Everything about Alemannic German totally explained
Alemannic German (
Alemannisch) is a group of
dialects of the
Upper German branch of the
Germanic language family. It is spoken by approximately ten million people in six different countries including southern
Germany,
Switzerland,
France,
Austria,
Liechtenstein, and
Italy. The name derives from the ancient Germanic alliance of tribes known as the
Alamanni (from which also comes the French "Allemagne" and Spanish "Alemania" names for Germany).
Status
Alemannic itself comprises a
dialect continuum, from the
Highest Alemannic spoken in the mountainous south to
Swabian in the relatively flat north, with more of the characteristics of
Standard German the further north you go.
Some
linguists and organisations that differentiate between languages and dialects primarily on the grounds of
mutual intelligibility, such as
SIL International and
UNESCO, describe Alemannic German as one or several independent languages.
ISO/DIS 639-3 distinguishes four languages:
gsw "Alemannisch",
swg "Swabian",
wae "Walser" and
gct "
Alemán Coloniero" (spoken from 1843 in
Venezuela).
At this level, the distinction between a
language and a
dialect is frequently considered a cultural and political question, in part because linguists have failed to agree on a clear standard.
Standard German is used in writing, and orally in formal contexts, throughout the Alemannic speaking regions (with the exception of
Alsace), and Alemannic varieties are generally considered
German dialects (more precisely, a dialect group within
Upper German) rather than separate languages.
Variants
Alemannic comprises the following variants:
- Swabian (mostly in Swabia, in Germany). Unlike most other Alemannic dialects, it doesn't retain the Middle High German monophthongs û, î but shifts them to [ou], [ei] (as opposed to Standard German [aʊ], [aɪ]). For this reason, "Swabian" is sometimes used in opposition to "Alemannic".
- Low Alemannic dialects. Retain German initial /k/ as [kʰ] (or [kx]) rather than fricativising to [x] as in High Alemannic. Subvariants:
- High Alemannic (mostly in Switzerland, parts of Vorarlberg, and in the southern parts of the Black Forest in Germany). Complete the High German consonant shift by fricativising initial /k/ to [x]. Subvariants:
- Highest Alemannic (in the Canton of Wallis, in the Walser settlements, in the Bernese Oberland and in the German-speaking part of Fribourg). Do not have the hiatus diphthongisation of other dialects of German with [ʃniːə(n)], [buːə(n)] and not [ʃneijəbouwə]. Subvariants:
Note that the Alemannic dialects of Switzerland are often called
Swiss German or
Schwyzerdütsch.
Written Alemannic
The oldest known texts in Alemannic are brief
Elder Futhark inscriptions dating to the
6th century (
Bülach fibula,
Pforzen buckle,
Nordendorf fibula). In the
Old High German period, the first coherent texts are recorded in the
St. Gall Abbey, among them the 8th century
Paternoster,
» Fater unser, thu bist in himile
uuihi namu dinan
» qhueme rihhi di
in
uuerde uuillo diin,
» so in himile, sosa in erdu
prooth unseer emezzihic kip uns hiutu
» oblaz uns sculdi unsero
so uuir oblazem uns skuldikem
» enti ni unsih firleit in khorunka
uzzer losi unsih fona ubile
Due to the importance of the
Carolingian abbeys of
St. Gall and
Reichenau Island, a considerable part of the Old High German corpus has Alemannic traits. Alemannic
Middle High German is less prominent, in spite of the
Codex Manesse compiled by Johannes Hadlaub of
Zürich. The rise of the
Old Swiss Confederacy from the 14th century leads to the creation of Alemannic
Swiss chronicles.
Huldrych Zwingli's bible translation of the
1520s (the 1531
Froschauer Bible) was in an Alemannic variant of
Early Modern High German. From the 17th century, written Alemannic was displaced by
Standard German, which emerged from
16th century Early Modern High German, in particular in the wake of
Martin Luther's bible translation of the
1520s. The 1665 revision of the Froschauer Bible removed the Alemannic elements, approaching the language used by Luther. For this reason, no binding orthographical standard for writing modern Alemannic emerged, and orthographies in use usually compromise between a precise phonological notation, and proximity to the familiar Standard German orthography (in particular for loanwords).
Johann Peter Hebel published his
Alemannische Gedichte in
1803. Swiss authors often consciously employ
Helvetisms within Standard German, notably
Jeremias Gotthelf in his novels set in the
Emmental, and more recently
Tim Krohn in his
Quatemberkinder.
Characteristics
The diminutive is used frequently in all Alemannic dialects. Northern and eastern dialects use the suffix -le; southern dialects use the suffix -li (Standard German suffix -lein or -chen). Depending on dialect, thus, 'little house' could be Häusle, Hüüsle, Hüüsli or Hiisli (Standard German Häuslein or Häuschen).
A significant difference between the high and low variants is the pronunciation of ch after the front vowels (i, e, ä, ö and ü) and consonants. In Standard German and the lower variants, this is a palatal [ç] (the Ich-Laut), whereas in the higher variants, a velar or uvular [χ] or [x] (the ach-Laut) is used.
The verb to be is conjugated differently in the various dialects:
(The common gs*-forms do historically derive from words akin to ge-sein, not found in modern standard German.)
| The conjugation of the verb to be in Alemannic dialects |
English
(standard German) |
Low Swabian |
Alsatian |
Allgäuerisch |
Lower
Markgräflerland |
Voralpenland |
Eastern Swiss German |
Western Swiss German |
Sensler |
I am
(ich bin) | I ben |
I bìn |
I bin |
Ich bi |
I bee |
I bi |
I(g) bi |
I bü/bi
|
You are
(du bist) | du bisch |
dü bìsch |
du bisch |
du bisch |
dou bisch |
du bisch |
du bisch |
du büsch/bisch
|
He is
(er ist) | er isch |
är ìsch |
är isch |
är isch |
är isch |
är isch |
är isch |
är isch
|
We are
(wir sind) | mir send |
mir sìnn |
mir send/sönd |
mir sin |
mr send |
m(i)r send/sön/sinn |
mir sy |
mier sy
|
You are
(ihr seid) | ihr send |
ihr sìnn |
ihr send |
ihr sin |
ihr send |
i(i)r sönd/sind |
dihr syt |
dier syt
|
They are
(sie sind) | se send |
sie sìnn |
dui send |
si sin |
dia send |
di sönd |
si sy |
si sy
|
I've been
(ich bin ... gewesen) | i ben gwä |
i bìn gsìnn |
i bi gsi |
ich bi gsi |
i bee gsei |
i bi gsi |
i(g) bi gsi/gsy |
i bü/bi gsy
|
Further Information
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