| Bavarian | |
| Nativename: | Boarisch|label=none / Boirisch|label=none |
| Also Known As: | Austro-Bavarian |
| Region: | Bavaria (Germany) Austria South Tyrol (Italy) |
| Ethnicity: | Bavarians Austrians South Tyroleans |
| Speakers: | million |
| Date: | 2012 |
| Ref: | e26 |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Germanic |
| Fam3: | West Germanic |
| Fam4: | High German |
| Fam5: | Upper German |
| Dia1: | Northern |
| Dia2: | Central |
| Dia3: | Southern |
| Iso3: | bar |
| Glotto: | baye1239 |
| Glottoname: | Bairisch |
| Glotto2: | bava1246 |
| Glottoname2: | Bavarian |
| Map: | Austro Bavarian Languages-01.png |
| Mapcaption: | Extent of Bavarian |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Map2: | Lang Status 80-VU.svg |
| Script: | Latin alphabet, Marcomannic (historically) |
Bavarian (German: Bairisch pronounced as /de/; Bavarian: Boarisch or Boirisch[1]), alternately Austro-Bavarian, is a major group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south-east of the German language area, including the German state of Bavaria, most of Austria and the Italian region of South Tyrol. Prior to 1945, Bavarian was also prevalent in parts of the southern Sudetenland and western Hungary.[2] Bavarian is spoken by approximately 12 million people in an area of around 125000km2, making it the largest of all German dialects. In 2008, 45 percent of Bavarians claimed to use only dialect in everyday communication.
Bavarian is commonly considered to be a dialect of German,[3] [4] [5] but some sources classify it as a separate language: the International Organization for Standardization has assigned a unique ISO 639-3 language code (bar),[6] and the UNESCO lists Bavarian in the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger since 2009; however, the classification of Bavarian as an individual language has been criticized by some scholars of Bavarian.
Reasons why Bavarian can be viewed as a dialect of German include the perception of its speakers, the lack of standardization, the traditional use of Standard German as a roofing language, the relative closeness to German which does not justify Bavarian to be viewed as an abstand language, or the fact that no country applied for Bavarian to be entered into the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
The difference between Bavarian and Standard German is larger than the difference between Danish and some varieties of Norwegian or between Czech and Slovak.[7]
The word Bavarian is derived from the name of the people who settled Bavaria along with their tribal dialect. The origin of the word is disputed. The most common theory traces the word to Bajowarjōz, meaning 'inhabitants of Bojer land'. In turn, Bojer (Latin: Boii, German: Boier) originated as the name for former Celtic inhabitants of the area, with the name passing to the mixed population of Celts, Romans, and successive waves of German arrivals during the early medieval period.[8]
The local population eventually established 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 German: Altbairisch (Old Bavarian), even though at this early date there were 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) became more tangible in the Middle High German period, from about the 12th century.
Three main dialects of Bavarian are:
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 linguistic border of Bavarian with Czech was on the farther side of the Bohemian Forest and its Bohemian foreland was Bavarian-speaking.
Alternatively, there are four main dialects:[9]
Given that Central German and Upper German together comprise the High German languages, out of which the then new, written standard was developed and as opposed to Low German, that is an alternative naming many High German dialect speakers regard justified.
There is a Bavarian Wikipedia. Also, the official FC Bayern Munich website was available in Bavarian.[10]
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /m/ | pronounced as /n/ | pronounced as /ŋ/ | ||||
| Stop | pronounced as /p/ pronounced as /b/ | pronounced as /t/ pronounced as /d/ | pronounced as /k/ pronounced as /ɡ/ | (pronounced as /ʔ/) | |||
| Affricate | pronounced as /p͡f/ | pronounced as /t͡s/ | pronounced as /t͡ʃ/ | ||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /f/ pronounced as /v/ | pronounced as /s/ | pronounced as /ʃ/ | (pronounced as /ç/) | pronounced as /x/ | pronounced as /h/ | |
| Trill | pronounced as /r/ | ||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /l/ | pronounced as /j/ |
Notes:
Vowel phonemes in parentheses occur only in certain Bavarian dialects or only appear as allophones or in diphthongs. Nasalization may also be distinguished in some dialects.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | |||||
| Close | pronounced as /i/ | pronounced as /y/ | pronounced as /u/ | |||
