Bavarian spelling

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is no uniform Bavarian spelling . The Bavarian spelling is essentially based on the German orthography . However, several general tendencies can be identified, which almost have the character of a rule, with differences between the entertainment literature in Bavarian dialect poems and stories on the one hand (few or no special characters) and in descriptive works such as grammars, dictionaries and language atlases on the other (more precise Spelling with more special characters). Furthermore, partly different writing traditions have developed in old Bavaria and Austria. The increasing use of Bavarian in communication via SMS on cell phones and on the Internet should also be noted.

Types of spellings

The simplest spellings, as they can be found in entertainment literature, in lay literature and in cell phone and Internet communication, do without or with very few special characters. The range in the typeface ranges from spellings that approximate the standard script to phonetic spellings, as far as they are possible with the characters of the standard alphabet.

More precise spellings are used in the specialist literature for the general readership. Often a distinction is made between open and closed vowels, and nasalization, weak tone (Schwa sounds) and vowel lengths are marked. Additional consonant characters are used less often because the Bavarian consonant inventory is not as complex as the vowel inventory.

In linguistics, more sophisticated systems are used for the precise sound reproduction of pronunciation, such as the "Teuthonista" autograph (named after the magazine in which it was first presented in 1924), which is rounded using the five vowels of the basic alphabet through letter combinations and various diacritical marks Can reproduce 250 sound nuances in vowels (still without length, nasalization and rounding markings). It also contains a number of additional symbols for consonants.

Another phonetic transcription that can be reproduced very precisely is the international phonetic alphabet . However, since it is more difficult to grasp with its many basic characters (28 for vowels alone) for linguistic laypeople (who have worked on dialect spelling and projects), it is used less often for spelling German dialects.

Sounds and characters

In the following the Bavarian sounds are listed, which are often reproduced with special characters, whereby the different writing systems are also presented. It should be noted that there are considerable sound differences between the various Bavarian dialects, and thus a uniform spelling of the individual words is neither possible nor useful. The example variants each refer to different spellings with the same pronunciation.

  1. the darkened a : This sound is characteristic of the Bavarian dialects and does not appear in the standard German language. In terms of timbre it is between a and o , although it can sound lighter or darker depending on the dialect. In the dialects of western Old Bavaria, two different sounds are used in pronunciation (the short sound sounds lighter, the long sound darker). The most commonly used special character is å ( Kroužek ), which is particularly common in Austria. Without special characters, a or o is selected depending on the tone color . The spelling in the specialist literature distinguishes these sounds by two different characters: å for the lighter one, ǫ ( Ogonek ) or easier to enter ò ( grave accent ) for the darker of the two (open o ). Another distinction is the closed o - another phoneme that is always written o . Examples are: With a lighter timbre Rast / Råst , with a darker timbre Råst / Rǫst / Ròst (= Rast , in contrast to Rost = rust ) and Wåång / Wǫǫng / Wòòng (= carriage ).
  2. The light a : This sound also has phoneme status in Bavarian and is usually distinguished from the dark a in spelling . The usual special character for him is à (grave accent). A common spelling in old Bavaria without special characters is also aa (doubling to differentiate from the darkened a ). Sometimes it is simply a written. Examples are Fàckl / Faackl / Fackl (= piglet , as opposed to Fåckl = torch ), Kàs / Kaas (= cheese ).
  3. the closed e : In Austria it is often given with é ( acute ), while in Old Bavaria a simple e is usually used. In the past, ö was sometimes used, but this is a misleading spelling. Examples are (in the different spellings) és / es / ees (= you ) and dés / des / dees (= this ).
  4. the open e : In Austria it is often as a simple e reproduced, while often in old Bavaria etc. is used, and in the literature ê (Ogonek) enter or simple è (grave accent). Examples are: Snow / Schnää / snow / snow and right / revenge / right / right .
  5. Nasal sounds : These are marked with a tilde or a circumflex (easier to enter), for example Krẽ / Krê (= Kren), i bĩ / i bî (= I am ), mâi (= my) and Mã or Mõ / Mô (= Man). The tilde and the circumflex are used synonymously, but with the exception of â - a nasal à similar - and ã - a nasal å similar.
  6. vocalized r : In the majority of Bavarian dialects, the r is vocalized nowadays before the consonant or in the final to an 'a'-like sound. Although this is often written as a , for better readability it is recommended to write an r anyway , especially since the r is also vocalized in the positions mentioned in today's standard language. Bavarian examples are erm , host , village , belt , rescuer . In addition, the a -sound in diphthongs , for example eam , Briaf , hoaß , guat , and in vocalized -en the same, for example hocka opposite stool .
  7. Upper and lower case: is based on the rules of the German standard language.

