Bavarian language

Bavarian (German: Bairisch [ˈbaɪrɪʃ] (listen), Bavarian: Boarisch) or alternately Austro-Bavarian, is a High German dialect or a West Germanic language on its own,^[2] part of the Upper German family, together with Alemannic and East Franconian.

Bavarian
Austro-Bavarian
Boarisch
Parking sign in Munich
Pronunciation	Bavarian: [ˈbɔɑrɪʃ]
Region	Austria, Bavaria, and South Tyrol
Ethnicity	Austrians Bavarians South Tyroleans
Native speakers	14,000,000 (2016)^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Elbe Germanic High German Upper German Bavarian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`bar`
Glottolog	`baye1239` Bairisch `bava1246` Bavarian
Extent of Bavarian
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Upper German language area after 1945: blue: Bavarian-Austrian dialects

Bavarian is spoken by approximately 12 million people in an area of around 125,000 square kilometres (48,000 sq mi), making it the largest of all German dialects. It can be found in the German state of Bavaria (especially Old Bavaria), most of the Republic of Austria (excluding Vorarlberg) and the Italian region of South Tyrol, where it’s also co-official.^[3] In 2008, 45 percent of Bavarians claimed to use only dialect in everyday communication.^[4] Prior to 1945, Bavarian was also prevalent in parts of the southern Czech Republic and western Hungary.^[5]

The difference between Bavarian and Standard High German is larger than the difference between Danish and Norwegian or between Czech and Slovak (Prof Dr. Robert Hinderling);^[3] as such, there is disagreement regarding its classification. The International Organization for Standardization classifies it as a separate language, assigning it a unique ISO 639-3 language code (bar).^[2] It has been listed by UNESCO in the Atlas of Endangered Languages since 2009.

Origins

History and Etymology

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.^[6]

The local population eventually established 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 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.

Geographical distribution and dialects

In Europe:
- In Germany, the language is spoken in Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, and the Upper Palatinate districts in Bavaria. It is also spoken in southern Vogtland, in Saxony;
- 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 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 Samnaun, 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 linguistic border of Bavarian with Czech was on the farther side of the Bohemian Forest and its Bohemian foreland was Bavarian-speaking.

Use

Public sign combining Standard German and Bavarian.

Bavarian differs sufficiently from Standard German to make it difficult for native speakers to adopt standard pronunciation. Educated Bavarians and Austrians can almost always 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").^{[citation needed]} 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.

School

Bavaria and Austria officially use Standard German as the primary medium of education. With the spread of universal education, the exposure of speakers of Bavarian to Standard German has been increasing, and many younger people, especially in the region's cities and larger towns, speak Standard German with only a slight accent. This accent usually only exists in families where Bavarian is spoken regularly. Families that do not use Bavarian at home usually use Standard German instead. In Austria, some parts of grammar and spelling are taught in Standard German lessons. As reading and writing in Bavarian is generally not taught at schools, almost all literate speakers of the language prefer to use Standard German for writing. Regional authors and literature may play a role in education as well, but by and large, Standard German is the lingua franca.^{[citation needed]}

Literature

Although there exist grammars, vocabularies, and a translation of the Bible in Bavarian, there is no common orthographic standard. Poetry is written in various Bavarian dialects, and many pop songs use the language as well, especially ones belonging to the Austropop wave of the 1970s and 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

Although Bavarian as a spoken language is in daily use in its region, Standard German, often with strong regional influence, is preferred in the mass media.^{[citation needed]}

Ludwig Thoma was a noted German author who wrote works such as Lausbubengeschichten in Bavarian.^{[citation needed]}

Web

There is a Bavarian Wikipedia. Also, the official FC Bayern Munich website was available in Bavarian.^[7]

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n			ŋ
Stop	p b	t d			k ɡ	(ʔ)
Affricate	p͡f	t͡s	t͡ʃ
Fricative	f v	s	ʃ	(ç)	x	h
Trill		r
Approximant		l		j

Notes:

Aspiration may occur among voiceless plosives in word-initial position.
The phoneme /h/ is frequently realised as [ç] or [x] word-internally and is realised as [h] word-initially.
Intervocalic /s/ can be voiced to [z].
A trill sound /r/ may also be realised as a tap sound [ɾ].
Intervocalic /v/ or /w/ sound can be realised as [ʋ] or [β, w].
Some dialects, such as the Bavarian dialect in South Tyrol, realise /k/ as an affricate [k͡x] word-initially and before /m, n, l, r/, which is an extension of the High German consonant shift to velar consonants.

