| Alsatian | |
|---|---|
| Elsässisch,Elsässerditsch | |
| Native to | France |
| Region | Alsace |
Native speakers | 900,000 (2013)[1] |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | France |
| Regulated by | No official regulation Officially promoted through the 'Office pour la Langue et les Cultures d’Alsace et de Moselle (OLCA)' (Office for the language and cultures of Alsace and Moselle), funded by theGrand Est region (formerly theAlsace region), and the departmental councils ofBas-Rhin andHaut-Rhin. |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | gsw |
| ISO 639-3 | gsw (withSwiss German) |
| Glottolog | swis1247 Central Alemannic |
| IETF | gsw-FR |
 Linguistic map of Alsace | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
| Part ofa series on |
| Alsace |
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 Rot un Wiss, traditional flag of Alsace |
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Alsatian (Alsatian:Elsässisch orElsässerditsch "Alsatian German";Lorraine Franconian:Elsässerdeitsch;French:Alsacien;German:Elsässisch orElsässerdeutsch) is the group ofAlemannic German and franconian dialects spoken in most ofAlsace, a formerly disputed region in eastern France that has passed between French and German control five times since 1681.
Alsatian is closely related to other nearbyAlemannic dialects, such asSwiss German,Swabian,Markgräflerisch,Kaiserstühlerisch and the other Alemannic dialects ofBaden. It is often confused withLorraine Franconian, a more distantly relatedFranconian dialect spoken in the northwest corner of Alsace and in neighbouringLorraine. Like other dialects and languages, Alsatian has also been influenced by outside sources. Words ofYiddish origin can be found in Alsatian, and modern conversational Alsatian includes adaptations of French words and English words, especially concerning new technologies.
Since 1992, the constitution of theFifth Republic states thatFrench is the official language of the Republic. However, Alsatian, along with otherregional languages, is recognized by theFrench government in the official list oflanguages of France. France is a signatory to theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages but has never ratified the law and has not given regional languages the support that would be required by the charter.
Alsatian has gone from being the prevalent language of the region to one in decline. A 1999INSEEsurvey counted 548,000 adult speakers of Alsatian inFrance, making it the second-most-spoken regional language in the country (afterOccitan). Like all regional languages in France, however, the transmission of Alsatian is declining. While 43% of the adult population of Alsace speaks Alsatian, its use has been largely declining amongst the youngest generations.
In 2023 local French public schools began offering Alsatian immersion for the first time. The programs have proven popular with students and parents but after years of official state suppression of the language, struggle to find enough teachers.[2]
A dialect of Alsatian German is spoken in the United States by a group known as theSwiss Amish, whose ancestors emigrated there in the middle of the 19th century. The approximately 7,000 speakers are located mainly inAllen County, Indiana, with "daughter settlements"[Note 1] elsewhere.[3]
| Majuscule forms | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Ä | À | Ë | É | È | Ì | Ö | Ü | Ù |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minuscule forms | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | ä | à | ë | é | è | ì | ö | ü | ù |
| IPA | /a/,/ə/ | /b̥/ | /k/,/ɡ̊/ | /d̥/ | /e/,/eː/,/ə/ | /f/ | /ɡ̊/ | /h/ | /i/ | /j/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/,/ŋ/ | /o/ | /p/ | /k/ | /ʁ/,/ʁ̞/,/ʀ/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /v/,/f/ | /ʋ/,/v/ | /ks/ | /ʏ/,/yː/,/ɪ/,/iː/ | /z/ | /ɛ/ | /ɑ/,/ɑː/ | /æ/ | /e/ | /ɛ/ | /ɪ/ | /ø/ | /y/ | /ʊ/ |
C,Q, andX are only used in loanwords.Y is also used in native words, but is more common in loanwords.
Orthal (Orthographe alsacienne)[4] is a revised orthography meant for use by all dialects of Alsatian promoted by theOffice pour la Langue et les Cultures d'Alsace et de Moselle (OLCA).[5]
The latest version (2016)[6] of Orthal is described below. Not all dialects are expected to use all letters & diacritics. For example, Owerlandisch from Southern Alsace primarily uses the additional vowel letters, Ä À Ì Ü.
Dialects from the north (Strasbourg region) make use of more letters including Ë, Ö, Ù and the diphthong ÈI.
In general the principles of Orthal are to:
The vowels are pronounced short or long based on their position in the syllable besides the letter type.