Relationship of writing conventions with sound differentiation and sound perception

The fact that the same characters and character combinations ( graphemes ) are assigned different phonetic values ​​in the different, scientifically inexact transcription systems is also due to the different phonetic relationships in the dialects or dialect groups. One motivation is the differentiation of phonemes or sounds that are not regarded as interchangeable. Another is to use diacritics only for sounds that occur less frequently.

For example, the short "e" sounds in the dialects of southern Altbayern are usually pronounced closed, which is why simple e is used there, while the open "e" sounds are written as "è" or "ä" - as an exception, so to speak . Furthermore, these two characters are usually regarded as synonymous, since the open and the over-open sound are only seen as pronunciation variants in most dialects, not as two phonemes.

A similar phenomenon is the differentiation of the less darkly darkened "a" sound and the more darkened one (no longer perceived as an "a" sound) by å versus ò , a versus å (where the light "a" sound is then by à differentiated) or simply by a versus o (the light "a" sound is then sometimes written as aa ) in the dialects of western Bavaria. In the Austrian-Bavarian dialects, where the historical "a" sound is darkened more, the character å is used for this sound (the light "a" sound is sometimes written as a simple a ). In the dialects in the north-east of Austria (especially in Viennese) a different sound is distinguished: a nasal sound similar to the dark a , which is written as au (n) or ã (ã) . Here, the written non-differentiation is felt to be inadequate, as is the non-differentiation of å and ò in the dialects in western Old Bavaria.

Standard language spellings

In some place names in the Bavarian-Austrian region there are still old Bavarian circumlocutions for Diphtoge ia and others , which are reproduced as follows:

Pass L ue g (spoken: Påss Luag) - in the Salzburg region

L ue g ins Land (spoken: Luag ins Land) - in Munich

L ie zen (pronounced Liazn) in Styria

D ie nth (pronounced Deantn, IPA: [ tɛɐntn̩ ]) in the Salzburg Pinzgau

In Austria, which largely belongs to the Bavarian dialect area (with the exception of Vorarlberg and the Tyrolean Ausserfern ), the Austrian dictionary is decisive before the Duden , in which many dialectal words are reproduced in standard language variants.

Written dialect words can also be found in the Duden, for example Gschaftlhuber / Geschaftlhuber and Gstanzel / Gstanzl .

Example sentences

An example sentence can be used to illustrate how the various romanization of Bavarian can look like:

in High German: My brother went down to the cellar to get a bottle of wine. In Bavarian: My brother went down (down) into the cellar and brought up a bottle of wine. (The construction with "um zu + infinitive" is contrary to Bavarian.)

Spelling variants:

Middle Bavarian (Isar / Danube region):

  • Mei Bruada is in Kella owi gånga and hoid a Flåschn Wei (n) auffa.
  • Meî Bruada is in Kella owi gaunga and hoid a Flåschn Weî auffa.
  • Mei Bruada is in the cellar åbi gången and hoid a Flåschn Wei (n) auffa.
  • Mei Bruada is in Kölla owe gånga and hoid a Flåschn Wei (n) auffa.
  • Mei Brueda is in Kella owi gånga and hoed a Floschn Wei (n) auffa.
  • uva.

