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 definition of is that it is a type of contact variety, specifically a type of German variety with a Low German (or Low Saxon) substratum. That is the result of linguistic, cultural, educational and political Germanisation of the region that is now Northern Germany. The process of Germanisation began in earnest in the late 17th century, after the demise of the Hanseatic League and thus the erosion of its Middle-Saxon-speaking power. Pressures to adopt German but being held back by insufficient access to formal (by now solely-German) education in the lower social classes led to various stages of transition from Low German to High German. The generally low-prestige language varieties continued to be spoken and rarely written until the late 20th century, but some people still continue and promote them now, very often for their supposed entertainment value, typically in comical veins.

Perhaps the best-known remaining domain of is that of " jokes" — usually told entirely in  — in which laconic humour glorifies low-class wit and comments on working class conditions; e.g.
*''Mamma aus'n Fenster: "Klein Erna, muscha die Katze nich immer an Schwanz ziehn!" Klein Erna: "Tu ich scha auch gaa nich. Die Katze zieht immer, ich halt ihr bloß fest!"'' (Mum callin' down from the window: "Li'l Erna, stop pullin' the cat's tail, will ya?!" Li’l Erna: "But it ain't me doin' it! The cat keeps pullin'. I'm jus' holdin' 'er.")
*''Mamma: "Klein Erna, komm ra-auf, Füße waschen, Mamma braucht die Kumme gleich zu Sala-at!"'' (Mum: "Li'l Erna, come on upstai-airs! Time to wash yer fee-eet! Mum needs the bowl for saaalad!")
*''Klein Erna geht mit ihr'n Heini in Dunkeln spazieren. Und wie sie inne Gegend von Bismarckdenkmal sind und 'n büschen rumknutschen, sagt Klein Erna mit'n mal: "Heini, wis ma sehn, wo ich an Blinddaam opariert bin?" "O ja, Klein Erna, zeig mal her!" "Kuck mal, da unten, wo die vielen Lichter brennen, da is das Hafenkrankenhaus. Da bin ich an Blinddaam opariert!"'' (Li'l Erna's walkin' with 'er Ricky in the dark. An' as they're by the Bismarck Memorial an' are doin' a bit o' knoodlin', says Erna, "Say, Ricky, d'ya wanna see where I had my appendix out?" "Oh, yes, Li'l Erna. Come on! Show me!" "Look, down there, where all the lights are, that's where the Harbour Hospital is. That's where I had my appendix out.")

From a linguistic point of view, varieties did not become extinct as such. They merely developed into northern varieties more closely related to Standard German, varieties that use numerous elements, especially in their casual registers. As such, has been influencing the development of Standard German, mostly indirectly by way of northern German dialect contributions. Obvious examples are Low Saxon loanwords such as 'bye' (compare Low Saxon: , ). However, most influences are not as clearly noticeable as they involve lexical and idiomatic choices. A case of lexical choice is (compare Low Saxon and Standard German , ) 'Saturday'.

There are numerous parallel cases to that of . These are found in many situations in which languages came to be supplanted by other languages. Within a Northern European context there is the case of in the northern parts of the Netherlands and the case of sociolects of Scottish English that have particularly strong characteristics of Scots.

While there have been many varieties of throughout Northern Germany, those of larger cities are best known, such as those of Hamburg, Bielefeld, Bremen, Flensburg and Danzig.

The name refers to the city of Meissen (), which lies outside the traditional Saxon-speaking region (although the state in which it is situated at one time acquired the misleading name ''Saxony'', originally the name of what is now Northern Germany). Meissen's Central German dialect was considered exemplary and was highly influential between the fifteenth century and the establishment of Modern Standard German.

is not a dialect of Low German. Furthermore, it is also not simply High German with a Low German accent, as it is often described. Its Low German/Low Saxon influences are not restricted to its phonology but involve also morphological and syntactic structures (sentence construction), as wll as its lexicon (vocabulary). It is a ''type'' of German variety with the minimally qualifying characteristic of a clearly noticeable Low German/Low Saxon substratum.

Traditional German varieties of Berlin qualify as as well, though few people today think of as a Missingsch variety. Berlin is still surrounded by traditionally Low-German-speaking areas of the southeastern or Brandenburg type. Before it became the centre of Prussia, Berlin too was Low-German-speaking. As such, it adopted German earlier than other northern centres. Typical is thus technically a Missingsch group with an additional Western Slavic (probably Old Lower Sorbian) substratum since before Saxon and Low Franconian colonisation, the area was Slavic-speaking.

