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131-509: An insight that manifests itself suddenly, such as understanding how to solve a difficult problem, is sometimes called by the German word Aha-Erlebnis . The term was coined by the German psychologist and theoretical linguist Karl Bühler . It is also known as an epiphany , eureka moment , or (for crossword solvers) the penny dropping moment (PDM). Sudden sickening realisations often identify

262-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it

393-402: A second language , and 75–100   million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220   million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90   million people, or 16% of

524-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become

655-437: A 15-minute break, individual performance improved for the rebus puzzles with unhelpful clues, and group performance improved for rebus puzzles with both unhelpful and helpful clues. Participants who ranked lower on emotionality and higher on openness to experience performed better on insight problems. Men outperformed women on insight problems, and women outperformed men on non-insight problems. Higher intelligence (higher IQ )

786-405: A 24-hour cycle, whereas in monophasic sleep this occurs all at once. Under experimental conditions, humans tend to alternate more frequently between sleep and wakefulness (i.e., exhibit more polyphasic sleep) if they have nothing better to do. Given a 14-hour period of darkness in experimental conditions, humans tended towards bimodal sleep, with two sleep periods concentrated at the beginning and at

917-407: A brain area directly above the optic chiasm , is presently considered the most important nexus for this process; however, secondary clock systems have been found throughout the body. An organism whose circadian clock exhibits a regular rhythm corresponding to outside signals is said to be entrained ; an entrained rhythm persists even if the outside signals suddenly disappear. If an entrained human

1048-538: A child's quality of sleep as well as prepare them to make and keep healthy sleep hygiene habits in the future. Children need many hours of sleep per day in order to develop and function properly: up to 18 hours for newborn babies, with a declining rate as a child ages. Early in 2015, after a two-year study, the National Sleep Foundation in the US announced newly revised recommendations as shown in

1179-414: A factor which may exacerbate disruption of the circadian cycle. Scientific studies on sleep have shown that sleep stage at awakening is an important factor in amplifying sleep inertia . Determinants of alertness after waking up include quantity/quality of the sleep, physical activity the day prior, a carbohydrate-rich breakfast, and a low blood glucose response to it. Sleep timing is controlled by

1310-616: A full eight hours. Researchers have found that sleeping 6–7 hours each night correlates with longevity and cardiac health in humans, though many underlying factors may be involved in the causality behind this relationship. Sleep difficulties are furthermore associated with psychiatric disorders such as depression , alcoholism , and bipolar disorder . Up to 90 percent of adults with depression are found to have sleep difficulties. Dysregulation detected by EEG includes disturbances in sleep continuity, decreased delta sleep and altered REM patterns with regard to latency, distribution across

1441-407: A function of the amount of time elapsed since the last adequate sleep episode) must be balanced against the circadian element for satisfactory sleep. Along with corresponding messages from the circadian clock, this tells the body it needs to sleep. The timing is correct when the following two circadian markers occur after the middle of the sleep episode and before awakening: maximum concentration of

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1572-528: A geometric and spatial insight problem, it was found that providing participants with breaks improved their performance when compared to participants who did not receive a break. However, the length of incubation between problems did not matter. Thus, participants' performance on insight problems improved just as much with a short break (4 minutes) as it did with a long break (12 minutes). Research has shown sleep to help produce insight. People were initially trained on insight problems. Following training, one group

1703-413: A good night's sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) divides NREM into three stages: N1, N2, and N3, the last of which is also called delta sleep or slow-wave sleep . The whole period normally proceeds in the order: N1 → N2 → N3 → N2 → REM. REM sleep occurs as a person returns to stage 2 or 1 from a deep sleep. There is a greater amount of deep sleep (stage N3) earlier in the night, while

1834-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from

1965-796: A large role in the function of the endocrine and immune systems . The internal circadian clock promotes sleep daily at night , when it is dark. The diverse purposes and mechanisms of sleep are the subject of substantial ongoing research. Sleep is a highly conserved behavior across animal evolution, likely going back hundreds of millions of years. Humans may suffer from various sleep disorders , including dyssomnias , such as insomnia , hypersomnia , narcolepsy , and sleep apnea ; parasomnias , such as sleepwalking and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder ; bruxism ; and circadian rhythm sleep disorders . The use of artificial light has substantially altered humanity's sleep patterns. Common sources of artificial light include outdoor lighting and

