Alsatian dialect

Alsatian
Native to	France
Region	Alsace
Native speakers	900,000 (2013)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Upper German Alemannic German Low Alemannic German Upper Rhenish Alsatian
Official status
Recognised minority language in	France
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gsw (with Swiss German)
Glottolog	swis1247  Swiss German[2]

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Alsace
Rot un Wiss, traditional flag of Alsace
History Germania Superior (Pagus Alsatiae) (83–475) Alemanni (circa 213–496) Alamannia (3rd-century–911) Duchy of Alsace (circa 630–699) Prince-Bishopric of Strasbourg (982–1803) County of Ferrette (11th-century–14th-century) Salm (1165−1793) Landgraviate of Alsace (1186–1646) Lower Alsace Upper Alsace Further Austria (13th-century–1648) Décapole (1354–1679) County of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1456–1736) Upper Rhenish Circle (1500–1679) Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine (1871–1918) Gau Baden-Elsaß (1940–1945) Alsace (1945–2016) Grand Est (2016–)
Culture Coat of arms Flag Anthem People Language Demographics Musée alsacien (Hagenau | Strasbourg)
Religion according to Concordat in Alsace-Moselle (1801): (including Lorraine) Catholic Church Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg (Immediately subject to the Holy See) (Prince-Bishopric of Strasbourg) (Lorraine: Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz) Protestantism: Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine: Lutheranism: Protestant Church of Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine Calvinism: Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine Jewish consistories: Strasbourg Colmar (Lorraine: Metz)
Law Local law in Alsace-Moselle Concordat in Alsace-Moselle
Administrative divisions Capital: Strasbourg Bas-Rhin (Unterelsaß) Arrondissement of Haguenau-Wissembourg Arrondissement of Molsheim Arrondissement of Saverne Arrondissement of Sélestat-Erstein Arrondissement of Strasbourg Haut-Rhin (Oberelsaß) Arrondissement of Altkirch Arrondissement of Colmar-Ribeauvillé Arrondissement of Mulhouse Arrondissement of Thann-Guebwiller
Politics Alsace Regional Council (1982–2015) Alsace independence movement
Alsace in the European Union European Parliament elections Constituency
Related topics Politics of France Politics of Germany Politics of the European Union

Alsatian (Alsatian and Alemannic German: Elsässerditsch (Alsatian German); Frankish: Elsässerdeitsch; French: Alsacien; German: Elsässisch or Elsässerdeutsch) is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken in most of Alsace, a formerly disputed region in eastern France that has passed between French and German control five times since 1681. A dialect of Alsatian German is spoken in the United States by the so-called Swiss Amish, whose ancestors emigrated there in the middle of the 19th century. The approximately 7,000 speakers are located mainly in Allen County, Indiana, with "daughter settlements"^{[Note 1]} elsewhere.^[3]

Language family

A bilingual (French and Alsatian) sign in Mulhouse.

Alsatian is closely related to other nearby Alemannic dialects, such as Swiss German, Swabian, and Markgräflerisch as well as Kaiserstühlerisch. It is often confused with Lorraine Franconian, a more distantly related Franconian dialect spoken in the northwest corner of Alsace and in neighbouring Lorraine. Like other dialects and languages, Alsatian has also been influenced by outside sources. Words of Yiddish origin can be found in Alsatian, and modern conversational Alsatian includes adaptations of French words and English words, especially concerning new technologies.

Many speakers of Alsatian could, if necessary, write in reasonable standard German. For most this would be rare and confined to those who have learned German at school or through work. As with other dialects, various factors determine when, where, and with whom one might converse in Alsatian. Some dialect speakers are unwilling to speak standard German, at times, to certain outsiders and prefer to use French. In contrast, many people living near the border with Basel, Switzerland, will speak their dialect with a Swiss person from that area, as they are mutually intelligible for the most part; similar habits may apply to conversations with people of the nearby German Markgräflerland. Some street names in Alsace may use Alsatian spellings (they were formerly displayed only in French but are now bilingual in some places, especially Strasbourg and Mulhouse).

Orthography

C, Q, and X are only used in loanwords. Y is also used in native words such as Dytschi ("German"), but is more common in loanwords.

Phonology

Comparative vocabulary list

Status of Alsatian in France

Since 1992, the constitution of the Fifth Republic states that French is the official language of the Republic. However, Alsatian, along with other regional languages, is recognized by the French government in the official list of languages of France. France is a signatory to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages but has never ratified the law and has not given regional languages the support that would be required by the charter. The policies of the Paris government have had the deliberate effect of greatly weakening the prevalence of native languages in France that are not "French." As a result, the Alsatian dialect of German has gone from being the prevalent language of the region to one in decline. A 1999 INSEE survey counted 548,000 adult speakers of Alsatian in France, making it the second most-spoken regional language in the country (after Occitan). Like all regional languages in France, however, the transmission of Alsatian is on the decline. While 43% of the adult population of Alsace speaks Alsatian, its use has been largely declining amongst the youngest generations.

References

• (in French) François Héran, et al. (2002) "La Dynamique des langues en France au fil du XX^e siècle". Population et sociétés 376, Ined.
• (in French) "L'Alsacien, deuxième langue régionale de France" Insee, Chiffres pour l'Alsace no. 12, December 2002
• (in French) Brunner, Jean-Jacques. L'Alsacien sans peine. ASSiMiL, 2001. ISBN 2-7005-0222-1
• (in French) Laugel-Erny, Elsa. Cours d'alsacien. Les Editions du Quai, 1999.
• (in French) Matzen, Raymond, and Léon Daul. Wie Geht's ? Le Dialecte à la portée de tous La Nuée Bleue, 1999. ISBN 2-7165-0464-4
• (in French)Matzen, Raymond, and Léon Daul. Wie Steht's ? Lexiques alsacien et français, Variantes dialectales, Grammaire La Nuée Bleue, 2000. ISBN 2-7165-0525-X

External links

Media related to Alsatian dialect at Wikimedia Commons

• 'Hover & Hear' Alsatian pronunciations, and compare with equivalents in English and other Germanic languages.
• Euromosaic: The status of Germanic languages in France (on website of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya).
• Alsatian placenames
• (in German) Wörterbuch der elsässischen Mundarten
• Alsatian artists
• (in German) Webschnuffler, article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on new versions of Microsoft programs in Alsatian

Notes

1. ^ When Amish communities become too big, a number of families move away and form a new settlement, which is referred to as a daughter settlement. The settlement from which they leave is the mother settlement.^[1][2]