Alemannic German

Alemannic, also called Alemannish, is a group of High German dialects. The name comes from an ancient Germanic tribe called the Alemanni. These dialects are spoken by many people in different areas.

Distribution

Alemannic is a group of High German dialects. The name comes from an old group of people called the Alemanni, meaning "all men." About ten million people speak Alemannic dialects around the world.

In Europe, these dialects are spoken in several places:

• In Switzerland, in all German-speaking areas except Samnaun
• In Germany, in central and southern parts of Baden-Württemberg, Swabia, and some areas of Bavaria
• In Austria, in Vorarlberg and the Reutte District of Tyrol
• In Liechtenstein
• In France, in the Alsace region (called the Alsatian dialect) and in some villages in the Phalsbourg county of Lorraine
• In Italy, in places like Gressoney-La-Trinité, Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Issime, Alagna Valsesia, Rimella, and Formazza

Outside Europe, Alemannic is spoken in:

• The United States, in places like Allen and Adams County, Indiana by the Amish and in other U.S. states
• Venezuela, in Colonia Tovar (Colonia Tovar dialect)

Status

Alemannic is a group of German dialects. It ranges from the Highest Alemannic spoken in the mountains in the south to Swabian in the flatter north. The farther north you go, the more these dialects share features with Standard German.

In Germany and other European countries, people have different ideas about whether something is a language or a dialect. Some think Alemannic is its own language. Others see it as a dialect of German. Standard German is used for writing and formal situations where Alemannic is spoken, except in Alsace. There, French or the Alsatian dialect is used instead.

Variants

Alemannic has many different dialects spoken in many places. One of these is Swabian, mainly spoken in parts of Germany like Württemberg and Bavarian Swabia.

Other Alemannic dialects include Low Alemannic in areas such as Baden and Alsace, Lake Constance Alemannic near lakes and forests, and High Alemannic in Switzerland and parts of Germany. The dialects in Switzerland are often called Swiss German.

Each of these dialects has its own special sounds and words.

Written Alemannic

The oldest writings in Alemannic are short inscriptions from the sixth century, like those on the Bülach fibula, Pforzen buckle, and Nordendorf fibula. During the Old High German period, the first full texts were written at St. Gall Abbey, including the Paternoster prayer from the eighth century:

Fater unser, thu bist in himile uuihi namu dinan qhueme rihhi diⁱn uuerde uuillo diin, so in himile, sosa in erdu prooth unseer emezzihic kip uns hiutu oblaz uns sculdi unsero so uuir oblazem uns skuldikem enti ni unsih firleit in khorunka uzzer losi unsih fona ubile

Important monasteries like St. Gall and Reichenau Island helped preserve many Old High German writings with Alemannic features. Later, during the Middle High German time, Alemannic writings became less common, though the famous Codex Manesse was made in Zürich. When the Old Swiss Confederacy began in the fourteenth century, Alemannic Swiss history books were written. In the 1520s, Huldrych Zwingli translated the Bible using an Alemannic version of Early Modern High German, called the 1531 Froschauer Bible. By the seventeenth century, Standard German became more common, replacing written Alemannic, especially after Martin Luther’s Bible translation. A new version of the Froschauer Bible in 1665 used less Alemannic style and matched Luther’s language more closely. Because of this change, Alemannic never developed single writing rules, and today writers mix precise sounds with Standard German spelling, especially for borrowed words.

In 1803, Johann Peter Hebel published poems called Allemannische Gedichte. Swiss writers often use special Swiss words, or Helvetisms, in their Standard German works. Examples include Jeremias Gotthelf in novels set in the Emmental, Friedrich Glauser in his crime stories, and more recently Tim Krohn in his book Quatemberkinder. The poet Ida Ospelt-Amann wrote only in the dialect spoken in Vaduz.

Characteristics

Alemannic dialects use special endings to make words smaller. For example, they might add "-le" in the north and east, "-el" in the west, or "-li" in the south. These endings can change how the vowel in the word sounds.

In some Alemannic dialects, certain sounds change based on the vowels that come before them. Most of these dialects have a special way of forming the past tense of the verb "to be."