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German dialectsare the various traditional local varieties of theGerman language.Though varied by region, those of the southern half of Germany beneath theBenrath lineare dominated by the geographical spread of theHigh German consonant shift,and thedialect continuumthat connects German to the neighboring varieties ofLow Franconian(Dutch) andFrisian.
The varieties of German are conventionally grouped intoUpper German,Central GermanandLow German;Upper and Central German form theHigh Germansubgroup.Standard Germanis a standardized form of High German, developed in theearly modern periodbased on a combination of Central German and Upper German varieties.
Etymology and nomenclature
edit
Traditionally, all of the major dialect groupings of German dialects are typically named after so-called "stem duchies"or" tribal duchies "(German:Stammesherzogtümer) by early German linguists, among whom theBrothers Grimmwere especially influential. These tribal duchies came into existence at the end of theEarly Middle Ageswithin theHoly Roman Empireand were thought to have been continuations of earlier tribal lands which were subjugated by the Franks and incorporated into their realm at the close of theMigration Period.[3]
For example, the Germanic tribe of theBavarii(subjugated by the Franks during the 6th century) gave their name to the laterstem duchy of Bavaria(817–1180), which itself would lend its name to the traditionalBavarian dialect groupingdescribed in the early 19th century.[4]
As their understanding of theSecond Germanic consonant shiftprogressed, linguists (when applicable) further divided these dialects into groupings based on their degree of participation of this consonant shift, with "Low" (German:nieder-) signifying little to no participation, "Middle" (or "Central"; German:mittel-) meaning medium to high participation and "Upper" (German:ober-) conveying high to full participation.
Because the 19th-century classification nomenclature was based primarily on historical territories rather than linguistic clusters, the traditional system can imply greater similarities between dialects than is linguistically warranted. The best-known example of this phenomenon is found within theFranconian cluster,which is divided intoLow Franconian,Middle FranconianandUpper Franconianeven though the Low Franconian (incl. Dutch) dialects are not most closely related to Middle and Upper Franconian dialects within the larger continuum. In fact, of all German dialects, theLow Rhenishdialect (the only Low Franconian dialect spoken in Germany itself) is the most divergent when compared to Standard German, whereas the Middle and Upper Franconian dialects are fairly similar in their overall structure and phonology to the German standard language.
As a result, the second half of the 20th century saw a shift in academic customs, with many linguists instead describing dialect clusters based on the geographical area in which they are spoken (i.e.Meuse-RhenishorWestphalian) and their degree of participation with the Second Germanic consonant shift, or, such as in the case of the influential linguistsFriedrich MaurerandTheodor Frings,creating a new framework of dialect classification altogether.
Nevertheless, in common parlance it is common for speakers of German dialects to use the traditional/older nomenclature when referring to their particular dialect, stating, for example, that they speak Saxon, Bavarian, Allemanic (Swabian), Thuringian or Franconian.
Dialects
editIn relation to varieties of Standard German
editInlinguisticsof German, Germandialectsare distinguished fromvarietiesofStandard German.
- The German dialects are the traditional local varieties. They are traced back to the different Germanic tribes. Many of them are hardly understandable to someone who knows only Standard German, since they often differ from Standard German inlexicon,phonologyandsyntax.If a narrow definition oflanguagebased onmutual intelligibilityis used, many German dialects are considered to be separate languages (for example, in the view ofEthnologue).[citation needed]
- The varieties of Standard German refer to the different local varieties of thepluricentric languageStandard German. They differ only slightly in lexicon and phonology. In certain regions, they have replaced the traditional German dialects, especially theLow Germanof Northern Germany.
Dialects in Germany
editThis sectionneeds additional citations forverification.(February 2014) |
The variation among German dialects ranges. In regions with dialects are being in the same dialectal region, pronunciation, syntax and words particular to specific towns even only a few miles apart can create even more variation. In the Black Forest region alone, there was a newspaper request for people to report what word they used for the term "Dragonfly." Sixty words were collected as reported from responders for the term.[5]
When spoken in their purest form, Low German, most Upper German, High Franconian dialects and even some Central German dialects are unintelligible to those versed only in Standard German. However, all German dialects belong to thedialect continuumof High German and Low German. In the past (roughly until the end ofWorld War II), there was adialect continuumof all ContinentalWest Germanic languages,as nearly any pair of contiguous dialects were perfectly mutually intelligible.
