Alsatian language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bilingual (French and Alsatian) sign in Alsace.

Alsatian (Alsatian: Elsässerditsch, French Alsacien, German Elsässisch) is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken in Alsace, a region in eastern France which has passed between French and German control many times.

Not readily intelligible to speakers of standard German, it is closely related to other nearby Alemannic dialects, such as Swiss German, Swabian, and Badisch with French influences. It is often confused with Lorraine Franconian, a more distantly related Franconian dialect spoken in northern Alsace and in neighboring Lorraine.

Many speakers write in standard German, although street names (formerly only in French, now bilingual in some places, especially Strasbourg) may use local spellings.

1 Comparative vocabulary list
2 Status of Alsatian in France
3 References
4 Resources
5 External links

[edit] Comparative vocabulary list

English	Alsatian	Standard German	Standard French	Swabian (German dialect)
Earth	harz	Erde	terre	erd
heaven	hemmel	Himmel	ciel	hemml
water	wàsser	Wasser	eau	wasser
fire	fihr	Feuer	feu	feier
man	mànn	Mann	homme	mà
woman	frài	Frau	femme	frau
eat	assa	essen	manger	essa
drink	trenka	trinken	boire	trenka
big	groos	groß	grand, grande	graus
little	klai	klein	petit, petite	kloi
night	nàcht	Nacht	nuit	nàcht
day	däi	Tag	jour	dàg

[edit] Status of Alsatian in France

The constitution of the Fifth Republic states that French alone is the official language of the Republic. However Alsatian, along with other regional languages, are recognized by the French government in the official list of languages of France. A 1999 INSEE survey counted 548,000 adult speakers of Alsatian in France, making it the second most-spoken regional language in France (after Occitan). Like all regional languages in France, however, the transmission of Alsatian is on the decline. While 39% of the adult population of Alsace speaks Alsatian, only one in four children speaks it, and only one in ten children uses it regularly.

[edit] References

[1] François Héran, et al. (2002) "La dynamique des langues en France au fil du XX^e siècle". Population et sociétés 376, Ined.
[2] "L'alsacien, deuxième langue régionale de France" Insee, Chiffres pour l'Alsace no. 12, December 2002

[edit] Resources

In French:

Brunner, Jean-Jacques. L'alsacien sans peine. ASSiMiL, 2001. ISBN 2-7005-0222-1
Laugel-Erny, Elsa. Cours d'alsacien. Les Editions du Quai. ISBN 2-90-354807-0
Matzen, Raymond, and Léon Daul. Wie Geht's ? Le dialecte à la portée de tous La Nuée Bleue, 1999. ISBN 2-7165-0464-4
Matzen, Raymond, and Léon Daul. Wie Steht's ? Lexiques alsacien et français, Variantes dialectales, Grammaire La Nuée Bleue, 2000. ISBN 2-7165-0525-X