Northern Bavarian
Template:Short description Template:Infobox language
Northern Bavarian is a dialect of Bavarian, together with Central Bavarian and Southern Bavarian. Bavarian is mostly spoken in the Upper Palatinate, although not in Regensburg, which is a primarily Central Bavarian–speaking area, according to a linguistic survey done in the late 1980s.<ref name="tdomg">Template:Cite book</ref> According to the same survey, Northern Bavarian is also spoken in Upper Franconia, as well as in some areas in Upper and Lower Bavaria, such as in the areas around Eichstätt and Kelheim. Few speakers remained in the Czech Republic, mostly concentrated around Aš and Železná Ruda, at the time of the survey, but considering the time which has passed since the survey, the dialect may be extinct in those places today. If it still exists there, it would include the ostegerländische Dialektgruppe.<ref>Ludwig Erich Schmitt (ed.): Germanische Dialektologie. Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 143</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ethnologue estimates that there were 9,000 speakers of Bavarian in the Czech Republic in 2005, but does not clarify if these were Northern Bavarian speakers.<ref>Ethnologue</ref>
According to the same linguistic survey,<ref name="tdomg" /> the dialect is flourishing in the areas where it is spoken, despite the fact that most speakers actively use Standard German. In the south of the area where Northern Bavarian is spoken, Central Bavarian is said to have higher prestige, and Northern Bavarian characteristics are therefore not as visible as in the north, where speakers even tend to use a heavy Northern Bavarian accent when speaking German.
Phonology
Vowels
Northern Bavarian has 8 vowels:
And 11 diphthongs:
| Ending with Template:IPA | Ending with Template:IPA | Ending with Template:IPA |
|---|---|---|
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
Before Template:IPA, Template:IPA are rounded to Template:IPA.
In southern varieties of Northern Bavarian the diphthongs Template:IPA are realized with an opener offset, i.e. Template:IPA.
An interesting aspect of the diphthongs are the so-called reversed diphthongs, or in German, gestürzte Diphthonge. They are called so because the Middle High German diphthongs Template:IPA became Template:IPA (Template:IPA became Template:IPA after unrounding) in Northern Bavarian, while they generally became Template:IPA in Standard German. Compare Standard German Brief Template:IPA, Bruder Template:IPA, Brüder Template:IPA and Northern Bavarian Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The Northern Bavarian diphthong Template:IPA corresponds to the Middle High German and Standard German Template:IPA. Compare Standard German Schaf Template:IPA, Stroh Template:IPA and Northern Bavarian Template:IPA, Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Likewise, the Northern Bavarian diphthong Template:IPA corresponds to the Middle High German and Standard German Template:IPA and by unrounding to Template:IPA. Compare Standard German Schnee Template:IPA, böse Template:IPA with Northern Bavarian Template:IPA, Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In many Northern Bavarian variants, nasalization is increasingly common.
Consonants
Northern Bavarian has about 33 consonants:
Template:IPA is realized as either Template:IPA or Template:IPA when occurring postvocally.
Template:IPA may be syllabic, as in Northern Bavarian Template:IPA; compare Standard German Mühle.
Grammar
Nouns
Gender
All nouns in Northern Bavarian have one of three genders: feminine, masculine and neuter. Many nouns have the same gender as in Standard German, but there are many exceptions. An example is Benzin, which is neuter in Standard German, but masculine in Northern Bavarian. Another example is Butter, which is feminine in Standard German, but it can be all three genders in Northern Bavarian depending on your location and local variation of the dialect.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Case
As in Standard German there are four cases in Northern Bavarian: nominative, accusative, genitive and dative. The genitive case, however, is uncommon and is commonly replaced either with the dative and a possessive pronoun or with the preposition von Template:IPA and the dative, e.g. Template:IPA, or Template:IPA father's house. An exception is the genitive instead of the dative after the singular possessive pronouns, e.g. Template:IPA, which is as correct as Template:IPA behind me. Prepositions take the dative or the accusative, but not the genitive, e.g. Template:IPA (formally Template:IPA) despite the rain. The dative ending -m often sounds like the accusative ending -n (see the previous example), so that these two cases are not distinguishable.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Inflection
Nouns in Northern Bavarian are inflected for number, and to a lesser extent, case. Inflecting for number is common across all three genders, and especially umlaut is productive, in particular in masculine nouns. The most common plural marker in feminine nouns is Template:IPA, while it is Template:IPA with most neuter nouns. Many nouns, across the genders, are the same in the plural as in the singular.