The German dialect continuum is typically divided intoHigh GermanandLow German.The terms derive from the geographic characteristics of the terrain in which each is found rather than depicting social status.
Dialects in Central Europe
editAs the result of theflight and expulsion of Germansfollowing World War II, particularly from post-warPoland,theCzech Republic,Hungary and Yugoslavia (Danube Swabians),[6]the territorial extent of German was considerably reduced. Significant dialects such as theEast Pomeranian dialect,most varieties ofSilesian German,Prussiandialects andBohemian Germandialects gradually disappeared as a result of their speakers assimilating into areas where other dialects, as well as Standard German, were already spoken.[7]
Low German
editLow German varieties (in Germany usually referred to as "Platt" or "Plattdeutsch" ) are considered dialects of the German language by some but a separate language by others (then often termed "Low Saxon" ). Linguistically Low German (that is,Ingvaeonic( "North Sea Germanic" ) andLow Franconian(that is, someIstvaeonic) dialects are grouped together because both did not participate in theHigh German consonant shift.Low German is further divided intoDutch Low Saxon,West Low GermanandEast Low German.
Middle Low Germanwas thelingua francaof theHanseatic League.[8]It was the predominant language in Northern Germany, and several translations of the Bible were printed in Low German. That predominance changed in the 16th century. In 1534, theLuther Biblewas printed byMartin Luther,and that translation is considered to be an important step towards the evolution of theEarly New High German.It aimed to be understandable to an ample audience and was based mainly onHigh Germanvarieties. Early New High German gained more prestige than Low Saxon[9]and became the language of science and literature. Other factors included the Hanseatic League losing its importance around the same time (as new trade routes to Asia and the Americas were established) and the most powerful German states then being located in Middle and Southern Germany.
The 18th and 19th centuries were marked by mass education, with the language of the schools being Standard German.[10][11]
Today, Low Saxon dialects are still widespread, especially among the elderly in the Northern parts of Germany.[12]Some local media take care not to let the Low Saxon language die out, so there are several newspapers that have recurring articles in Low Saxon. The North German Broadcasting (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) also offers television programs, such as "Talk op Platt" and radio programs in Low Saxon.
On the other hand, Northern Germany is considered to be the region that speaks the purest Standard German, and in everyday life, little influence of dialect is heard. Still, there are notable differences in pronunciation, even among North German speakers such as the lengthening of vowels and differences in accentuation. There are also some North German expressions that are in use even in Standard High German but are seldom heard in Southern Germany, such as "plietsch" for "intelligent".
High German
editHigh German is divided intoCentral German,High FranconianandUpper German.
Central German dialects includeRipuarian,Moselle Franconian,Rhine Franconian(incl.Hessian),Lorraine Franconian,Thuringian,Silesian,High Prussian,Lusatian dialectsandUpper Saxon.They are spoken in the southeastern Netherlands, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of northeastern France and in Germany approximately between the RiverMainand the southern edge of the Lowlands.
High Franconian dialects are transitional dialects in between the two greaterHigh Germangroups. High Franconian dialects includeEast FranconianandSouth Franconian.
Upper German dialects includeAlemannic in the broad sense(incl.Alsatian,Swabian) andBavarian(Southern Bavarian,Central BavarianandNorthern Bavarian) and are spoken in parts of northeastern France, southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy.
Standard High Germanis based on Central and Upper German.
The Moselle Franconian varieties spoken inLuxembourghave been officially standardized and institutionalized and so are usually considered a separate language, known asLuxembourgish.
Halcnovian,Wymysorys,SathmarischandTransylvanian Saxonare High German dialects of Poland andRomania.
The High German varieties spoken byAshkenazi Jews(mostly in Tsarist Russia, then the formerSoviet Unionand Poland) have several unique features and are usually considered as a separate language. Known asYiddish,it is the only Germanic language that does not (only) use theLatin scriptas itsstandard script.Since it developed in the Danube area, there are some similarities with the Central and Upper German dialects of that region.
-
Map showing theUerdingen line,which divides Low German from High German -
The Speyer line, dividing theCentral Germandialects from theHigh Franconiandialects -
The Uerdingen and theKarlsruhe line.The Karlsruhe line divides theHigh Franconiandialects from theUpper Germandialects.
