Low Alemannic German

Low Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German and is often considered to be part of the German language, even though it is only partly intelligible to speakers of German.

Variants^[1]:

• Vorarlbergisch
• Upper Rhenish
• Alsatian, spoken in the Alsace, France
• Low Alemannic of Black Forest and Allgäu

Contents 1 Features 2 Orthography 3 Articles 4 Substantives 5 Adjectives 6 Prouns 7 Verbs 8 Numbers 9 References 10 External links

Features

The feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic from High Alemannic is the retention of Germanic /k/, for instance kalt 'cold' vs. High Alemannic chalt.

The feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic from Swabian is the retention of the Middle High German monophthongs, for instance Huus 'house' vs. Swabian Hous or Ziit 'time' vs. Swabian Zejt.

Orthography

(All of the below is specific to the dialects spoken near Freiburg im Breisgau)

Vowels:

Short Vowel	Pronunciation	Long Vowel	Pronunciation
a	[a]	aa	[aː]
ä	[æ]	ää	[æː]
è	[ɛ]	èè	[ɛː]
e	[e, ə]	ee	[eː]
i	[ɪ]	ii	[iː]
o	[o]	oo	[oː]
ù	[ʊ]	ùù	[ʊː]
u	[y]	uu	[yː]
y	[i, y]	yy	[uː]

Consonants:

Are as in Standard German, with the following notes:

• kh is an aspirated [kʰ]
• ng is a velar nasal plosive [ŋ]
• ngg is a velar nasal plosive followed by a velar [ŋɡ]
• ph is an aspirated [pʰ]
• th is an aspirated [tʰ]
• z represents [dz] as opposed to Standard German [ts]

Articles

Definite Article

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nom/Acc Sg	der Man	d Frau	s Kind
Dat Sg	im Man	(in) der Frau	im Kind
Nom/Acc Pl	d Mane	d Fraue	d Kinder
Dat Pl	(in) der Mane	(in) der Fraue	(in) der Kinder

Indefinite Article

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nom/Acc Sg	e Man	e Frau	e Kind
Dat Sg	im e Man	in ere Frau	im e Kind

Substantives

• Class I: Plural = Singular (e.g. Ääber --> Ääber)
• Class II: Plural = Singular + Umlaut (e.g. Bach --> Bächer; Baum --> Baim)
• Class IIIa: Plural = Singular + -e (e.g. Man --> Mane; Ags --> Agse)
• Class IIIb: Plural = Singular + -"e (e.g. Frosch --> Fresche; Vader --> Väder)
• Class IVa: Plural = Singular + -er (e.g. Lyyb --> Lyyber; Schùg --> Schùger)
• Class IVb: Plural = Singular + -"er (e.g. Wald --> Wälder; Blad --> Bleder)
• Class V: No Plural (e.g. Chees; Zemänd)
• Class VI: No Singular (Plural Only) (e.g. Bilger; Fèèrine)

Diminutives

• Standard ending is -li (e.g. Aimer --> Aimerli)
• If the word ends in -l, then the ending is -eli (e.g. Dääl --> Dääleli)
• If the word ends in -el, then the ending is -i (e.g. Degel --> Degeli)
• If the word ends in -e, remove the -e and add -li (e.g. Bèère --> Bèèrli)
• The rules for this can be quite complex and depend on the region. Sometimes diminutives require umlaut, other times not.

Adjectives

Weak Declension

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nom/Acc Sg	der groos Man	di göed Frau	s klai Kind
Dat Sg	im (e) groose Man	in der / in ere göede Frau	im (e) klaine Kind
Nom/Acc Pl	di groose Mane	di göede Fraue	di klaine Kinder
Dat Pl	in der groose Mane	in der göede Fraue	in der klaine Kinder

Strong Declension

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nom/Acc Sg	göede Wyy	göedi Frau	göed Brood
Dat Sg	göedem Wyy	göeder Frau	göedem Brood
Nom/Acc Pl	groosi Mane	groosi Fraue	klaini Kinder
Dat Pl	in groose Mane	in groose Fraue	in klaine Kinder

Comperative

• Standard ending -er (e.g. fèin --> fèiner)

Superlative

• Standard ending -(e)schd (e.g. fèin --> fèinschd)