Northern Bavarian (Upper Palatinate and neighboring regions):

  • Mei Brouda is in Kella oe gånga and hold a Flåschn Wei (n) àffa.


further examples (according to the Bavarian Wikipedia):

  • S 'Liesal håd sé an Haxn brocha - Elisabeth broke her leg.
  • S 'Mausi kummt heid spàda hoăm - My darling is coming home later today.
  • Since Seppi goes to Jòng - Josef goes hunting.
  • Mei, dés Héndl schmeggd guăd - The chicken is good.
  • D 'Resi is going to Germany - Today the Resi is going to Germany.
  • I got the wine out there in the back Eggn fiarazàd - I got the wine bottle out of the farthest corner (pulled it before).
  • S 'Boărische is a Grubbm vau dialects in the south n vaum deitschn Språchraum - The Bavarian is a group of dialects in the south of the German-speaking area.


In Austria - especially in Vienna - there is a distinctive nasal 'a' sound in the spoken dialect , which is often reproduced with the letter combination 'au', such as:

Bavarian: Dés k au ns jå néd gebm that there was wine out.

Standard German: It cannot be that the wine has run out ".


Bavarian: Vüilleicht k au n us da Nåchba a Flàschàl leichn (läächa).

High German: Maybe the neighbor can lend us a bottle ".


Furthermore, in the eastern regions of Austria there is a dark, strongly emphasized 'ö' and 'ü', which is often reproduced with 'öi' and 'üi', for example.

Regjon öi becomes á Slovenian gredt - Slovenian is also spoken regionally

W üi st dés heid måchn - Do you want to do that today


Example sentences with characteristic sounds of the Bavarian dialect main groups:

The spelling here is based on the Bavarian Wikipedia, whereby the same phonetic signs are used for a good comparison of the different sounds (but small regional subtleties are not included). In practice, however, there are also differences in the typeface due to the different writing conventions.

  • Northern Bavarian : Mâi greater Brouder hòut vül Göld ghult. Two òlte Schòuf kumma in dejfm Schnèj. Oa Mãã mooch a wòams Wåssa.
  • Central Bavarian Munich coinage (West Central Bavarian) : Mâi groußer Bruader hòt vui Gèjd ghoit. Two òite Schòòf kemma in the diafm Schnèè. Oa Môô mòòg a wååms Wåssa.
  • Middle Bavarian, Viennese coinage (East Central Bavarian) : Mâi Großer Bruader hòt vüü Gööd ghoit. Zwaa òite Schòòf kumma in the diafm Schnèè. Ââ Mãã mòòg a wòams Wòssa.
  • South Bavarian : May big brother got vil money. Two òlte Schòòf are in the tiafm Schnea.

Example based on a poem

This poem comes from Herbert Gschwendtner and is written in "Pongau dialect", a transitional dialect from Central and South Bavarian, which is spoken in the Salzburg region in the St. Johann im Pongau district .


Muattaspråch

D 'Muattaspråch in Våtalônd,
dé us d' Åidn iwaliefat hômd,
hert si so schê ô baim Singa
kô åwa baim Rédn derb klinga.
Baim Straitn is går gschead.
Hårt is 's, båid' s strêng gnumma becomes.
Dônn wieda schmaichet sa si aî
so zårt, so liab and so faî.
Hoamatspråch, the expression in you
is gwiss gråd so wia me.

literature

The various notations described are used in the following works.

  • Ludwig Zehetner: Bavarian German . Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag / edition vulpes, Kreuzlingen / Munich / Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-9807028-7-1 .
  • Ludwig Zehetner: The Bavarian dialect book . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30562-8 .
  • Manfred Renn, Werner König: Small Bavarian Language Atlas . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-423-03328-2 .
  • Franz Ringseis: Ringseis' Bavarian Dictionary. Bayerland, Dachau 2004, ISBN 3-89251-350-3 .

See also

Wikipedia in Bavarian

Web links
  • Boarian transcription ( voluntary transcription system of the Boarian Wikipedia for northern, central and southern Bavarian dialects in Old Bavaria, Austria and South Tyrol based on the aforementioned system, with extensions, specifications and taking into account Austrian dialect spelling conventions )
  • DiWa Digitaler Wenker Atlas ( for information about the diverse and complex phonetic relationships. The map groups Wenker Atlas, DSA, Wiesinger supplementary maps, North Bavarian Language Atlas and Tyrolean Language Atlas also deal with the Bavarian language area )