Bavarian Dialect

This article addresses the linking element -s- concerning its distribution and functionality in dialect German. Recent research has increasingly apprehended the system of linking elements in standard German. These systematical and functional aspects are introduced first. By means of an empirical study of lexicalized nominal compounds, this paper then examines the variation of the linking element -s- and zero linking element as well as other types of compositional stem forms (Gäul-s-bauer, Vögel-s-beere, April-a-narr) in the East Franconian dialect. We show that the distribution of linking elements in our study area is not only based on functional aspects, such as morphological complexity (Getreid-s-gabel vs. Treid-ø-gabel), but on diatopical preference as well. Language maps illustrate that the linking-s is more frequent in the northern part of our study area.

Der Beitrag präsentiert ein Kooperatlonsprojekt der Forschungsabteilung ,,Variation und Wandel des Deutschen in österreich,, (VaWaDiö) (eCUg_ ÖeW) mit dem Phonogrammarchiv (phA) der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW). Im Fokus dieses projekts steht die Aufbereitung des Korpus ,,Österreichische Dialektaufnahmen im 20. Jahrhundert,,, dessen Aufnahmen (auf Magnetband) die (basis)dialektalen Varietäten des 20. Jahr_ hunderts in ÖsterreÍch repräsentieren. Im Rahmen des projekts wÍrd das Ton-und Dokumentationsmaterial erstmals vollstándig digitalisiert und erschlossen. Der Beitrag geht auf den wert dieser einmaligen Daten gerade für die sprachwissenschaftliche Forschung ein. The article presents a cooperation project ofthe research department ,,Vari ation and Change of German in Austria,, (VawaDiö) (ACDH-öAW) and the Phonogrammarchiv (PhA), both Austrian Academy of Sciences. The project focuses on the digitization and (pre)processing of the corpus 'Austrian Dia-Iect Recordings from the 2Oth Century,,, a corpus ofaudio recordings on mag_ netic tape that capture the base dialects of German in Austria in the 20th century. In our project, ali audio recordings and documentary materials will be fully digitized and utilized. The article also highlights the imporrance of these unique data for linguistlc research.

In the Bavarian dialect the neuter interrogative pronoun was 'what' is also used as a comparative particle, e.g. was frischers sichst nie was a Pfersibaamblüh 'you will never see anything fresher than peach blossom'. Previous attempts to explain the origin of this usage have proven unsuccessful. While being unknown to other German dialects, it mirrors the general comparative particle construction found in Romance languages. This remarkable typological affinity is assessed. In particular, attention is drawn towards the areal linguistic convergence of Bavarian and neighbouring Rhaeto-Romance dialects. Finally, it is asked whether the Bavarian construction may have arisen through language contact with Romance. Because the Old Bavarian territory was for centuries part of the Roman Empire and was Germanised relatively late, this thesis gains a certain degree of plausibility. It is further strengthened by the fact that numerous other structural correspondences exist between Bavarian and the Romance languages.

This paper addresses the orthography of an Austrian dialect of German by utilizing various sets of lyrics for two songs produced within the Middle Bavarian dialect area. These lyrics were written out by human transcribers and posted essentially anonymously to the Internet for the benefit of other users. The paper compares these sets of lyrics to each other and to Standard German, providing a new methodology for examining written dialect data in this context, facilitating further phonological fieldwork with Middle Bavarian, and questioning political and ideological attitudes towards dialect in the 21st century.

This is a grammatical descriptive sketch of the Central Bavarian variety spoken in Ramsau am Dachstein in Austria. It focuses primarily on Phonology and Morphophonology.
Ramsau German is an endangered variety of Bavarian spoken by fewer than 600 elderly people in the village of Ramsau am Dachstein in Austria.

The study presented is composed of three parts:
1) a methodological overview and short research of the hydronymy of northeast Bavaria and the Cheb district;
2) a revision of the current concept of the names of the waterways in the Cheb basin, in the Fichtel Mountains and the adjacent areas (for a great majority of the hydronyms, there a Germanic or early German origin is anticipated, and the whole area is therefore considered by linguists as an inseparable part of the Germanic-Old-German communication area with a long-term linguistic continuity, uninterrupted even by a Slavic intervention);
3) a comparison of the spatial distribution of the Germanic-German and Slavic hydronyms with the expanison of row burial grounds of the Carolingian-Ottonian period.

