Hamburg German, also known as Hamburg dialect or Hamburger dialect (natively , ), is a group of

Northern Low Saxon Northern Low Saxon (in Standard German, Standard High German: ', also ', lit. ''North(ern) Low Saxon/German''; in Dutch language, Standard Dutch: ') is a subgroup of Low Saxon dialects of Low German. As such, it covers a great part of the West ...

varieties spoken in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Occasionally, the term ''Hamburgisch'' is also used for Hamburg ''

Missingsch () is a type of Low-German-coloured dialect or sociolect of German. It is characterised by Low-German-type structures and the presence of numerous calques and loanwords from Low German in High German. Description A more technical definiti ...

'', a variety of

standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...

with Low Saxon substrates. These are urban dialects that have absorbed numerous English and Dutch loanwords, for instance ''Törn'' 'trip' (< ''turn'') and ''suutje'' 'gently' (< Dutch ). Hamburg's name is pronounced in these dialects, with a "ch" similar to that in the standard German words ''ich'' or ''Milch'' (''ich-Laut''). Typical of the Hamburg dialects and other Lower Elbe dialects is the pronunciation (and ''eu'' spelling) for the diphthong (written ''öö'', ''öh'' or ''ö''), e.g.: However, as in most other Low Saxon dialects, the long monophthong is pronounced (as in French ''peu''), for instance ''Kööm'' ~ ''Kœm'' 'caraway'. The Low Saxon language in Hamburg is divided in several subdialects, namely: * Finkwarder Platt * Olwarder Platt * Veerlanner Platt (with many sub-sub-dialects) * Barmbeker Platt. The Hamborger Veermaster is a famous sea shanty sung in the regional dialect. The all-purpose greeting " moin" is universally used in Hamburg.

Sources

External links

* http://www.plattmaster.de Culture in Hamburg Northern Low Saxon dialects German dialects Languages of Germany City colloquials {{hamburg-stub