Swabian grammar
The Swabian has a clearly recognizable own grammar . Outwardly, this marks a clear difference to standard German. Inwardly, it proves to be the uniform basis of the entire Swabian language area. Incidentally, Swabian shares many elements of its grammar (not phonetics!) With the other dialects of the entire Upper German language area . Only a few basic rules are shown below. For the sake of clarity, there are no exceptions or regional deviations.
See also the main article → Swabian dialect
declination
cases
Swabian only knows three cases: nominative , dative and accusative . The genitive only appears in a few fixed formulations and is no longer alive. In its place, Swabian uses two different constructions to express belonging. There are
- the dative paraphrase for people and animals: Maem Vaddr sae Hemed (his shirt to my father = my father's shirt). Is more common
- the vo-genitive for things: D Rädor vo maem Audo (The wheels of my car = The wheels of my car)
Nominative and accusative are almost always the same for nouns. On the other hand, there are clear differences between nominative and accusative in personal pronouns, e.g. E.g. (Nom./Akk.) I / mi, du / di, mir / ons (German I / me, you / you, we / us) and with adjectives, as well as with the masculine singular forms of demonstrative pronouns e.g. Ex. Dar / because, sällor / sälla (dt. This / these, that / those). The differences in the pronunciation of the personal pronouns in the individual regions of the Swabian language area, e.g. Ex. Ons / aos / aes, UICH / calibration (dt. Us, you) are phonetic, but not grammatical variants.
Plural and diminutive
Plural forms are formed in four different ways.
a) Plural without ending:
All words whose plural German is formed with -e and -s have this plural . It is particularly common with masculine nouns. The root of the word is changed slightly more often than in German, e.g. B. Daag / Dääg (day), Waaga / Wääga (carriage), whereby singular and plural can be distinguished. If these words do not have an umlaut in the plural, the singular and plural remain identical.
- Examples (German -e ): Disch / Disch (table), Fuaß / Fiaß (foot), Ebfl / Ebfl (apple), Boom / Beem (tree)
- Examples (German -s ): Audo / Audo (car), radio / radio , Uhu / Uhu.
b) Plural with the ending -a (unstressed nasalized a):
Here you will find those words that form the plural in German with -en . This plural formation is particularly common with feminine nouns.
- Examples: Frao / Fraoa (woman), Sach / Sacha (thing), Dasch / Dascha (bag).
c) Plural with the ending -ena:
This plural formation has no regular equivalent in German. It is consistent with some female words, but its use occasionally extends to other female words. Possibly this is favored by the influence of the feminine plural in words like Beire / Beirena (peasant woman), Segredär / Segredärena (secretary) etc.
- Examples of fixed use: Kuche / Kuchena (kitchen), Schual / Schualena (school)
The two-syllable female words that have the fixed ending -e in the singular (in Swabian it is mostly endless!) Also belong here .
- Examples: Schdregge / Schdreggena (distance), Bråede / Bråedena (width), Leenge / Leengena (length), Fleche / Flechena (area) and the like. a. m.
- Examples of fluctuating use: Schduub / Schduuba and Schduubena (living room), Dräbb / Dräbba and Dräbbena (stairs)
d) plural with the ending -or:
This plural formation corresponds to the German auf -er. It sounds like -or in Swabian . This plural formation occurs particularly frequently with neuter nouns. It includes a few more words in Swabian than in German.
- Examples (German) :: Holz / Helzor, Bridd / Briddor (board), Dach / Dechor
- Examples of further uses: Hefd / Hefdor (booklet), Hemed / Hemedor (shirt)
e) Diminutive : It is formed by adding the endings -le (singular) and -la (plural) . Thus, a distinction is made in the diminutive between singular and plural, while in the standard German formations on -lein or -chen singular and plural form are undifferentiated. The ending is added directly to the root of the word . If the plural is formed with an umlaut in the root of the word, this is also retained in the diminutive.
- Example (Sg./Pl./Dim.): Volg / Velgor / Velgle (Volk)
If the singular already has an ending , the diminutive ending is attached directly to the root of the word. In the case of the singular endings in -l (German -el ) and -a (German -en ), a Schwa sound is inserted between the stem and the diminutive ending .
- Examples (Sg./Pl./Dim.) : Bronna / Bronna / Brennale (Brunnen); Schlissl / Schlissl / Schlissele (key).
Gender differences Swabian / German
There are around 70 nouns that have a different gender in classic Swabian than in standard German.
The most common variation is a male rather than a female gender . As a rule, Swabian has received the old German masculine gender, so it is right in terms of linguistic history. The standard German female gender, on the other hand, is a new formation in the vast majority of cases.
- The best known is the difference between the budder and the butter . But there are also other very common deviations such as d`r Schogglad (chocolate), d`r Bagga (the cheek, the cheek), d`r Färsa (heel), d`r Karra (the cart, the cart), d `r Sogga (the sock, the sock), d`r Zwibl (onion), d`r Heischräg (the grasshopper, regionally the grasshopper) etc. Numerals have also classically been male instead of female: Dor Oeser, Zwåeor, Dreior ( the ones, twos, threes) etc. Likewise numbers when they are used as numbers, for example as the number of a bus line.