2096-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained

2227-418: A particular frequency corresponds to various points in the sleep-wake cycle, such as being asleep, being awake, or falling asleep. Alpha, beta, theta, gamma, and delta waves are all seen in the different stages of sleep. Each waveform maintains a different frequency and amplitude. Alpha waves are seen when a person is in a resting state, but is still fully conscious. Their eyes may be closed and all of their body

2358-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In

2489-457: A problem and that their thoughts and/or actions are unreasonable, although they feel compelled to carry out the thoughts and actions regardless. Patients with schizophrenia , and various psychotic conditions tend to have very poor awareness that anything is wrong with them. Psychiatric insight favourably predicts outcomes in cognitive behavioural therapy for people with psychosis. Some psychiatrists believe psychiatric medication may contribute to

2620-452: A problem rather than solving it, so Uh-oh rather than Aha moments are seen in negative insight. A further example of negative insight is chagrin which is annoyance at the obviousness of a solution that was missed up until the (perhaps too late) point of insight, an example of this being Homer Simpson's catchphrase exclamation, D'oh! . In psychology, insight occurs when a solution to a problem presents itself quickly and without warning. It

2751-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it

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2882-445: A screen before bed may interfere with sleep. Modern humans often find themselves desynchronized from their internal circadian clock, due to the requirements of work (especially night shifts ), long-distance travel, and the influence of universal indoor lighting. Even if they have sleep debt, or feel sleepy, people can have difficulty staying asleep at the peak of their circadian cycle. Conversely, they can have difficulty waking up in

3013-477: A solution they felt. Generally, they were able to predict this fairly well for non-insight problems, but not for insight problems. This provides evidence for the suddenness involved during insight. Accounts of insight that have been reported in the media, such as in interviews, etc., were examined and coded. Insights that occur in the field are typically reported to be associated with a sudden "change in understanding" and with "seeing connections and contradictions" in

3144-438: A structured bedtime routine. This can look differently among families, but will generally consist of a set of rituals such as reading a bedtime story, a bath, brushing teeth, and can also include a show of affection from the parent to the child such a hug or kiss before bed. A bedtime routine will also include a consistent time that the child is expected to be in bed ready for sleep. Having a reliable bedtime routine can help improve

3275-611: A subjective point of view. Objective sleep quality refers to how difficult it is for a person to fall asleep and remain in a sleeping state, and how many times they wake up during a single night. Poor sleep quality disrupts the cycle of transition between the different stages of sleep. Subjective sleep quality in turn refers to a sense of being rested and regenerated after awaking from sleep. A study by A. Harvey et al. (2002) found that insomniacs were more demanding in their evaluations of sleep quality than individuals who had no sleep problems. Homeostatic sleep propensity (the need for sleep as

3406-540: A transitional period is called slow-wave sleep or deep sleep. During this phase, body temperature and heart rate fall, and the brain uses less energy. REM sleep, also known as paradoxical sleep, represents a smaller portion of total sleep time. It is the main occasion for dreams (or nightmares ), and is associated with desynchronized and fast brain waves, eye movements, loss of muscle tone, and suspension of homeostasis . The sleep cycle of alternate NREM and REM sleep takes an average of 90 minutes, occurring 4–6 times in

3537-399: A way they are not accustomed to (thus, breaking their functional fixedness ). An example is the "Duncker candle problem", in which people are given matches and a box of tacks and asked to find a way to attach a candle to the wall to light the room. The solution requires the participants to empty the box of tacks, set the candle inside the box, tack the box to the wall, and light the candle with

3668-416: A young male elephant was able to identify and move a large cube under food that was out of reach so that he could stand on it to get the reward. There are a number of theories about insight; no single theory dominates interpretation. According to the dual-process theory, there are two systems that people use to solve problems. The first involves logical and analytical thought processes based on reason, while

