To better explain the German writing system and its development I have included two charts. The first of which, Family of Alphabets, shows the chronological evolution of the main European alphabetic scripts. The second, The Classification of Writing Systems, divides the writing systems according to their nature, not their age. The later chart argues that all writing systems are a mixture of phonetic and semantic symbols and there is no such thing as a 'pure' writing system. Both charts can tell us a great deal about the development of the German language in particular. They also illustrate the connections the German language share with other European and Non-European languages. These charts both suggest that the written word stems from a pictorial representation which underwent a series of changes before it developed into a purely alphabetical system.
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RuniesThe earliest form of German writing is believed to be connected to the early Germanic runes. Runic finds in present day Germany appear to be forms of Christian texts dating back to the fifth century after the birth of Christ. In fact it is believed that the word "rune" is related to the German word "raunen" which means "to whisper" and originally may have stood for "mystery" and/or "secret". Others linguists believe the word is more closely related to the German word "ritzen" which means "to scratch" or "make a groove". In any case, the runes were what was believed to be one of the first formal forms of written communication. Although other pictorial representations such as those in wood, bone or metal existed much prior to the runes, they cannot be related specifically to the German language. The Germanic runic alphabet, which was the more sophisticated version, consisted of twenty four letters and has been called Futhark. By 1050 AD the runic alphabet had undergone several complex changes. An increase in letters and symbols, however, still did not make it a reliable alphabet. Around 1400 AD the runic alphabet finally yielded to the Latin alphabet. Back to top Greek and Latin InfluencesParallel to this development the Greek alphabet which is estimated to have existed around 1000 BC was also creating a foundation for the Germanic languages. Still today we are able to see a significant influence of Greek word stems in the modern German language. The Greek alphabet led into the ancient Latin alphabet, (See Greek writing system and Latin writing system) which in turn became the most direct line to the modern European languages, including the Germanic languages. The Fraktur and Textura scripts, both angular shaped handwritten letters were believed to be the next development and were used during the 16th century. The Antique script which followed is said to have been a further development of this handwritten script, which was eventually used in poetic works and publications during the Baroque period. These alternatives all used the letters of the Latin alphabet in an ornamental fashion and can still be seen today. They are main purpose now tends to be for special occasions such as advertisements or certificates. The Latin influence provides us with a clearly defined alphabet. More recently linguists have discovered that there are two adaptations that the German language made from its Latin base. The first being a vowel mutation which we now call the "umlaut". The actual marking of this mutation with two dots over the vowel did not occur until the New High German period. The second adaptation to the Latin alphabet was the Old High German consonant shift. This created the voiceless glottal stop unique to the German language. Back to top Modern RevisionsEven within the past 100 years the German language has seen a great deal
of change in respect to its writing system. The Old High German scripts,
Fraktur was taught in schools until about 1940 when it was prohibited nationwide
and replaced with Antique, which we now consider to be normal writing. The
Duden Rechtschreibung soon thereafter standardized the German written word
in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The latest attempt to change the writing
system is directly related to the grammar and spelling reform proposed in
1992. This reform is still under revision, however, should it be accepted,
its main purpose is to "simplify" the written word. In order to
achieve this, the reform has suggested, among other changes, that the ß
be abolished. In addition it has made a variety of suggestions to the spelling
and grammatical system. Whether this reform is fully implemented or not,
it is clear that many scholars believe the German language is not yet at
its final stage. The language itself seems to be involved in an ongoing
process of change, thus the development of the written word continues. Back to top
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