Hessian language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

Hessian (German: Hessisch) is the name of a group of dialects of German. Hessian dialects are spoken in the state (German: Bundesland) of Hesse, which is located in central Germany. Usually German speakers don't have problems understanding the so called Standard Hessian or "Frankfurterisch" which is spoken in the area around Frankfurt, however, Hessian dialects vary to a great extent from area to area or village to village, most of them being unintelligible to those who only know Standard German or even another Hessian dialect. This is mostly owing to slightly different grammar, pronunciation and especially vocabulary and idioms. As an example, the Standard German word for "blanket" is "Decke" which is "Degg" in some Hessian dialects, while it is "Kolder" in others. The pronunciation of Degg and Kolder even varies from village to village sometimes.

Example for a typical Standard Hessian phrase:

• Ei, guude wie? (Hessian)
  • Hallo, wie geht es dir? (German)
  • Hello, how are you? (English)

ɮ	This Indo-European languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.