Bavarian language

The Bavarians as a group formed in the early medieval period, as the population of the Duchy of Bavaria, forming the south-eastern part of the kingdom of Germany. The Old High German documents from the area of Bavaria are identified as Altbairisch ("Old Bavarian"), even though at this early date there are few distinctive features that would divide it from Alemannic German.

The dialectal separation of Upper German into East Upper German (Bavarian) and West Upper German (Alemannic) becomes more tangible in the Middle High German period, from about the 12th century.

Map of the distribution of Bavarian speakers in Europe.

• In Europe:
  • In Bavaria, the language is spoken in Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, and the Upper Palatinate;
  • In Austria, except Vorarlberg and Reutte;
  • In Italy in South Tyrol and a handful of linguistic enclaves of Cimbrian and Carnic people in Northern Italy;
  • In Switzerland, it is spoken in the village of Samnaun, in Grisons;
  • In Sopron (Hungary) and surroundings.
• Outside of Europe:
  • In Treze Tílias, Brazil
  • In Pozuzo, Peru
  • In the United States and Canada

Three main dialects of Austro-Bavarian are:

• Northern Bavarian, mainly spoken in Upper Palatinate, but also in adjacent areas (small parts of Upper Franconia (Wunsiedel (district) and Bayreuth (district)), Saxony (southern Vogtland), Middle Franconia, Upper Bavaria and Lower Bavaria).
• Central Bavarian along the main rivers Isar and Danube, spoken in Upper Bavaria (including Munich, which has a standard German speaking majority), Lower Bavaria, southern Upper Palatinate, the Swabian district of Aichach-Friedberg, the northern parts of the State of Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna (see Viennese German) and the Northern Burgenland.
• Southern Bavarian in Tyrol, South Tyrol, Carinthia, Styria, and the southern parts of Salzburg and Burgenland.

Differences are clearly noticeable within those three subgroups, which in Austria often coincide with the borders of the particular states. For example, each of the accents of Carinthia, Styria, and Tyrol can be easily recognised. Also, there is a marked difference between eastern and western central Bavarian, roughly coinciding with the border between Austria and Bavaria. In addition, the Viennese dialect has some characteristics distinguishing it from all other dialects. In Vienna, minor, but recognizable, variations are characteristic for distinct districts of the city.

Before the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, the lingustic border of Bavarian with Czech was on the farther side of the Bohemian Forest and its Bohemian foreland was Bavarian-speaking.

Public sign combining Standard German and Bavarian.

In contrast to many other varieties of German, Bavarian differs sufficiently from Standard German to make it difficult for native speakers to adopt standard pronunciation. All educated Bavarians and Austrians, however, can read, write and understand Standard German, but they may have very little opportunity to speak it, especially in rural areas. In those regions, Standard German is restricted to use as the language of writing and the media. It is therefore often referred to as Schriftdeutsch ("written German") rather than the usual term Hochdeutsch ("High German" or "Standard German").

The commonly accepted grammar and spelling system for Bavarian has been documented by A. Schmeller;[5] see more details at the German Wikipedia page for Bairische Dialekte.

• Bavarian usually has case inflection only for the article. With very few exceptions, nouns are not inflected for case.
• The simple past tense is very rare in Bavarian and has been retained for only a few verbs, including 'to be' and 'to want'. In general, the perfect is used to express past time.
• Bavarian features verbal inflection for several moods such as indicative, subjunctive and imperative. See the table below for inflection of the Bavarian verb måcha, 'make; do':

Bavarians produce a variety of nicknames for those who bear traditional Bavarian or German names like Josef, Theresa or Georg (becoming Sepp'l or more commonly Sepp, Resi and Schorsch, respectively). Bavarians often refer to names with the family name coming first (like da Stoiber Ede instead of Edmund Stoiber). The use of the article is considered mandatory when using this linguistic variation. In addition, nicknames different from the family name exist for almost all families, especially in small villages. They consist largely of their profession, names or professions of deceased inhabitants of their homes or the site where their homes are located. This nickname is called Hausname (en: name of the house) and is seldom used to name the person, but more to state where they come from or live or to whom they are related. Examples of this are:

• Mohler (e.g. Maler – painter)
• Bachbauer (farmer who lives near a brook)
• Moosrees (Resi who lives near a brook)
• Schreiner (joiner)

The dialects can be seen to share a number of features with Yiddish.[6]

• Austrian German
• Viennese German
• German language

Dictionary

• Hietsch, Otto (2015), Wörterbuch Bairisch-Englisch, Von Apfelbutzen bis Zwickerbusserl, Regenstauf: SüdOst Verlag, ISBN 978-3-86646-307-3

Philology

• Schikowski, Robert (2009), Die Phonologie des Westmittelbairischen
• Wiesinger, Peter, The Dialects of Modern German: A Linguistic Survey, pp. 438–519
• Egon Kühebacher (1965–1971). Tirolischer Sprachatlas. 3 Vol.: Vokalismus, Konsonantismus, Sprachatlas. (= Deutscher Sprachatlas. Regionale Sprachatlanten. Hg. von Ludwig Erich Schmitt, Karl Kurt Klein, Reiner Hildebrandt, Kurt Rein. Bde. 3/1–3). Marburg: N. G. Elwert Verlag.

Bavarian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Media related to Bavarian language at Wikimedia Commons

• Wikipedia:Boarische Umschrift
• Boarische Dialekte im Vagleich