Back Wes-Germaanse tale Afrikaans Westgermanische Sprachen ALS የምዕራብ-ጀርመናዊ ቋንቋዎች ቤተሠብ Amharic Luengas chermanicas occidentals AN Westgermanisca spræca ANG لغات جرمانية غربية Arabic Llingües xermániques occidentales AST باتی ژرمن دیللری AZB Westgermanische Sprochn BAR Tataramon na Sulnopan na Alemaniko BCL
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| West Germanic | |
|---|---|
| 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]
- ↑ Hawkins, John A. (1987). "Germanic languages". In Bernard Comrie (ed.). The World's Major Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 68–76. ISBN 0-19-520521-9.
- ↑ Crystal 2006, pp. 424–426.