Alemannic German
Alemannic (German: Alemannisch ) is a group of
dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic
language family. The name derives from the ancient
Germanic alliance of tribes known as the Alamanni (all
men).
1 Distribution
Alemannic dialects are spoken by approximately ten mil-
lion people in eight countries:
Switzerland: all German-speaking parts of the coun-
try
Germany: center and south of Baden-Wrttemberg,
Swabia district of Bavaria
Austria: Vorarlberg, Reutte District of Tyrol
Liechtenstein: entire country
France: Alsace
Italy: Gressoney, Issime and Rimella, in some other
villages almost extinct
Venezuela: Colonia Tovar (Colonia Tovar dialect)
United States: Allen County, Indiana by the Amish
there and also in their daughter settlements in Indi-
ana and other U.S. states.
2 Status
Alemannic comprises a dialect continuum, from the
Highest Alemannic spoken in the mountainous south to
Swabian in the relatively at north, with more of the char-
acteristics of standard German the farther north one goes.
Some linguists and organisations that dierentiate be-
tween languages and dialects primarily on the grounds
of mutual intelligibility, such as SIL International and
UNESCO, describe Alemannic as one of several inde-
pendent languages. ISO 639-3 distinguishes four lan-
guages: gsw (Swiss German), swg (Swabian German),
wae (Walser German) and gct (Alemn Coloniero, spo-
ken since 1843 in Venezuela).
At this level, the distinction between a language and
a dialect frequently is considered a cultural and polit-
ical question, in part because linguists have failed to
1
agree on a clear standard. Standard German is used
in writing, and orally in formal contexts, throughout
the Alemannic-speaking regions (with the exception of
Alsace, where French or the Alsatian dialect of Aleman-
nic are used), and Alemannic varieties are generally con-
sidered German dialects (more precisely, a dialect group
within Upper German) rather than separate languages.
3 Variants
The following variants comprise Alemannic:
Swabian (mostly in Swabia, in Germany). Unlike
most other Alemannic dialects, it does not retain the
Middle High German monophthongs , but shifts
them to [ou], [ei] (as opposed to Standard German
[a], [a]). For this reason, Swabian is sometimes
used in opposition to Alemannic.
Low Alemannic dialects. Retain German initial /k/
as [k] (or [kx]) rather than fricativising to [x] as in
High Alemannic. Subvariants:
Lake Constance Alemannic (in Southern
Wrttemberg, Southeastern Baden, North-
western Vorarlberg)
Upper-Rhine Alemannic in Southwestern
Baden and its variant Alsatian (in Alsace,
France)
Alemn Coloniero (in Venezuela)
Basel German (in Basel, Switzerland)
High Alemannic (mostly in Switzerland, parts of
Vorarlberg, and in the southern parts of the Black
Forest in Germany). Complete the High German
consonant shift by fricativising initial /k/ to [x]. Sub-
variants:
Bernese German
Zrich German
Vorarlbergisch
Liechtensteinisch
Highest Alemannic (in the Canton of Wallis, in the
Walser settlements (e.g., in the canton of Grisons),
in the Bernese Oberland and in the German-
speaking part of Fribourg) does not have the hiatus
diphthongisation of other dialects of German. For
2 8 EXTERNAL LINKS

example: [neij] ('to snow') instead of [ni.(n)], Helvetisms within Standard German, notably Jeremias
[b ou w] ('to build') instead of [b u.(n)]. Subvari- Gotthelf in his novels set in the Emmental, and more re-
ants: cently Tim Krohn in his Quatemberkinder.
Walliser German
Walser German 5 Characteristics
Note that the Alemannic dialects of Switzerland are often The diminutive is used frequently in all Alemannic
called Swiss German or Schwyzerdtsch. dialects. Northern and eastern dialects use the suf-
x -le; southern dialects use the sux -li (Standard
German sux -lein or -chen). Depending on dialect,
4 Written Alemannic thus, 'little house' could be Heisle, Hsle, Hsli or
Hiisli (Standard German Huslein or Huschen).
The oldest known texts in Alemannic are brief Elder A signicant dierence between the high and low
Futhark inscriptions dating to the sixth century (Blach variants is the pronunciation of ch after the front
bula, Pforzen buckle, Nordendorf bula). In the Old vowels (i, e, , and ) and consonants. In Stan-
High German period, the rst coherent texts are recorded dard German and the lower variants, this is a palatal
in the St. Gall Abbey, among them the eighth century [] (the Ich-Laut), whereas in the higher variants, a
Paternoster, uvular or velar [] or [x] (the Ach-Laut) is used.