Vowels

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	Central	Back
Close	i	y		u
Near-close	ɪ	ʏ		ʊ
Close-mid	e	ø	(ə)	o
Open-mid	ɛ	œ	(ɐ)	ɔ
Open	(æ)	(ɶ)	a	(ɑ)	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.

Grammar

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, imperative and optative . See the table below for inflection of the Bavarian verb måcha, 'make; do':

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

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

	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

* These are typically used in the very northern dialects of Bavarian.

Possessive pronouns

	Masculine singular		Feminine singular		Neuter singular		Plural (any gender)
Nominative	mei	meina	mei	meine	mei	mei(n)s	meine
Accusative	mein		mei	meine	mei	mei(n)s
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.

Indefinite pronouns

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	ebbs
Dative	ebbam

Interrogative pronouns

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	wås
Dative	wem

Society

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/creek)
Moosrees (Theresa (Rees/Resi) who lives near a moss)
Schreiner (joiner/carpenter)

Samples of Bavarian dialects

Spoken Bavarian

	'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	בײַריש איז אַ גרופּע פֿון דיאַלעקטן אין דרום פֿון דײַטשיש שפּראַך־קאָנטינום Bairish iz a grupe fun dialektn in dorem fun daitshish shprakh-kontinuum.
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	שלום־עליכם, איך בין פּיטר און קום אױס מינכן Sholem aleikhm, ikh bin Piter un kum oys Minkhn.
Standard 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	ליסע/ליסל האָט זיך איר/דאָס/אַ בײן געבראָכן Lise/Lisl hot zikh ir/dos/a beyn gebrokhn.
Standard 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	איך האָב (עפּעס (אַ ביסל)) געלט געפֿונען ikh hob (epes (a bisl)) gelt gefunen
Standard German	Ich habe Geld gefunden.
English	I (have) found money.

The dialects can be seen to share a number of features with Yiddish.^[8]^{[full citation needed]}

References

^ Bavarian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b "bar | ISO 639-3". iso639-3.sil.org. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
^ ^a ^b Rowley (2011), p. 300; Friends of the Bavarian Language and Dialects Association. (ed.). "Bairische Sprache, Dialekte und Mundarten". fbsd.de (in German).
^ Rowley, Anthony R. (2011). "Bavarian: Successful Dialect or Failed Language?". Handbook of language and ethnic identity, 2 : the success-failure continuum in language and ethnic identity efforts. Joshua A. Fishman, Ofelia García. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 209–308. ISBN 978-0-19-983799-1. OCLC 721195501.
^ "Bavarian". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
^ Hasenfratz, Hans-Peter (2011). Barbarian Rites: The Spiritual World of the Vikings and the Germanic Tribes. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1594774218.
^ . 2021-10-11. Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
^ Weinreich

External links

Media related to Bavarian language at Wikimedia Commons

Bavarian Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Boarische Umschrift, Boarische Dialekte im Vagleich

[e18-1] Bavarian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[:0-2] "bar | ISO 639-3". iso639-3.sil.org. Retrieved 2022-11-11.

[fbsd-3] Rowley (2011), p. 300; Friends of the Bavarian Language and Dialects Association. (ed.). "Bairische Sprache, Dialekte und Mundarten". fbsd.de (in German).

[4] Rowley, Anthony R. (2011). "Bavarian: Successful Dialect or Failed Language?". Handbook of language and ethnic identity, 2 : the success-failure continuum in language and ethnic identity efforts. Joshua A. Fishman, Ofelia García. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 209–308. ISBN 978-0-19-983799-1. OCLC 721195501.

[5] "Bavarian". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-08-31.

[barbrite-6] Hasenfratz, Hans-Peter (2011). Barbarian Rites: The Spiritual World of the Vikings and the Germanic Tribes. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1594774218.

[7] . 2021-10-11. Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2021-12-02.

[8] Weinreich

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