status and use of the language, while the phonology and morphology have seen only rationalization and not substantial change over the last 370 years. Territory For the first two hundred years of the period, the linguistic boundary of German remained relatively stable, even where the territory itself changed hands, as in Alsace, a French possession since the Treaty of Westphalia. The only major area of change was in the East. Initially only individual German-speaking settlers moved into the underpopulated lands of Brandenburg, Pomerania and Bohemia, but in the late 17th century both Prussia and Austria had policies of attracting settlers to these lands. From the late 19th century, however, there have been significant losses of German-speaking territory. The eastward settlement of the earlier period was reversed by a Russian government policy of Russianisation and by the resistance of the Polish population to further German immigration, causing many German speakers to return West. At the end of the Second World War the German-speaking populations of Bohemia and the land east of the Oder-Neisse line, which became part of Poland, were forcibly expelled. Characteristics The New High German period is characterised by the codification of German grammar and the development of a standard language in both writing and speech. Unlike earlier periods, there have been few major changes in phonology or morphology. Rather, the standard language has selected particular features and these choices have then exerted an influence on individual German dialects. See also German literature of the Baroque period References Sources Reprint History of the German language High German languages German dialects