3799-522: Is adenosine , a neurotransmitter that inhibits many of the bodily processes associated with wakefulness. Adenosine levels increase in the cortex and basal forebrain during prolonged wakefulness, and decrease during the sleep-recovery period, potentially acting as a homeostatic regulator of sleep. Coffee , tea, and other sources of caffeine temporarily block the effect of adenosine, prolong sleep latency, and reduce total sleep time and quality. Humans are also influenced by aspects of social time , such as

3930-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and

4061-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as

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4192-503: Is accumulated against an individual's average sleep or some other benchmark. It is also unclear whether the prevalence of sleep debt among adults has changed appreciably in the industrialized world in recent decades. Sleep debt does show some evidence of being cumulative. Subjectively, however, humans seem to reach maximum sleepiness 30 hours after waking. It is likely that in Western societies , children are sleeping less than they previously have. One neurochemical indicator of sleep debt

4323-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German

4454-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic

4585-600: Is associated with better performance on insight problems. However, those of lower intelligence benefit more than those of higher intelligence from being provided with cues and hints for insight problems. A large-scale study in Australia suggests that insight may not be universally experienced, with almost 20% of respondents reporting that they had not experienced insight. People are poorer at predicting their own metacognition for insight problems, than for non-insight problems. People were asked to indicate how "hot" or "cold" to

4716-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German

4847-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25   million speak it as

4978-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in

5109-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as

5240-434: Is high EEG activity in the alpha- and gamma-band about 300 milliseconds before participants indicated a solution to insight problems, but not to non-insight problems. Additionally, problems solved by insight corresponded to increased activity in the temporal lobes and mid-frontal cortex, while more activity in the posterior cortex corresponded to non-insight problems. The data suggests there is something different occurring in

5371-399: Is isolated in a bunker with constant light or darkness, he or she will continue to experience rhythmic increases and decreases of body temperature and melatonin, on a period that slightly exceeds 24 hours. Scientists refer to such conditions as free-running of the circadian rhythm. Under natural conditions, light signals regularly adjust this period downward, so that it corresponds better with

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5502-450: Is known as a "natural short sleeper". This condition is not to be confused with intentional sleep deprivation, which leaves symptoms such as irritability or temporarily impaired cognitive abilities in people who are predisposed to sleep a normal amount of time but not in people with FNSS. The genes DEC2 , ADRB1 , NPSR1 and GRM1 are implicated in enabling short sleep. The quality of sleep may be evaluated from an objective and

5633-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are

5764-443: Is mildly predictive of performance on non-insight problems, but not on insight problems. More recent research suggests that rather than insight versus search , that the subjective feeling of insight varies, with some solutions experienced with a stronger feeling of Aha than others. People in a better mood are more likely to solve problems using insight. Self-reported positive affect of participants increased insight before and during

5895-630: Is more likely, sometimes called the Three "B"s of Creativity, in Bed, on the Bus, or in the Bath. Studies on primate cognition have provided evidence of what may be interpreted as insight in animals. In 1917, Wolfgang Köhler published his book The Mentality of Apes , having studied primates on the island of Tenerife for six years. In one of his experiments, apes were presented with an insight problem that required

6026-422: Is observed to be a necessary behavior across most of the animal kingdom, including some of the least cognitively advanced animals which have no need for other functions of sleep, such as memory consolidation or dreaming. It has been widely accepted that sleep must support the formation of long-term memory, and generally increasing previous learning and experiences recalls. However, its benefit seems to depend on

6157-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and

6288-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as

6419-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German

6550-443: Is profoundly influenced by changes in light, since these are its main clues about what time it is. Exposure to even small amounts of light during the night can suppress melatonin secretion, and increase body temperature and wakefulness. Short pulses of light, at the right moment in the circadian cycle, can significantly 'reset' the internal clock. Blue light, in particular, exerts the strongest effect, leading to concerns that use of

6681-400: Is regulated by a process called homeostasis . Induced or perceived lack of sleep is called sleep deprivation . Process S is driven by the depletion of glycogen and accumulation of adenosine in the forebrain that disinhibits the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus , allowing for inhibition of the ascending reticular activating system . Sleep deprivation tends to cause slower brain waves in