In his novel ', Kurt Tucholsky broaches the issue of and provides samples.

Phonological characteristics

*Missingsch phonology tends to be closely related, if not identical, to that of the corresponding Low Saxon varieties. Noteworthy among these in the Northern Low Saxon area are the following:
**Long is pronounced as a weakly rounded back vowel as in most Low Saxon varieties; e.g. ''Abend'' ~ (Standard ) 'evening', ''Straßenbahn'' (Standard ) 'tramway', 'streetcar'.
**Short vowels are lengthened before sonorants, without any other change of articulation; e.g. ''Ball'' 'ball', ''Kind'' 'child', ''auch'' 'also', ''Land'' 'land', 'country'.
**There is a noticeable degree of nasalisation before syllable-final nasal consonants; ''Kind'' 'child', ''Köm'' 'caraway schnapps', ''lang'' 'long'.
** is assimilated to preceding ; e.g. ''Kinder'' = ''Kinner'' 'children', ''anders'' = ''anners'' 'different'.
**In original Missingsch, as in most Low Saxon varieties, syllable-initial followed by or does not take on a sound; e.g. ''Straße'' (Standard , Low Saxon ''Straat'' ) 'street', ''Sprache'' (Standard , Low Saxon ''Spraak'' ) 'language'. This pronunciation is now rare, at least among younger speakers.
**What are word-initial affricate consonants (''z'' and ''pf'') in standard German tend to be fricative in Missingsch; e.g. ''Zeit'' 'time', ''Pferd'' 'horse' (cf. Standard ''Zeit'' , ''Pferd'' ). While this is now less common with ''z'', it is prevails with ''pf'' (in which case it also occurs in Central German areas, which also do not feature the distinctly Upper German ''pf'').
** Aspiration of voiceless stops and affricates is limited to the syllable with main stress; e.g. ''Pocke'' (Standard ) 'pock', ''pikant'' (Standard ) 'spicy', ''Peter'' (Standard ) 'Peter', ''Papa'' (Standard or ) 'dad'. (Unaspirated variants tend to be heard and spelled as voiced by the average North German, hence the spelling ''Pogge'', ''Peder'' and ''Pabba''.)
**Syllable-final is realized as a vowel and merges with certain preceding vowels; e.g. ''fertig'' ~ 'ready’', ‘completed’, ''warten'' ~ 'to wait', ''Korb'' ~ 'basket', ''Körper'' 'body'
**Preceding a syllable-final velar consonant, tends to change into a high vowel; e.g. ''Milch'' (Standard ) 'milk', ''Balken'' (Standard ) 'beam', ''solch'' (Standard ) 'such', ''welk'' (Standard ) 'withered', ''Erfolg'' (Standard ) 'success'. (Similar cases of assimilation of can be observed in Bavarian German).
**Final is always pronounced as a fricative, and the preceding vowel is usually short; e.g. ''richtig'' (southern ) 'correct', ''Tag'' (southern ) 'day', ''Berg'' 'mountain', 'hill', ''Zug'' ~ (southern ) 'train', 'draught', ''weg'' (southern ) 'away', but ''Weg'' (southern ) 'way' (cf. Low Saxon: ''richtig'' 'correct', ''Dag'' 'day', ''Barg'' 'mountain', 'hill', ''Tog'' 'train', 'draught', ''weg'' 'away', but ''Weg'' 'way’'vs ''Weeg’'' ~ 'ways'). To express this orthographically, many people spell these ''richtich'', ''Tach'', ''Berch'', ''Zuch'', ''wech'' and ''Weech'' respectively (in Low Saxon ''richtich'', ''Dach'', ''Barch'', ''Toch'', ''wech'', ''Wech'' and ''Weeg'' ~ ''Weech'' respectively).
**In original Missingsch, syllable-initial is apical (, as in Italian and as in original Low Saxon). Uvular (, as in Standard French, Danish and Modern Hebrew) became acceptable with advanced Germanisation. (The same happened to Low Saxon in some communities.)

