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Bavarian (german: Bairisch , Bavarian: ''Boarisch'') or alternately Austro-Bavarian, is a
West Germanic The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
, part of the Upper German family, together with Alemannic and
East Franconian East Franconian (german: Ostfränkisch) or Mainfränkisch, usually referred to as Franconian (') in German, is a dialect which is spoken in Franconia, the northern part of the federal state of Bavaria and other areas in Germany around Nuremberg, ...
. Bavarian is spoken by approximately 12 million people in an area of around , making it the largest of all German dialects. It can be found in the German state of
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
(especially Old Bavaria), most of the Republic of Austria (excluding Vorarlberg) and the Italian region of
South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...
.Rowley (2011), p. 300; In 2008, 45 percent of Bavarians claimed to use only dialect in everyday communication. Prior to 1945, Bavarian was also prevalent in parts of the southern
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and western
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. The difference between Bavarian and Standard High German is larger than the difference between Danish and Norwegian or between Czech and Slovak (Prof Dr. Robert Hinderling); as such, there is disagreement regarding its classification. The
International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Art ...
classifies it as a separate language, assigning it a unique ISO 639-3 language code (''bar''). It has been listed by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
in the Atlas of Endangered Languages since 2009.


Origins


History and Etymology

The word ''Bavarian'' is derived from the name of the people who settled Bavaria along with their tribal dialect. The origin of the word is disputed. The most common theory traces the word to ''Bajowarjōz'', meaning "inhabitants of Bojer land". In turn, '' Bojer'' ( la, Boii, german: Boier) originated as the name for former Celtic inhabitants of the area, with the name passing to the mixed population of Celts,
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, and successive waves of German arrivals during the early medieval period. The local population eventually established of the
Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria ( German: ''Herzogtum Bayern'') was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (''duces'') under ...
, forming the south-eastern part of the kingdom of Germany. The
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
documents from the area of Bavaria are identified as ("Old Bavarian"), even though at this early date there were few distinctive features that would divide it from Alemannic German. The dialectal separation of Upper German into East Upper German (Bavarian) and West Upper German (Alemannic) became more tangible in the Middle High German period, from about the 12th century.


Geographical distribution and dialects

* In Europe: ** In
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the language is spoken in Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, and the Upper Palatinate districts in
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. It is also spoken in southern Vogtland, in Saxony; ** In
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, except Vorarlberg and
Reutte Reutte (; Swabian: ) is a market town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Reutte district (''Districts of Austria''). Reutte is located on the Lech, and has a population of 6704 (as of 2018). Neighbouring muni ...
; ** In
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
in
South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...
and a handful of linguistic enclaves of Cimbrian and Carnic people in Northern Italy; ** In Switzerland, it is spoken in the village of
Samnaun Samnaun ( rm, Samignun) is a high Alpine village and a valley at the eastern end of Switzerland and a municipality in the Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. History The valley was first used as a seasonal m ...
, in Grisons; ** In
Sopron Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...
(
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
) and surroundings. * Outside of Europe: ** In Treze Tílias, Brazil ** In Pozuzo, Peru ** In the United States and Canada Three main dialects of Bavarian are: * Northern Bavarian, mainly spoken in Upper Palatinate, but also in adjacent areas (small parts of
Upper Franconia Upper Franconia (german: Oberfranken) is a ''Regierungsbezirk'' (administrative 'Regierungs''region 'bezirk'' of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia, the others being Middle F ...
( Wunsiedel (district) and
Bayreuth (district) Bayreuth () is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It surrounds, but does not include the city of Bayreuth. The district is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Kulmbach, Hof, Wunsiedel, Tirschenreuth, Neusta ...
), Saxony (southern Vogtland), Middle Franconia, Upper Bavaria and Lower Bavaria). *
Central Bavarian Central Bavarian form a subgroup of Bavarian dialects in large parts of Austria and the German state of Bavaria along the Danube river, on the northern side of the Eastern Alps. They are spoken in the ' Old Bavarian' regions of Upper Bavaria ( ...
along the main rivers Isar and Danube, spoken in Upper Bavaria (including Munich, which has a standard German-speaking majority), Lower Bavaria, southern Upper Palatinate, the Swabian district of Aichach-Friedberg, the northern parts of the State of Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria,
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
(''see
Viennese German Viennese German ( bar, Weanarisch, Weanerisch, german: Wienerisch) is the city dialect spoken in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and is counted among the Bavarian dialects. It is distinct from written Standard German in vocabulary, grammar, a ...
'') and the Northern
Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...
. *
Southern Bavarian Southern Bavarian or South Bavarian, is a cluster of Upper German dialects of the Bavarian group. They are primarily spoken in Tyrol (i.e. the Austrian federal state of Tyrol and the Italian province of South Tyrol), in Carinthia and in the west ...
in
Samnaun Samnaun ( rm, Samignun) is a high Alpine village and a valley at the eastern end of Switzerland and a municipality in the Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. History The valley was first used as a seasonal m ...
, Tyrol,
South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...
, Carinthia, Styria, and the southern parts of Salzburg and Burgenland. 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 linguistic border of Bavarian with Czech was on the farther side of the Bohemian Forest and its Bohemian foreland was Bavarian-speaking.


