - A decent page on the Germanic languages, focusing on German.
Lord’s Prayer in Germanic Languages - Lord’s prayer in many Germanic languages including Pennsylvania Dutch. Also includes an Old English through modern page, plus a comparison frame thing.
Germanic Family Tree - Just a basic family tree with descriptions of various Germanic languages.
R.J. Schellen Germanic Links - Mixture of links on Germanic languages.
Wisconsin Germanic Resources - Focus on Dutch and German
Germanic Linguistics Site - A general overview of the Germanic languages, but use of Java may make some browsers crash.
GERMANIC VERSE FORMS
Wikipedia Alliterative Verse - Includes good examples and links to public domain Beowulf translation.
RUNES
History of the Runes - Scientific information on Runes. Includes some speculation on how the Old Norse did use them for magical purposes. Has the different alphabets.
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See also German Dialects| Low German (Next Section)
Low German
"Low German" refers to the group of Germanic languages spoken in the flat areas of the Netherlands (Dutch/Flemish), and northern Germany (Low Saxon). This branch also includes Frisian and English.
Lowlands L - Listserv for Low German Languages and dialects (i.e. English, Scots, Dutch, ...). Has links on all the languages, even English dialectology.
Building Blocks of Low Saxon - Online grammar for Low German (Saxony to E. Netherlands). Focus on North Saxon. See also http://www.sassisch.net/rhahn/low-saxon/lowsax-engl.htm for information about Low Saxon.
See also German Dialects
Dutch
Taalthuis Online Dutch Course - Complete online course. See Taalthuis Homepage for links and false cognate list (double Dutch glossary). Links include a Surinam page.
Wisconsin Germanic Resources - Focus on Dutch and German.
Lowlands L - Listserv for Low German Languages and dialects (i.e. English, Scots, Dutch, ...). Has links on all the languages, even English dialectology.
History of Dutch No Frames Version - Covers it all from Proto-Germanic on. Also in Dutch and German. Some graphics in Dutch. Out of University of Vienna
Bibliography of Dutch Linguistics - Aimed for the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism Audience) it still has some good basic leads for pre 1650 Dutch
Peter Large’s Dutch Page - Good collection of language (and beer) links
Dutch Language and Bad Dutch - Nice audio files for pronunciation. Or you can skip to the bad Dutch section
Online Schrijfcentrum - Dutch Online Writing Center - Dutch writing center in Dutch.
FLEMISH
Belgium Languages and Dialects - Information on Flemish/Dutch and Langue D’oïl (French) with lots of detailed maps
Flemish Questions - A page on whether Flanders should secede from Belgium. Very patriotic. See also the Low Country Flags.
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Afrikaans
Afrikaans is the Dutch descended language spoken in South Africa.
Languages of South Africa - Basic information about the languages of South Africa, especially Bantu and Khoisan. Gives alphabet with pronunciation, links and suggest grammars for each language.
Die Knoop (www.dieknoop.co.za) - South African Website for Afrikaans Sites. In Afrikaans.
Lowlands L - Listserv for Low German Languages and dialects (i.e. English, Scots, Dutch, ...). Has links on all the languages, even English dialectology.
See also Languages of South Africa.
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Scots/Lallans
Scots or Lallans was spoken by Anglo-Normans in Lowland Scotland. Many scholars consider this to be a sister language to English. It is not to be confused with the Celtic language Gaelic spoken in the Highlands.
Scots Language Society - Scots Leid Associe - Written in Scots, but readable to linguists.
DSL Dictiongar of the Scots Leid / Dictionary of Scots - Electronic editions of Dictionary of the Older Scots Tongue (12th-17th AD) and Scottish National Dictionary (SND)
Scottish National Dictionary Association - Information about the SNDA Scots dictionary.
*Wirhoose Scots and Shetlandic Home Pages - Some sociolinguistics history and facts on Scots in the Shetlands (also the home of Scottish Gaelic.
Lowlands L - Listserv for Low German Languages and dialects (i.e. English, Scots, Dutch, ...). Has links on all the languages, even English dialectology.
See also Scottish Gaelic.
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High German
Old High German
Wright's Old High German Primer Second Edition - Online edition, placed in as scanned image. Know thy page numbers.
A Brief Collection of Old High German (Texts) - Short Old High German texts online
University of Victoria Evolution of German Language - Online course with some links and historical linguistic resources.
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German
DIALECTS
About Dialects and High German - Reprint from the Indiana German Heritage Society. Includes maps and links
Exeter Modern German Dialects Links - Origanized by dialect and includes German and English web resources. For a Modern German Dialects course.
About German Dialects - About.com’s page on dialects with basic map.
