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Dutch was originally a dialect of "German", and was not recognized as a separate language until IIRC the 1500s.

What would it take for there to be additional offshoots of German that are recognized as separate languages?

I am thinking of "Austrian" and "Prussian" as separate languages.

ISTM that "Prussian" would be a distinct possibility if there was no union of crowns between Prussia and Brandenburg (or any other German princedom). Or is that too late?

"Austrian" is trickier. But suppose that the HRE broke apart during the era of the Thirty Years War, with the whole north as a separate Protestant polity. Again, is that too late?

I note that while there are only four "Germanic" languages (German, Dutch, English, and Frisian), there are 30 distinguishable Romance languages in Iberia, France, Italy, and Switzerland.
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