Standard German

Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (German: Standardhochdeutsch, Standarddeutsch, Hochdeutsch or, in Switzerland, Schriftdeutsch), is the umbrella term for the standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for communication between different dialect areas. German is a pluricentric Dachsprache with currently three codified (or standardised) specific national varieties: German Standard German, Austrian Standard German and Swiss Standard German.

Regarding the spelling and punctuation, a recommended standard is published by the Council for German Orthography which represents the governments of all majority and minority German-speaking countries and dependencies. Adherence is obligatory for government institutions, including schools. Although there is no official standards body regulating pronunciation, there is a long-standing de facto standard pronunciation (Bühnendeutsch), most commonly used in formal speech and teaching materials; it is similar to the formal German spoken in and around Hanover. Adherence to those standards by private individuals and companies, including the print and audio-visual media, is voluntary. Austrian German has had standard pronunciation exceptions since 1904 (Luick's österreichische Bühnenaussprache). In Switzerland, no such official pronunciation codex exists, yet most Swiss Standard German speakers are markedly different sounding from Hanover-type phonetic targets.

Standard German originated not as a traditional dialect of a specific region but as a written language developed over a process of several hundred years in which writers tried to write in a way that was understood in the largest area.^{[citation needed]}

Martin Luther's translation of the Bible in 1522 (New Testament, Old Testament 1534) was an important development towards an early standardization of written German. Luther based his translation largely on the already developed language of the Saxon chancery, which was more widely understood than other dialects and as a Central German dialect, was felt to be "halfway" between the dialects of the north and south. Luther drew principally on East Central German dialects in his codification efforts.

Later in 1748, a grammar manual by Johann Christoph Gottsched, Grundlegung einer deutschen Sprachkunst, was key in the development of German writing and standardization of the language. Similarly to Luther, Gottsched based his manual on the Central German variant of the Upper Saxon area. Over the course of the mid-18th century and onward, a written standard then began to emerge and be widely accepted in German-speaking areas, thus ending the period of Early New High German.

Until about 1800, Standard German was almost entirely a written variety. People in Northern Germany who spoke mainly Low Saxon dialects, which were very different from Standard German, learned it more or less as a foreign language. However, the Northern pronunciation (of Standard German) later became considered standard and spread southward. In some regions such as around Hanover, the local dialect has completely died out as spoken language but is preserved in dialect literature and scholarly descriptions.^{[citation needed]}

It can thus be argued that it is the spread of Standard German as a language taught at school that defines the German Sprachraum, which was thus a political decision, rather than a direct consequence of dialect geography. That allowed areas with dialects with very little mutual intelligibility to participate in the same cultural sphere. Some linguists claim today that a One Standard German Axiom is a discipline-defining feature of Germanistik. Outside of Switzerland, Austria and South Tyrol, local dialects tend to be used mainly in informal situations or at home and in dialect literature.

In German, Standard German is generally called Hochdeutsch, reflecting the fact that its phonetics are largely those of the High German spoken in the southern uplands and the Alps (including Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and parts of northern Italy as well as southern Germany). The corresponding term Low German reflects the fact that these dialects belong to the lowlands stretching towards the North Sea. The widespread but mistaken impression that Hochdeutsch is so-called because it is perceived to be "good German" has led to use of the supposedly less judgmental Standarddeutsch ("Standard German"), deutsche Standardsprache ("German standard language"). On the other hand, the "standard" written languages of Switzerland and Austria have each been codified as standards distinct from that used in Germany. For this reason, "Hochdeutsch" or "High German", originally a mere geographic designation, applies unproblematically to Swiss Standard German and Austrian Standard German as well as to German Standard German and may be preferred for that reason.