Upper German dialects

Upper German (german: Oberdeutsch ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area ().

History

In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High German time, East Franconian and sometimes South Franconian are added to this. Swabian splits off from Alemannic due to the New High German diphthongisation ().Frank Janle, Hubert Klausmann: ''Dialekt und Standardsprache in der Deutschdidaktik: Eine Einführung.'' Narr Francke Attempto Verlag, Tübingen, 2020, p. 30f. (chapter ''3.1.2 Die Gliederung der Dialekte'')

Family tree

Upper German proper comprises the Alemannic and Bavarian dialect groups. Furthermore, the High Franconian dialects, spoken up to the Speyer line isogloss in the north, are often also included in the Upper German dialect group.
Whether they should be included as part of Upper German or instead classified as Central German is an open question, as they have traits of both Upper and Central German and are frequently described as a transitional zone. Hence, either scheme can be encountered. Erzgebirgisch, usually lumped in with Upper Saxon on geographical grounds, is closer to East Franconian linguistically, especially the western dialects of Erzgebirgisch.

Roughly

Upper German is divided roughly in multiple different ways, for example in:''Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch. Herausgegeben von Robert R. Anderson, Ulrich Goebel, Oskar Reichmann. Band 1. Bearbeitet von Oskar Reichmann.'' Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York, 1989, p. 118f., noting that the dialect borders in the Early New High German and later New High German times have not changed much and giving:
* „Nordoberdeutsch“: „Südfränkisch“, „Ostfränkisch“ (including „Nürnbergisch“)
* „Westoberdeutsch“: „Alemannisch“ („Niederalemannisch“, including „Elsässisch“ and „östliches Niederalemannisch“; „Hochalemannisch“, including „Westhochalemannisch“ and „Osthochalemannisch“), „Schwäbisch“
* „Ostoberdeutsch“: „nördliches Ostoberdeutsch, Nordbairisch“, „mittleres Ostoberdeutsch, Mittelbairisch“ (including „Südmittelbairisch“), „südliches Ostoberdeutsch, Südbairisch“ (including „Tirolisch“)
Similar in:
''Oskar Reichmann, Klaus-Peter Wegera (Hrsg.): Frühneuhochdeutsche Grammatik von Robert Peter Ebert, Oskar Reichmann, Hans-Joachim Solms und Klaus-Peter Wegera.'' Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen, 1993, p. 5f.

* North Upper German (): East Franconian and South Franconian
* West Upper German (): Swabian and Alemannic
* East Upper German (): Bavarian (North, Middle and South Bavarian)
or:
* West Upper German: Alemannic (Low and Highest Alemannic, Swabian), East Franconian
* East Upper German: Bavarian (North, Middle and South Bavarian)
or:
* West Upper German: Alemannic in the broad sense (i.e. Alemannic in the strict sense, including Alsatian, and Swabian), South Franconian, East Franconian
* East Upper German: Bavarian (North, Middle and South Bavarian)
or writing dialects (, ) in the Early New High German times:
* West Upper German: South Franconian, Swabian, Alemannic
* East Upper German: Bavarian, East Franconian

In English there is also a grouping into:
* South Upper German: South and Middle Alemannic, South Bavarian, South Middle Bavarian "on the east bank of the Lech" – where the "state of initial consonants is largely that of Old High German"
* North Upper German: North Alemannic, North Bavarian, Middle Bavarian – which "have allegedly weaking many initial fortes"

Attempts to group East Franconian and North Bavarian together as ''North Upper German'' are not justified and were not sustainable.

