The Germanic branch of Indo-European consists of three main groups (Ruhlen 1987: 327):- East Germanic: Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian (all extinct);- North Germanic (or: Scandinavian): Runic (extinct), Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese;- West Germanic: German, Yiddish, Luxembourgeois, Dutch, Afrikaans, Frisian, English.Here we will only consider the languages that are currently spoken in geographical Europe. Thus Afrikaans, which is spoken in South Africa, and the extinct languages Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian, and Runic will not be taken into account (but see e.g. König & van der Auwera eds. 1994).