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Alsatian (Elsässerditsch; ; or Elsässerdeutsch) is a Low Alemannic German
Low Alemannic German

Low Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German and belongs to the German language, even though they are only partly intelligible to German speakers....
 dialect spoken in most of Alsace
Alsace

Alsace is the fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France , with 222 inhabitants per km? ....
, a region in eastern France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 which has passed between French and German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 control many times.

Not readily intelligible to speakers of standard German, it is closely related to other nearby Alemannic dialects
Alemannic German

Alemannic German is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language. It is spoken by approximately ten million people in six countries, including southern Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Italy....
, such as Swiss German
Swiss German

Swiss German is any of the Alemannic Germans spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are called Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg which are closely associated to Switzerland's....
, Swabian
Swabian German

Swabian is one of the Alemannic German dialects of High German languages, spoken in the region of Swabia. Swabia covers much of Germany's southwestern Bundesland of Baden-W?rttemberg and the southwest of the Bundesland Bavaria....
, and Badisch. It is often confused with Lorraine Franconian
Lorraine Franconian

Lorraine Franconian is a designation, in practice ambiguous, for dialects of German language spoken in the north-eastern part of the France region of Lorraine ....
, a more distantly related Franconian
Franconian languages

Image:Frankischetalen.pngFranconian is a linguistic marker for a number of West Germanic Germanic languages languages and dialects spoken in part of the former core of the Frankish Empire: the Low Countries and western Germany ....
 dialect spoken in the far north-east of Alsace and in neighboring Lorraine
Lorraine (région)

Lorraine is one of the 26 Regions of France of France. It is the only administrative region with two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy....
.

Many speakers of Alsatian write in standard German
Standard German

Standard German is the standard language of the German language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for communication between different dialect areas....
.






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Alsatian (Elsässerditsch; ; or Elsässerdeutsch) is a Low Alemannic German
Low Alemannic German

Low Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German and belongs to the German language, even though they are only partly intelligible to German speakers....
 dialect spoken in most of Alsace
Alsace

Alsace is the fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France , with 222 inhabitants per km? ....
, a region in eastern France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 which has passed between French and German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 control many times.

Not readily intelligible to speakers of standard German, it is closely related to other nearby Alemannic dialects
Alemannic German

Alemannic German is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language. It is spoken by approximately ten million people in six countries, including southern Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Italy....
, such as Swiss German
Swiss German

Swiss German is any of the Alemannic Germans spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are called Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg which are closely associated to Switzerland's....
, Swabian
Swabian German

Swabian is one of the Alemannic German dialects of High German languages, spoken in the region of Swabia. Swabia covers much of Germany's southwestern Bundesland of Baden-W?rttemberg and the southwest of the Bundesland Bavaria....
, and Badisch. It is often confused with Lorraine Franconian
Lorraine Franconian

Lorraine Franconian is a designation, in practice ambiguous, for dialects of German language spoken in the north-eastern part of the France region of Lorraine ....
, a more distantly related Franconian
Franconian languages

Image:Frankischetalen.pngFranconian is a linguistic marker for a number of West Germanic Germanic languages languages and dialects spoken in part of the former core of the Frankish Empire: the Low Countries and western Germany ....
 dialect spoken in the far north-east of Alsace and in neighboring Lorraine
Lorraine (région)

Lorraine is one of the 26 Regions of France of France. It is the only administrative region with two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy....
.

Many speakers of Alsatian write in standard German
Standard German

Standard German is the standard language of the German language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for communication between different dialect areas....
. Street names in the Alsace may use Alsatian spellings (they were formerly displayed only in French but are now bilingual in some places, especially Strasbourg
Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace Regions of France in northeastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the Aire urbaine....
 and Mulhouse
Mulhouse

Mulhouse is a city and communes of France in eastern France, close to the Switzerland and Germany borders. With 271,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2007 it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin departments of France, and the second largest in the Alsace regions of France after Strasbourg....
)

Phonology


Consonants

Alsatian has a rather simple set of 14 consonants:

Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ?
Stop b? d? g°, k?
Affricate pf ts  
Fricative f s ? ç  
Sonorant ? l, ?  


Two consonants are restricted in their distribution: only occurs at the beginning of a word or morpheme, and then only if followed immediately by a vowel; never occurs at the beginning of a word or morpheme.

Alsatian, like many German dialects, has lenition
Lenition

Lenition is a kind of consonant mutation that appears in many languages. Along with assimilation , it is one of the primary sources of historical linguistics of languages....
ed all obstruent
Obstruent

An obstruent is a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow, causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract. In phonetics, Manner of articulation may be divided into two large classes, obstruents and sonorants....
s but [k]. Its lenes are, however, voiceless
Voice (phonetics)

Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sound, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced....
 as in all Southern German varieties. Therefore, they are here transcribed .

As in German, the phoneme /ç/ has a velar allophone [x] after back vowels (/u/, /o/, /?/, and /a/ in those speakers who do not pronounce this as [æ]), and palatal [ç] elsewhere. In southern dialects, there is a tendency to pronounce it /x/ in all positions, and in Strasbourg the palatal allophone tends to become [?], and conflate with the phoneme /?/.

Vowels

Short vowels: ( in Strasbourg), .

Long vowels:

Diphthongs


Comparative vocabulary list


English Alsatian High Alemannic Standard German Standard French Swabian German dialect
house Huus Haus maison Hous
loud luut laut bruyant lout
people Lüt Leute gens Leid
today Hüt heute aujourd'hui heid
beautiful schö schön beau sche
Earth Ärd Erde terre Erd
Fog Näbel Nebel brouillard Nebl
water Wasser Wasser eau Wasser
man Maa Mann homme Mà
eat ässe essen manger essa
to drink trinkche trinken boire trenka
little chlei klein petit, petite kloi
child Chind Kind enfant Kind
day Dag Tag jour Dàg
woman Frou Frau femme Frau


Status of Alsatian in France

The constitution of the Fifth Republic
French Fifth Republic

The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current Republicanism Constitution of France of France, which was introduced on October 5, 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing a parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system....
 states that French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 alone is the official language of the Republic. However Alsatian, along with other regional language
Regional language

A regional language is a language spoken in an area of a nation state, whether it be a small area, a Federalism state or province, or some wider area....
s, are recognized by the French government in the official list of languages of France. A 1999 INSEE
INSEE

INSEE is the France List of national and international statistical services for Statistics and Economic Studies. It collects and publishes information on the Economy of France and society, carrying out the periodic national census....
 survey
Survey

Survey may refer to:...
 counted 548,000 adult speakers of Alsatian in France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, making it the second most-spoken regional language in the country (after Occitan
Occitan language

Occitan , known also as Lenga d'?c or Langue d'oc is a Romance languages spoken in Occitania, that is, Southern France, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, Monaco and in the Aran Valley of Spain....
). Like all regional languages in France, however, the transmission of Alsatian is on the decline. While 39% of the adult population of Alsace speaks Alsatian, only one in four children speaks it, and only one in ten children uses it regularly.

External links


  • - The status of German languages in France.