Swabian German

Swabian
Schwäbisch
Spoken in	Germany
Native speakers	819,000  (2006)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Alemannic Swabian
Writing system	Latin (German alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	swg

Swabian (Schwäbisch) is one of the Alemannic dialects of High German. It is spoken in Swabia, a region which covers much of Germany's southwestern state Baden-Württemberg, including its capital Stuttgart, the rural area known as the Swabian Alb, and Bavaria. Swabian is also spoken by part of the Danube Swabian minorities in Hungary, former Yugoslavia, Romania, and the former Soviet Union.

Description and character

The dialect ranges from a 'standard' Swabian, spoken in Stuttgart, to slightly differing and 'thicker' forms found in smaller towns in the countryside. Older people can often tell the exact village a person comes from merely by hearing their accent.

Swabian is difficult to understand for speakers of Standard German. It contains vocabulary that differs altogether from Standard German. For example, jam in Standard German is Marmelade while in Swabian it is Gsälz.

Linguistic

Some characteristics in comparison to Standard German:^{[citation needed]}

• The Middle High German monophthongs î and û have become [e͡i] and [o͡u], not [a͡ɪ] and [a͡ʊ].

• The ending "-et" is used for verbs in the first person plural. (For example, "we go" is mir ganget instead of Standard German's wir gehen.)

• As in other Alemannic dialects, the pronunciation of "s" before "t" and "p" is [ʃ] (For example, Fest ("party"), is pronounced as Fescht.)

• There are also a few other sound shifts. All plosives are pronounced in a voiced fashion, removing the distinction between the consonants 'b' and 'p' as well as 'd' and 't', which is made in Standard German. In technical terms, the voice onset time is about halfway between where we would expect it for a clear contrast between voiced and unvoiced-aspirated stops. To the layperson, this difference is most noticeable on the unvoiced stops, rendering them extremely similar to or indistinguishable from voiced stops. For example:

"t" to "d"
Tasche (bag)     becomes  Dasch'
Tag (day)        becomes  Dag 

"p" to "b"
putzen (to clean) becomes  butzen
Papa (dad)        becomes Baba

• One simple thing to look for is the addition of a "-le" suffix on many words in the German language. With the addition of this "-le" (pronounced /lə/), the article of the noun automatically becomes "das" in the German language, as in Standard German. The Swabian "-le" is the same as standard German "-lein" or "-chen", which is the diminutive: A small house (German: Haus) is a Häuschen (standard German) or a Häusle (Swabian).

Zug (train)      becomes  Zügle
Haus (house)     becomes  Häusle
Kerl (guy)       becomes  Kerle
Mädchen (girl)   becomes  Mädle
Baum (tree)      becomes  Bäumle
In some regions "-la" for plural is used. (For example, Hausle may become Häusla, Spätzle  becomes Spätzla.) Many surnames in Swabia are also made to end in "-le".

• Articles (der, die and das) are often pronounced as "dr", "d" and "s". ( "s Haus" instead of "das Haus")

• The "ch" is sometimes omitted or replaced.

"ich" becomes i
"dich" becomes di
"mich" becomes mi

In many regions the Swabian dialect is spoken with a unique intonation that is also present when Swabian native speakers talk in Standard German.

The voiced plosives, the post-alveolar fricative, and the frequent use of diminutives based on "l" suffixes gives the dialect a very "soft" or "mild" feel, that is often felt to be in sharp contrast to the harder varieties of German spoken in the North.

Classification and variation

Swabian is categorized as an Alemannic dialect, which in turn is one of the two types of Upper German dialects (the other being Bavarian). The ISO 639-3 language code for Swabian is swg.

A sticker that translates as: "We can do anything. Except [speak] standard German."

The Swabian dialect is composed of numerous sub-dialects, each of which has its own variations. These sub-dialects can be categorized by the difference in the formation of the past participle of 'sein' (to be) into gwä and gsi. The Gsi group is nearer to other Alemannic dialects, such as Swiss German. It can be divided into South-East Swabian, West Swabian and Central Swabian.

Recognition in mass media

The Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Commerce was highly praised for its advertising campaign with the slogan "Wir können alles. Außer Hochdeutsch." which means "We can [do] anything. Except [speak] Standard German." The campaign was clever in boosting Swabian pride for their dialect and industrial achievements. This is a light-hearted allusion to the fact that Baden-Württemberg is one of the principal centres for innovation in Germany and also for its distinctive dialects.

Swabian dialect writers

• Sebastian Sailer (1714–1777)
• August Lämmle (de)
• Josef Eberle (as Sebastian Blau) (de)
• Peter Schlack (born 1943) (de)

External links

• The Swabian-English dictionary