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V posledních dvou desetiletích vzrůstá obecná debata o vztahu archeologie a jazykovědy. Při studiu některých období se dokonce ozývají hlasy, že další pokrok v archeologickém poznání se neobejde bez vazby na moderní jazykovědné koncepty. Pro raný středověk je v tomto ohledu živě diskutováno mj. šíření slovanského jazyka, které nebylo zcela totožné se šířením různých forem identit, jež zachycují písemné a archeologické prameny. Předkládaný článek se věnuje dílčímu problému, konkrétně (1) sleduje vzájemné rozšíření hydronym germánsko-časně německého a slovanského původu v severovýchodním Bavorsku a na Chebsku, (2) kriticky diskutuje stávající etymologie, (3) upozorňuje na rozdílnou geografickou distribuci slovanských místních jmen a hydronym, (4) sleduje vztah mezi tzv. kostrovými pohřebišti karolinsko-otonského období a slovanskými hydronymy. Celkový obraz, který současná toponomastika nabízí, lze vysvětlit tím, že slovanský jazyk nebyl realizován rovnoměrně ve všech jazykových doménách, personálních sítích a mluvčími všech sociálních vrstev/ranků. Z toho důvodu lze sice konstatovat souběžnou realizaci slovanského i germánsko-časně německého jazyka v oblasti kostrových pohřebišť v raném středověku, ale určení, jaká konkrétní populace byla v jakém jazyce dominantní, není možné. Nicméně, v rámci aktuálních sociolingvistických konceptů lze považovat za prokázané, že slovanský jazyk se v severovýchodním Bavorsku šířil - alespoň zčásti - migrací slovanských mluvčích do oblastí, kde byla sociálně dominantním jazykem germánština/raná němčina.

The paper presents the first publication of the still unexplored sermon on the Incarnation of the Divine Word preserved in the single known manuscript of the early 14th century (Cgm 176, Munic, Bavarian State Library), written in the Eastern Middle Bavarian dialect and containing a rich collection of Franciscan devotional prose. On the basis of the revealed parallels in the two German tactates included in the discussed MS and attibuted to David of Augsburg (f1272) it is argued that the sermon originated within Franciscan circle in Regensburg. Nevertheless, it had been copied from an unknown collection which stood apart from the mainstream manuscript tradition of Davidian text corpus.

To date, there has been limited empirical research on complementizer agreement (CA). We investigate CA drawing on a corpus of 144 speakers from 13 locations across Austria that was elicited through computer supported language production experiments and recorded in conversations. We investigate the linguistic factors that govern the occurrence of CA, as well as its areal distribution. We further explore the role of CA in speakers' linguistic repertoires. The study finds evidence for the hypothesis that the (non-)occurrence of CA is strongly dependent on the structure of its host-ing C-elements and finds regional patterns. It also identifies CA as a phenomenon which speakers place in a non-standard register. We use the collected data to test a theory of the emergence of CA from clitic pronouns for Bavarian varieties of German.

Horizontale sowie vertikale Variation und Wandel adnominaler Possessivkonstruktionen in ländlichen Gebieten Österreichs werden im vorliegenden Beitrag auf Basis eines einzigartigen Korpus bestehend aus "freieren" und "kontrollierteren" Daten untersucht. Es zeigt sich, dass die Wahl der Possessivvarianten maßgeblich durch intra-sowie extralinguistische Parameter gesteuert wird. Substantivklasse und Situation erweisen sich als besonders entscheidende Faktoren für Variation. This paper investigates horizontal as well as vertical variation and change of adnominal possessive constructions in rural areas in Austria. The analyses are based on a unique corpus consisting of more "free" and more "controlled" data. Intra-as well as extralinguistic parameters control the choice of possessive variants. The nominal realisation of the possessor as well as the situational context turn out to be particularly determinant factors of variation.

