Bavarian language


Bavarian is a major group of Upper German varieties spoken in the southeast of the German language area, much of Bavaria, most of Austria and South Tyrol in Italy, as well as Samnaun in Switzerland. Before 1945, Bavarian was also prevalent in parts of the southern Czech Republic and western Hungary. Bavarian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants.
Bavarian has been listed as an "individual language" in the ISO 693-3 standard.

History

The Bavarians as a group formed in the early medieval period, as the population 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, even though at this early date there are few distinctive features that would divide it from Alemannic German.
The dialectal separation of Upper German into East Upper German and West Upper German becomes more tangible in the Middle High German period, from about the 12th century.

Geographical distribution and dialects

Three main dialect groups in 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 lingustic border of Bavarian with Czech was on the farther side of the Bohemian Forest the Bohemian Forest and its Bohemian foreland Bavarian-speaking.

Use

In contrast to many other varieties of German, Bavarian differs sufficiently from Standard German to make it difficult for native speakers to adopt standard pronunciation. All educated Bavarians and Austrians, however, can read, write and understand Standard German, but 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 rather than the usual term Hochdeutsch.

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.

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.
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.
Ludwig Thoma is a noted author who wrote works such as Lausbubengeschichten in Bavarian.

Web

There is a :bar:|Bavarian Wikipedia, completely in Bavarian. Also, the official FC Bayern Munich website is available in Bavarian.

Phonology

Consonants

BilabialLabio-
dental		AlveolarPost-
alveolar		PalatalVelarGlottal
Nasal
Stop   
Affricate
Fricative 
Trill
Approximant

Notes:
Vowel phonemes in parentheses occur only in certain Austro-Bavarian dialects or only appear as allophones or in diphthongs. Nasalization may also be distinguished in some dialects.
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

The commonly accepted grammar and spelling system for Bavarian has been documented by A. Schmeller; see more details at the German Wikipedia page for :de:Bairische Dialekte|Bairische Dialekte.
måchaIndicativeImperativeSubjunctiveOptative
1. Sgi måch—i måchadmåchadi
2. Sg du måchstmåch!du måchastmåchast
3. Sger måchter måch!er måchadmåchada
1. Plmia måchan*måchma!mia måchadnmåchadma
2. Pleß måchtsmåchts!eß måchatsmåchats
3. Plse måchan—se måchadnmåchadns
2. Sg Si måchanmåchan’S!Si måchadnmåchadn’S

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

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, dei, 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, "someone" with its impersonal form ebbs, "something". It is inflected in the following way:
PersonalImpersonal
Nominativeebbaebbs
Dativeebbamebbam
Accusativeebbanebbs

Interrogative pronouns

The interrogative pronouns wea, "who", and wås, "what" are inflected the same way the indefinite pronoun ebba is inflected.
PersonalImpersonal
Nominativeweawås
Dativewemwem
Accusativewenwås

Society

Bavarians produce a variety of nicknames for those who bear traditional Bavarian or German names like Josef, Theresa or Georg. Bavarians often refer to names with the family name coming first. 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 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:
Austrian's Bóarische is a Grubbm fő Dialektt im Siin fåm dætschn Shbroochråm.
Bavarian's Bóarische is a Grubbm fő Dialektt im Siin fóm daitschn Shproochraum.
Yiddish בײַריש איז אַ גרופּע פֿון דיאַלעקטן אין דרום פֿון דײַטשיש שפּראַך־קאָנטינום
Bairish iz a grupe fin dialektn in durem fin daitshish shprakh-kontinuum.
Standard GermanDas Bairische ist eine Gruppe von Dialekten im Süden des deutschen Sprachraumes.
EnglishBavarian is a group of dialects in the south of the German Sprachraum.

AustrianD'Lisa/'s-Liasl hod sé an Haxn bróchn/brócha.
BavarianD'Lisa/As Liasal hod sé an Hax brócha.
Yiddish ליסע/ליסל האָט זיך איר/דאָס/אַ בײן געבראָכן
Lise/Lisl hot zikh ir/dus/a beyn gebrokhn.
Standard GermanLisa hat sich das Bein gebrochen.
EnglishLisa broke/has broken her leg.

The dialects can be seen to share a number of features with Yiddish.