| Near-close | pronounced as /ɪ/ | pronounced as /ʏ/ | pronounced as /ʊ/ | |||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /e/ | pronounced as /ø/ | (pronounced as /ə/) | pronounced as /o/ | ||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ɛ/ | pronounced as /œ/ | (pronounced as /ɐ/) | pronounced as /ɔ/ | ||
| Open | (pronounced as /æ/) | (pronounced as /ɶ/) | pronounced as /a/ | (pronounced as /ɑ/) | pronounced as /ɒ/ | |
Bavarian has an extensive vowel inventory, like most Germanic languages. Vowels can be grouped as back rounded, front unrounded and front rounded. They are also traditionally distinguished by length or tenseness.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| måcha | Indicative | Imperative | Subjunctive | Optative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sg | i måch | — | i måchad | måchadi | |
| 2. Sg (informal) | du måchst | måch! | du måchast | måchast | |
| 3. Sg | er måcht | er måch! | er måchad | måchada | |
| 1. Pl | mia måchan* | måchma! | mia måchadn | måchadma | |
| 2. Pl | eß måchts | måchts! | eß måchats | måchats | |
| 3. Pl | se måchan(t) | — | se måchadn | måchadns | |
| 2. Sg (formal) | Si måchan | måchan’S! | Si måchadn | måchadn’S |
| Singular | Plural | |||||||
| !1st person | 2nd person informal | 2nd person formal | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||
| Nominative | i | du | Si | ea, se/de, des | mia | eß/öß / ia* | se | |
| Unstressed | i | -- | -'S | -a, -'s, -'s | -ma | -'s | -'s | |
| Dative | mia | dia | Eana | eam, eara/iara, dem | uns, ins | enk / eich* | ea, eana | |
| Unstressed | -ma | -da | ||||||
| Accusative | -mi | -di | Eana | eam, eara/iara, des | uns, ins | enk / eich* | ea, eana | |
| Unstressed | Si | -'n, ..., -'s | -'s | |||||
| Masculine singular | Feminine singular | Neuter singular | Plural (any gender) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | mei | meina | mei | meine | mei | mei(n)s | meine |
| Accusative | mein | ||||||
| Dative | meim | meina | meim | ||||
The possessive pronouns Deina and Seina inflect in the same manner. Oftentimes, -nige is added to the nominative to form the adjective form of the possessive pronoun, like mei(nige), dei(nige), and the like.
Just like the possessive pronouns listed above, the indefinite pronouns koana, "none", and oana, "one" are inflected the same way.
There is also the indefinite pronoun ebba(d), "someone" with its impersonal form ebb(a)s, "something". It is inflected in the following way:
| !Personal | Impersonal | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ebba | ebbs | |
| Accusative | ebban | ||
| Dative | ebbam | ||
The interrogative pronouns wea, "who", and wås, "what" are inflected the same way the indefinite pronoun ebba is inflected.
| !Personal | Impersonal | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | wea | wås | |
| Accusative | wen | ||
| Dative | wem | ||
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:
| s Bóarische is a Grubbm fő Dialektt im Siin fåm dætschn Shbroochråm. | ||
| s Bóarische is a Grubbm fő Dialektt im Siin fóm daitschn Schproochraum. | ||
| Yiddish | Yiddish: בײַעריש איז אַ גרופּע דיאַלעקטן אויפֿן דרום פֿונעם דײַטשישן שפּראַך־קאָנטינוּום.|italic=noYiddish: Bayerish iz a grupe dyalektn afn dorem funem daytshishn shprakh-kontinuum. | |
| German | German: Das Bairische ist eine Gruppe von Dialekten im Süden des deutschen Sprachraumes. | |
| English | Bavarian is a group of dialects in the south of the German Sprachraum. |
| Sérawas*/Zéas/D'Ere/Griass Di/Griass Gód, i bĩ da Beeder und kumm/kimm fõ Minchn/Minicha. | ||
| Sérwus/Habedéare/Griass Di/Griass Gód, i bin/bĩ da Beeder und kimm/kumm fo Minga/Minka. | ||
| Yiddish | Yiddish: שלום־עליכם, איך בין פּעטער און איך קום פֿון מינכן.|italic=noYiddish: Sholem-aleykhem, ikh bin Peter un ikh kum fun Minkhn. | |
| Standard German | German: Hallo/Servus/Grüß dich, ich bin Peter und komme aus München. | |
| English | Hello, I am Peter and I come from Munich. |
| D'Lisa/'s-Liasl hod sé an Haxn bróchn/brócha. | ||
| Bavarian | D'Lisa/As /Lisl hod sé an Hax brócha. | |
| Yiddish | Yiddish: ליזע/ליזל האָט זיך צעבראָכן דעם פֿוס.|italic=noYiddish: Lize/Lizl hot zikh (hotsekh) tsebrokhn dem fus. | |
| Standard German | German: Lisa hat sich das Bein gebrochen. | |
| English | Lisa broke/has broken her leg. |
| I ho(b)/hã/hoo a Göd/Goid gfundn/gfunna. | ||
| I ho(b) a Gejd/Goid/Göld gfuna. | ||
| Yiddish | Yiddish: איך האָב (כ׳האָב) געפֿונען געלט.|italic=noYiddish: ikh hob (kh'hob) gefunen gelt. | |
| Standard German | German: Ich habe Geld gefunden. | |
| English | I (have) found money. |
The dialects can be seen to share a number of features with Yiddish.[11]
"Bairisch ist der oberdeutsche Dialekt, der dem Stamm der Baiern (oder Bajuwaren) eigen ist." [Bavarian is the Upper German dialect that is proper to the tribe of the Bavarians (or Baiuvarii).]