Genealogical implications and Germanic phylogeny

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the findings of both preceding modelling parts as well as previous literature on Germanic. This part aims to detail the history of the dissolution of Germanic unity as completely and methodologically accurately as possible. The main line of argumentation is that the breakup of Proto-Germanic was a gradual diversification process in which tree-like split events were rare. East Germanic as a group cannot be seen as a proper subgroup on its own, at least in the genetic context, since the languages there dissociate from the core area independently, but maintaining contact thereafter. Further, West Germanic is a homogeneous group of varieties that remain in close contact throughout the centuries following the beginning of the disintegration of Proto-Germanic. Lower-level discretizations of West Germanic such as Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic are found to be unjustified due to the nature of the diversification process to which they are subject.