Web German Deutsche Dialekte - Excellet links (but not too fond of the design).
INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES
Penn State Library German Studies Gateway- Good collection of German language links and resources.
American Association of German Teachers - AATG - Has nifty online teaching resources, among other goodies. Formerly http://www.aatg.org/teaching_resources
UNC German TA Resources - Lots of authentic media includeing a maps link
Web German - Online German activities, links and other resources
Tim Phillips German Instructor Page - Page includes information on German grammar (PDF) and German keyboard information (Windows).
E.L. Easton's German Pages - Information on German language and culture.
GERMAN CULTURE IN THE USA
German Americana - German American group with information on German education and German culture in the US.
Urban Legend - German Almost Became Official - Documents the American history myth in detail.
German Hollywood Connection - From Billy Wilder to Leonardo (Wilhelm) DiCaprio.
See also Old High Germanic (Above) | Yiddish (Below) | Germanic Family (Top).
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Yiddish
Der Bay Yiddish Newsletter - San Fransciso Yiddish organization with Yiddish links and other information
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North Germanic
Scandinavian
Comparison of Scandinavian Phonological Features - Actually an e-mail comparing phonological features of Danish, Swedish, Norwegian
Nordic Characters - A quick guide to different spelling systems of the Scandinavian languages - the big trick is that Swedeish uses umlauts and double voewels and Norwegian/Danish use the funky symbols. See also fun cultural data on sitemap.
Project Runeberg - Archive of Scandinavian literary texts since 18th century. Lots of Swedish, but some Norwegian, Danish. Includes Bibles, Baron Munchausen, some Hans Christen Andersen, Ibsen, Strindberg, etc.
Wisconsin Scandinavian Links General links to Scandinavian media and organizations
Soc.Culture.Nordic Usegroup FAQ - A somewhat random, but useful collection of information about Scandinavia and her languages. Includes ASCII map of Scandinavia and country guides (bottom), plus the “Usenet deities” (whom thou shall not diss online) and a caution that this is NOT a dating service.
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Old Norse
Old Norse Language - On-line grammatical materials for Old Norse (aka Old Swedish) ca. 1300 AD
Mal Vikinga Runic Grammar - Old Norse aka “Old Swedish” as based on Runes (ca. 1000 AD)
Yahoo Old Norse Course Files - From the Yahoo Group norse_course
Learning Old Norse - Information on how to get your books and stuff to learn Old Norse. From the Rev. Dr. Harry A. Smith, a bio professor
Formal Insulting in Old Norse Literature - Interesting article on how formal insults worked in Old Norse literature. The author really, really likes Loki.
VIKING CULTURE
Viking Heritage Magazine, Sweden - Surprisingly colorful for an archeological magazine. Features “Meadshock” the Viking mead serving wench/boy Flash game. Also news, links, Viking Village tour (Flash again).
Smithsonians Vikings North Atlantic Saga - Has nifty Flash/Quicktime featurette on North American adventures
Viking Answer Lady - Imagine Miss Manners becoming a Viking expert and you have VAL, the Viking Answer Lady. Semi respectable.
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Danish
TSCA’s Danish Grammar in English - Good overview, but constantly under development
Danish Grammar for the World - From a professional translator. Scroll way, way down for the content. Also links to Spanish and French Danish grammars. Don’t like transcription system. Includes Danish Grammar Terms.
Typological Evolution of the Danish Morphological System - Compares with sister languages. Kind of ends abruptly
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Icelandic
Cornell Icelandic Saganet - Cornell’s Icelandic collection online up to 1901. Bilingual English/Icelandic. Includes poetry and prose.
Icelandic Language - A brief historical sketch for tourists
Icelandic Specialized Glossaries - Special glossaries by field, including “grammar”
Penn State Old English and Icelandic Internationalization - How to those thorns and eth's online.
Catherine Ball's O.E. Times Font - Freeware font with thorns and eth's. Designed for print and word-processing only, not Web design.
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Norwegian
St Olaf’s Norwegian Grammar - Co-Sponsored with the Norwegian Teachers Association of North America (NorTANA). Has some grammar and information on teaching Norwegian. Does not cover pronunciation.
Norwegian Phonemes with Sound Files - Norwegian sound chart with sound files - the IPA version. The vowels are worse than I thought.
Resources for the Study of Norwegian - Links for Norwegian instructors. Has some internationalization information
CARLA Audio/Video Archive - Norwegian - Audio clips of Norwegian native speakers - Real Player
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Swedish
Clyde & Betty's Resources for the Study of Swedish - Links for Swedish instructors.
Cecelia Falk’s Language Links - A lot of translation stuff, with an emphasis on Swedish ans other Scandinavian languages.