Alemannic German

Alemannic
Alemannish
Alemannisch
Pronunciation	[alɛˈman(ː)ɪʃ]
Native to	Switzerland:entireGerman-speakingpart, except for the town ofSamnaun. Germany:most ofBaden-WürttembergandBavarian Swabia. Austria:Vorarlbergand some parts ofTyrol. Liechtenstein:entire country. France:most ofAlsace. Italy:some parts ofAosta Valleyand northernPiedmont United States:Amish inAllen,SwitzerlandandDaviessCounties inIndiana. Venezuela:Alemán Coloniero
Native speakers	7,162,000 (2004–2012)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Elbe Germanic High German Upper German Alemannic
Writing system	Latin,HistoricallyElder Futhark
Language codes
ISO 639-2	gsw
ISO 639-3	Variously: gct–Colonia Tovar gsw–Alsatian&Swiss German swg–Swabian wae–Walser
Glottolog	alem1243
IETF	gsw
Blue indicates the traditional distribution area of Western Upper German (=Alemannic) dialects.
Alemannic is classified as Vulnerable by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Alemannic,or rarelyAlemannish(Alemannisch,[alɛˈman(ː)ɪʃ]), is a group ofHigh German dialects.The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as theAlemanni( "all men" ).

Distribution

Alemannic dialects are spoken by approximately ten million people in several countries:

• In Europe:
  • Switzerland:all German-speaking parts of the country exceptSamnaun
  • Germany:centre and south ofBaden-Württemberg,Swabia,and certain districts ofBavaria
  • Austria:Vorarlberg,Reutte DistrictofTyrol
  • Liechtenstein
  • France:Alsaceregion (Alsatiandialect) and in some villages of thePhalsbourg county,inLorraine
  • Italy:Gressoney-La-Trinité,Gressoney-Saint-Jean,Issime,Alagna Valsesia,RimellaandFormazza,in some other villages almost extinct
• Outside Europe:
  • United States:AllenandAdams County, Indiana,by theAmishthere and also in their daughter settlements in Indiana and other U.S. states.
  • Venezuela:Colonia Tovar(Colonia Tovar dialect)

Status

Alemannic comprises adialect continuumfrom theHighest Alemannicspoken in the mountainous south toSwabianin the relatively flat north and more of the characteristics ofStandard Germanthe farther north one goes.

In Germany and other European countries, theabstand and ausbau languageframework is used to decide what is a language and what is a dialect.According to this framework, Alemannic varieties of German form adialect continuumand are clearly dialects.Somelinguistsand organisations thatdifferentiate between languages and dialectsprimarily on the grounds ofmutual intelligibility,such asSIL InternationalandUNESCO,describe Alemannic as one of several independent languages.WhileISO 639-2does not distinguish between dialects,ISO 639-3distinguishes four of them:

• gct–Colonia Tovar,a dialect spoken since 1843 inVenezuela,
• gsw– whatISO 639-2only considers to be theAlemanniclanguage, is recognised here as:
  • Alsatian,a dialect spoken in theeastern France region;
  • Swiss German,mainly spoken inSwitzerland;
• swg–Swabian German,mainly spoken in the central-southeasternBaden-Wuerttemberg,
• wae–Walser German,mainly spoken in SwissUpper Valaisin theAlps.

Standard German is used in writing and in Germany orally in formal contexts throughout the Alemannic-speaking regions (with the exception ofAlsace,whereFrenchor theAlsatian dialectof Alemannic is used instead).

Variants

Alemannic in the broad sense comprises the following variants:

• Swabian(mostly inSwabia,inGermany,covering large parts ofWürttembergand all ofBavarian Swabia). Unlike most other Alemannic dialects, it does not retain theMiddle High Germanmonophthongsû, îbut shifts them to[ou],[ei](as opposed to Standard German[aʊ],[aɪ]). For this reason, "Swabian" is also used in opposition to "Alemannic".
• Alemannic in the strict sense:
  • Low Alemannicdialects. Retain German initial/k/as[kʰ](or[kx]) rather than fricativising to[x]as in High Alemannic. Subvariants:
    • Upper-Rhine Alemannicin SouthwesternBadenand its variantAlsatian(inAlsace,France)
    • Alemán Coloniero(inVenezuela)
    • Basel German(inBasel,Switzerland)
  • Lake Constance Alemannic(Bodenseealemannisch) (in SouthernWürttemberg,SoutheasternBaden,NorthwesternVorarlberg), a transitional dialect, close to High Alemannic, with some Swabian features in the vowel system.
  • High Alemannic(mostly inSwitzerland,parts ofVorarlberg,and in the southern parts of theBlack Forestin Germany). Complete theHigh German consonant shiftby fricativising initial/k/to[x].Subvariants:
    • Bernese German
    • Zurich German
    • Vorarlbergisch
    • Liechtensteinisch
  • Highest Alemannic(in theCanton of Valais,in theWalsersettlements (e.g., in the canton ofGrisons), in theBernese Oberlandand in the German-speaking part ofFribourg) does not have thehiatusdiphthongisation of other dialects of German. For example:[ˈʃnei̯jə]('to snow') instead of[ˈʃniː.ə(n)],[ˈb̥ou̯wə]('to build') instead of[ˈb̥uː.ə(n)].Subvariants:
    • Walliser German
    • Walser German

The Alemannic dialects of Switzerland are often calledSwiss GermanorSchwiizerdütsch.