Detailed

* High Franconian or Upper Franconian (German: , sometimes ), spoken in the Bavarian Franconia region, as well as in the adjacent regions of northern Baden-Württemberg and southern Thuringia
** East Franconian (German: , , colloquially just ')
*** Main-Franconian, mainly spoken in Bavarian Franconia, in the adjacent Main-Tauber-Kreis of Baden-Württemberg, as well as in Thuringia south of the Rennsteig ridge in the Thuringian Forest
**** Itzgründish (), spoken in the Itz Valley
*** Vogtlandish (), spoken in Vogtland, Saxony '' ometimes;_sometimes_classified_as_East_Central_German_separated_from_Upper_Franconian.html" ;"title="East_Central_German.html" ;"title="ometimes; sometimes classified as ometimes;_sometimes_classified_as_East_Central_German_separated_from_Upper_Franconian">East_Central_German.html"_;"title="ometimes;_sometimes_classified_as_East_Central_German">ometimes;_sometimes_classified_as_East_Central_German_separated_from_Upper_Franconian'
**_South_Franconian_German.html" "title="East Central German">ometimes; sometimes classified as East Central German separated from Upper Franconian">East_Central_German.html" ;"title="ometimes; sometimes classified as East Central German">ometimes; sometimes classified as East Central German separated from Upper Franconian'
** South Franconian German">South Franconian (), spoken in the Heilbronn-Franken region of northern Baden-Württemberg down to the Karlsruhe district
* Alemannic in the broad sense (German: , , or also Peter Auer: ''Phonologie der Alltagssprache: Eine Untersuchung zur Standard/Dialekt-Variation am Beispiel der Konstanzer Stadtsprache.'' Vol. 8 of ''Studia Linguistica Germanica''. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York, p. 89f.), spoken in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, in the Bavarian region of Swabia, in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Austrian state of Vorarlberg and in Alsace, France
** Swabian (German: ), spoken mostly in Swabia, and further separated by the sounds in the equivalents of German 'broad', 'great', 'snow'
*** West Swabian ():
*** Central Swabian ():
*** East Swabian ():
*** South Swabian ():
** Alemannic in the strict sense (German: )
*** Low Alemannic ()
**** Alsatian (), spoken in Alsace, now France
**** Colonia Tovar German or Alemán Coloniero, spoken in Colonia Tovar, Venezuela
**** Basel German (German: , Basel German: )
*** High Alemannic ()
**** Bernese German (German: , Bernese: )
**** Zurich German (German: , Zurich German: or )
*** Highest Alemannic ()
**** Walser German () or Walliser German (), spoken in the Wallis Canton of Switzerland
* Bavarian (or ''Bavarian-Austrian'', ''Bavarian–Austrian''Stephen Barbour, Patrick Stevenson: ''Variation in German: A Critical Approach to German Sociolinguistics.'' Cambridge University Press, 1990, p. 88f. (in the chapter ''Divisions within Upper German'')) (German: , ), spoken in the German state of Bavaria, in Austria, and in South Tyrol, Italy
** Northern Bavarian or North Bavarian (), spoken mainly in the Bavarian Upper Palatinate region
** Central Bavarian (; also , literally ''Danube Bavarian''), spoken mainly in Upper and Lower Bavaria, in Salzburg, Upper and Lower Austria
*** Viennese German (), spoken in Vienna and parts of Lower Austria
** Southern Bavarian or South Bavarian (; sometimes also , literally ''Alpine Bavarian''E.g.
* Gabriele Lunte: ''The Catholic Bohemian German of Ellis County, Kansas: A Unique Bavarian Dialect.'' Vol. 316 of ''European University Studies / Europäische Hochschulschriften / Publications Universitaires Européennes''. Peter Lang, 2007, p. 70 & p. 75 lso with translations* Maria Prexl: ''Wortgeographie des mittleren Böhmerwaldes.'' Nr. 7 of ''Arbeiten zur sprachlichen Volksforschung in den Sudetenländern''. Rudolf M. Rohrer Verlag, Brünn/Leipzig, 1939, p. 3: „ ..gehören dem bairischen Dialekte an. Dieser zerfällt in das Süd- oder Alpenbairische, das Mittel- oder Donaubairische und das Nordbairische (Nordgauische, Oberpfälzische).“
), spoken mainly in the Austrian states of Tyrol, Carinthia and Styria, as well as in South Tyrol, Italy
*** Gottscheerish or Granish (German: , Gottscheerish: ''Göttscheabarisch'', sl, kočevarščina), spoken in Gottschee, Slovenia, nearly extinct
** Cimbrian (German: , Cimbrian: ''Zimbar'', Italian: it, lingua cimbra), spoken in the Seven Communities (formerly also in the Thirteen Communities) in Veneto, and around Luserna (''Lusern''), Trentino, Italy
** Mòcheno language (German: , Mòcheno: ''Bersntoler sproch'', Italian: ), spoken in the Mocheni Valley, Trentino in Italy
** Hutterite German (German: ), spoken in Canada and the United States

Other ways to group Alemannic include:
* Alemannic in the strict sense besides Swabian:
** Upper-Rhine AlemannicJavier Caro Reina: ''Central Catalan and Swabian: A study in the framework of the typology of syllable and word languages.'' Vol. 422 of ''Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie'', edited by Claudia Polzin-Haumann and Wolfgang Schweickard. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2019, p. 245 or Upper Rhine AlemannicAnn-Marie Moser, in: ''Morphological Variation: Theoretical and empirical perspectives'', edited by Antje Dammel and Oliver Schallert. Vol. 207 of ''Studies in Language Companion Series'', edited by Claudia Polzin-Haumann and Wolfgang Schweickard. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2019, p. 246 ( or ): having shifted ''-b-'' between vowels to ''-w-'' and ''-g-'' between vowels to ''-ch-''
** Lake Constance Alemannic ( or ): having soundings like ''broat'' (), ''Goaß'' (), ''Soal'' ()
** South or High Alemannic ( or )
* Alemannic in the strict sense:
**
*: ''separated by the ''
**
***
**: ''separated by the ''
***
* Alemannic in the strict sense (in the early New High German time):
**
***
***
**
***
***
* Alemannic in the broad sense including Swabian (in the Middle High German time):
** or (between Schwarzwald and Lech; since the 13th century)
** or (Elsaß, southern Württemberg, Voralberg)
** or (Südbaden and Swiss)
* Alemannic in the broad sense:
**
***
***
** =
**
***
***
* Alemannic in the broad sense:
**
**
** : having shifted ''k'' to ''kχ⁠''
***
*** : also having shifted ''k'' after ''n'' to ''kχ⁠''
* Alemannic in the broad sense (with some exemplary differentiations):
**
***
**: ''differentiated by the Early New High German diphthongisation (), and also the verbal uniform plural or Einheitsplural () -et/-e and the lexemes ''Wiese/Matte'' ()''
***
***
*: ''differentiated by shift of ''k'' (k''-Verschiebung'')''
**
*: ''differentiated by nasal loss before fricative (), and also the inflection of predicative adjectives''
**

Sometimes the ''dialect of the Western Lake'' (, literally ''Lake Alemannic'') (northern of the Bodensee) is differentiated.

Langobardic (Lombardic)

Based on the fact that Langobardic (German: ), extinct around 1000, has undergone the High German consonant shift, it is also often classified as Upper German. A competing view is that it is an open question where to place Langobardic inside of Old High German and if it is Old High German at all.''Sprachgeschichte: Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und ihrer Erforschung. Herausgegeben von Werner Besch, Anne Betten, Oskar Reichmann, Stefan Sonderegger. 2. Teilband.'' 2nd ed. Volume 2.2 of ''Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science / Manuels de linguistique et des sciences de communication)'' (HSK). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York, 2000, p. 1151

References

{{Authority control

Upper German languages
German dialects