Overseas dialects
editThe dialects of German that are or were spoken primarily in colonies or communities founded by German-speakers resemble the dialects of the regions of the founders. For example,Pennsylvania GermanandVolga Germanresemble dialects of theBaden-Württemberg,Hutterite Germanresembles dialects ofCarinthiaand VenezuelanAlemán Colonierois aLow Alemannicvariant.
| Standard German | Hunsrik/Hunsrückisch | Low German & Plautdietsch | Pennsylvania Dutch | Hutterite | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 400,000 | — | 4,000 | — | — |
| Australia | 79,000 | — | — | — | — |
| Belize | — | — | 9,360 | — | — |
| Bolivia | 160,000 | — | 60,000 | — | — |
| Brazil | 1,500,000 | 3,000,000 | 8,000 | — | — |
| Canada | 430,000 | — | 80,000 | 15,000 | 23,200 |
| Chile | 35,000 | — | — | — | — |
| Costa Rica | — | — | 2,000 | — | — |
| Israel | 200,000 | — | — | — | — |
| Kazakhstan | 30,400 | — | 100,000 | — | — |
| Mexico | — | — | 40,000 | — | — |
| Namibia | 22,500 | — | — | — | — |
| New Zealand | 36,000 | — | — | — | — |
| Paraguay | 166,000 | — | 40,000 | — | — |
| Peru | 2,000 | — | 5,000 | — | — |
| Russia | — | — | — | — | — |
| South Africa | 12,000 | — | — | — | — |
| Uruguay | 28,000 | — | 2,000 | — | — |
| United States | 1,104,354[13] | — | 12,000 | 118,000 | 10,800 |
| Sum | 4,599,392 | 3,000,000 | 362,360 | 133,000 | 34,000 |
Amana German
editAmana German is a dialect ofWest Central German.It is spoken in theAmana ColoniesinIowa,which were founded byInspirationalistsof German origin. Amana is derived fromHessian,another West Central German dialect. Amana German is calledKolonie-Deutschin Standard German.
Brazilian German
editIn Brazil, the largest concentrations of German speakers,German Brazilians,are inRio Grande do Sul,whereRiograndenser Hunsrückisch,andBrazilian Pomeranianwere developed, especially in the areas ofSanta Catarina,Paraná, Rondônia, andEspírito Santo,as well as in Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro).
Chilean German
editLagunen-Deutsch is a variety ofHigh Germanspoken in Chile.
Most speakers of Lagunen-Deutsch live aroundLake Llanquihue. Lagunen-Deutsch has integrated elements of Spanish. This includes the integration of false cognates with the Spanish language, transferring the Spanish meanings into Lagunen-Deutsch.
The geographical origin of most or all speakers of Lagunen-Deutsch is Chile, to where the ancestors of the speakersimmigrated from German-speaking areas of Europein the 19th and 20th centuries. The impact of nineteenth century German immigration to southern Chile was such thatValdiviawas for a while a Spanish-German bilingual city with "German signboards and placards alongside the Spanish".[14]The prestige[15]the German language had made it acquire qualities of asuperstratumin southern Chile.[16]
Venezuelan German
editThe Colonia Tovar dialect, or Alemán Coloniero, is a dialect spoken inColonia Tovar,Venezuela,that belongs to theLow Alemannicbranch of German. The dialect, like otherAlemannic dialects,is not mutually intelligible withStandard German.It is spoken by descendants of Germans from theBlack Forestregion of southernBaden,who emigrated to Venezuela in 1843. The dialect has also acquired some Spanishloanwords.[citation needed]
American German
editCurrently 1.1 million American citizens speak German, with the most being in theDakotas.[17]German was at one time the lingua franca in many American regions, with high density in the Midwest, butSt. Louis,Milwaukee,New Orleans,New York City and a great many others cities had a very high German-speaking population. By 1900, over 554 Standard German-language newspapers were in circulation.
The rise in American ethnic nativist pride, especially duringWorld War I,led to a zealous push for theAmericanizationofhyphenated Americansto reclaim theWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestanthegemonic influence once again, as the surges of immigration had forever changed the dynamic nation. All things and individuals with ties to Germany were thus subjected to public harassment, distrust, or even death, such as in the lynching ofRobert Prager,a German seeking to become naturalized[18]in St. Louis.
See also
edit- History of the German language
- German as a minority language
- Ethnic Germans
- Petuh,German vocabulary on a Danish base
- Wisconsin German
References
edit- ^Peter Wiesinger:Die Einteilung der deutschen Dialekte.In: Werner Besch, Ulrich Knoop, Wolfgang Putschke, Herbert Ernst Wiegand (Hrsg.):Dialektologie. Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung,2. Halbband. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1983, ISBN 3-11-009571-8, pp. 807–900.