Fater unser, thu bist in himile The verb to be is conjugated dierently in the various
dialects:
uuihi namu dinan
(The common gs*-forms do historically derive from
qhueme rihhi dii n words akin to ge-sein, not found in modern standard
uuerde uuillo diin, German.)
so in himile, sosa in erdu
prooth unseer emezzihic kip uns hiutu
6 See also
oblaz uns sculdi unsero
so uuir oblazem uns skuldikem Alemannic separatism
enti ni unsih rleit in khorunka German dialects
uzzer losi unsih fona ubile
Muettersproch-Gsellschaft
Due to the importance of the Carolingian abbeys of St. Muggeseggele
Gall and Reichenau Island, a considerable part of the
Old High German corpus has Alemannic traits. Aleman- Pennsylvania German language
nic Middle High German is less prominent, in spite of
Swiss German
the Codex Manesse compiled by Johannes Hadlaub of
Zrich. The rise of the Old Swiss Confederacy from
the fourteenth century leads to the creation of Aleman-
nic Swiss chronicles. Huldrych Zwingli's bible translation 7 References
of the 1520s (the 1531 Froschauer Bible) was in an Ale-
mannic variant of Early Modern High German. From the [1] Colonia Tovar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
seventeenth century, written Alemannic was displaced by Swiss German and Alsatian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Standard German, which emerged from sixteenth century Swabian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Early Modern High German, in particular in the wake of Walser at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Martin Luther's bible translation of the 1520s. The 1665 [2] Nordho, Sebastian; Hammarstrm, Harald; Forkel,
revision of the Froschauer Bible removed the Aleman- Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). Alemannic.
nic elements, approaching the language used by Luther. Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary
For this reason, no binding orthographical standard for Anthropology.
writing modern Alemannic emerged, and orthographies
in use usually compromise between a precise phonologi-
cal notation, and proximity to the familiar Standard Ger- 8 External links
man orthography (in particular for loanwords).
Johann Peter Hebel published his Allemannische Gedichte Media related to Alemannic German at Wikimedia
in 1803. Swiss authors often consciously employ Commons
 3

The dictionary denition of alemannic german at

Wiktionary
Alemanni poems and Alemanni encyclopedia -
German-
4 9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1 Text
Alemannic German Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alemannic_German?oldid=720202092 Contributors: Elian, TeunSpaans,
Michael Hardy, Kwertii, CatherineMunro, LMB, Nickshanks, Jor, Nagelfar, Gilgamesh~enwiki, Proslaes, Matthead, ArinArin, Pne, J.
'mach' wust, Invalid username 74463~enwiki, D6, Juice~enwiki, Pasquale, A-giau, Dbachmann, El C, Kwamikagami, Rsmelt, Circeus,
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Australia, Eric, Cydebot, Future Perfect at Sunrise, Dusty relic, Thijs!bot, Dimotika, JAnDbot, pple, Girdi, Avicennasis, UP3~enwiki,
CRACKER66, Bissinger, Keith D, 83d40m, Pastordavid, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, Malinaccier, Rei-bot, Msj, Roland zh, SieBot, Spin-
crus, Gerakibot, Dawn Bard, Trigaranus, Helikophis, Smilo Don, Cyfal, Fiet Nam, Der Golem, Hans Adler, BodhisattvaBot, Ledch,
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