Low Alemannic German

Updated on Nov 08, 2023

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Native to Germany		Glottolog lowa1241

Language family Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Upper German Alemannic Low Alemannic Writing system Latin (German alphabet)

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.

Subdivisions

Lake Constance Alemannic

Northern Vorarlberg

Allgäu dialect

Baar dialect

Southern Württemberg

Upper Rhenish Alemannic

Basel German

Baden dialects north of Markgräflerland

Alsatian, spoken in Alsace, France and by some Amish in Indiana

Low Alemannic dialects in the Black Forest

Colonia Tovar dialect, Venezuela

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:

kh is an aspirated [kʰ]

ng is a velar nasal [ŋ]

ngg is a velar nasal followed by a velar plosive [ŋɡ]

ph is an aspirated [pʰ]

th is an aspirated [tʰ]

z represents [dz] as opposed to Standard German [ts]

Articles

Definite Article

Indefinite Article

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

Strong Declension

Comparative

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

Superlative

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

Irregular

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

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

References

Low Alemannic German Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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