Modern sweet drinks have a neuter instead of a female gender in Swabian (and widespread throughout the southern German-speaking area) :
- the Spezi, the Cola, the Fanta u. Ä. m.
Variations between male and neuter sex are slightly less common :
- s Deller (the plate) and vice versa dor virus (that, also the virus). Classically, letters also have a masculine gender instead of a neuter gender: Dor A, dor B, dor C , etc., but this has been largely destroyed by the standard German and school language pressure.
Articles and pronouns
There are big differences to standard German in the formation of articles and pronouns.
The indefinite article
The grammar of the indefinite article is uniform throughout the Swabian language area. Nevertheless, the pronunciation of the individual forms is very different from region to region. This has to do with the fact that all forms of the indefinite article are unstressed. Therefore the vowels are only easily pronounced and their timbre (a / e / o) can vary greatly.
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The definite article
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In Southwest Swabia, the nom. Sg. Mask. the pronounced vowel "o" before "r" has completely disappeared. The spelling "dr", which is appropriate here, is also often adopted by dialect authors in other regions, although the pronounced vowel is well preserved and audible there.
The Southwest Swabian used with "da" for the Akk. Sg. Mask. a form different from the nom sg masc "dr".
The demonstrative pronoun I.
The demonstrative pronoun I denotes people, animals or objects nearby.
It is almost always used in conjunction with a trailing då (dt. Here) , so: där Mã då, dui Frao då etc.
Regionally it is replaced by the demonstrative pronoun III.
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The demonstrative pronoun II
The demonstrative pronoun II designates people, animals or objects away from the speaker.
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The demonstrative pronoun III
This demonstrative pronoun occurs regionally in the southwest Swabian area.
There it has the same meaning "this" as the demonstrative pronoun I.
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Personal and possessive pronouns
Notes:
1. Before the slash (/) are the full forms, after the slash are the enclitic (unstressed) forms.
Since the enclitic forms are always appended to a preceding word, they are preceded by a hyphen (-).
2. Follow the slash ---, then there is no enclitic form and the full form is needed.
3. Hardly audible vowels are indicated by an arc above the vowel (ǎ, ě and ǒ).
In Southwest Swabian, the vowels marked in this way are completely omitted.
4. Asterisks (*) refer to comments immediately after the table.
| 1st person Sg. | 2nd person Sg. | 3rd person Sg. M. | 3rd person Sg. F. | 3rd person Sg. N. | 1st person Pl. | 2nd person Pl. | 3rd person Pl. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | i / -e | you / -d | ǒr, är * / -ǒr | se, sui * / -se | s, as * / -s | me / -mǒr | ir / -ǒr | se, sia * / -se |
| accusative | mi / -me | di / -de | een / -ěn | se, sui * / -se | s / -s | aos ** / --- | uich / --- | se, sia * / -se |
| dative | me / -mǒr | dir / -dǒr | eem / -ǎm | ira / -ǒra | s / -s | aos ** / --- | uich / --- | eene / -ăna |
| Possessive pronouns in the nom. Sg. U. Pl. | mae, maene | dae, daene | sae, saene | ir, ire | sae, saene | aosǒr **, ***, aosǒre ** | uiǒr, uire | ir, ire |
(*) These forms are particularly strongly emphasized. They are used in place of the normal full form when particularly clear emphasis is required. Example: " Sui hådd dees gschriba, edd är !" ( She wrote that, not him !) .
(**) In Southwest Swabian the corresponding forms are: aes, aesr, aesre. These are phonetic variations, not grammatical ones.
(***) The singular form "aor" (pronounced like "aowor") also occurs in Middle Swabian, probably as an analogy to "uior" (pronounced "uijor").
Verbal forms
The present infinitive
The infinitive present tense ends with a light and nasalized "a". This ending is derived from the Old High German infinitive ending "an". In High German the "a" of the ending has been weakened to an "e", in Swabian the "n" caused the nasalization of the preceding "a" and at the same time was absorbed into it.
- Examples: Schreiba (write), macha (do), fenda (find), hälfa (help) etc.
Classic Swabian has also retained some monosyllabic infinitives that existed in Old High German but no longer exist in Standard German. They are used in parallel to the corresponding two-syllable infinitives.
- Examples: gao / ganga (go), shdao / schdanda (stand), dra / draga (carry), gäa / gäbba (give), lao / lassa (let).
The personal endings
In the indicative they are: Singular 1st person - (endless) , 2nd person -schd (classic) or -sch (New Swabian) , 3rd person -d ; the plural for all three persons - ed
Examples: I write / mach, you write sch (d) / masch (d), ar / sui / s write / machd, mir / ir / se write / mached.