- ^Werner König:dtv-Atlas Deutsche Sprache.19. Auflage. dtv, München 2019, ISBN 978-3-423-03025-0, pp. 230.
- ^Die Entstehung der deutschen Stammesherzogtümer am Anfang des 10. Jahrhunderts, by H. Stingl, 1974.
- ^Brigitte Haas-Gebhard: Die Baiuvaren. Archäologie und Geschichte. Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2013, p. 94
- ^"Libelle: Bachjüngferli – Hexenoodle – Hirnschiässer – Deifelsnodle – Alemannisches Wörterbuch".alemannisch.de.Retrieved17 April2019.
- ^"Danube Swabians".
- ^Helmut Glück, Wolfgang Werner Sauer (2016).Gegenwartsdeutsch(in German). Springer-Verlag. p. 88.
- ^Boden, Keith (1993)."A Re-Examination of Middle Low German-Scandinavian Language Contact".Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik.60(3): 292–306.ISSN0044-1449.
- ^Pickl, Simon (31 January 2023),"(High) German",Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics,doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.939,ISBN978-0-19-938465-5,retrieved6 March2024
- ^"German Dialects: The Sound of Plattdeutsch".deutschland.de.1 June 2018.Retrieved6 March2024.
- ^"German and its Norms".@GI_weltweit.Retrieved6 March2024.
- ^"Saxon, Low".Ethnologue.Retrieved6 March2024.
Language Use: Officially recognized as a regional (separate) language in 8 states of Germany. Recognized as a regional (separate) language by the European Charter on Languages. Adults only. Shifting to Standard German [deu]. Used as L2 by Northern Frisian [frr].
- ^Shin, Hyon B.; Kominski, Robert A. (1 April 2010).Language Use in the United States: 2007(Report).USCB.
- ^Skottsberg, Carl(1911),The Wilds of Patagonia: A Narrative of the Swedish Expedition to Patagonia Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Island in 1907– 1909,London, England:Edward Arnold
- ^Germany's prestige was reflected in efforts by Chileans to bring German knowledge to Chile in the late 19th century. Institutions like theChilean ArmyandInstituto Pedagógico,aimed atteacher educationwere heavily influenced by Germany. In the second half of the 19th century Germany displaced France as the prime role model for Chile. This however met some criticism whenEduardo de la Barrawrote disparangingly about a "German bewichment". German influence in science and culture declined afterWorld War I,yet German remained highly prestigious and influential after the war (Sanhueza 2011).
- ^Wagner, Claudio (2000)."Las áreas de" bocha "," polca "y" murra ". Contacto de lenguas en el sur de Chile".Revista de Dialectología y Tradiciones Populares(in Spanish).LV(1): 185–196.doi:10.3989/rdtp.2000.v55.i1.432.
- ^Bureau, US Census."New Census Bureau Interactive Map Shows Languages Spoken in America".The United States Census Bureau.Retrieved17 April2019.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^Miller, Daniel (2001).Early German-American newspapers.Heritage Books.ISBN0788417827.OCLC47033262.
Further reading
edit- Friedrich Maurer(1942),Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur germanischen und frühdeutschen Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde,Bern: Francke Verlag.
- "German Dialects, Teenagers' Argot: Purists May Disapprove, but Multi-ethnic Dialects Are Spreading",The Economist,no. 8771 (11 Feb 2012), p. 56.N.B.: Unsigned article, concerning the German urban dialect called "Kiezdeutsh".
- Sanhueza, Carlos (2011),"El debate sobre" el embrujamiento alemán "y el papel de la ciencia alemana hacia fines del siglo XIX en Chile"(PDF),Ideas viajeras y sus objetos. El intercambio científico entre Alemania y América austral. Madrid–Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana–Vervuert(in Spanish), pp. 29–40
External links
edit- Datenbank fuer Gesprochenes Deutsch (DGD2)– a database with several dialect corpora covering German and overseas (North American, Australian) varieties of German
- An example sentence spoken in different German dialects (German)
- German Dialects – Links,Paul Joyce, University of Portsmouth (extensive collection of links on each dialect)
- Atlas zur deutschen Alltagssprache(University of Augsburg, German) with recent research and maps on everyday language in the German-speaking countries