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6812-443: Is resting and relatively still, where the body is starting to slow down. Beta waves take over alpha waves when a person is at attention, as they might be completing a task or concentrating on something. Beta waves consist of the highest of frequencies and the lowest of amplitude, and occur when a person is fully alert. Gamma waves are seen when a person is highly focused on a task or using all their concentration. Theta waves occur during

6943-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c.  1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period

7074-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish

7205-456: Is the sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based on trial and error . Solutions via insight have been proven to be more accurate than non-insight solutions. Insight was first studied by Gestalt psychology , in the early part of the 20th century, during the search for an alternative to associationism and the associationistic view of learning. Some proposed potential mechanisms for insight include: suddenly seeing

7336-433: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers

7467-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to

7598-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as

7729-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share

7860-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language

7991-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout

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8122-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in

8253-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.  765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in

8384-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung

8515-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit.   ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this

8646-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and   Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German

8777-488: The circadian clock (Process C), sleep-wake homeostasis (Process S), and to some extent by the individual will. Sleep timing depends greatly on hormonal signals from the circadian clock, or Process C, a complex neurochemical system which uses signals from an organism's environment to recreate an internal day–night rhythm. Process C counteracts the homeostatic drive for sleep during the day (in diurnal animals) and augments it at night. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN),

8908-437: The frontal cortex , shortened attention span, higher anxiety, impaired memory, and a grouchy mood. Conversely, a well-rested organism tends to have improved memory and mood. Neurophysiological and functional imaging studies have demonstrated that frontal regions of the brain are particularly responsive to homeostatic sleep pressure. There is disagreement on how much sleep debt is possible to accumulate, and whether sleep debt

9039-469: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from

9170-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In

9301-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of

9432-483: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of

9563-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c.  1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of

9694-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by

9825-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are

9956-865: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German

10087-518: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c.  thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c.  1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy

10218-405: The body. Dreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. During sleep, most of the body's systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune , nervous , skeletal , and muscular systems; these are vital processes that maintain mood , memory , and cognitive function , and play

10349-415: The brain and body, the reduced rate of metabolism enables countervailing restorative processes. The brain requires sleep for restoration, whereas these processes can take place during quiescent waking in the rest of the body. The essential function of sleep may be its restorative effect on the brain: "Sleep is of the brain, by the brain and for the brain." This theory is strengthened by the fact that sleep

10480-560: The brain restores its supply of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule used for short-term storage and transport of energy. In quiet waking, the brain is responsible for 20% of the body's energy use, thus this reduction has a noticeable effect on overall energy consumption. Sleep increases the sensory threshold . In other words, sleeping persons perceive fewer stimuli, but can generally still respond to loud noises and other salient sensory events. During slow-wave sleep , humans secrete bursts of growth hormone . All sleep, even during

10611-410: The brain when solving insight versus non-insight problems that happens right before the solving of the problem. This conclusion has been supported also by eye-tracking data that shows an increased eye blink duration and frequency when people solve problems via insight. This latter result, paired with an eye pattern oriented to look away from sources of visual inputs (such as looking at blank wall, or out

10742-654: The day, is associated with the secretion of prolactin . Key physiological methods for monitoring and measuring changes during sleep include electroencephalography (EEG) of brain waves , electrooculography (EOG) of eye movements, and electromyography (EMG) of skeletal muscle activity. Simultaneous collection of these measurements is called polysomnography , and can be performed in a specialized sleep laboratory . Sleep researchers also use simplified electrocardiography (EKG) for cardiac activity and actigraphy for motor movements. The electrical activity seen on an EEG represents brain waves. The amplitude of EEG waves at

10873-926: The deepest period of sleep. Napping too long and entering the slow wave cycles can make it difficult to awake from the nap and leave one feeling unrested. This period of drowsiness is called sleep inertia . The siesta habit has recently been associated with a 37% lower coronary mortality, possibly due to reduced cardiovascular stress mediated by daytime sleep. Short naps at mid-day and mild evening exercise were found to be effective for improved sleep, cognitive tasks, and mental health in elderly people. Monozygotic (identical) but not dizygotic (fraternal) twins tend to have similar sleep habits. Neurotransmitters, molecules whose production can be traced to specific genes, are one genetic influence on sleep that can be analyzed. The circadian clock has its own set of genes. Genes which may influence sleep include ABCC9 , DEC2 , Dopamine receptor D2 and variants near PAX 8 and VRK2 . While

