High Brecht

None of the canon Birthright publications provide any formal information about the High Brecht language, but they do state that it is similar to the languages of Germany in its accents and grammar. While no specific language was identified as a base, Old High German, which relates to the languages and dialects spoken in much of modern Germany from 750 CE to 1050 CE, is a good language to start with.

High Brecht is an institutional language, mainly moderated by the courts and domains of Müden. While the older documents may have some variation in how words are spelt or what they mean, any modern usage of High Brecht is rigidly controlled and standardised. Any proposals for new terms or phrases will need approval before being considered acceptable changes to the language.

A speaker or reader of High Brecht cannot speak, understand, read or write Low Brecht, and vice versa. While they have similar grammars, the pronunciation and spelling of terms is now too different.

Most uses of High Brecht are written using the Brecht alphabet. Since it is mainly Brecht scholars who study it, there is no standard way to rewrite it using the Anuirean and Basarji alphabets. Any translation into Low Brecht uses the same alphabet. Without knowing either Low Brecht or High Brecht, someone could not differentiate between the two Brecht languages on a document using the Brecht alphabet.

The historical origins of many common Brecht names relate to words and pronunciations from High Brecht. However, many new names and nicknames are always being created and these are more likely to follow Low Brecht.