Kloss suggested the English translation "language by distance", referring to linguistic differences rather than geographical separation.
[2] A standard linguistic criterion is mutual intelligibility, though this does not always produce consistent results, for example when applied to a dialect continuum.
The German verb ausbauen (pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌbaʊ̯ən] ⓘ, literally "to build out") expresses core meanings of "expanding" something or "developing something to completion", e.g. adding to an existing structure.
(Croatian linguist Žarko Muljačić [hr] translated Ausbausprache into French as langue par élaboration.
Kloss identified several stages of this development, beginning with use of the variety for humour or folklore, followed by lyrics and then narrative prose.
A commonly cited example occurs in the Scandinavian dialect continuum spanning Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
In 1982, "Rumantsch Grischun" was developed by Heinrich Schmid as such a Dachsprache for a number of quite different Romansh language forms spoken in parts of Switzerland.
[14] The same is the case with Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin,[15][16] which also have the same dialect basis (Shtokavian),[17] and consequently constitute four standard variants of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language.
[12] The concept of ausbau is particularly important in cases where the local spoken varieties across a larger region form a dialect continuum.
Other examples of groups of vernaculars lacking abstand internally but that have given rise to multiple ausbau languages are: Persian of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan (cf.
With the end of the Hanseatic League, Low German lost its status as an official language to a large degree.
[24] This happened despite the effect of notable migration streams in both directions between the Western (Dutch) and Eastern (Prussian, now mainly Polish and Russian) areas of the region of the Low German languages, motivated by both religious intolerance and labour need.