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Erzgebirgisch (Standard ; Erzgebirgisch: ''Arzgebirgsch'') is a
Central German Central German or Middle German (german: mitteldeutsche Dialekte, mitteldeutsche Mundarten, Mitteldeutsch) is a group of High German dialects spoken from the Rhineland in the west to the former eastern territories of Germany. Central German d ...
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
, spoken mainly in the central Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) in
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...
. It has received relatively little academic attention. Due to the high mobility of the population and the resulting contact with
Upper Saxon Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's mo ...
, the high emigration rate and its low
mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as ...
with other dialects, the number of speakers is decreasing.


Language area and history

As the following sections will show, Erzgebirgisch is very close to
Upper Saxon Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's mo ...
but also has commonalities with
Upper German Upper German (german: Oberdeutsch ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (). History In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High ...
dialects. As of today, the Erzgebirgisch area comprises roughly the districts of Mittweida (southern area), Stollberg, Central Ore Mountain District, Annaberg-Buchholz, Freiberg (South) and Aue-Schwarzenberg. Some more speakers live in the town of Lichtenstein, in the Chemnitzer Land district. Another community live in the Upper
Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High Germ ...
in the
Clausthal-Zellerfeld Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The City is the location of the Clausthal University of Technology. The health r ...
region (
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
). Their ancestors were
miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting ...
s and
emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
in the 16th century. Here it is referred to as the Upper Harz dialect. Up to 1929, Erzgebirgisch was also spoken in other parts of Mittweida and Freiberg, in
Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany ...
,
Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...
and in the extreme West of the
Weißeritzkreis The Weißeritzkreis is a former district (''Kreis'') in the south of Saxony, Germany. Neighboring districts were (from west clockwise) Freiberg, Meißen, the district-free city Dresden, Sächsische Schweiz, and to the south it bordered the Czec ...
, but these areas are now dominated by Thuringian
Upper Saxon Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's mo ...
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
s. Until 1945, the bordering
Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...
also harbored some Erzgebirgisch speakers, namely in the Kaaden-Duppau area, in whose dialect an
anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically cate ...
of words,
proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...
s and
anecdote An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Occasionally humorous ...
s was published (see references). After World War II these speakers had to leave
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
and settled down all over the FRG and the GDR. This meant that dialect usage was reduced to the family homes, entailing a shift to the local varieties of their new home towns. No official attempts to create an
orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...
have been made, nevertheless there are countless short stories, poems and songs written in Erzgebirgisch. The Sächsischer Heimatverein guidelines to writing in Erzgebirgisch were established in 1937, but are by and large not respected by the majority of authors. This means that linguistic analysis of this dialect has to be done in a field work setting with native speakers. An additional threat to Erzgebirgisch is the popular misconception that Erzgebirgisch was a
hillbilly Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas we ...
variety of Saxonian, which is an issue for conservation efforts. Erzgebirgisch is classified as a
Central German Central German or Middle German (german: mitteldeutsche Dialekte, mitteldeutsche Mundarten, Mitteldeutsch) is a group of High German dialects spoken from the Rhineland in the west to the former eastern territories of Germany. Central German d ...
dialect in linguistics, but also includes
Upper German Upper German (german: Oberdeutsch ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (). History In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High ...
features.


