Swabian language

Swabian (German Schwäbisch) is a group of High German dialects spoken in central and eastern Baden-Württemberg and western part of Bavaria, an area called Swabia or Schwaben in German. It is classified as part of the group of German languages along with the dialects of Switzerland, Baden-Württemberg and Alsace, which in turn belong to High German.

The Swabian dialects have notable differences from each other. Especially characteristic is the difference between the forms of the perfect participle of "ser" (in standard German (al. est.) gewesen): gwä and gsi. The "gsi" It is closer to Swiss German and the German dialects themselves.

Linguistic description

Notable characteristics of the Swabian are among others:

• The diptongation of the long vowels î and û of the middle German high was realized (unlike other alaman dialects). However, the diptongos created /ei/ and /ou/ do not melt with the old diptongos /oe/ and /ao/, but are clearly distinguished. That is to say, in the suabo there are minimal pairs such as "weis" / "woes" and "d toube" / "dr taobe", which in standard German are pronounced identically (weiß (white)/weiß (knows) die Taube (the pigeon)/der Taube (deaf)).
• The pronunciation of "en" as vocal ♪which is between [a] and [♫According to the area.
• The "-ât" termination of all the plurals of verbs in present (see: mir machât, ihr machât, is machât), which is also in the German bass.
• The widespread use of "wo" (where) in relative prayers, instead of relative pronouns der, die, da ((s/s/s) that). Example: D toube, wo weis isch (in German standard: Die Taube, die weiß ist.) = Dove that It's white.
• The pronouncement of "st" and "sp" as "scht" ([・t]) and "schp" ([・p]) (for example, Fest (feast), pronounced Fescht) or as "schb" ([・b]) and "schd" ([・d]) at the beginning of the word (for example, Stein (stones) as Schdoe(n)).
• The standard German deaf consonants are pronounced loudspeakers if they are half-worded (e.g., schicken (send) as schiggâ).
• The diminutives in "-le" (pronounced very short, for example, Haus (house) Heisleor in "-lâ" in plural (for example, Spätzlâ, a type of pasta typical of the region).
• The use of perfect as a substitute for imperfect and perfect double (i hân gmacht ghet) instead of the pluscuamperfect.
• Generalized use of deaf "s" in places where there are standard "s" sound in German.

Different uses of vocabulary

There is a fairly extensive vocabulary, but some words stand out that can cause confusion in their use in standard German and the Swabian dialect:

• Body parts: Fuß (pie) refers to the whole leg to the calf; Rücken (palda) includes the butt.
• Animals: the fly is called Mugg (al. est. Stubenfliege); a mosquito Schnôk (al. est. Stechmückethe word of the al. is related Schnake is used to name the tipules;
• Motion verbs:
  • Gângâ (al. est. gehen to walk) is used to indicate the change of place, "ir" - the "andar", as a type of movement, is said laufenthat in al. is to run; running is said springenIt means jumping; jumping is said hopfâ/hopsâ (in al. est. hüpfenor Juckâ (in al. est. Jucken means to chop or tingle); chop or tingling is said beißâ (in al. est. beißen means bite; running fast is said Sauâwhose imperative sau also means pig (also in al. est.).
  • Hang on. Heben (Hebâ) that in al. est. means lifting; lifting is said Iupfen (Iupfâ).
• We say LookIt means me. An example is Mir kennât älles, außer Hochdeitsch (We can do everything, except speak German standard), motto of the regional government of Baden-Wurtemberg.

Dialects

The dialects are divided into two according to the forms of the perfect participle of "ser", been:

• Group gwä
  • Underwater in the middle valley of the Neckar River and the surrounding regions.
  • High suabo in Wurtemberg south of the Danube and in the administrative region of Suabia in Bavaria (the transition zone to the group gsieven here as gsei).
  • Eastern suabo in the eastern region of Wurtemberg and in the Bavarian region of Danubio-Ries (approximately between Ulm, Donauwörth, Ellwangen (Jagst) and Schwäbisch Gmünd); it can be considered as a transitional subabo to the high suabo.
    • Suabo del Ries is a dialect with clear resonances of the bass suabo, but clearly differentiated: so, it is said do dranna and no do hanna to say there.
• Group gsi
  • Allgäu DialectoAllgäuerisch) in the lower and eastern area of the Allgäu; it is also used in border areas of Tyrol (Lechtal, Außerfern) and Upper Bavaria (Lechrain); it is clearly distinguished from the dialects under alamanes (high and western Allgäu) by the Wiib-Weib line (al. est. Weib(women)

Local individualization

Expert linguists can guess the origin of a person from the Schwäbische Alb mountain range thanks to their dialect with surprising accuracy. For this, the pronunciation of the word "no" (al. est. nicht) as "nedd", "nedda", "edd", "edda", "nitt", "idd", "idda", "itt" or "itta". Unfortunately, these differences are disappearing in the younger generations. The differences between these dialects are also shown by the fact that a speaker from Stuttgart barely understands someone from Schwäbische Alb if he or she speeds up a little. The Swabian of the mountain range, the Albschwäbisch, is characterized by its own intonation or cantilena.

Also interesting is the differentiation of spoken Swabian according to the religion of the speaker. In predominantly Protestant (Lutheran) places, the pronunciation of some words is different than in Catholic places. Thaddäus Troll attributed it to the style of the preaching of the different priests and pastors. Examples:

Swabian literature

• Sebastian Sailer (1714-1777)
• August Lämmle (1876-1962)
• Sebastian Blau (1901-1986)
• Oscar Heiler (1906-1995)
• Sissi Kicherer
• Willy Reichert (1896-1973)
• Peter Schlack (*1943)
• Thaddäus Troll (1914-1980)