Irregular

Positive	Comperative	Superlative
vyyl	mee	maischd
göed	beser	beschd

Prouns

Personal Pronouns

English	Hochdeutsch	Alemmanisch Nom	Dative	Accusative
I	ich	ich, ii, i	miir, mir, mer	mii, mi
you	du	duu, du, de	diir, dir, der	dii, di
he	er	äär, är, er	iim, im, em	iin, in, en, e
she	sie	sii, si	iire, ire, ere	sii, si
it	es	ääs, äs, es, s	iim, im, em	ääs, äs, es, s
we	wir	miir, mir, mer	ùns, is	ùns, is
you	ihr	iir, ir, er	èich, ich	èich, ich
they	sie	sii, si	iine, ine, ene	sii, si

Verbs

1. Infinitive

Infinitive ends in -e

• Some monosyllabic verbs do not have this ending (e.g. chùù, döe, goo, gschää, haa, loo, nee, sää, schdoo, schlaa, syy, zie, etc.)

2. Participle

2.1 Prefix

• The prefix for g- or ge-
• Before b, d, g, bf, dsch, and z is merged into the word and not visible (e.g. broochd, glaubd, etc.)

2.2 Suffix

• Strong Verbs end in -e (e.g. gäse, glofe)
• Weak Verbs end in -d or -ed (e.g. bùzd, gchaufd)

2.3 Types

2.3.1 Infinitive and Present Sg y/èi/ai - Participle i
2.3.1.1 y -> i (e.g. abwyyse -> abgwiise)
2.3.1.2 èi -> i (e.g. verzèie -> verziie)
2.3.1.3 ai -> i (e.g. schaide -> gschiide)
2.3.2 Infinitive and Present Sg ie/u/au/èi/i - Participle o/öu/öe
2.3.2.1 ie -> o (e.g. biede -> bode)
2.3.2.2 u -> o (e.g. sufe -> gsofe)
2.3.2.3 au -> o (e.g. laufe -> glofe)
2.3.2.4 èi -> öu (e.g. rèie -> gröue)
2.3.2.5 ie -> öe (e.g. riefe -> gröefe)
2.3.2.5 i -> o (e.g. wiige -> gwooge)
2.3.3 Infinitive and Present Sg i - Participle ù
2.3.3.1 i -> u (e.g. binde -> bùnde)
2.3.4 Infinitive ä/e - Present i - Participle o/u
2.3.4.1 ä - i - o (e.g. bräche -> broche)
2.3.4.2 ä - i - u (e.g. hälfe -> ghùlfe)
2.3.4.3 e/è - i - o (e.g. verdèèrbe -> verdoorbe)
2.3.4.4 e - i - ù (e.g. schmelze -> gschmùlze)
2.3.5 Infinitive ä/i - Present i - Participle ä
2.3.5.1 ä - i - ä (e.g. äse -> gäse)
2.3.5.2 i - i - ä (e.g. bide -> bäde)
2.3.6 Infinitive Vowel is the same as the Participle
2.3.5.1 (e.g. bache -> bache; fale -> gfale)

3. Conjugation
3.1 Present Tense 3.1.1 Regular Verb

Person	Ending	Example
1st Sg	N/A	ich mach
2nd Sg	-sch	duu machsch
3rd Sg	-d	är machd
Plural	-e	mir mache

Numbers

	Cardinal	Ordinal	Mutiplicative I	Mutiplicative II
1	ais	èèrschd	aifach	aimool
2	zwai	zwaid	zwaifach	zwaimool
3	drèi	drid	drèifach	drèimool
4	vier	vierd	vierfach	viermool
5	fimf	fimfd	fimffach	fimfmool
6	segs	segsd	segsfach	segsmool
7	siibe	sibd	siibefach	siibemool
8	aachd	aachd	aachdfach	aachdmool
9	nyyn	nyynd	nyynfach	nyynmool
10	zee	zeend	zeefach	zeemool
11	elf	elfd	elffach	elfmool
12	zwelf	zwelfd	zwelffach	zwelfmool
13	dryzee	dryzeend	dryzeefach	dryzeemool
14	vierzee	vierzeend	vierzeefach	vierzeemool
15	fùfzee	fùfzeend	fùfzeefach	fùfzeemool
16	sächzee	sächzeend	sächzeefach	sächzeemool
17	sibzee	sibzeend	sibzeefach	sibzeemool
18	aachdzee	aachdzeend	aachdzeefach	aachdzeemool
19	nyynzee	nyynzeend	nyynzeefach	nyynzeemool
20	zwanzg	zwanzigschd	zwanzgfach	zwanzgmool
21	ainezwanzg	ainezwanzigschd	ainezwanzgfach	ainezwanzgmool

References

External links

• Alemannic encyclopedia -German-