- English head, Standard German Kopf, Northern Bavarian sg. m. Template:IPA > pl. Template:IPA
- English cat, Standard German Katze, Northern Bavarian sg. f. Template:IPA > pl. Template:IPA
- English house, Standard German Haus, Northern Bavarian sg. n. Template:IPA > pl. Template:IPA
Weak masculine nouns are inflected in the accusative and dative case, most commonly with suffixation of a nasal consonant, such as Template:IPA or Template:IPA, while the other cases remain uninflected. Many weak feminine nouns have the ending Template:IPA in most cases, though not to be confused with the plural ending. Weak neuter nouns have almost been lost, with only strong remaining, and therefore inflection for case is basically nonexistent.
- English boy, Standard German Bube, Northern Bavarian m. nom. Template:IPA > m. acc./dat. Template:IPA
Adjectives
The inflection of adjectives in Northern Bavarian differ depending on whether the adjective is preceded by a definite article or a demonstrative, or if it is preceded by an indefinite article or a possessive, or if it is used as a predicate, of which the latter is only present in some varieties. Adjectives without any determiner rarely occur.
Below can the inflectional paradigms be seen, with the adjective Template:IPA serving as an example. This is also the form used in all situations, when the adjective is used as a predicate, and therefore no paradigm is needed. Compare Northern Bavarian Template:IPA with the Standard German alt, in English old.
| Precedence of a definite article, or a demonstrative | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |
| Accusative | Template:IPA | |||||
| Dative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||
| Precedence of an indefinite article, or a possessive | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |
| Accusative | Template:IPA | |||||
| Dative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||
The predicate form of an adjective differ from the other forms, not only because it is the basic form, but also because it has a long vowel, unlike the other forms, as in Template:IPA above. Other examples include Template:IPA and Template:IPA, which become Template:IPA and Template:IPA, respectively. Compare with the Standard German gross and breit, in English big and broad.
Comparative adjectives are formed by suffixing Template:IPA, and superlative adjectives are formed by suffixing Template:IPA. Vowel changes often take place when the suffixation happens. An example is Template:IPA, which becomes Template:IPA when comparative and Template:IPA when superlative. Compare with the Standard German hoch, höher and höchsten, in English high, higher and highest.
Pronouns
The pronouns of Northern Bavarian differ slightly from variety to variety. Furthermore, there are two pairs of pronouns, one used when in stressed position and the other used when unstressed.
| Singular, Stressed | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | Third person | ||||
| Informal | Formal | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||
| Nominative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | - |
| Accusative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||
| Dative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||
| Singular, Unstressed | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | Third person | ||||
| Informal | Formal | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||
| Nominative | Template:IPA | - | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA, Template:IPA | |
| Accusative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||
| Dative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | - | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |
| Plural, Stressed | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | Third person | |
| Nominative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA, Template:IPA | - |
| Accusative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA, Template:IPA | |
| Dative | Template:IPA | ||
| Plural, Unstressed | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | Third person | |
| Nominative | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA, Template:IPA |
| Accusative | - | ||
| Dative | Template:IPA | ||
There is no gender distinction in the plural.
The ending Template:IPA in the stressed first person singular nominative and -accusative and in stressed the second person singular accusative is only present in northern- and western varieties of Northern Bavarian.
At the time of a linguistic survey carried out in the late 1980s,<ref name="tdomg" /> pronouns also existed for unstressed first person plural accusative and unstressed second person plural accusative, Template:IPA and Template:IPA, respectively, but they have probably fallen out of usage today.
Verbs
Verbs in Northern Bavarian are conjugated for person, tense and mood. The Northern Bavarian verbs are also subject to both vowel change and apophony.