11004-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with

11135-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in

11266-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of

11397-514: The end of the dark time. Bimodal sleep in humans was more common before the Industrial Revolution . Different characteristic sleep patterns, such as the familiarly so-called " early bird " and " night owl ", are called chronotypes . Genetics and sex have some influence on chronotype, but so do habits. Chronotype is also liable to change over the course of a person's lifetime. Seven-year-olds are better disposed to wake up early in

11528-558: The end of the sleep cycle. Awakening involves heightened electrical activation in the brain, beginning with the thalamus and spreading throughout the cortex . On a typical night of sleep, there is not much time that is spent in the waking state. In various sleep studies that have been conducted using the electroencephalography, it has been found that females are awake for 0-1% during their nightly sleep while males are awake for 0-2% during that time. In adults, wakefulness increases, especially in later cycles. One study found 3% awake time in

11659-486: The exact 24 hours of an Earth day. The circadian clock exerts constant influence on the body, affecting sinusoidal oscillation of body temperature between roughly 36.2 °C and 37.2 °C. The suprachiasmatic nucleus itself shows conspicuous oscillation activity, which intensifies during subjective day (i.e., the part of the rhythm corresponding with daytime, whether accurately or not) and drops to almost nothing during subjective night. The circadian pacemaker in

11790-533: The first ninety-minute sleep cycle, 8% in the second, 10% in the third, 12% in the fourth, and 13–14% in the fifth. Most of this awake time occurred shortly after REM sleep. Today, many humans wake up with an alarm clock ; however, people can also reliably wake themselves up at a specific time with no need for an alarm. Many sleep quite differently on workdays versus days off, a pattern which can lead to chronic circadian desynchronization. Many people regularly look at television and other screens before going to bed,

11921-412: The highest rate of sleep. The hours that children spend asleep influence their ability to perform on cognitive tasks. Children who sleep through the night and have few night waking episodes have higher cognitive attainments and easier temperaments than other children. Sleep also influences language development. To test this, researchers taught infants a faux language and observed their recollection of

12052-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,

12183-448: The hormone melatonin, and minimum core body temperature. Human sleep-needs vary by age and amongst individuals; sleep is considered to be adequate when there is no daytime sleepiness or dysfunction. Moreover, self-reported sleep duration is only moderately correlated with actual sleep time as measured by actigraphy , and those affected with sleep state misperception may typically report having slept only four hours despite having slept

12314-475: The hours when other people are awake, the hours when work is required, the time on clocks, etc. Time zones , standard times used to unify the timing for people in the same area, correspond only approximately to the natural rising and setting of the sun. An extreme example of the approximate nature of time zones is China, a country which used to span five time zones and now officially uses only one (UTC+8). In polyphasic sleep , an organism sleeps several times in

12445-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of

12576-417: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Sleep Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with

12707-489: The latter have been found in a GWAS study that primarily detects correlations (but not necessarily causation), other genes have been shown to have a more direct effect. For instance, mice lacking dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (Dpyd) had 78.4 min less sleep during the lights-off period than wild-type mice. Dpyd encodes the rate-limiting enzyme in the metabolic pathway that catabolizes uracil and thymidine to β- alanine , an inhibitory neurotransmitter . This also supports

12838-502: The left or right visual field, it was shown that participants having solved the problem with insight were more likely to have been shown the RAT on the left visual field, indicating right hemisphere processing. This provides evidence that the right hemisphere plays a special role in insight. fMRI and EEG scans of participants completing RATs demonstrated particular brain activity corresponding to problems solved by insight. For example, there

