| Northern Bavarian | |
| Nativename: | Nordboarisch |
| States: | Germany |
| Region: | Upper Palatinate, Upper Franconia, Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria |
| Speakers: | ? |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Germanic |
| Fam3: | West Germanic |
| Fam4: | High German |
| Fam5: | Upper German |
| Fam6: | Bavarian |
| Script: | Latin (German alphabet), historically the Gothic script |
| Map: | Map of Northern Bavarian.svg |
| Mapcaption: | Areas of Northern Bavarian after 1945 and the expulsions of the Germans.---- |
| Isoexception: | dialect |
| Glotto: | nort2634 |
| Glottorefname: | North Bavarian |
| Notice: | IPA |
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.[1] 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.[2] [3] 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.[4]
According to the same linguistic survey, 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.
Northern Bavarian has 8 vowels:
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Unrounded | Rounded | ||
| Close | pronounced as /i/ | pronounced as /u/ | ||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /e/ | pronounced as /o/ | ||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ɛ/ | pronounced as /ɔ/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /a/ | pronounced as /ɑ/ | ||
And 11 diphthongs:
| Ending with pronounced as //i// | Ending with pronounced as //u// | Ending with pronounced as //ə// | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /ɛi̯/ | pronounced as /ɔu̯/ | pronounced as /eə̯/ | |
| pronounced as /ei̯/ | pronounced as /ou̯/ | pronounced as /iə̯/ | |
| pronounced as /ai̯/ | pronounced as /au̯/ | pronounced as /uə̯/ | |
| pronounced as /oi̯/ | pronounced as /oə̯/ |
Before pronounced as //l//, pronounced as //i, e, ɛ// are rounded to pronounced as /[ʏ, ø, œ]/.
In southern varieties of Northern Bavarian the diphthongs pronounced as //iə̯, uə̯// are realized with an opener offset, i.e. pronounced as /[iɐ̯, uɐ̯]/.
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 pronounced as /[ie̯, ye̯, uo̯]/ became pronounced as /[ei̯, ou̯]/ (pronounced as /[y]/ became pronounced as /[i]/ after unrounding) in Northern Bavarian, while they generally became pronounced as /[iː, yː, uː]/ in Standard German. Compare Standard German Brief pronounced as /[briːf]/, Bruder pronounced as /[ˈbruːdɐ]/, Brüder pronounced as /[ˈbryːdɐ]/ and Northern Bavarian pronounced as /[ˈb̥rei̯v̥]/, pronounced as /[ˈb̥rou̯d̥ɐ]/, pronounced as /[ˈb̥rei̯d̥ɐ]/.[5]
The Northern Bavarian diphthong pronounced as /[ɔu̯]/ corresponds to the Middle High German and Standard German pronounced as /[oː, aː]/. Compare Standard German Schaf pronounced as /[ʃaːf]/, Stroh pronounced as /[ʃtroː]/ and Northern Bavarian pronounced as /[ʒ̊ɔu̯v̥]/, pronounced as /[ʒ̊d̥rɔu̯]/.[6] Likewise, the Northern Bavarian diphthong pronounced as /[ɛi̯]/ corresponds to the Middle High German and Standard German pronounced as /[eː]/ and by unrounding to pronounced as /[øː]/. Compare Standard German Schnee pronounced as /[ʃneː]/, böse pronounced as /[ˈbøːzə]/ with Northern Bavarian pronounced as /[ʒ̊n̥ɛi̯]/, pronounced as /[b̥ɛi̯z̥]/.[7]
In many Northern Bavarian variants, nasalization is increasingly common.
Northern Bavarian has about 33 consonants:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pronounced as /p/ | pronounced as /b̥/ | pronounced as /t/ | pronounced as /d̥/ | pronounced as /k/ | pronounced as /ɡ̊/ | |||||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /m/ | pronounced as /n/ | pronounced as /ŋ/ | ||||||||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /β/, pronounced as /β̬/ | pronounced as /f/ | pronounced as /v̥/ | pronounced as /s/ | pronounced as /z̥/ | pronounced as /ʃ/ | pronounced as /ʒ̊/ | pronounced as /ç/ | pronounced as /ʝ/ | pronounced as /x/ | pronounced as /ɣ̊/ | pronounced as /h/ | |||
| Affricate | pronounced as /p͡f/ | pronounced as /b̥͡v̥/ | pronounced as /t͡s/ | pronounced as /d̥͡z̥/ | pronounced as /t͡ʃ/ | pronounced as /d̥͡ʒ̥/ | pronounced as /k͡x/ | ||||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /r/ | ||||||||||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /l/, pronounced as /lʲ/ | pronounced as /j/ | |||||||||||||
pronounced as //r// is realized as either pronounced as /[ɐ]/ or pronounced as /[ə]/ when occurring postvocally.
pronounced as //lʲ// may be syllabic, as in Northern Bavarian pronounced as /[ml̩ʲ]/; compare Standard German Mühle.