Linguistic features

Many of these languages show a tendency to substitute the German
verbal prefix A coverb is a word or prefix that resembles a verb or co-operates with a verb. In languages that have the serial verb construction, coverbs are a type of word that shares features of verbs and prepositions. A coverb takes an object or complement a ...
''er-'' by ''der-'' (Erzg. and Bair.) or ''ver-'' (Bair. and
Swabian Swabian or Schwabian, or ''variation'', may refer to: * the German region of Swabia (German: "''Schwaben''") * Swabian German, a dialect spoken in Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany and adjoining areas (German:"''Schwäbisch''") * Danube S ...
). (e.g. westerzgeb. ''derschloong''
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
'to slaughter'; ''derzeeln'' German 'to tell, to narrate'). Extended use of the
particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...
''fei'' is typical for Upper German and popular in Erzgebirgisch. Furthermore, German corresponds to in the mentioned varieties (e.g. westerzgeb. ''huus'' ), and German corresponds to . An in the
coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
, following a
long vowel In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, ...
, is regularly deleted in Erzgebirgisch (e.g. Lichtenst. ''Huuschdee'' . Rarely, this is also found with monosyllabic words with a
short vowel In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, ...
, which undergo compensatory vowel lengthening in the process (e.g. Lichtenst. ''màà'' 'man'). Another typical feature of Upper German is the
apocope In phonology, apocope () is the loss ( elision) of a word-final vowel. In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any final sound (including consonants) from a word. Etymology ''Apocope'' comes from the Greek () from () "cutting off", fro ...
of
schwa In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it rep ...
and (e.g. Lichtenst. ''Reedlz'' ) The following table illustrates the similarities between Erzgebirgisch and Upper German dialects. Thuringian/
Upper Saxon Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's mo ...
is listed as a control parameter. Areas marked with a tick means that the feature is present in most subdialects, whereas areas marked as 'partial' are only found in border areas.


Subdialects

Eastern Erzgebirgisch dialects indicate negation with whereas ''nèt'' is used in the West. However, this subdialectal boundary is not clearly demarcated. Thus, both forms are found in the town of Lichtenstein, which lies on the northwestern dialect boundary (although ''ni'' is perhaps more common). In both Eastern Erzgebirgisch and in the Lichtenstein dialect, word-initial clusters and in Standard German as realized as and respectively (e.g. ''dlee'' 'small'; ''dnuchng'' 'bone'). It is not possible to include the
Upper Harz The Upper Harz (german: Oberharz, ) refers to the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, ...
varieties in either of these groups. Furthermore, there is a strong influence from the neighbouring non-Erzgebirgisch dialects in the region bordering Meißenisch, which makes subclassification cumbersome. Through the summarizing of these findings, four dialects can be listed:


Phonology

As mentioned above, there is no unified orthography. In order to render the language data close to their actual
pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
, the following conventions have been established:


Consonants

The rendering of the consonants follows the notation commonly used for Bavarian. The following table lists the
phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...
s of the most important Erzgebirgisch dialects, with the
IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners A ...
value and the corresponding character used in this article. * No subdialect shows phonemic contrast between
postalveolar Postalveolar or post-alveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the ''back'' of the alveolar ridge. Articulation is farther back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but n ...
) and retroflex ; they have one or the other. * An important
sound change A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chan ...
in Erzgebirgisch is found with respect to . When precedes a
velar consonant Velars are consonants place of articulation, articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the Soft palate, velum). Since the velar region of the roof of ...
, a is inserted in between, as an example, ''Baarg'' (German 'mountain') is pronounced . Since this phonological process is completely regular, it is not reflected in orthography. * is normally realized as a
velarization Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization is transcribed by one of four di ...
of the preceding vowel. However, for the sake of clarity, this article will use throughout.


Vowels

The writing of the vowels presented here follows in part the official Schwyzertütsch orthography. The orthographic representation of a vowel follows after the IPA characters, if different. * No subdialect has both or . * followed by is pronounced as , but still written as . * The close back vowels are often rather unrounded. *
Vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word ...
is indicated by doubling the vowel sign in writing: , , , , , , . * All vowels (with the exception of and ) are , i.e. that the back vowels , , are more front, and the front vowels , und more back than in Standard German. * Short vowels preceding a stressed syllable are reduced to a
schwa In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it rep ...
(e.g. ''gremàdig'' 'grammar'). * A short vowel preceding a ''r'' is lengthened (e.g. ''Aarzgebèèrgsch''). * In dialects spoken at higher altitudes, is often realized like . ** The pronunciation as is the default case for
closed syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological ...
s. This might be due to overgeneralization of a pattern found in adjacent Saxonian dialects.