Use

Given that Central German and Upper German together comprise the
High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...
languages, out of which the then new, written standard was developed and as opposed to Low German, that is an alternative naming many High German dialect speakers regard justified.


School


Literature


Web

There is a Bavarian Wikipedia. Also, the official FC Bayern Munich website was available in Bavarian.


Phonology


Consonants

Notes: *Aspiration may occur among voiceless plosives in word-initial position. *The phoneme is frequently realised as or word-internally and is realised as word-initially. *Intervocalic can be voiced to . *A trill sound may also be realised as a tap sound []. *Intervocalic or sound can be realised as [] or [, ]. *Some dialects, such as the Bavarian dialect in South Tyrol, realise as an affricate word-initially and before , which is an extension of the High German consonant shift to velar consonants.


Vowels

Vowel phonemes in parentheses occur only in certain Bavarian dialects or only appear as allophones or in diphthongs. Nasalization may also be distinguished in some dialects. Bavarian has an extensive
vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
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 In phonology, tenseness or tensing is, most broadly, the pronunciation of a sound with greater muscular effort or constriction than is typical. More specifically, tenseness is the pronunciation of a vowel with less centralization (i.e. either mo ...
.


Grammar

* Bavarian usually has case inflection only for the article. With very few exceptions, nouns are not inflected for case. * The
simple past The simple past, past simple or past indefinite, sometimes called the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. Regular English ...
tense is very rare in Bavarian and has been retained for only a few verbs, including 'to be' and 'to want'. In general, the perfect is used to express past time. * Bavarian features verbal inflection for several moods such as
indicative A realis mood ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Mos ...
, subjunctive, imperative and optative . See the table below for inflection of the Bavarian verb ''måcha'', 'make; do':


Pronouns


Personal pronouns

* These are typically used in the very northern dialects of Bavarian.


Possessive 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(nige), dei(nige), 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(d)'', "someone" with its impersonal form ''ebb(a)s'', "something". It is inflected in the following way:


Interrogative pronouns

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


Society

Bavarians produce a variety of
nicknames A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
for those who bear traditional Bavarian or German names like Josef, Theresa or Georg (becoming ''Sepp'l'' or more commonly ''Sepp'', ''Resi'' and ''Schorsch'', respectively). Bavarians often refer to names with the family name coming first (like ''da Stoiber Ede'' instead of Edmund Stoiber). 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'' (en: name of the house) 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: * Mohler (e.g. ''Maler'' – painter) * Bachbauer (farmer who lives near a brook/creek) * Moosrees (Theresa (Rees/Resi) who lives near a moss) * Schreiner (joiner/carpenter)


Samples of Bavarian dialects

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


See also

*
Austrian German Austrian German (german: Österreichisches Deutsch), Austrian Standard German (ASG), Standard Austrian German (), or Austrian High German (), is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria. It has the highest sociolinguistic p ...
*
Viennese German Viennese German ( bar, Weanarisch, Weanerisch, german: Wienerisch) is the city dialect spoken in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and is counted among the Bavarian dialects. It is distinct from written Standard German in vocabulary, grammar, a ...
*
German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...


References


Further reading

;Dictionary * Schmeller, Johann Andreas; edited by Frommann, Georg Karl (1872 & 1877). ''Bayerisches Wörterbuch''. 2nd ed. in 2 vol., Rudolf Oldenbourg, München * ;Philology * * * * Egon Kühebacher (1965–1971). ''Tirolischer Sprachatlas.'' 3 Vol.: ''Vokalismus, Konsonantismus, Sprachatlas.'' (= Deutscher Sprachatlas. Regionale Sprachatlanten. Hg. von Ludwig Erich Schmitt, Karl Kurt Klein, Reiner Hildebrandt, Kurt Rein. Bde. 3/1–3). Marburg: N. G. Elwert Verlag.


External links

* Bavarian Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Boarische Umschrift, Boarische Dialekte im Vagleich {{DEFAULTSORT:Bavarian Language German dialects Languages of Germany Languages of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Baiuvarii Altbayern