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Low Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic dialects and belongs to the German language, even though they are only partly intelligible to German speakers.

Variants:

• dialects of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, and Alemán Coloniero spoken in Venezuela
• Alsatian, spoken in the Alsace, France
• Basel German, spoken in Basel, Switzerland

Features

The feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic from High Alemannic is the retention of Germanic /k/, for instance kalt 'cold' vs. High Alemannic chalt.

The feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic from Swabian is the retention of the Middle High German monophthongs, for instance Huus 'house' vs. Swabian Hous or Ziit 'time' vs. Swabian Zejt.

Orthography

(All of the below is specific to the dialects spoken near Freiburg im Breisgau)

Vowels:

Consonants:

Are as in Standard German, with the following notes:

• kh is an aspirated [kʰ]
• ng is a velar nasal plosive [ŋ]
• ngg is a velar nasal plosive followed by a velar [ŋɡ]
• ph is an aspirated [pʰ]
• th is an aspirated [tʰ]
• z represents [dz] as opposed to Standard German [ts]

Articles

Definite Article

Indefinite Article

Substantives

• Class I: Plural = Singular (e.g. Ääber --> Ääber)
• Class II: Plural = Singular + Umlaut (e.g. Bach --> Bächer; Baum --> Baim)
• Class IIIa: Plural = Singular + -e (e.g. Man --> Mane; Ags --> Agse)
• Class IIIb: Plural = Singular + -"e (e.g. Frosch --> Fresche; Vader --> Väder)
• Class IVa: Plural = Singular + -er (e.g. Lyyb --> Lyyber; Schùg --> Schùger)
• Class IVb: Plural = Singular + -"er (e.g. Wald --> Wälder; Blad --> Bleder)
• Class V: No Plural (e.g. Chees; Zemänd)
• Class VI: No Singular (Plural Only) (e.g. Bilger; Fèèrine)

Diminutives

• Standard ending is -li (e.g. Aimer --> Aimerli)
• If the word ends in -l, then the ending is -eli (e.g. Dääl --> Dääleli)
• If the word ends in -el, then the ending is -i (e.g. Degel --> Degeli)
• If the word ends in -e, remove the -e and add -li (e.g. Bèère --> Bèèrli)
• The rules for this can be quite complex and depend on the region. Sometimes diminutives require umlaut, other times not.

Adjectives

Weak Declension

Strong Declension

Comperative

• Standard ending -er (e.g. fèin --> fèiner)

Superlative

• Standard ending -(e)schd (e.g. fèin --> fèinschd)

Irregular

Prouns

Personal Pronouns

Verbs

1. Infinitive

Infinitive ends in -e

• Some monosyllabic verbs do not have this ending (e.g. chùù, döe, goo, gschää, haa, loo, nee, sää, schdoo, schlaa, syy, zie, etc.)

2. Participle

2.1 Prefix

• The prefix for g- or ge-
• Before b, d, g, bf, dsch, and z is merged into the word and not visible (e.g. broochd, glaubd, etc.)

2.2 Suffix

• Strong Verbs end in -e (e.g. gäse, glofe)
• Weak Verbs end in -d or -ed (e.g. bùzd, gchaufd)

2.3 Types

2.3.1 Infinitive and Present Sg y/èi/ai - Participle i
2.3.1.1 y -> i (e.g. abwyyse -> abgwiise)
2.3.1.2 èi -> i (e.g. verzèie -> verziie)
2.3.1.3 ai -> i (e.g. schaide -> gschiide)
2.3.2 Infinitive and Present Sg ie/u/au/èi/i - Participle o/öu/öe
2.3.2.1 ie -> o (e.g. biede -> bode)
2.3.2.2 u -> o (e.g. sufe -> gsofe)
2.3.2.3 au -> o (e.g. laufe -> glofe)
2.3.2.4 èi -> öu (e.g. rèie -> gröue)
2.3.2.5 ie -> öe (e.g. riefe -> gröefe)
2.3.2.5 i -> o (e.g. wiige -> gwooge)
2.3.3 Infinitive and Present Sg i - Participle ù
2.3.3.1 i -> u (e.g. binde -> bùnde)
2.3.4 Infinitive ä/e - Present i - Participle o/u
2.3.4.1 ä - i - o (e.g. bräche -> broche)
2.3.4.2 ä - i - u (e.g. hälfe -> ghùlfe)
2.3.4.3 e/è - i - o (e.g. verdèèrbe -> verdoorbe)
2.3.4.4 e - i - ù (e.g. schmelze -> gschmùlze)
2.3.5 Infinitive ä/i - Present i - Participle ä
2.3.5.1 ä - i - ä (e.g. äse -> gäse)
2.3.5.2 i - i - ä (e.g. bide -> bäde)
2.3.6 Infinitive Vowel is the same as the Participle
2.3.5.1 (e.g. bache -> bache; fale -> gfale)

3. Conjugation
3.1 Present Tense 3.1.1 Regular Verb

Numbers

External links

• Alemannic encyclopedia -German-