Viennese German
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Viennese German is an East Central Austro-Bavarian dialect spoken mostly in the Austrian capital of Vienna. Even in Lower Austria, the state surrounding the city, many of its expressions are not used, while farther to the west they are often not even understood.
Viennese has to be distinguished from the Austrian form of Standard German and other forms of Austrian German.
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[edit] Grammar and phonology
Grammar and phonology of Viennese are mostly identical to other Austro-Bavarian dialects, but there are some differences, such as
- avoidance of the genitive case;
- use of the preposition ohne (without) with the dative case instead of the accusative.
- In those cases where other Austro-Bavarian dialects replace standard German ei with oa, Viennese uses a long a. (E.g. Standard German zwei (=two), general Austro-Bavarian zwoa, Viennese zwa).
- In those cases where ei is not replaced by oa in Austro-Bavarian (e.g. drei (=three)), it is usually pronounced as a long open 'e' (similar to the pronunciation of ä in parts of Germany).
- Hard consonants (particularly t and p) are pronounced as soft - the letter v is often pronounced like the softer w.
- In the working class dialect, the pronunciation of the letter "l" reflects the Czech pronunciation. This is known as Meidlinger L, after the working-class district of Meidling.
[edit] Vocabulary
The Viennese vocabulary displays particular characteristics. Viennese retains many Middle High German and sometimes even Old High German roots. Furthermore, it integrated many expressions from other languages, particularly from other parts of the former Habsburg Monarchy, as Vienna served as a melting pot for its constituent populations in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The transcription of Viennese has not been standardised. Thus, the rendering of pronunciation here is incomplete:
Examples:
- from Old High German:
- Zähnd (Standard German Zähne, English teeth, from zand)
- Hemad (Hemd, = English shirt, from hemidi)
- from Middle High German:
- Greißler (=small grocer, from griuzel - diminutive of Gruz =grain)
- Baaz (=slimy mass, from batzen=being sticky)
- si ohfrettn (=to struggle, from vretten)
- from Hebrew and Yiddish:
- Masl (=luck, from masol)
- Hawara (=friend, companion, from chavver)
- Gannef (=crook, from ganab)
- Beisl (=bar, pub, from bajser)
- from Czech:
- Motschga (=unappetizing mush, from mocka=residue in a pipe or macka=Sauce, Soup)
- Pfrnak (=(big) nose)
- from Hungarian:
- Maschekseitn (=the other side, from a másik)
- Gattihosn (=long underpants, from gatya = trousers)
- from Italian:
- Gspusi (=girlfriend, from sposa)
- Gstanzl (=Stanza of a humorous song, from stanza)
- from French:
- Trottoa (=sidewalk, from trottoir)
- Lawua (=washbowl, from lavoir)
- Loschi (from logis)
[edit] Literature and usage
The most well-known poets writing in Viennese are Wolfgang Teuschl, most known for his translation of the Gospel into Viennese (Da Jesus und seine Hawara, meaning Jesus and his Buddies), and H.C. Artmann (med ana schwoazzn dintn, meaning In Black Ink). H.C. Artmann and Günter Brödl (Author of Dr. Kurt Ostbahn) also translated three volumes of the Asterix series into Viennese. Another well-known (children's book) author is Christine Nöstlinger, who has written such famous books as Rosa Riedl, Schutzgespenst or Maikäfer flieg!.
More recently, Viennese has been receding to some degree because of an increased influence of Standard German (partly due to the influence of TV). From this, a variety of Standard German with a particular Viennese accent has developed, which usually is spoken by the younger, better educated people of Vienna.
[edit] See also
[edit] External Links
Viennese for Americans - A Phrase Book (A humorous guide to speaking Viennese; no translations into High German)