A vowel at the end of a syllable, without a subsequent consonant, is a long vowel "V" = Long Vowel (LV). e.g., hà, sì
A vowel followed by a single consonant in a syllable is pronounced as a long vowel "V + C" = Long Vowel (LV). e.g., Ros
Note – A vowel followed by several consonants ("V + C + C") in a syllable is pronounced as a Short Vowel. e.g., Ross
| Majuscule forms | A | Ä | À | E | É | È | Ë | I | Ì | O | Ö | U | Ü | Ù |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minuscule forms | a | ä | à | e | é | è | ë | i | ì | o | ö | u | ü | ù |
| IPA | /a/ | /ɛ/ | /ɑ~ɒ/ | /e/,/ə/ | /e/ | /ɛ/ | /æ/ | /i/ | /ɪ/ | /o/ | /ø/ | /u/ | /y/ | /ʊ/ |
| Majuscule forms | A , AH, AA | À , ÀH, ÀÀ | Ä , ÄH | E , EH, EE | Ë , ËH | È , ÈÈ ÈH | I , II, IH | Ì , ÌH | O , OO, OH | Ö , | U , UU, UH | Ü ,ÜÜ, ÜH | Ù , ÙÙ, ÙH | Œ | UE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | /aː/ | /ɒː/ | /ɛː/ | /eː/ | /æː/ | /ɛː/ | /iː/ | /ɪː/ | /oː/ | /øː/ | /uː/ | /yː/ | /ʊː/ | /œː/ | /ʏ/ |
Alsatian has a set of 19 consonants:
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Stop | b̥ | d̥ | ɡ̊,kʰ | ||||
| Affricate | pf | ts | tʃ | ||||
| Fricative | f,v | s | ʃ | ç | (x) | ʁ | h |
| Approximant | ʋ | l | j |
Three consonants are restricted in their distribution:/kʰ/ and/h/ only occur at the beginning of a word or morpheme, and then only if followed immediately by a vowel;/ŋ/ never occurs at the beginning of a word or morpheme.
Alsatian, like some German dialects, haslenited allobstruents but[k]. Itslenes are, however,voiceless as in all Southern German varieties. Therefore, they are here transcribed/b̥/,/d̥/,/ɡ̊/. Speakers of French tend to hear them as their/p,t,k/, which also are voiceless and unaspirated.
The phoneme/ç/ has a velar allophone[x] after back vowels (/u/,/o/,/ɔ/, and/a/ in those speakers who do not pronounce this as[æ]), and palatal[ç] elsewhere. In southern dialects, there is a tendency to pronounce it/x/ in all positions, and in Strasbourg the palatal allophone tends to conflate with the phoneme/ʃ/. A labiodental voiced fricative/v/ sound is also present as well as an approximant/ʋ/ sound./ʁ/ may have phonetic realizations as[ʁ],[ʁ̞], and[ʀ].
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | y | u | |
| Near-close | ɪ | ʏ | ʊ | |
| Close-mid | e | ø | (ə) | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | œ | ɔ | |
| Open | æ | a | ɑ~ɒ | |
Short vowels:/ʊ/,/o/,/ɒ/,/a/ ([æ] in Strasbourg),/ɛ/,/ɪ/,/i/,/y/.
Long vowels:/ʊː/,/oː/,/ɒː/,/aː/,/ɛː/,/eː/,/iː/,/yː/
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Alsatian nouns inflect by case, gender and number:
| English | Southern Alsatian (Haut-Rhin) | Northern Alsatian (Bas-Rhin) | High Alemannic (Swiss German) | Standard German | Swabian German | Luxembourgish | Pennsylvania German | Standard French |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| house | 's Hüss | s' Hüs | Huus | Haus | Hous | Haus | Haus | maison |
| loud | lütt | lüt | luut | laut | lout | haart | laut | bruyant |
| people | d' Litt | d' Lit | Lüt | Leute | Leid | Leit | Leit | gens/peuple |
| today | hìtt | hit | hüt | heute | heid | haut | heit | aujourd'hui |
| beautiful | scheen | scheen | schö(n) | schön | sche | schéin | schee | beau |
| Earth | d' Arda | d' Erd | Ärd(e) | Erde | Erd | Äerd | Erd | terre |
| Fog | d'r Nawel | de Näwwel | Näbel | Nebel | Nebl | Niwwel | Newwel | brouillard |
| water | 's Wàsser | 's Wàsser | Wasser | Wasser | Wasser | Waasser | Wasser | eau |
| man | d'r Mànn | de Mànn | Maa | Mann | Mà | Mann | Mann | homme |
| to eat | assa | esse | ässe | essen | essa | iessen | esse | manger |
| to drink | trìnka | trinke | trinkche | trinken | trenka | drénken | drinke | boire |
| little | klei | klein/klaan/klëën | chl(e)i | klein | kloi | kleng | glee | petit,petite |
| child | 's Kìnd | 's Kind | Chind | Kind | Kind | Kand | Kind | enfant |
| day | d'r Tàg | de Dàà | Dag | Tag | Dàg | Dag | Daag | jour |
| woman | d' Fràui | d' Frau | Frou/Frau | Frau | Frau | Fra | Fraa | femme |
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