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The dialect ranges from a 'standard' Swabian, spoken in Stuttgart , to slightly differing and 'thicker' forms found in smaller towns in the countryside. Older people can often tell the exact village a person comes from merely by hearing his or her accent.

Swabian is difficult to understand for speakers of Standard German . It contains vocabulary that differs altogether from Standard German (eg. 'jam' in Standard German is ''Marmelade'' while in Swabian it becomes ''Gsälz'', or small towns such as Gengenbach, "schlecksle").


CHARACTERISTICS


Linguistic

Characteristics (in comparison to Standard German) include:
  • The Middle High German Monophthong s ''î'' and ''û'' have become and [ , not and [ .

  • the ending "-et" for verbs in the 3rd person plural

  • as in other Alemannic dialects, the pronunciation of "s" before consonants as {Link without Title} (e.g. ''Fest'' 'party' is pronounced as ''Fescht'')

  • the diminutive ending "-le" (spoken very quickly, e.g. ''Haus'' may become ''Häusle'', ''Bisschen'' may become ''Bissle'') and "-la" for plurals (e.g. ''Spätzle'' becomes ''Spätzla'')




SOUND

The Swabian dialect is spoken with a unique Melody that is also present when swabian native speakers talk in Standard German .


VARIATION

The Swabian dialect is composed of numerous sub-dialects, each of which has its own variations. These sub-dialects can be categorized by the difference in the formation of the past participle of 'sein' (to be) into ''gwä'' and ''gsi.'' The Gsi groupe is nearer to other Alemannic Dialects , such as Swiss German .

There is also a big difference between Swabian German spoken by Catholics and the Swabian spoken by Protestants.


SWABIAN DIALECT WRITERS



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