Lexical characteristics

*Missingsch uses numerous Low Saxon words and expressions:
**phonologically adapted loans; e.g.
***''Buddel'' (< Low Saxon ''Buddel'' , cf. Standard German ''Flasche'') 'bottle'
***''dröge'' ~ ''dröög'' ~ ''drööch'' '(awfully) dry' (e.g. food), 'boring' (< Low Saxon ''dröge'' ~ ''dröög’'' 'dry') in addition to ordinary German-based ''trocken'' 'dry'
***''Fahrtuch'' (< Low Saxon ''Fahrdook'' , cf. German ''Wischtuch'') 'cleaning rag'
***''Klöterbüchse'' (< Low Saxon ''Klœterbüx(e)'' ~ , Standard German ''Rassel'') '(baby) rattle'
***''Schiet'' inoffensive for 'dirt', 'inferior stuff', 'problem', 'nuisance', 'nonsense' (< Low Saxon ''Schiet'' with the same meanings) in addition to the offensive German-based cognate ''Scheiße'' 'shit', 'crap'
***''Sott'' ~ ''Sutt'' (< Low Saxon ''Sott'' ~ ''Sutt'' , cf. Standard German ''Ruß'') (1) 'soot', (2) 'luck'
***''Sottje'' ~ ~ ''Suttje'' ~ (< Low Saxon ''Sottje'' ~ ~ ''Suttje'' ~ < ''Sott'' ~ ''Sutt'' ; 'soot', cf. Standard German ''Schornsteinfeger'') 'chimney-sweep'
** calques and semi-calques; e.g.
***''Bickbeere'' (< Low Saxon ''Bickbeer'' ~ , cf. Standard German ''Blaubeere'', ''Heidelbeere'') 'blueberry'
***''Blumenpott'' (< Low Saxon ''Blomenpott'' , cf. Standard German ''Blumentopf'') 'flowerpot'
***''Grünhöker'' (< Low Saxon ''Gröönhœker'' ~ , cf. Standard German ''Gemüsehändler'') 'greengrocer'
***''Grünzeug'' ~ (< ''Grööntüüg'' ~ , cf. Standard German ''Gemüse'') 'vegetable(s)'
***''Handstein'' ~ (< Low Saxon ''Handsteen'' , cf. Standard German ''Waschbecken'') 'wash basin'
***''Kantstein'' ~ (< Low Saxon ''Kantsteen'' , cf. Standard German ''Bordstein'') 'curb stone'
***''Stickhusten'' ~ (< Low Saxon ''Stickhoosten'' , cf. Standard German ''Keuchhusten'') 'whooping cough'
***''Wurzel'' ~ (< Low Saxon ''Wortel'' ~ ''Wottel'' , literally ‘root’) 'carrot' (cf. Standard German ''Möhre'' 'carrot', ''Wurzel'' 'root')
***''zus(ch)nacken'' ~ ~ ~ (< Low Saxon ''tosnacken'' , cf. Standard German ''zureden'', ''ermuntern'') 'encourage'

Many of the above-mentioned words are used in casual-style Northern German dialects that descended from Missingsch at least in part.

