Glottolog lowa1241 | ||
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Language family Indo-EuropeanGermanicWest GermanicHigh GermanUpper GermanAlemannicLow Alemannic |
Low Alemannic (German: Niederalemannisch) is a branch of Alemannic German, which is part of Upper German. Its varieties are only partly intelligible to non-Alemannic speakers.
Contents
Subdivisions
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:
Consonants:
Are as in Standard German, with the following notes:
Articles
Definite Article
Indefinite Article
Substantives
Diminutives
Adjectives
Weak Declension
Strong Declension
Comparative
Superlative
Irregular
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Verbs
1. Infinitive
Infinitive ends in -e
2. Participle
2.1 Prefix
2.2 Suffix
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