Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Unification of Germany" in English language version.
Within the boundaries of present-day Germany... Germanic peoples such as the eastern Franks, Frisians, Saxons, Thuringians, Alemanni, and Bavarians—all speaking West Germanic dialects—had merged Germanic and borrowed Roman cultural features. It was among these groups that a German language and ethnic identity would gradually develop during the Middle Ages.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link); Walker, Mack (1998). German Home Towns: Community, State, and General Estate, 1648–1871. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8508-4. OL 466977M.Within the boundaries of present-day Germany... Germanic peoples such as the eastern Franks, Frisians, Saxons, Thuringians, Alemanni, and Bavarians—all speaking West Germanic dialects—had merged Germanic and borrowed Roman cultural features. It was among these groups that a German language and ethnic identity would gradually develop during the Middle Ages.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link); Walker, Mack (1998). German Home Towns: Community, State, and General Estate, 1648–1871. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8508-4. OL 466977M.