History
By the early Middle Ages, Pomerania was largely populated by Slavic Pomeranians and Liuticians, who spoke the Pomeranian and Polabian languages. During the High Middle Ages, Germans from northern parts of the Holy Roman Empire settled in Pomerania as part of the medieval Ostsiedlung. Most Slavic Pomeranians gradually became Germanized. The new Pomeranian dialects which emerged from the admixture of the Low German dialects of the settlers are classified as East Low German.
After World War II, Germans east of the Oder-Neisse line were expelled to post-war Germany. Most of the Pomeranian dialects have largely died out in the following decades as the expellees were assimilated into their new homes, although Pomeranian dialects are still spoken in Vorpommern (Western or Hither Pomerania), part of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
As a result of German immigration to Brazil, there are still some communities speaking Pomeranian in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Espírito Santo.
- This article incorporates information from the revision as of September 28, 2006 of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.
Read more about this topic: East Low German
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