Non-finite forms
The non-finite forms have one three endings: Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA. The first ending is rare, and is only present in some few monosyllabic verbs, such as Template:IPA, Standard German sein, English to be; Template:IPA, Standard German gehen, English to go; Template:IPA, Standard German stehen, English to stand; and Template:IPA, Standard German tun, English to do. The second ending is the most common ending found on most verbs, such as Template:IPA, Standard German bitten, English to ask. The third ending is used with verbs having a certain stem-final consonant, such as Template:IPA, Standard German singen, English to sing.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Present tense
The personal endings for the present tense differ slightly from variety to variety, but are largely uniform. The endings in the scheme below are attached to the stem, and not the non-finite form. The stem is found by removing the non-finite ending, if it is Template:IPA or Template:IPA.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | -Ø | nf. |
| Second person | -Template:IPA | -Template:IPA |
| Third person | -Template:IPA | nf. |
As can be seen in the scheme above, the first person singular is basically the same as the stem, and the first- and third persons plural are the same as the non-finite form. Furthermore, the third person singular is realized as -Template:IPA when occurring before a fortis obstruent, and that in some southern varieties of Northern Bavarian the first person plural has the ending -Template:IPA, and therefore isn't the non-finite form.
The singular imperative is the same as the first person singular, and the plural imperative is the same as the second person plural. Only one exception exists, which is the imperative of Template:IPA, Standard German sein, English to be, which is Template:IPA.
Past tense
Only one verb with a distinct simple past tense form remains, Template:IPA, Standard German sein, English to be, with the simple past tense form Template:IPA, Standard German war, English was. The past tense of other verbs is formed in the same way as Standard German uses haben or sein, English to have and to be, respectively, and the past participle.
The past participle in Northern Bavarian is formed by the prefix Template:IPA-, although not on verbs beginning with a plosive consonant, where the prefix is left out. Thus we see Template:IPA, Standard German geschüttet, English shaken; Template:IPA, Standard German genommen, English taken; Template:IPA, Standard German gebracht, English brought; and Template:IPA, Standard German getragen, English carried.
The verbs Template:IPA and Template:IPA, Standard German haben and sein, English to have and to be, can be seen conjugated in the scheme below in the present, as they are irregular. They have the past participles, Template:IPA and Template:IPA, respectively. Compare with Standard German gehaben and gewesen, English had and been.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Second person | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Third person | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Second person | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Third person | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
Examples can be seen below:
- Template:IPA, Standard German Ich habe geschüttet, English I have poured
- Template:IPA, Standard German Er hat gebracht, English He has brought
Subjunctive
It is quite straightforward to form the subjunctive in Northern Bavarian. The subjunctive of verbs is formed with the suffix -Template:IPA, as in Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Standard German wissen > wüßte, English to know > I would know.
Apophony
Both weak verbs and strong verbs may undergo apophony. The strong verbs can be split into two groups: the first group where the vowel in the non-finite form is the same as in the past participle; and the second group where the vowel in the non-finite form is different from the vowel in the past participle. The most common vowel gradations in the second group can be seen below:
- Template:IPA > Template:IPA: Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Standard German schneiden > geschnitten - English to cut
- Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Template:IPA: Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Standard German bieten > geboten - English to offer
- Template:IPA > Template:IPA: Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Standard German singen > gesungen - English to sing
- Template:IPA > Template:IPA: Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Standard German dreschen > gedroschen - English to thresh
Apophony is not as common with weak verbs as in Standard German. However, the number of weak verbs with morphophonological variations is high, especially change in vowel length is common.
Example
This is a phonetic transcription of a text in Northern Bavarian, with translations in German and English.<ref name="tdomg" />
| Northern Bavarian | German | English |
|---|---|---|
|
Ich bin in den Stadel gegangen, und da waren Tauben drinnen, und da ist oben von der Mühle auch ist oben Getreide aufgeschüttet gewesen... |
I went into the barn, and there were pigeons in it, and then, upstairs, there was grain heaped up as well, from the mill... |
References
External links
- Speaking Language Atlas of Bavaria, with dialect maps from the book Kleiner Bayerischer Sprachatlas, and sound recordings
- DiWA - Digitaler Wenker-Atlas (Digital Wenker-Atlas)
- Choose the map Nordbairischer Sprachatlas from the menu item DiWA → Karten, and then Auswahl , then choose erweiterte Ausgabe, and then in the menu item DiWA → Installation/Einstellungen under ECS-Darstellung , then the radio button HTML