Alemannic German
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,
Austria,
Liechtenstein,
France and
Italy. The name derives from the ancient German alliance of tribes known as the
Alamanni.
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 "
Colonia Tovar German" (spoken from 1843 in
Venezuela).
At this level, the distinction between a
language and a
dialect is linguistically meaningless and constitutes a cultural and political question.
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.
Alemannic comprises the following variants:
*
Swabian (mostly in
Swabia, in
Germany). Unlike most other Alemannic dialects, it does not retain the
Middle High German monophthongs
û, î but shifts them to , (as opposed to Standard German , ). For this reason, "Swabian" is sometimes used in opposition to "Alemannic".
*
Low Alemannic dialects. Retain German initial as (or ) rather than fricativising to as in High Alemannic. Subvariants:
**
Seealemannisch (in Southern
Württemberg, Southeastern
Baden, Northwestern
Vorarlberg)
**
Alsatian (in
Alsace,
France)
**
Alemán Coloniero (in
Venezuela)
**
Basel German (in
Basel,
Switzerland)
*
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 to . Subvariants:
**
Bernese German**
Zürich German**
Vorarlbergisch*
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 , and not . Subvariants:
**
Walliser German***
Walser German.
Note that the Alemannic dialects of Switzerland are often called
Swiss German or
Schwyzerdütsch.
The oldest known texts in Alemannic are brief
Elder Futhark inscriptions dating to the
6th century. 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 Alemannic
Swiss chronicles.
Ulrich 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
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.
* 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
-chen). Depending on dialect, thus, 'little house' could be
Häusle,
Hüüsle,
Hüüsli or
Hiisli.
* 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 (the
Ich-Laut), whereas in the higher variants, a velar or uvular or (the
ach-Laut) is used.
* The verb
to be is conjugated differently in the various dialects:
| The conjugation of the verb to be in Alemannic dialects | English
(standard German) | Low Swabian | Allgäuerisch | Lower
Markgräflerland | Voralpenland | Eastern Swiss German | Western Swiss German | Sensler |
|---|
I am
(ich bin) | I ben | I bin | Ich bi | I bee | I bi | I(g) bi | I bû |
|---|
You are
(du bist) | du bisch | du bisch | du bisch | dou bisch | du bisch | du bisch | dù bûsch |
|---|
He is
(er ist) | er isch | är isch | är isch | är isch | är isch | är isch | är isch |
|---|
We are
(wir sind) | mir send | mir send/sönd | mir sin | mr send | m(i)r send/sön/sinn | mir sy | wier sy |
|---|
You are
(ihr seid) | ihr send | ihr send | ihr sin | ihr send | i(i)r sönd/sind | dihr syt | ier syt |
|---|
They are
(sie sind) | dui send | dui send | si sin | dia send | di sönd | si sy | si sy |
|---|
I have been
(ich bin ... gewesen) | i ben gwä | i bi gsi | ich bi gsi | i bee gsei | i bi gsi | i(g) bi gsi/gsy | i bû gsyy |
|---|
*
Ethnologue*
Alemanni poems and Alemanni encyclopedia -German-
