Speyer line

As Speyer line modern German means a isogloss within the West Germanic dialect continuum. It is also known as Appel / Apfel - line and is usually regarded as the southern boundary of the Central German language area, bounded on the north by the Benrather line. South of the Speyer line is the area of ​​the Upper German dialects. Since the Speyer line several times exceeds the Main at the cities Faulbach, Freudenberg and large Heubach, it is also called Main Line.

Course

The Speyer line began north of Pilsen and passed south of the town of Karlovy Vary, the Czech-German border. Up to this point it is obsolete since 1945, as the German Bohemian dialects with the expulsion of the German population have given the Czech. She now continues on the ore and Elstergebirge and follows as the Thuringian Forest to the Rhön (this corresponds roughly to the cities of Plauen - Rudolstadt - Arnstadt - Eisenach ).

With Germersheim Vacha pushes the line on the Speyer line it follows up Gemünden and there again separates from the Speyer line. Now, the line runs along the western side of the Spessart and exceeds the Mainviereck multiply the Main.

In Eberbach isogloss exceeds the Neckar River and south of the Rhine, Speyer. With Germersheim Speyer and Germersheim line meet again and now run together upriver toward the German - French border. South of Karlsruhe, more precisely in Ettlingen, Karlsruhe exceeds the line of the Rhine. It crosses the German -French border and meets with White Castle on the Speyer line and the three Isoglossenbündel now ends together in the Vosges.

The dialects south of the Speyer line, the top German have, namely the High German consonant shift with the change of Appel completed to apple to a greater extent than the dialects north of it, but this sound shift did not sit down completely. It was carried out completely and consistently only on the southern edge of the German language area in the high- Alemannic and Tirolean.