In the Austrian sociolinguistic context, ›Umgangssprache‹ is a notoriously difficult because highly complex term and concept, both among linguists and laypersons. This article presents a questionnaire study that aims to provide insights into how laypeople use and conceptualize the term, and which terms they use alternatively for speech levels ranging ›in-between‹ the local dialects and Standard German. Results indicate that the term is actively used primarily in the sense of ›regional intermediate speech form‹, but also that the very concept of ›Umgangssprache‹ and its frequency of use differ between the two main Austrian dialect areas (Bavarian and Alemannic). Furthermore, the subjective naming of a speech form is related to the perceived degree of dialectality.

The High German consonant shift affected all Old High German dialects to varying degrees; and Bavarian dialects partook in this sound change extensively. In this article, we first describe the phonetic and phonological properties as well as the diachronic development of the Germanic velar plosives from the Germanic consonant shift up to Old High German. Then, we showcase the possibilities for phonological research via the lexicographical online database of the Dictionary of Bavarian Dialects in Austria by analyzing the typological and phonotactic synchronic distribution of velar onset clusters in the Bavarian dialects of Austria and South Tyrol.

Much talk, especially by politicians, is generated in Bavaria about the importance of dialect in daily life, including the education sector. It is undisputed that language is an essential marker and constituent of identity, both for individuals and groups. For dialect/regional language speakers their own, non-standard variety can be a source of pride; often it is also a source for ridicule or stigmatisation by others who do not use this variety. This paper will firstly examine recent measures implemented by the Bavarian government in relation to Bavarian and Standard German and evaluate their success. Pan-European studies, such as the PISA tests, have highlighted that pupils from areas with distinct regional languages often score higher than those who mainly rely on varieties close to the standard. Such results are regarded as an affirmation of education and language policies which are pro-Bavarian. Secondly, in light of recent discussions, such as the suggestion of introducing a Ba...

This corpus-based study investigates a range of language-external and language-internal factors presumably responsible for the use of an apparent dialect feature alongside the dialect-standard axis in German. The focus is on definite articles used without the initial consonant (i.e. as, es, is, etc.). Those reduced articles are frequently used in the transitional area between Central and South Bavarian both in dialect as well as in communication settings that evoke intended standard language use. Whereas quantitative methods simply show a decay of frequency in the latter setting, a more detailed context analysis suggests that reduced articles are used systematically and functionally motivated: the investigation of noun phrases in ‘non-definite’ contexts show significantly higher shares of reduced article forms.

Dieser Artikel leistet einen Beitrag zur Diskussion über den linguistischen ,Dynamik‘-Begriff und legt auf dieser Basis eine evidenzbasierte Übersicht zu aktuellen mehrsprachigkeits- und interkulturalitätsbedingten Variations- und Veränderungsprozessen im Deutschen als Minderheitensprache vor. An authentischem Material von ungarndeutschen Siedlungsmundarten bairischer Prägung wird die intensive Dynamik nähesprachlichen oralen Varietätengebrauchs im Hinblick auf Vorgänge, Phänomene und Folgen der durchgreifenden Sprach- und Kulturkontakte auf verschiedenen Ebenen empirisch herausgearbeitet. Die Erschließung der Roh- bzw. dann der Primärdaten erfolgt im übergreifenden Beschreibungs- und Explikationsrahmen einer interkulturell-linguistisch orientierten Kontaktlinguistik und Sprachdynamikforschung und diagnostiziert einen gewissen Umbau des Systems. Als dessen Konsequenz werden die Konturen restrukturierter, quasi als „postbairisch“ anzusehender, lokaler Dialektausprägungen aufgezeigt.

Seit vielen Monaten ist Lorenz Beyer in München und Umgebung mit Feldforschungen unterwegs. Er untersucht für
seine Doktorarbeit die aktuellen Entwicklungen in der traditionellen Musik Oberbayerns bzw. Repertoires, die gleichzeitig
hybrid und bayrisch-territorial ausgerichtet sind – also das, was man neudeutsch gerne mit „crossover“ tituliert.