12969-901: The matches. The second type of insight problem requires spatial ability to solve. An example is the " Nine-dot problem " which requires participants to draw four lines, through nine dots, without picking their pencil up. The third and final type of problem requires verbal ability to solve. An example is the Remote Associates Test (RAT), in which people must think of a word that connects three, seemingly unrelated, words. RAT are often used in experiments, because they can be solved both with and without insight. Two clusters of problems, those solvable by insight and those not requiring insight to solve, have been observed. A person's cognitive flexibility, fluency , and vocabulary ability are predictive of performance on insight problems, but not on non-insight problems. In contrast, fluid intelligence

13100-422: The middle of the night. Circadian rhythm exerts some influence on the nighttime secretion of growth hormone. The circadian rhythm influences the ideal timing of a restorative sleep episode. Sleepiness increases during the night. REM sleep occurs more during body temperature minimum within the circadian cycle, whereas slow-wave sleep can occur more independently of circadian time. The internal circadian clock

13231-496: The morning than are fifteen-year-olds. Chronotypes far outside the normal range are called circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Naps are short periods of sleep that one might take during the daytime, often in order to get the necessary amount of rest. Napping is often associated with childhood, but around one-third of American adults partake in it daily. The optimal nap duration is around 10–20 minutes, as researchers have proven that it takes at least 30 minutes to enter slow-wave sleep,

13362-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted

13493-515: The need for treatment, and recognizing consequences of one's behavior as stemming from an illness. A person with very poor recognition or acknowledgment is referred to as having "poor insight" or "lack of insight". The most extreme form is anosognosia , the total absence of insight into one's own mental illness. Mental illnesses are associated with a variety of levels of insight. For example, people with obsessive compulsive disorder and various phobias tend to have relatively good insight that they have

13624-405: The night and density of eye movements. Sleep duration can also vary according to season. Up to 90% of people report longer sleep duration in winter, which may lead to more pronounced seasonal affective disorder . By the time infants reach the age of two, their brain size has reached 90 percent of an adult-sized brain; a majority of this brain growth has occurred during the period of life with

13755-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from

13886-533: The patient's lack of insight. The Pali word for "insight" is vipassana , which has been adopted as the name of a variety of Buddhist mindfulness meditation. Research indicates that mindfulness meditation facilitates solving of insight problems with dosage of 20 minutes. Similar concepts in Zen Buddhism are kenshō and satori . German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )

14017-466: The period of a person being awake, and they continue to transition into Stage 1 of sleep and in stage 2. Delta waves are seen in stages 3 and 4 of sleep when a person is in their deepest of sleep. Sleep is divided into two broad types: non-rapid eye movement (non-REM or NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Non-REM and REM sleep are so different that physiologists identify them as distinct behavioral states. Non-REM sleep occurs first and after

14148-515: The problem in a new way, connecting the problem to another relevant problem/solution pair, releasing past experiences that are blocking the solution, or seeing problem in a larger, coherent context. Generally, methodological approaches to the study of insight in the laboratory involve presenting participants with problems and puzzles that cannot be solved in a conventional or logical manner. Problems of insight commonly fall into three types: The first type of problem forces participants to use objects in

14279-436: The problem. Insight in nature differed from insight in the laboratory. For example, insight in nature was often rather gradual, not sudden, and incubation was not as important. Other studies used online questionnaires to explore insight outside of the laboratory, verifying the notion that insight often happens in situations such as in the shower, and echoing the idea that creative ideas occur in situations where divergent thought

14410-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation

14541-451: The proportion of REM sleep increases in the two cycles just before natural awakening. Awakening can mean the end of sleep, or simply a moment to survey the environment and readjust body position before falling back asleep. Sleepers typically awaken soon after the end of a REM phase or sometimes in the middle of REM. Internal circadian indicators , along with a successful reduction of homeostatic sleep need, typically bring about awakening and

14672-435: The role of β-alanine as a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep in mice. Familial natural short sleep is a rare, genetic, typically inherited trait where an individual sleeps for fewer hours than average without suffering from daytime sleepiness or other consequences of sleep deprivation . This process is entirely natural in this kind of individual, and it is caused by certain genetic mutations. A person with this trait

14803-400: The rules for that language. Infants who slept within four hours of learning the language could remember the language rules better, while infants who stayed awake longer did not recall those rules as well. There is also a relationship between infants' vocabulary and sleeping: infants who sleep longer at night at 12 months have better vocabularies at 26 months. Children can greatly benefit from

