ABSTRACT
With the discussion of the Saxons in Chapter 5 and the Franks in Chapter 8, we have touched on two of the early tribal groupings important in the formation of German dialects. Thus the Saxons are associated with Old Saxon and the later Low German dialects of northern Germany, and the Franks with Old Low Franconian and the later dialects of Dutch, as well as a number of High German dialects of central Germany, both in Old High German times and later. Most of the High German-speaking area, though, is associated with three further Germanic groups, the Alamanni, the Bavarians, and the Thuringians.
