Puneet Varma (Editor)

Hamburgisch dialect

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit

Hamburgisch or Hamburger dialect (German: Hamburger Platt) 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.

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.

  • Finkwarder Platt
  • Olwarder Platt
  • Veerlanner Platt (with many sub-sub-dialects)
  • Barmbeker Platt
  • The Hamborger Veermaster is a famous sea shanty sung in the regional dialect.

    Literature

  • Christoph, Walther; Lasch, Agathe; Kuhn, Hans; Pretzel, Ulrich; Scheel, Käthe; Meier, Jürgen; Möhn, Dieter (1985–2006), Hamburgisches Wörterbuch (2 ed.), Neumünster: K. Wachholtz, OCLC 182559541  (German) (Low Saxon)
  • References

    Hamburgisch dialect Wikipedia