14934-471: The screens of electronic devices such as smartphones and televisions, which emit large amounts of blue light, a form of light typically associated with daytime. This disrupts the release of the hormone melatonin needed to regulate the sleep cycle . The most pronounced physiological changes in sleep occur in the brain. The brain uses significantly less energy during sleep than it does when awake, especially during non-REM sleep. In areas with reduced activity,

15065-490: The second involves intuitive and automatic processes based on experience. Research has demonstrated that insight probably involves both processes; however, the second process is more influential. According to the three-process theory, intelligence plays a large role in insight. Specifically, insight involves three processes that require intelligence to apply them to problems: According to the four-stage model of insight, there are four stages to problem solving: Since this model

15196-547: The solving of a problem, as indicated by differing brain activity patterns . People experiencing anxiety showed the opposite effect, and solved fewer problems by insight. Emotion can also be considered: whether this is a positive Aha or negative Uh-oh moment. In order to have insights it is important to have access to one's emotions and sensations, as these can cause insights. To the degree that individuals have limited introspective access to these underlying causes, they have only limited control over these processes as well. Using

15327-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,

15458-400: The suprachiasmatic nucleus has a direct neural connection to the pineal gland , which releases the hormone melatonin at night. Cortisol levels typically rise throughout the night, peak in the awakening hours , and diminish during the day. Circadian prolactin secretion begins in the late afternoon, especially in women, and is subsequently augmented by sleep-induced secretion, to peak in

15589-478: The surrounding environment. While sleep differs from wakefulness in terms of the ability to react to stimuli , it still involves active brain patterns, making it more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness . Sleep occurs in repeating periods , during which the body alternates between two distinct modes: REM and non-REM sleep . Although REM stands for "rapid eye movement", this mode of sleep has many other aspects, including virtual paralysis of

15720-561: The table below. Sleep may facilitate the synthesis of molecules that help repair and protect the brain from metabolic end products generated during waking. Anabolic hormones, such as growth hormones , are secreted preferentially during sleep. The brain concentration of glycogen increases during sleep, and is depleted through metabolism during wakefulness. The human organism physically restores itself during sleep, occurring mostly during slow-wave sleep during which body temperature, heart rate, and brain oxygen consumption decrease. In both

15851-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in

15982-421: The trough of the cycle. A healthy young adult entrained to the sun will (during most of the year) fall asleep a few hours after sunset, experience body temperature minimum at 6 a.m., and wake up a few hours after sunrise. Generally speaking, the longer an organism is awake, the more it feels a need to sleep ("sleep debt"). This driver of sleep is referred to as Process S . The balance between sleeping and waking

16113-525: The use of objects in new and original ways, in order to win a prize (usually, some kind of food). He observed that the animals would continuously fail to get the food, and this process occurred for quite some time; however, rather suddenly, they would purposefully use the object in the way needed to get the food, as if the realization had occurred out of nowhere. He interpreted this behavior as something resembling insight in apes. A more recent study suggested that elephants might also experience insight, showing that

16244-412: The window at the sky) proves different attention involvement in insight problem solving vs. problem solving via analysis. Groups typically perform better on insight problems (in the form of rebus puzzles with either helpful or unhelpful clues) than individuals. Additionally, while incubation improves insight performance for individuals, it improves insight performance for groups even more. Thus, after

16375-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during

16506-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching

16637-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of

16768-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially

16899-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which

17030-454: Was proposed, other similar models have been explored that contain two or three similar stages. In psychology and psychiatry , insight can mean the ability to recognize one's own mental illness . Psychiatric insight is typically measured with the Beck cognitive insight scale (BCIS), named after American psychiatrist Aaron Beck . This form of insight has multiple dimensions, such as recognizing

17161-431: Was tested on the insight problems after sleeping for eight hours at night, one group was tested after staying awake all night, and one group was tested after staying awake all day. Those that slept performed twice as well on the insight problems than those who stayed awake. Differences in brain activation in the left and right hemisphere seem to be indicative of insight versus non-insight solutions. Presenting RATs either to

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