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.[8]
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 pronounced as /[v̥ə, v̥ən, v̥əm]/ and the dative, e.g. pronounced as /[m̩̩ v̥ɑtɐ z̥ãi haːu̯z̥]/, or pronounced as /[s̩ haːu̯z̥ v̥om v̥ɑtɐ]/ father's house. An exception is the genitive instead of the dative after the singular possessive pronouns, e.g. pronounced as /[hintɐ mai̯nɐ]/, which is as correct as pronounced as /[hintɐ miɐ̯]/ behind me. Prepositions take the dative or the accusative, but not the genitive, e.g. pronounced as /[d̥rots n̩ reːŋ]/ (formally pronounced as /[d̥rots m̩ reːŋ]/) 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.[9] [10]
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 pronounced as /[n]/, while it is pronounced as /[ɐ]/ 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. pronounced as /[kʰoːb̥͡v]/ > pl. pronounced as /[kʰep͡f]/
English cat, Standard German Katze, Northern Bavarian sg. f. pronounced as /[kʰɑt͡s]/ > pl. pronounced as /[kʰɑt͡sn̩]/
English house, Standard German Haus, Northern Bavarian sg. n. pronounced as /[haːu̯z̥]/ > pl. pronounced as /[haːi̯z̥ɐ]/
Weak masculine nouns are inflected in the accusative and dative case, most commonly with suffixation of a nasal consonant, such as pronounced as /[m]/ or pronounced as /[n]/, while the other cases remain uninflected. Many weak feminine nouns have the ending pronounced as /[n]/ 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. pronounced as /[dɐ bou̯]/ > m. acc./dat. pronounced as /[n̩ bou̯m]/
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 pronounced as /[ɔːld̥]/ 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 pronounced as /[ɔːld̥]/ 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 | pronounced as /[d̥ɐ ɔlt]/ | pronounced as /[d̥ei̯ ɔlt]/ | pronounced as /[s ɔlt]/ | pronounced as /[d̥ei̯ ɔltn̩]/ | pronounced as /[d̥ei̯ɐ ɔltn̩]/ | |
| Accusative | pronounced as /[n̩ ɔltn̩]/ | |||||
| Dative | pronounced as /[d̥ɐr(ɐ) ɔltn̩]/ | pronounced as /[n̩ ɔltn̩]/ | pronounced as /[(ɐ)n ɔltn̩]/ | |||
| Precedence of an indefinite article, or a possessive | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | pronounced as /[ɐ ɔltɐ]/ | pronounced as /[ɐ ɔltɐ]/ | pronounced as /[ɐ ɔlts]/ | pronounced as /[ɔlt]/ | pronounced as /[ɔltɐ]/ | |
| Accusative | pronounced as /[ɐn ɔltn̩]/ | |||||
| Dative | pronounced as /[ɐrɐ ɔltn̩]/ | pronounced as /[ɐn ɔltn̩]/ | pronounced as /[ɔltn̩]/ | |||
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 pronounced as /[ɔːld̥]/ above. Other examples include pronounced as /[ɡ̊rɔːu̯z̥]/ and pronounced as /[b̥rɔːɐ̯d̥]/, which become pronounced as /[ɡ̊rou̯s]/ and pronounced as /[b̥roi̯t]/, respectively. Compare with the Standard German gross and breit, in English big and broad.
Comparative adjectives are formed by suffixing pronounced as /[ɐ]/, and superlative adjectives are formed by suffixing pronounced as /[st]/. Vowel changes often take place when the suffixation happens. An example is pronounced as /[hɔːu̯ɣ̊]/, which becomes pronounced as /[ˈhɛi̯xɐ]/ when comparative and pronounced as /[ˈhɛi̯kst]/ when superlative. Compare with the Standard German hoch, höher and höchsten, in English high, higher and highest.