Stress

Erzgebirgisch has
lexical stress In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is typically caused by such properties as i ...
. There is a tendency to stress the first syllable even in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
loanwords A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...
, where Standard German stresses the final syllable (e.g. ''biro'' 'office'), but loan words which follow the Standard German pattern are more numerous (e.g. ''dridewààr'' 'sidewalk' (from French )).


Morphology


Nominal morphology


Gender

Erzgebirgisch numbers three
genders Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...
, masculine, feminine and neuter. Most Erzgebirgisch
lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms take ...
s have the same gender as their Standard German equivalents.


Case

In distinction to Standard German, the Erzgebirgisch
genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
is no longer productive. Other constructions have to be used to indicate possession. For
animate Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
possessors, a construction involving the possessor in the dative and an agreeing
possessive pronoun A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ow ...
is used (''dem'' B ''sein'' A). For inanimate possessors, a construction involving (German ''von'') is used. A third possibility is
compounding In the field of pharmacy, compounding (performed in compounding pharmacies) is preparation of a custom formulation of a medication to fit a unique need of a patient that cannot be met with commercially available products. This may be done for me ...
. examples (North Western dialect): The only case marking available for nouns is
dative In grammar, the dative case ( abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob ...
plural, which is marked by ''-n '', but can often assimilate to other consonants.
Nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Eng ...
and
accusative The accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘ ...
are not marked in the
singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular homology * SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS) * Singular or sounder, a group of boar ...
on nouns, but
articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: ...
,
adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
s and possessive pronouns help to disambiguate in these cases. Personal pronouns also have some special forms for nominative, accusative and dative. The following table shows some Erzgebirgisch nominal declension paradigms. For more information on articles, see below.


Number

There are different ways to form the
plural The plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the ...
in Erzgebirgisch, a feature shared with Standard German. Next to the
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carr ...
es ''-e'', ''-er'', ''-n'' and ''-s'', ablaut can also be used. Some suffixes trigger umlaut. There are some nouns which differ in their plural marking between Erzgebirgisch and Standard German. E.g. Erzgebirgisch has ''-n'' for nouns ending in in the
singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular homology * SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS) * Singular or sounder, a group of boar ...
, where Standard German most often has umlaut. Examples (North Western dialect):


Articles

Erzgebirgisch distinguishes three kinds of
articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: ...
: emphatic definite article, atonal definite article, indefinite article. The emphatic definite articles are used where Standard German would use deictics like ''dieser'' and ''jener''. The other two types closely resemble their Standard German counterparts. All articles agree in gender, number and case with their head noun. The emphatic articles may also occur without a head noun and often replace the rarely used third person personal pronouns. Erzgebirgisch has a negative indefinite article just like German, but the similarity to the positive indefinite article is less obvious. The North-Western dialect has the following forms: The article ''n'' assimilates in place of articulation to the preceding consonant. It is ''m'' before ''p'', ''pf'', ''f'', ''w'' and ''m'' and ''ng'' before ''k'', ''g'', ''ch'' ( or ) and ''ng''. Examples:


Pronouns


Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns distinguish emphatic and atonal forms, just like articles. The emphatic forms are used to highlight a participant. They are free words, whereas the atonal forms are phonologically reduced clitics. There is no emphatic form for third person personal pronouns. The emphatic forms of the definite article have to be used instead. To outsiders this may often come across as impolite. Unlike nouns, personal pronouns distinguish both number and case. Pronouns with ''ch'' have ''sch'' in the Northwestern dialect. The atonal second person singular pronoun is ''de'' when it precedes a verb, and ''du '' when following. There are extra pronouns to express politeness, unlike German, which uses third person plural for this function. Examples:


Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns agree in case, number and gender with their head noun. singular pronouns lose the ''n'' before another ''n'' or a ''-Ø''-suffix. First person plural loses the ''s'' everywhere but in the North Western dialect. First and second person plural lose the ''e'' before a suffix starting with a vowel. This paradigm makes use of only three letters ''e'', ''n'' and ''r''. examples: Third person pronouns make heavy use of the dative construction (see above), just like nouns. vgl.:


