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Hunsrückisch is aGerman dialect spoken in theHunsrück region ofGermany (Rhineland-Palatinate). This mountainous region of Germany has long been an exporter ofemigrants toBrazil,United States,Canada,Australia and other parts of the world.^{[citation needed]}

Hunsrückisch was spoken inEdgar Reitz's acclaimed television seriesHeimat.

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Whilst the Hunsrück region of Germany is well-defined, the distribution of Hunsrückisch itself is less so. On the one hand, the dialect extends beyond the Hunsrück area, but there are clear linguistic differences between the Hunsrückisch spoken in one locality and in another, and no uniform form of the dialect exists. That is made more difficult by the lack of written resources for the dialect. Since the 1990s, there has been an ongoing attempt to more scientifically document local dialects in theMittelrheinischer Sprachatlas. TheRheinisches Wörterbuch entries of 1928–1971 have also been fully digitalised since then by theUniversity of Trier.^[1]

As with almost all German dialects, the Hunsrückische dialect can be subdivided into many small local dialects, which each village having its own strand. The small-scale divisions of this linguistic area stem from how kingdoms in the Hunsrück area were often divided with borders that even cut through villages. The religious divisions in the predominantly protestant or catholic areas also contributed towards this linguistic separation.

A considerable and accelerated reversal of the active use of the Hunsrückisch dialect has also been noted. Younger generations sometimes no longer speak dialect and rarely understand unique words pertinent to that dialect. Societies dedicated to preserving local culture and history, as well as individuals themselves, have been trying to stem this trend via modern communication and documentation methods.

There is a variation of the dialect in southern Brazil and in the southeastern state of Espírito Santo (municipalities of Marechal Floriano, Domingos Martins and Santa Leopoldina), namedHunsrik.

Throughout its almost 200-year history in southern Brazil and Espírito Santo, Hunsrückisch has been greatly influenced by other German dialects such asEast Pomeranian,Swabian, andAustro-Bavarian; by other immigrant languages; and byPortuguese. ThroughBrazilian Portuguese, it has also incorporatedAmerindian terminology, notably for fauna, flora and toponyms.

Brazilian Hunsrik is spoken in the states ofRio Grande do Sul, the nearby state ofSanta Catarina, in other parts of southern Brazil likeParaná, and in the Southeast region such asEspírito Santo andSão Paulo. It's the second most spoken language in Brazil, after Portuguese.

Hunsrückisch can roughly be classed under two dialect sub-groups. The first of these is theRhenish Franconian languages, for Hunsrückisch spoken from theNahe (Rhine) until approximately just beyondKastellaun. The second of these groups isMoselle Franconian, for Hunsrückisch spoken between Kastellaun andMoselle. The main linguistic characteristic which separates these two groups of Hunsrückisch is thedat/das divide. In the North, such as inIdar-Oberstein,Gemünden,Kirchberg, andBoppard, the definite article is pronounceddat. Roland Martin states, however, that a more important division between the groups is his proposedBad SobernheimIsogloss which focuses on the east and west. To the east, one hearsHerrd (Hirte, "shepherd)",Gorrjel (Gurgel, "throat"), andRerre (Räder, "wheels"), whereas to the westHeerd, Goorjel, andRierer are heard. Insertion of anepenthetic [ə] or [i] also occurs, withDorf (village) becomingDooref,Kirche (church) becomingKeerisch, andBerg (mountain) becomingBeerisch.

Georg Diener references other phonetic differences in different isoglosses. For example, in the west of Hunsrücko andeu are used, withu andau being used in the region east of theMastershausen-Buch-Mannebach-Nörtershausen line:Bruure (Bruder, "brother"),Hau (Heu, "hay"). In the near east such as inBubach, but not inSimmern,r is also pronounced as anapical consonant.

In Hunsrückischd/t is often replaced withr, such as inPeere forPeter, orFäärerre forFedern (feathers). When appearing between two vowelsg is not pronounced, henceAue (Augen "eyes") andsaan (sagen "to say"). The dialect is also notable for its openness of the mouth when being spoken, as evident in a local saying from Bubach:

• Hunsrückisch:Bräämerre: Et git kä brärer Blaad as en bräd, bräd Bräämerreblaad.
• Standard German: Brombeeren: Es gibt kein breiteres Blatt als ein breites, breites, Brombeerblatt.
• English: There is no wider leaf than a wide, wide, blackberry leaf.

The grammatical rules of Hunsrückisch resemble those of Standard German.

In contrast to the Standard language,Bach (stream) andSalat (salad) are feminine and not masculine—die Bach,die Salaad instead ofder Bach, der Salat. FemininedieBrille (glasses) anddie Butter become masculinede Brill andde Bodder in Hunsrückisch.^[2]

Female referents are usually of the masculine gender, such asde Marri (Maria),de Suffi (Sophia).Die Fraa (Frau "woman") becomes neuter, like indat Fraamensch (lit. "the woman-human"), when appended with -mensch. Diminutives of women's names are also neuter like in Standard German—dat Kattche (Katharina)—but are also often complemented with the name of the locality in which they reside, or with a family name.

In Hunsrückisch theperfect tenses are predominantly used. Thepreterite is reserved for only a small number of verbs, such assaht (sagte "said") andfung (fing, "caught"). Conjugation largely occurs on the basis of Standard German conjugation.

As is extant in Standard German, theNominative,Accusative, andDative are present in Hunsrückisch. Thegenitive case, as often comes to be in German dialects, is not used and is replaced with the dative plus a form of the third-person personal pronoun. Thusdessen Bruder becomesdämm seine Brorer.

In all cases except one, plural formation is identical to that of Standard German. The only exception occurs when the Standard German plural form is-en, in which case the plural in Hunsrückisch is-e.

• die Zeitung, die Zeitungen (the newspaper, the newspapers) >die Zeidung, die Zeidunge.

A number of words occur in Hunsrückisch which are either not found in Standard German, or occur rarely/in different contexts in Standard German.

Because of its proximity toFrance, the Hunsrückisch dialect spoken in theHunsrück region has experienced unique influences from the neighbouringFrench through the centuries.^{[citation needed]} During Napoleonic times, the Hunsrück region was briefly incorporated into France.

• Hunsrücker Platt, an A-Z of common Hunsrückisch words and phrases (as spoken in the village ofHundheim) and their standard German equivalents, as compiled byAchim Berg.

• Central German languages
• German dialects
• Hunsrück

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