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 | pronounced as /[iː(j)]/ | pronounced as /[d̥uː]/ | pronounced as /[z̥iː]/ | pronounced as /[eɐ]/ | pronounced as /[z̥iː]/ | - |
| Accusative | pronounced as /[miː(j)]/ | pronounced as /[d̥iː(j)]/ | pronounced as /[eɐ̃nɐ]/ | pronounced as /[eɐ̃m]/ | ||
| Dative | pronounced as /[miɐ]/ | pronounced as /[d̥iɐ]/ | pronounced as /[iɐ]/ | |||
| Singular, Unstressed | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | Third person | ||||
| Informal | Formal | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||
| Nominative | pronounced as /[e]/ | - | pronounced as /[z̥]/ | pronounced as /[ɐ]/ | pronounced as /[z̥]/, pronounced as /[s]/ | |
| Accusative | pronounced as /[me]/ | pronounced as /[d̥e]/ | pronounced as /[n(ɐ)]/ | |||
| Dative | pronounced as /[mɐ]/ | pronounced as /[d̥ɐ]/ | - | pronounced as /[ɐrɐ]/ | pronounced as /[n(ɐ)]/ | |
| Plural, Stressed | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | Third person | |
| Nominative | pronounced as /[miɐ]/ | pronounced as /[d̥iɐts]/, pronounced as /[eŋk(s)]/ | - |
| Accusative | pronounced as /[unz̥]/ | pronounced as /[eŋk(s)]/, pronounced as /[aiç]/ | |
| Dative | pronounced as /[eɐ̃nɐ]/ | ||
| Plural, Unstressed | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Second person | Third person | |
| Nominative | pronounced as /[mɐ]/ | pronounced as /[s]/ | pronounced as /[z̥]/, pronounced as /[s]/ |
| Accusative | - | ||
| Dative | pronounced as /[nɐ]/ | ||
There is no gender distinction in the plural.
The ending pronounced as /[j]/ 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, pronouns also existed for unstressed first person plural accusative and unstressed second person plural accusative, pronounced as /[iz]/ and pronounced as /[iç]/, respectively, but they have probably fallen out of usage today.
Verbs in Northern Bavarian are conjugated for person, tense and mood. The Northern Bavarian verbs are also subject to both vowel change and apophony.
The non-finite forms have one three endings: pronounced as /[∅]/, pronounced as /[n]/ and pronounced as /[ɐ]/. The first ending is rare, and is only present in some few monosyllabic verbs, such as pronounced as /[za͡i]/, Standard German sein, English to be; pronounced as /[ɡ̊ɛi]/, Standard German gehen, English to go; pronounced as /[ʒ̊d̥ɛi]/, Standard German stehen, English to stand; and pronounced as /[d̥o͡u]/, Standard German tun, English to do. The second ending is the most common ending found on most verbs, such as pronounced as /[b̥itn̩]/, Standard German bitten, English to ask. The third ending is used with verbs having a certain stem-final consonant, such as pronounced as /[z̥iŋɐ]/, Standard German singen, English to sing.[11]
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 pronounced as /[n]/ or pronounced as /[ɐ]/.
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | -Ø | nf. | |
| Second person | -pronounced as /[z̥d̥]/ | -pronounced as /[t͡s]/ | |
| Third person | -pronounced as /[d̥]/ | 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 -pronounced as /[d̥]/ when occurring before a fortis obstruent, and that in some southern varieties of Northern Bavarian the first person plural has the ending -pronounced as /[mɐ]/, 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 pronounced as /[z̥a͡i]/, Standard German sein, English to be, which is pronounced as /[b̥iː]/.
Only one verb with a distinct simple past tense form remains, pronounced as /[z̥ai̯]/, Standard German sein, English to be, with the simple past tense form pronounced as /[βoə̯]/, 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 pronounced as /[ɡ̊]/-, although not on verbs beginning with a plosive consonant, where the prefix is left out. Thus we see pronounced as /[ɡ̊ʒ̊it]/, Standard German geschüttet, English shaken; pronounced as /[ɡ̊numɐ]/, Standard German genommen, English taken; pronounced as /[b̥rɑxd̥]/, Standard German gebracht, English brought; and pronounced as /[d̥roŋ]/, Standard German getragen, English carried.
The verbs pronounced as /[hɔm]/ and pronounced as /[z̥ai̯]/, 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, pronounced as /[ɡ̊hɔt]/ and pronounced as /[ɡ̊βeːn]/, respectively. Compare with Standard German gehaben and gewesen, English had and been.
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | pronounced as /[hoː]/ | pronounced as /[hɔm]/ | |
| Second person | pronounced as /[hɔu̯z̥d̥]/ | pronounced as /[hɔu̯t͡s]/ | |
| Third person | pronounced as /[hɔu̯d̥]/ | pronounced as /[hɔm]/ |
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | pronounced as /[b̥in]/ | pronounced as /[z̥an, han]/ | |
| Second person | pronounced as /[b̥iːz̥d̥]/ | pronounced as /[z̥at͡s, hat͡s]/ | |
| Third person | pronounced as /[iːz̥]/ | pronounced as /[z̥an, han]/ |
Examples can be seen below:
It is quite straightforward to form the subjunctive in Northern Bavarian. The subjunctive of verbs is formed with the suffix -pronounced as /[ɐd̥]/, as in pronounced as /[βisn̩]/ > pronounced as /[βisɐd̥]/, Standard German wissen > wüßte, English to know > I would know.
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:
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.
This is a phonetic transcription of a text in Northern Bavarian, with translations in German and English.
Speaking Language Atlas of Bavaria, with dialect maps from the book Kleiner Bayerischer Sprachatlas, and sound recordings
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