Written Alemannic

The oldest known texts in Alemannic are briefElder Futharkinscriptions dating to the sixth century (Bülach fibula,Pforzen buckle,Nordendorf fibula). In theOld High Germanperiod, the first coherent texts are recorded in theSt. Gall Abbey,among them the eighth-centuryPaternoster:

Fater unser, thu bist in himile

uuihi namu dinan

qhueme rihhi diⁱn

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 theCarolingianabbeys ofSt. GallandReichenau Island,a considerable part of the Old High German corpus has Alemannic traits. AlemannicMiddle High Germanis less prominent, in spite of theCodex Manessecompiled by Johannes Hadlaub ofZürich.The rise of theOld Swiss Confederacyfrom the fourteenth century led to the creation of AlemannicSwiss chronicles.Huldrych Zwingli's Bible translation of the 1520s (the 1531Froschauer Bible) was in an Alemannic variant ofEarly Modern High German.From the seventeenth century, written Alemannic was displaced byStandard German,which emerged from sixteenth century Early Modern High German, in particular in the wake ofMartin 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 Hebelpublished hisAllemannische Gedichtein 1803. Swiss authors often consciously employHelvetismswithin Standard German, notablyJeremias Gotthelfin his novels set in theEmmental,Friedrich Glauserin hiscrime stories,and more recentlyTim Krohnin hisQuatemberkinder.

The poetIda Ospelt-Amannwrote and published exclusively in the dialect ofVaduz.

Characteristics

• Thediminutiveis used frequently in all Alemannic dialects. Northern and eastern dialects use the suffix-le;western varieties (e.g. northern Alsace) uses the suffix-el/l̩/; southern dialects use the suffix-li(Standard German suffix-leinor-chen). As in standard German, these suffixes cause umlaut. Depending on dialect, 'little house' may beHeisle,Hiisel,Hüüsle,HüüsliorHiisli(Standard GermanHäusleinorHäuschen). Some varieties have plural diminutives in-ler,-laor-lich.
• Northern variants of Alemannic (Swabian and Low Alemannic), like standard German, pronouncechas a uvular or velar[χ]or[x](Ach-Laut) after back vowels (a,o,u) and as a palatal[ç]consonant (Ich-Laut) elsewhere. High Alemannic, Lake Constance Alemannic and Highest Alemannic dialects exclusively use theAch-Laut.
• In most Alemannic dialects, the past participle of the verb meaningto be(seinin standard German, with past participlegewesen) derives from a form akin togesein(gsi,gsìnn,gseietc.).

Some conjugated forms of the verbto bein Alemannic dialects

English (standard German)	Low Swabian	Alsatian Lower High Alsace	Allgäuerisch	Lower Markgräflerland	Upper Swabian	Eastern Swiss German	Western Swiss German	Sensler
I am (ich bin)	I ben	Ìch bì	I bi	Ich bi	I bee	I bi	I(g) bi[ɪɡ̊b̥ɪ]	I bü/bi
you (sg.) are (du bist)	du bisch	dü bìsch	du bisch	du bisch	d(o)u bisch	du bisch	du bisch[d̥ʊb̥ɪʒ̊]	du büsch/bisch
he is (er ist)	er isch	är ìsch	är isch	är isch	är isch	är isch	är isch[æɾɪʒ̊]	är isch
she is (sie ist)	sia isch	sa ìsch	sia isch	sie isch	si isch	si isch	si isch[sɪɪʒ̊]	sia isch
it is (es ist)	es isch	äs ìsch	as isch	as isch	äs isch	äs isch	äs isch[æz̊(əʒ̊)ɪʒ̊]	as isch
we are (wir sind)	mr sen(d)	mìr sìn	mir send/sönd	mir sin	mr send	m(i)r send/sön/sinn	mir sy[mɪɾsi]	wier sy
you (pl.) are (ihr seid)	ihr sen(d)	ìhr sìn	ihr send	ihr sin	ihr send	i(i)r sönd/sind	dir syt[d̥ɪɾsit]	ier syt
they are (sie sind)	se sen(d)	sa sìn	dia send	si sin	dia send	si sind/sönd	si sy[sɪsi]	si sy
I have been (ich bin... gewesen)	i ben gwäa	ìch bì gsìì	i bi gsi	ich bi gsi	i bee gsei	i bi gsi	i bi gsy[ɪ(ɡ̊)b̥ɪksiː]	i bü/bi gsy

See also

• Alemannic separatism
• German dialects
• Muettersproch-Gsellschaft
• Muggeseggele
• Swiss German

External links

• Media related toAlemannic languageat Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition ofAlemannic Germanat Wiktionary
• Alemannic encyclopedia -German-