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How did Old Saxon develop into modern Low German dialects?

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Modern Low German dialects developed directly from Old Saxon, which was the language spoken by Saxon tribes between the Rhine and Elbe rivers from the 9th to the 12th century.12

The evolution of these dialects was significantly shaped by the Middle Low German speech used by the citizens of the Hanseatic League. During the period of the league's prosperity, a standard Low German written language began to emerge, though it never reached full maturity and eventually declined alongside the league's influence.34

Unlike High German, which underwent the High German consonant shift—a major sound change affecting consonants like p, t, and k—Low German preserved the original voiceless stops common to Germanic languages. Today, Low German exists as a collection of numerous regional varieties spoken in the lowlands of northern Germany. While these dialects remain in use in domestic settings and some literature, there is no single modern literary or administrative standard for the language.143