Swabian German

Swabian (Schwäbisch) is one of the Alemannic dialects of High German. It is spoken in Swabia, a region which covers much of Germany's southwestern state Baden-Württemberg, including its capital Stuttgart, the rural area known as the Swabian Alb, and Bavaria. Swabian is also spoken by part of the Danube Swabian minorities in Hungary, former Yugoslavia, Romania, and the former Soviet Union.

Description and character

The dialect ranges from a 'standard' Swabian, spoken in Stuttgart, to slightly differing and 'thicker' forms found in smaller towns in the countryside. Older people can often tell the exact village a person comes from merely by hearing their accent.

Swabian is difficult to understand for speakers of Standard German. It contains vocabulary that differs altogether from Standard German. For example, jam in Standard German is Marmelade while in Swabian it is Gsälz.

Linguistic

Some characteristics in comparison to Standard German:

• The Middle High German monophthongs î and û have become [e͡i] and [o͡u], not [a͡ɪ] and [a͡ʊ].
• The ending "-et" is used for verbs in the first person plural. (For example, "we go" is mir ganget instead of Standard German's wir gehen.)
• As in other Alemannic dialects, the pronunciation of "s" before "t" and "p" is [ʃ] (For example, Fest ("party"), is pronounced as Fescht.)
• All plosives are pronounced in a voiced fashion, removing the distinction between the consonants 'b' and 'p' as well as 'd' and 't', which is made in Standard German.
• The diminutive ending "-le" for singular and (in some regions) "-la" for plural is used. (For example, Haus may become Häusle, Bisschen may become Bissle; Spätzle becomes Spätzla.)
• Articles (der, die and das) are often pronounced as "dr", "d" and "s". ( "s Haus" instead of "das Haus")

In many regions the Swabian dialect is spoken with a unique intonation that is also present when Swabian native speakers talk in Standard German.

The voiced plosives, the post-alveolar fricative, and the frequent use of diminutives based on "l" suffixes gives the dialect a very "soft" or "mild" feel, that is often felt to be in sharp contrast to the harder varieties of German spoken in the North.

Classification and variation

Swabian is categorized as an Alemannic dialect, which in turn is one of the two types of Upper German dialects (the other being Bavarian). The ISO 639-3 language code for Swabian is swg.^[2]

The Swabian dialect is composed of numerous sub-dialects, each of which has its own variations. These sub-dialects can be categorized by the difference in the formation of the past participle of 'sein' (to be) into gwä and gsi. The Gsi group is nearer to other Alemannic dialects, such as Swiss German. It can be divided into South-East Swabian, West Swabian and Central Swabian.^[3]

Recognition in mass media

The Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Commerce was highly praised for its advertising campaign with the slogan "Wir können alles. Außer Hochdeutsch." which means "We can [do] anything. Except [speak] Standard German." The campaign was clever in boosting Swabian pride for their dialect and industrial achievements.^[4] This is a light-hearted allusion to the fact that Baden-Württemberg is one of the principal centres for innovation in Germany and also for its distinctive dialects.

Swabian dialect writers

• Sebastian Sailer (1714–1777)
• August Lämmle (de)
• Josef Eberle (as Sebastian Blau) (de)
• Peter Schlack (born 1943) (de)

Notes and references

External links

• The Swabian-English dictionary