Prepositions

The following construction is found mainly in Western dialects, but also in Lichtenstein: The canonic preposition ''n'' (in) is never deleted in Lichtenstein, but almost always in the western dialects due to the more widespread dropping of ''n''. This leads to the impression that ''nei'' is the preposition. One should also notice that goal of motion is encoded by the dative, and not by the accusative as in Standard German. The motion component is expressed by ''nei''. This construction is also found with many other prepositions: ''dràà der kèrch'' ("an der Kirche", "bei der Kirche" at the church).


Adjectives


Agreement

Adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
s agree with their head word in case, number, gender and
definiteness In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical ...
. A difference to Standard German is the non-distinction of forms with indefinite article and forms without any article. The following table lists all agreement suffixes for adjectives: More examples


Comparison

The comparative is formed with the suffix ''-er''. The standard of comparison is marked with the
preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
''wii'' (wie).
The
superlative Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe. In languages ...
is obtained by adding . Agreement suffixes come after these suffixes. examples:


Verbs

The verb agrees in person and number with the subject of the sentence. This is true of both full verbs and
auxiliaries Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, ...
. Two tense/aspects are morphologically distinguished,
present tense The present tense ( abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
and
preterite The preterite or preterit (; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple ...
. Use of the preterite is found almost exclusively with ''strong'' verbs, i.e. verbs involving ablaut. The other tenses are formed with auxiliaries: Perfect, Pluperfect, Futur I and Futur II. Perfect and preterite are used interchangeably. Pluperfect expresses anteriority in the past. Futur II is mainly used for
epistemic Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...
statements about past events (cf. German: ''Er wird wohl wieder nicht da gewesen sein.'' He has probably not attended again.)


Infinitive and participles

The
infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is de ...
and the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
and the
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
are formed with the following affixes:


Present tense

Erzgebirgisch distinguishes ''strong verbs'', involving ablaut, and ''weak verbs'', without ablaut. Both classes take the same suffixes. The present tense can be used to refer to events in the present or future. The suffixes are sometimes assimilated to the stem, as can be seen from ''hàm'', `to have'.


Preterite

As mentioned above, the preterite form is only used with ''strong'' verbs. ''Weak'' verbs use the perfect instead. This is also gaining ground with ''strong'' verbs. Formation of the preterite does not always follow the same pattern as in Standard German e.g. ''schmecken'' `to taste' is a ''weak'' verb in Standard German (preterit ''schmeckte''), but a ''strong'' verb is Erzgebirgisch (present tense: ''schmègng'' preterite: with ablaut. Another verb which is weak in Standard German but strong in Erzgebirgisch is ''frààn'' (Standard German ''fragen'' to ask), preterite (Standard German ''fragte'', asked). Agreement with the subject is indicated as follows:


Perfect, pluperfect

Perfect and pluperfect are construed with a finite form of the auxiliaries ''sei-'' and ''hàb-'' and the past participle of the full verb. Examples:


Future

Two future tenses are distinguished. Future I is used for any reference time in the future, Future II has the meaning of future anterior. Future is formed with the auxiliary ''wèèr-'' (Standard German werden). Future I adds the infinitive of the full verb, future II the auxiliary ''sei'' or ''hab'' in the infinitive and the past participle of the full verb. Examples:


Subjunctive

Erzgebirgisch has a productive
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
for most of the auxiliaries and some other frequently used verbs. The form is derived from the preterite by ablaut. Other verbs have to use ''duun''
support Support may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Supporting character Business and finance * Support (technical analysis) * Child support * Customer support * Income Support Construction * Support (structure), or lateral support, a ...
in order to appear in the subjunctive.


