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Low Alemannic German
Niederalemannisch
Native to	Germany[1]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Elbe Germanic Upper German Alemannic[1] Low Alemannic German
Writing system	Latin (German alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	lowa1241
Areas where Alemannic German dialects are spoken   Low Alemannic

Low Alemannic German (German:Niederalemannisch) is a branch ofAlemannic German, which is part ofUpper German. Its varieties are only partly intelligible to non-Alemannic speakers.

• Lake Constance Alemannic (de)
  • NorthernVorarlberg (de)
  • Allgäu dialect (de)
  • Baar dialect
  • SouthernWürttemberg
• Upper Rhenish Alemannic (de)
  • Basel German
  • Baden dialects north ofMarkgräflerland
  • Alsatian, spoken inAlsace, in some villages of thePhalsbourg county inLorraine and by someAmish inIndiana
  • Low Alemannic dialects in theBlack Forest^[2]
  • Colonia Tovar dialect,Venezuela

The feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic fromHigh Alemannic is the retention of Germanic /k/, for instancekalt 'cold' vs. High Alemannicchalt.^{[citation needed]}

The feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic fromSwabian is the retention of theMiddle High Germanmonophthongs, for instanceHuus 'house' vs. SwabianHous orZiit 'time' vs. SwabianZejt.^{[citation needed]}

Voiced obstruents do not occur, as is typical forUpper German dialects.

¹/x/ is palatalized as [ç] after front vowels in the northern varieties (like in Standard German) but kept as [x] in southern varieties. Diverging from Standard German /x/ is not palatalized after /r/, a feature shared with other alemannic varieties.

²/r/ is most commonly pronounced as [ʁ].

³ /pʰ/ and /tʰ/ don't occur in autochthonous vocabulary but are used by speakers in differing frequency when using words from Standard German or speaking in more formal registers.

There exists no official orthography and authors use different kinds of orthographies for their work.

(All of the below is specific to the dialects spoken near Freiburg im Breisgau)

Vowels:

Consonants:

Are as in Standard German, with the following notes:

• kh is an aspirated[kʰ]
• ng is a velar nasal[ŋ]
• ngg is a velar nasal followed by a velar plosive[ŋɡ]
• ph is an aspirated[pʰ]
• th is an aspirated[tʰ]
• s is always voiceless [s] or [z̥]
• b, d and g are voiceless [b̥], [d̥] and [g̊].

Definite Article

Indefinite Article

Plurals

• Class I: Plural = Singular (e.g.Ääber →Ääber)
• Class II: Plural = Singular + Umlaut (e.g.Baum →Baim;Vader →Väder)
• Class IIIa: Plural = Singular +-e (e.g.Man →Mane;Ags →Agse)
• Class IIIb: Plural = Singular +-̈e (e.g.Frosch →Fresche)
• Class IVa: Plural = Singular +-er (e.g.Lyyb →Lyyber;Schùg →Schùger)
• Class IVb: Plural = Singular +-̈er (e.g.Wald →Wälder;Blad →Bleder)
• Class V: No Plural (e.g.Chees;Zemänd)
• Class VI: No Singular (Plural Only) (e.g.Bilger;Fèèrine)

Diminutives

• Standard ending is-li (e.g.Aimer →Aimerli)
• If the word ends in-l, then the ending is-eli (e.g.Dääl →Dääleli)
• If the word ends in-el, then the ending is-i (e.g.Degel →Degeli)
• If the word ends in-e, remove the-e and add-li (e.g.Bèère →Bèèrli)
• The rules for this can be quite complex and depend on the region. Sometimes diminutives require umlaut, other times not.

Weak Declension

Strong Declension

Comparative

• Standard ending -er (e.g. fèin → fèiner)

Superlative

• Standard ending -(e)schd (e.g. fèin → fèinschd)

Irregular

Personal Pronouns

1. Infinitive

Infinitive ends in -e

• Some monosyllabic verbs do not have this ending (e.g. chùù, döe, goo, gschää, haa, loo, nee, sää, schdoo, schlaa, syy, zie, etc.)

2. Participle

2.1 Prefix

• The prefix for g- or ge-
• Before b, d, g, bf, dsch, and z is merged into the word and not visible (e.g. broochd, glaubd, etc.)

2.2 Suffix

• Strong Verbs end in -e (e.g. gäse, glofe)
• Weak Verbs end in -d or -ed (e.g. bùzd, gchaufd)

2.3 Types

2.3.1 Infinitive and Present Sg y/èi/ai - Participle i
2.3.1.1 y > i (e.g. abwyyse > abgwiise)
2.3.1.2 èi > i (e.g. verzèie > verziie)
2.3.1.3 ai > i (e.g. schaide > gschiide)
2.3.2 Infinitive and Present Sg ie/u/au/èi/i - Participle o/öu/öe
2.3.2.1 ie > o (e.g. biede > bode)
2.3.2.2 u > o (e.g. sufe > gsofe)
2.3.2.3 au > o (e.g. laufe > glofe)
2.3.2.4 èi > öu (e.g. rèie > gröue)
2.3.2.5 ie > öe (e.g. riefe > gröefe)
2.3.2.5 i > o (e.g. wiige > gwooge)
2.3.3 Infinitive and Present Sg i - Participle ù
2.3.3.1 i > u (e.g. binde > bùnde)
2.3.4 Infinitive ä/e - Present i - Participle o/u
2.3.4.1 ä - i - o (e.g. bräche > broche)
2.3.4.2 ä - i - u (e.g. hälfe > ghùlfe)
2.3.4.3 e/è - i - o (e.g. verdèèrbe > verdoorbe)
2.3.4.4 e - i - ù (e.g. schmelze > gschmùlze)
2.3.5 Infinitive ä/i - Present i - Participle ä
2.3.5.1 ä - i - ä (e.g. äse > gäse)
2.3.5.2 i - i - ä (e.g. bide > bäde)
2.3.6 Infinitive Vowel is the same as the Participle
2.3.5.1 (e.g. bache > bache; fale > gfale)

3. Conjugation
3.1 Present Tense3.1.1 Regular Verb

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