West Germanic | |
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Geographic distribution: | Originally between the Rhine, Alps, Elbe, and North Sea; today worldwide |
Linguistic classification: | Indo-European
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Subdivisions: | |
ISO 639-5: | gmw |
![]() Extent of Germanic languages in present day Europe North Germanic languages West Germanic languages Dots indicate areas where multilingualism is common. |
The West Germanic Languages are a branch of Germanic languages first spoken in Central Europe and the British Isles. The branch has three parts: the North Sea Germanic languages, the Weser-Rhine Germanic languages, and the Elbe Germanic languages. The most spoken languages in the branch are English, German, and Dutch.[1]
These languages were spread around the world in the Colonial Era. English is now spoken by around 400 million people natively.[2]