Hamburgisch is a group of Northern Low Saxon varieties spoken in Hamburg, Germany. Occasionally, the term Hamburgisch is also used for Hamburg Missingsch, a variety of standard German with Low Saxon substrates. These are urban dialects that have absorbed numerous English and Dutch loanwords, for instance Törn ‘trip’ (< turn) and suutje ‘gently’ (< Dutch zoetjes).
Hamburg is pronounced [ˈhambɔrç] in these dialects, with a "ch" similar to that in the standard German word Milch. Typical of the Hamburg dialects and other Lower Elbe dialects is the pronunciation (and spelling) eu (pronounced oi) for the diphthong /œɪ/ (written öö, öh or ö), e.g.
| in Hamburg | elsewhere | English |
|---|---|---|
| keupen [ˈkʰɔɪpm] | köpen [ˈkʰœɪpm] | to buy |
| scheun [ʃɔɪn] | schöön [ʃœɪn] | beautiful |
However, as in most other Low Saxon (Low German) dialects, the long monophthong /øː/ is pronounced [ø] (as in French peu), for instance Kööm ~ Kœm [kʰøːm] ‘caraway’.
The Low Saxon language in Hamburg is divided in several subdialects, e.g.
The Hamborger Veermaster is a famous sea shanty sung in the regional dialect.
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