Change of the stem vowel in the singular: In German, the stem vowel of some verbs in the present tense changes from e to i , e.g. B. help - Ind. I help, you help, he helps and Imp. Help! In Swabian the whole Indian Sg. Changes the stem vowel in the corresponding verbs , while it is retained in Imp. Sg . Examples: ässa (eat) - Ind. I eat, you ischd, är issd, Imp. Äss !; hälfa - Ind. i help, you help, you help, Imp. hälf!
Some common verbs form their plural forms uniformly on -nd , (German only with its pl. 1st and 3rd pers "are").
- These include generally Swabian : hao (to have) Pl. Hend, sae (to be) Pl. Send, doa (to do) Pl. Dend, lao (to let) Pl. Lend.
- Regional can be added: gäa (to give) Pl. Gend, wella (want) Pl. Wend, gao (to go) Pl. Gend, rarely säa (see) Pl. Säand.
- In some (not all!) Of these forms, the vowel also varies regionally after a and o, i.e.: hend, hand, hond; gend, gand, gond etc.
In the subjunctive, differentiated regionally, there are other personal endings.
The past participle
With weakly inflected verbs it ends in -d (regionally also -ed ). The ending -a applies to strongly inflected verbs .
Examples of weak diffraction: gmach (e) d (made), grächned (calculated).
Examples of strong inflection: gläasa (read), gschriba (written).
It is noticeable that in Swabian the formation of the participle perfect using the prefix ges (Swabian g-) has only partially prevailed. It is omitted for all verbs that begin with the sounds or letters b / p, d / t (also with z = ts), g / k (also qu = kw) . This also applies to Alemannic and Bavarian. English can do without this prefix, largely also Low German .
Examples (swab. / Engl. / Dt.): Dao / done / done, danzd / danced / danced, bråchd / brought / brought.
Tenses
The compound perfect
The composite form of the past is the regular form of the past in Swabian. It also completely replaces the simple past (simple past); the latter does not exist in Swabian. The question of whether it still from the verb to be also the past tense was give and this is conditioned not only by new German influence is debatable.
Examples (swab. / Dt.): I hao gläasa / I read, I read, i hao gmachd / I did, did, i be z´ Reidleng gwäa / I was in Reutlingen, I was in R.
Verbs of movement and rest form the perfect with sein and not with haben as in German .
Examples: I be gschdanda / I stood, i be gsässa / I sat.
The past perfect
It is formed according to the following rule: present tense of haben or sein + past participle of the main verb + past participle of haben or sein .
Examples (swab. / Dt.): I hao des Audo edd gsäa gheed / I hadn't seen this car, i be ao there bliba gwäa / I stayed there too.
The subjunctive I.
In contrast to Standard German, in which the subjunctive I is only rudimentary, the three Swabian auxiliary verbs "doa" do , "hao" haben and "sae" sein have a fully developed subjunctive I.
The corresponding forms are
doa tun : i däab you däabsch (d), etc.
hao have : i Häb you häbsch (d), etc.
sae be : i was, you seiesch (d), etc.
In the south-west Swabian region, after "sei", there is an additional n that eliminates hiatus: du seineschd, mir / ir / se seine. The subjunctive I is also regularly used in this area instead of the indicative: "Mir seine z´ Balenga gsae" We were in Balingen .
The subjunctive II
The indicative imperfect tense is completely absent in Swabian. The imperfect subjunctive, on the other hand, is present in auxiliary verbs and some other verbs.
Example forms:
"hedded me" we would have , "i would be" I would be , "i sodd" I should , "i keed des edd" I couldn't do that, "i wiisd edd" I don't know .
It is very noticeable that the subjunctive of the High German auxiliary verb "werden" is completely replaced by forms of the verb "doa" tun . The latter has assumed the function of an auxiliary verb in Swabian, comparable to the English "to do".
Example
sentences : "I däd dees edd" I wouldn't do that ; "Wa daj you dorzua moena?" What would you think? .
Web links
proof
- ↑ Friedrich E. Vogt, Schwäbisch in Laut und Schrift, 2nd edition 1979, p. 92f.
- ↑ See Eduard Huber, Schwäbisch für Schwäben, 2008, pp. 41–44.
- ↑ Cf. Friedrich E. Vogt, Schwäbisch in Verb und Schrift, 2nd edition 1979, p. 94
- ↑ Cf. Friedrich E. Vogt, Schwäbisch in Verb und Schrift, 2nd edition 1979, p. 94
- ↑ Friedrich Vogt, Schwäbisch in Laut und Schrift, 2nd edition 1979, pp. 95f.
- ↑ More details, if there is a gender difference between German and Swabian in a word, can be found in the Grimm dictionary
- ↑ Eduard Huber, Schwäbisch für Schwaben, 2008, p. 33.
- ↑ See the legendary Bavarian sentence of the mayor of Munich when tapping the keg at the beginning of the Oktoberfest: " O'zapft is " = German "Es ist tapped".
- ↑ See Eduard Huber, Schwäbisch für Schwaben, 2009, p. 30; Roland Groner, Gschrieba wia gschwätz, 2007, p. 113.