Imperative

The imperative is identical to first person present tense
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 ...
. In order to obtain the plural imperative, ''-d'' is suffixed to the singular form. example:


Passive

The passive is formed with the auxiliary ''wèèr-'' (German werden) and the past participle of the full verb. Example:


A sample of Erzgebirgisch speech (Lichtenstein dialect)


Sample text

The following snippet contains the introduction and the first stanza of a wedding poem from Clausthal (1759) and is written in the Oberharz dialect:''Mustersaal aller teutschen Mund-arten, enthaltend Gedichte, prosaische Aufsätze und kleine Lustspiele in den verschiedenen Mund-arten aufgesetzt; und mit kurzen Erläuterungen versehen von Dr. Joh. Gottl. Radlof.'' Erster Band, Bonn, 1821, pp. 275ff.
google
:
Differently in ''Neues Vaterländisches Archiv oder Beiträge zur allseitigen Kenntniß des Königreichs Hannover und des Herzogthums Braunschweig. Begründet von G. H. G. Spiel. Fortgesetzt von Ernst Spangenberg. Jahrgang 1831. Erster Band'', Lüneburg, 1831, pp. 279ff.
google
;
Differently cited in Erich Borchers: ''Sprach- und Gründungsgeschichte der erzgebirgischen Kolonie im Oberharz.'' Marburg, 1929. pp. 135–136.
''Aſs t'r Niemeyer ſeine Schuſtern in de Kerch zur Trauer kefuͤhrt prengt aͤ Vugelſteller Vugel un hot Baͤden kratelirt iſs k'ſchaͤn d. 25. Oktober 1759. Clasthol kedruͤckt bey den Buchdrucker Wendeborn.'' ;Translation When Niemeyer lead his bride to the church to marry her, a bird trapper brought birds and congratulated them; This happened on October 25 in 1759. Clausthal, printed at the Wendeborn Printing House. Hello you all, you honorable men! Here comes the lad from far away, He has already taken the liberty, So he came in this time again. They have sometimes given him something to earn: I have nice birds, do you want to have a look on them?


Lexicon

Like all dialects, Erzgebirgisch has some words which are difficult to grasp for outsiders. These include contractions of long words, but also some words unknown to other dialects or even other subdialects of the same lineage.


Nouns


Verbs

Erzgebirgisch has many onomatopoetic verbs (see also I. Susanka). Due to the high precipitation in the Ore Mountains, many different verbs for different kinds of rain or drizzle exist.


Other words

Like many other German dialects, Erzgebirgisch is rich in adverbs, like the notorious ''fei'', whose use is extremely complex and needs further research. It appears in commands (''Gii fei wag!'', Go away!), but also in affirmations (''S´reengd fei'', It's raining, by the way.).


Interjections

The interjections used in Erzgebirgisch differ considerably from the Standard German ones. The language area being dominated by
mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...
, some linguistic patterns peculiar to this business have attained general usage, like the salute ''Glig auf!'' (dt. " Glück auf"). English does not have a specialized form to affirm negative questions, unlike French (''si''), Dutch (''jawel'') or German (''doch''). Erzgebirgisch uses ''Ujuu!'' , or sometimes ''Ajuu!'' , (dt. "Doch!") in these contexts. For the negation of a question expecting a positive answer ''È(schà)!'' (dt. "Nein!") is used. This interjection is also used to express surprise, albeit with a different intonation.


References


Literature


Grammars and other linguistic publications

* Oswin Böttger: ''Der Satzbau der erzgebirgischen Mundart''. Leipzig 1904. – An analysis of the syntax. * Erich Borchers: ''Sprach- und Gründungsgeschichte der erzgebirgischen Kolonie im Oberharz''. Marburg 1929. – Grammar of the Upper Harz variety.


Other literature

* Irmtraud Susanka: ''Wie mir drham geredt homm. Unsere Mundart im Bezirke Kaaden-Duppau''. Verlag des Kaadener Heimatbriefs, Bayreuth (no year, no ISBN). – Collection of words, phrases, poems and short stories of the southern variety formerly spoken in the
Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...
.


External links


A western Erzg. wordlist and some further literature






{{Authority control German dialects Culture of the Ore Mountains