Swabian German

Characteristics

• The ending "-ad" is used for verbs in the first person plural. (For example, "we go" is mir gangad instead of Standard German's wir gehen.)
• As in other Alemannic dialects, the pronunciation of "s" before "t" and "p" is (For example, Fest ("party"), is pronounced as Feschd.)
• The voice-onset time for plosives is about halfway between where it would be expected for a clear contrast between voiced and unvoiced-aspirated plosives. This difference is most noticeable on the unvoiced plosives, rendering them very similar to or indistinguishable from voiced plosives:

• One obvious feature is the addition of the diminutive "-le" suffix on many words in the German language. With the addition of this "-le" (pronounced ), the article of the noun automatically becomes "das" in the German language, as in Standard High German (SHG). The Swabian "-le" is the same as SHG "-lein" or "-chen", but is used, arguably, more often in Swabian. A small house (SHG: Haus) is a Häuschen or Häuslein in SHG, a Haisle in Swabian. In some regions, "-la" for plural is used. (For example, Haisle may become Haisla, Spätzle becomes Spätzla.) Many surnames in Swabia are also made to end in "-le".

• Articles (SHG: der, die, das) are often pronounced as "dr", "d" and "s" ("s Haus" instead of "das Haus").
• The "ch" is sometimes omitted or replaced. "ich", "dich" and "mich" may become "i", "di" and "mi".
• Vowels:

In many regions, the Swabian dialect is spoken with a unique intonation that is also present when native speakers speak in SHG. Similarly, there is only one alveolar fricative phoneme , which is shared with most other southern dialects. Most Swabian-speakers are unaware of the difference between and and do not attempt to make it when they speak 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, often felt to be in sharp contrast to the harder varieties of German spoken in the North.

Phonology

Consonants

• Voiceless plosives are frequently aspirated as .
• Voiced consonants can be devoiced as after a voiceless consonant.
• Allophones of // are often a pharyngeal or velar sound, or lowered to an approximant [] [] [].
• [] occurs as an intervocalic allophone of /, /.

Vowels

• // preceding a nasal consonant may be pronounced as []. When // is lengthened, before a nasal consonant, realized as [].
• // preceding an // can be pronounced as [].

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 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 gwäa and gsei. The Gsei group is nearer to other Alemannic dialects, such as Swiss German. It can be divided into South-East Swabian, West Swabian and Central Swabian.

Danube Swabian dialects

The Danube Swabians from Hungary, Romania, and former Yugoslavia have been speaking several different Swabian dialects, called locally Schwowisch, some being similar to the original Swabian dialect, but also the Bavarian dialect, mostly with Palatine and Hesse mixed dialects. In this regard, the Banat Swabians speak the Banat Swabian dialect.

Recognition in mass media

The Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Commerce launched an advertising campaign with the slogan "Wir können alles. Außer Hochdeutsch." which means "We can [do] everything. Except [speak] Standard German" to boost Swabian pride for their dialect and industrial achievements. However, it failed to impress Northern Germans and neighboring Baden. Dominik Kuhn (Dodokay) became famous in Germany with Swabian fandub videos, dubbing among others Barack Obama with German dialect vocals and revised text. In the German dubbing of the 2001 movie Monsters Inc., the Abominable Snowman, played by John Ratzenberger in the original English version and Walter von Hauff in the German version, speaks in the Swabian dialect.

Swabian dialect writers

• Sebastian Sailer (1714–1777)
• August Lämmle (de) (1876–1962)
• Josef Eberle (as Sebastian Blau) (de) (1901–1986)
• Thaddäus Troll (1914–1980)
• Hellmut G. Haasis (born 1942)
• Peter Schlack (de) (born 1943)
• Gerhard Raff (born 1946)

Literature

• Streck, Tobias (2012). Phonologischer Wandel im Konsonantismus der alemannischen Dialekte Baden-Württembergs : Sprachatlasvergleich, Spontansprache und dialektometrische Studien (in German). Stuttgart: Steiner. ISBN 978-3-515-10068-7.
• Cercignani, Fausto (1979). The consonants of German : synchrony and diachrony. Milano: Cisalpino-Goliardica. LCCN 81192307.