Morphological and syntactic characteristics

*as in some Low Saxon dialects, no distinctive marking for dative case and accusative case, using one or the other German marker for both cases; e.g.
**''Wenn du mich'' (dat.) ''das nich geben tus(t), denn kanns(t) du mich'' (acc.) ''nich besuchen'' or ''Wenn du mir'' (dat.) ''das nich geben tus(t), denn kanns(t) du mir'' (acc.) ''nich besuchen'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Wenn du mi dat nich geven deihs(t), denn kanns(t) (du) mi nich besöken'', Standard German: ''Wenn du es mir nicht gibst, darfst du mich nicht besuchen.'') 'If you don't give it to me (dat.) you may not visit me (acc.).'
*Genitive constructions are as in Low Saxon; e.g.
**''seine Deerns Fernseher'', ''seine Deern ihr Fernseher'', ''der Fernseher von seine Deern'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''sien Deerns Feernseher'', ''sien Deern ehr Feernseher'', ''de Feernseher vun sien Deern'', Standard German: ''der Fernsehapparat seiner Freundin'') 'his girlfriend's television set'
*In the Northern Low Saxon area, Missingsch uses ''das'' for both 'that' (Standard German ''das'', Low Saxon ''dat'') and 'it' (Standard German ''es'', Low Saxon ''it'', in some dialects ''dat''); e.g.
**''Ich mach das nich.'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Ik mag dat nich.'') 1. 'I don't like that.' (Standard German: ''Ich mag das nicht,'' ''Mir gefällt das nicht.''), 2. 'I don't like it.' (Standard German: ''Ich mag es nicht,'' ''Mir gefällt es nicht.'') (N.B.: The Missingsch sentence ''Ich mach das nich'' can also mean 'I don't do that/it', because what in Standard German is ''(ich) mag'' () '(I) like' in Missingsch coalesces with what in Standard German is ''(ich) mache'' () '(I) make'.)
*''tun'' ‘do’ used to emphasise verbs; e.g.
**''Arbeiten tu ich heute nich.'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Arbeiden do ik vundaag nich'', Standard German: ''Ich ''arbeite'' heute nicht.'') 'I don't ''work'' today (but I do something else).'
**''Tu ihn das man mal geben!'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Do em dat man mal geven!'', Standard German: ''Gib es ihm nur!'') 'Do give it to him!', 'Go on and give it to him!'
*''man'' (< Low Saxon ''man'' 'only', cf. Standard German ''nur'' ‘only’) used to signal permission, advice or mild command; e.g.
**''Denn komm Sie man rein!'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Denn kümmt (Se) man rin!'', Standard German: ''Dann kommen Sie nur herein!'') 'Come on inside then!'
**''Lass ihr man!'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Laat ehr man!'', Standard German ''Lasse sie nur!'') 'You'd better let her be', 'Don't mind her!', 'Forget about her!'
*''Da'' (there) and ''hier'' (here) are not compounded with a following prepositions; e.g.
**''Da habbich kein Geld für'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Dor heff ik keen Geld för'', Standard German: ''Dafür habe ich kein Geld.'') 'I don't have any money (to spare) for that/it.'
**''Hast (du) da was gegen?'', ''Hassa was gegen?'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Hest (du) dor wat gegen?'', Standard German: ''Hast du etwas dagegen?'') 'Do you have anything against that/it?', 'Are you opposed to that/it?', 'Do you have any objection?'
**''Da! Hier kannst dir maal was Schönes von kaufen.'' (cf. Low Saxon: ''Dor! Hier kannst di mal wat Schööns vun köpen.'' Standard German: ''Da! Hiervon kannst du dir einmal etwas Schönes kaufen.'') 'Here you go! Buy yourself something nice with this.'
*development of the prepositions ''auf'' ''op'', ''an'' and ''zu'' ~ 'to' to adjectives denoting 'open' and 'closed', as happened in Low Saxon with corresponding ''up'' ~ ''op'' and ''to'' (and only to a limited degree in Standard German, possibly under northern influence); e.g.
**''Mach das Fenster auf!'' ~ ''Machas Fenster auf!'' (< Low Saxon ''Maak dat Finster op!'', cf. Standard German ''Öffne das Fenster!'', colloquial also ''Mach das Fenster auf!'' with the imperative of the verb ''aufmachen'') 'Open the window!'
**''Die Tür könn wir nu zumachen'' (< Low Saxon ''De Döör künnt wi nu tomaken'', cf. Standard German ''Die Tür können wir jetzt schließen'', colloquial also ''Die Tür können wir jetzt/nun zumachen'') 'We can close the door now.'
**''Bei die aufe Tür kommp all so’n Viechzeug rein'' (< Low Saxon ''Bi de oppe Döör kümmt all so’n Krimmeltüüg rin!'', cf. Standard German ''Bei offener Tür kommt alles mögliche Viehzeug herein'', ''Bei offener Tür kommen alle möglichen Viecher herein'') 'All kinds of critters come inside when the door is open.'
**''Bei die zue Gardine kann ich nich lesen'' (< Low Saxon ''Bi de toe Gardien kann ik nich lesen'', cf. Standard German ''Wenn die Gardine zugezogen ist, kann ich nicht lesen'') 'I can't read when the curtain is pulled shut.'

References

{{Reflist

See also

* Berlinerisch
* Hamburgisch
* Kiezdeutsch
* Portuñol
*Creole language
*Language contact

External links

Sample Text in Bremen Missingsch (with sound)
(Low Saxon version

English version



Sample Text in Hamburg Missingsch (with sound)
(Low Saxon version

English version

German language
Low German
Central German languages
German dialects
Macaronic language
Sociolects