Basel German
Basel German or Baseldytsch is the dialect of the city of Basel, Switzerland.
The dialect of Basel forms a Low Alemannic linguistic exclave in the High Alemannic region.
Phonetics and phonology
Consonants
Aspirated plosives
Basel German is characterised by aspirates which are absent or at least less common in other dialects. Compare Basel German Khind, pronounced more or less as Standard German Kind, with Chind with initial, used in all other Swiss German dialects, with the exception of the dialect of Chur. Thus, Basel German did not complete the second Germanic sound shift. Nowadays, many speakers pronounce the , however. There are nevertheless still words that are never pronounced with, for example kenne or Keenig/König. Typically, words from Standard German or Latin are pronounced with aspirated, too, which is not or only to a lesser extent done in other dialects.Examples: phee or pee, phalte or bhalte, Phaargg or Pargg ; Thee or Tee, tholl or toll ; kha/kaa, ghaa', Khaschte'/ Kaschte, kheje or gheie.
Affricates
Like other dialects and forms of the standard, Basel German has /pf, ts/ as well as /tʃ/.Examples: Pfanne, Zaan, dütsch, Tschooli, Tschooppe, tschegge.
Pronunciation of phoneme
A French-style pronunciation of as is also used in Basel German, although many younger speakers—especially those with foreign parents—also use a tapped which is more common in other Swiss German dialects. Traditionally, is voiceless, and it may sometimes be described as a lenis. The pronunciation per se seems to derive from French, and was probably re-interpreted as a lenis according to Basel German phonology. Not surprisingly, French influence was for a long time dominant in Basel, with well-to-do families speaking French even at home. At least in clusters, the distinction between /x/ and /r/ is neutralised, as is the distinction between lenis and fortis consonants in clusters.Lenition of consonants
Basel German also has more lenis sounds in word-initial position—for example, Dag. This lenition is now often absent due to influence from other dialects, for example, the name of Santa Claus, Santiglaus, is now often pronounced with or, as is the word Graft, which traditionally has a lenis sound, now also and.Lenis plosives
Lenis plosives are however all voiceless; whereas fortis plosives are long or geminated. They are always preceded by long vowels, with the possible exception of unstressed vowels. According to Pilch, vowel length is not distinctive, however, vowel length is not always predictable: 'to guess' has both a long vowel and a long/geminated consonant.Examples: Dag , umme , ane , loose or lohse , Gaas gas. Phonemically speaking, may also be transcribed, or as unvoiced.
Fortis consonants
Fortis or long consonants in general are more stable than in other dialects—‘to swim’ is always schwimme, whereas it’s pronounced with only a short in other dialects. This is probably because in stressed words, short vowels only appear before double or geminated/long consonants. Hence, a word like is not possible in Basel German. As in other dialects, the difference between fortis and lenis is in length. Pilch however interprets as alveolar, not long. Fortis consonants may also be transcribed, since lenis are often transcribed as.However, voicing is always absent.
Examples: schwimme, phagge, drugge, roott
Vowels
Unrounding of vowels
Unrounding was also typical, but now it has been abandoned by many speakers. Lengthening of vowels is also found, linking it more closely to Standard German than all other Swiss German dialects.Examples: griezi, Hell, greescht.
Lengthening and shortening of vowels
Lengthening always occurs before lenis consonants, for example in words like Daag, loose, miir. Shortening, on the other hand, always occurs before long or fortis consonants, for example in Baseldytsch, the name of the dialect: whereas other dialects have long in Baseldütsch or any other word with -dütsch in it, Basel German always has short or. /a:/ and /o:/, however, are usually not shortened, probably because of the shift from earlier /a:/ to /o:/. Another reason may be the fact that those are the only vowels that exist as such only as long vowels, i.e. whereas you can shorten to , it is never possible to shorten to because * as such does not exist in Basel German. Some speakers, however, use short open vowels in a number of words, e.g. /hɔkkə/ instead of /ho:kkə/. Those speakers who use this pronunciation lack one minimal pair, since /hɔkkə/ also translates as 'crouch'. However, this shortening of /o:/ /ø:/ /a:/ /æ:/ is not general. Note however that /a:/ exists mainly in words of foreign origin such as /sa'la:tt/.Velarisation of MHG /a:/
Middle High German was velarised and appears as. For example, Strooss ‘street’.Vowels before /r/
Typically open vowels occur before, for example, Oor has the allophone, not. Both and only occur before in native words.Additionally, vowels before /r/ are always long, with the exception of loan words such as ‘sorry’, ‘curry’ as well as unstressed vowels.
Examples: Oor ‘ear’, Eer 'honour'.
Pronunciation of /a/ /a:/
The vowels and traditionally are front, yet distinct from and. Nowadays, a back pronunciation and is more common.Examples: Sagg, Baasel.
Diphthongs
Modern pronunciation has,, ,,,, and ; traditional pronunciation lacks which is partly, partly. In modern pronunciation,,, are, ,, whereas traditional pronunciation has, etc. Suter posits only one diphthong, pronounced. In exclamations and few other words, also exist.Examples: eläi, draaie, drei, baue, blaau, vier, zue, nöi ; nei.
Sociolinguistics
Unlike other dialects, Basel German features a rather strong dichotomy between the traditional form—Baseldytsch, used especially for the Carnival of Basel —and normal spoken language. Some speakers prefer to use the more traditional variety in written form. The traditional variety is normally associated with the upper classes and with Fasnacht. Like other Swiss German dialects, Basel German has more prestige than Standard German, and it is now even used in churches.Spelling
There is a lot of confusion especially when it comes to the use of the grapheme ‘y’, which is often used for rounded sounds, i.e. or, whereas it is exclusively used for traditionally. Typically, lenis stops are spelled ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘g’, fortis stops are spelled ‘p’, ‘pp’, sometimes ‘bb’ ; ‘t’, ‘tt’, sometimes ‘dd’ ; ‘gg’, rarely and mainly in loan-words ‘k’, ‘ck’, etc. This use of ‘gg’ for the fortis, unaspirated consonant is used also in other varieties of Swiss German, but sometimes abandoned in favour of spellings more closely resembling Standard German spellings. Examples: drugge, Läggerli, Sagg, Gugge. The fortis /xx/ is always spelled like lenis /x/, namelyObviously, especially the typical use of ‘y’ and ‘gg’ leads to confusion, even among native speakers, since the dialect is not taught in schools. Aspirates are normally spelled as in Standard German, namely with ‘p’, ‘t’, ‘k’. However, words where the aspirates derive from a lenis consonant plus /h/ are usually written as lenis plus