Bergish dialects
Bergish is a term used for the collection of local languages of the Bergisches Land Region East of the Rhine in West Germany. It is more a popular term, rather than one of linguistic relevance. The reason is that, the regions local dialects belong to several quite distinct groups inside the Continental West Germanic dialect continuum. As usual inside a dialect continuum, neighboring languages have a maximum of similarities, and speakers being used to the rather small individual lingual differences in their immediate neighborhood perceive them naïvely as varieties of some bigger, undivided group, such as "Bergish", being part of "Rhinelandic", being part of "German", etc..
In fact, "Bergish" local languages belong to three major groups following the dialect geographers of today:[1]
- East Bergish in the North East is the smallest group. Combining features the of Westphalian group, the Limburgish, and (predominantly) the Zuid-Gelders or Cleverlands group, it is usually seen as part of the latter. Zuid-Gelders covers much of the Lower Rhine area in Germany and extends into the Central Netherlands. It is a Low Franconian group, whereas Westphalian belongs to the Low German group.
- Low Bergish, or Western Bergish, is located in the North West and is seen as the eastmost part of the Limburgish language group, which extends far beyond the rivers Rhine and Maas into the Netherlands and Belgium. They are also part of the East Limburgish group, that is, the varieties of Limbugish spoken in Germany. They combine Low Franconian properties with some Ripuarian properties.
- South Bergish, or Upper Bergish, languages are part of the Ripuarian group, where they form the East Ripuarian subgroup. Ripuarian languages are also spoken West of the Rhine, and in some small areas next to the respective borders in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Contrasting the abovementioned two Bergish groups, Ripuarian Bergish languages belong to the Middle German group, and thus are High German varieties, together with e.g. Austro-Bavarian, and Swiss German, among many others.
The Bergish varieties in the northern areas are also referred to as parts of Meuse-Rhenish, which exclusively refers to the Low Franconian varieties, that are Limburgish including Low Bergish, and Zuid-Gelders including East Bergish.
See also
References
- ^ e.g. Dr. Georg Cornelissen
Literature
- Georg Wenker: Das rheinische Platt. 1877.
- Georg Wenker: „Das rheinische Platt“, (Sammlung deutsche Dialektgeographie Heft 8), Marburg, 1915.
- Georg Cornelissen, Peter Honnen, Fritz Langensiepen (Hrsg.): Das rheinische Platt. Eine Bestandsaufnahme. Handbuch der rheinischen Mundarten Teil 1: Texte. Rheinland-Verlag, Köln. 1989. ISBN 3-7927-0689-X
- Maria Loiuse Denst: Olper Platt - Bergisches Mundart-Wörterbuch für Kürten-Olpe und Umgebung. Schriftenreihe des Bergischen Geschichtsvereins Abt. Rhein-Berg e. V. Band 29. Bergisch Gladbach 1999. ISBN 3-932326-29-6
- Hans Bruchhausen und Heinz Feldhoff: Us Platt kalle un verstonn - Mundartwörterbuch Lützenkirchen-Quettingen. Bergisch Gladbach 2005. ISBN 3-87314-410-7
- Julius Leithäuser: „Wörterbuch der Barmer Mundarten nebst dem Abriß der Sprachlehre“ [Wuppertal-] Elberfeld, 1929.
- Julius Leithäuser: „Nachträge zum Barmer Wörterbuch“ Wuppertal-Elberfeld, 1936.
- F. W. Oligschläger: „Wörterbuch der Solinger Volkssprache“
- Rudolf Picard: „Solinger Sprachschatz, Wörterbuch und sprachwissenschaftliche Beiträge zur Solinger Mundart“, Duisburg, 1974.
- Leo Lammert und Paul Schmidt: Neunkirchen-Seelscheider Sprachschatz, herausgegeben vom Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Neunkirchen-Seelscheid 2006. (ca. 7300 Wörter)
- Gustav Hermann Halbach: Bergischer Sprachschatz - Volkskundliches plattdeutsches Remscheider Wörterbuch. Remscheid 1951
- Erich Leihener: „Cronenburger Wörterbuch“ (Deutsche Dialektgeographier, Band 2) Marburg 1908
- Theodor Branscheid (Hrsg): „Oberbergische Sprachproben. Mundartliches aus Eckenhagen und Nachbarschaft.“ Band 1, Eckenhagen, 1927.
- Hermann Bredtmann: „Die Velberter Mundart. Ein kurzer Abriß der Laut- und Formenlehre nebst einem Wörterverzeichnis.“ Wuppertal, 1938.
- Bruno Buchrücker: „Wörterbuch der Elberfelder Mundart nebst Abriß der Formenlehre und Sprachproben.“ [Wuppertal-] Elberfeld, 1910.
- August Diesdrichs: „Beitrag zu einem Wörterbuch der Remscheider Mundart“. Remscheid, 1910.
- Heinrichs, Werner: Bergisch Platt - Versuch einer Bestandsaufnahme, Selbstverlag, Burscheid, 1978
- Heinrich Spohr: Das Düsseldorfer Rheinisch, Grupello Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2006, ISBN 3-89978-058-2
- Hans Müller-Schlösser: „Wie der Düsseldofer denkt und spricht“, Düsseldorf, 1952.
- Heinrich Karl Ständer: „Wie säht m'r dit un dat op Düsseldorfer Platt?“, Düsseldorf.
- Engels, Heinz: „Ons Platt - schwazz op wiss: Ein Lehr- und Wörterbuch der Düsseldorfer Mundart ...“, Droste Verlag, 1996
- Hanns Nüsser: Düsseldorfer "Platt" "Mer schrieve wie mer spreche" Protokoll einer Sprache. Herausgeber: Mundartfrenude Düsseldorf 1969 e.V. - Gemeinnütziger Verein. Düsseldorf, 1979.
- Manfred Konrads: Wörter und Sachen im Wildenburger Ländchen, Rheinland-Verlag, Köln, 1981
- Dr. Hermann Bredtmann: Die Velberter Mundart, Wuppertal-Elberfeld, 1938
- Helmut Fischer: 'Wörterbuch der unteren Sieg. Rheinische Mundarten. Beiträge zur Volkssprache aus den rheinischen Landschaften Band 4. Rheinland Verlag, Köln, 1985. ISBN 3-7927-0783-7