Alemannic German


Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish, is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alemanni.

Distribution

Alemannic dialects are spoken by approximately ten million people in several countries:
Alemannic comprises a dialect continuum, from the Highest Alemannic spoken in the mountainous south to Swabian in the relatively flat north, with more of the characteristics of standard German the farther north one goes.
In Germany and other European countries, the abstand and ausbau language framework is used to decide what is a language and what a dialect. According to this framework Alemannic forms of German form a dialect continuum and are clearly dialects. Some linguists and organisations that differentiate between languages and dialects primarily on the grounds of mutual intelligibility, such as SIL International and UNESCO, describe Alemannic as one of several independent languages. ISO 639-3 distinguishes four languages: gsw, swg, wae and gct.
Standard German is used in writing, and orally in formal contexts, throughout the Alemannic-speaking regions.

Variants

Alemannic comprises the following variants:
The Alemannic dialects of Switzerland are often called Swiss German or Schwiizerdütsch.

Written Alemannic

The oldest known texts in Alemannic are brief Elder Futhark inscriptions dating to the sixth century. In the Old High German period, the first coherent texts are recorded in the St. Gall Abbey, among them the eighth century Paternoster,
Due to the importance of the Carolingian abbeys of St. Gall and Reichenau Island, a considerable part of the Old High German corpus has Alemannic traits. Alemannic Middle High German is less prominent, in spite of the Codex Manesse compiled by Johannes Hadlaub of Zürich. The rise of the Old Swiss Confederacy from the fourteenth century led to the creation of Alemannic Swiss chronicles. Huldrych Zwingli's bible translation of the 1520s was in an Alemannic variant of Early Modern High German. From the seventeenth century, written Alemannic was displaced by Standard German, which emerged from sixteenth century Early Modern High German, in particular in the wake of Martin Luther's bible translation of the 1520s. The 1665 revision of the Froschauer Bible removed the Alemannic elements, approaching the language used by Luther. For this reason, no binding orthographical standard for writing modern Alemannic emerged, and orthographies in use usually compromise between a precise phonological notation, and proximity to the familiar Standard German orthography.
Johann Peter Hebel published his Allemannische Gedichte in 1803. Swiss authors often consciously employ Helvetisms within Standard German, notably Jeremias Gotthelf in his novels set in the Emmental, Friedrich Glauser in his crime stories, and more recently Tim Krohn in his Quatemberkinder.

Characteristics

English
Low SwabianAlsatian
Lower High Alsace		AllgäuerischLower
Markgräflerland		Upper SwabianEastern Swiss GermanWestern Swiss GermanSensler
I am
I benÌch bìI biIch biI beeI biI bi I bü/bi
you are
du bischdü bìschdu bischdu bischdu bischdu bischdu bisch du büsch/bisch
he is
er ischär ìschär ischär ischär ischär ischär isch är isch
she is
sia ischsa ìschsia ischsie ischsi ischsi ischsi isch sia isch
it is
es ischäs ìschas ischas ischäs ischäs ischäs isch as isch
we are
mr senmìr sìnmir send/söndmir sinmr sendmr send/sön/sinnmir sy wier sy
you are
ihr senìhr sìnihr sendihr sinihr sendir sönd/sinddir syt ier syt
they are
se sensa sìndia sendsi sindia sendsi sind/söndsi sy si sy
I have been
i ben gwäaìch bì gsììi bi gsiich bi gsii bee gseii bi gsii bi gsy i bü/bi gsy