Upper Saxon German

Upper Saxon German
Upper Saxon
Spoken in Germany
Region Saxony
Language family
Language codes
ISO 639-3 sxu

Upper Saxon (German: Obersächsisch or colloquially Sächsisch) is a Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern German states of Saxony and Thuringia. Contrary to its name it is not a descendant of Old Saxon. The degree of accent varies from place to place within the states, with it being anywhere from a relatively mild accent in the larger cities such as Dresden or Chemnitz, to a stronger form in rural areas. Erzgebirgisch, a distinct dialect, is spoken in the villages of the Ore Mountains. Upper Saxon German includes nordwestböhmisch.[1][2]

The most notable distinguishing feature of the dialect is that the letters o and u are pronounced as centralized vowels ([ɵ] and [ʉ], which are also used in Swedish, for instance). Speakers of other German dialects that do not have these sounds tend to perceive these sounds as being ö [ø] and ü [y] respectively. For example, they hear [ʔæʉs] 'out' as if written aüs (Standard aus [ʔaʊs]) and [ˈʔɵːma] 'grandma' as if written Öma (Standard Oma [ˈʔoːma]). Front rounded vowels are pronounced as non-rounded (ö = [eː], ü = [iː]). Final -er is pronounced [ɚ],[citation needed] which speakers of other German dialects tend to hear as [oː]; e.g. [ˈheː(h)ɚ] 'higher' (Standard [ˈhøːɐ] höher) is misheard as if written he(h)o.

The Upper Saxon dialects outside the Ore Mountains can be easily recognized by the supposed "softening" of the voiceless stop consonants /p/, /t/ and /k/. Speakers of other dialects hear these as if they were "b", "d" and "g" respectively. In reality, these are merely non-aspirated versions of the same /p/, /t/ and /k/, a widespread feature among Central German dialects, as opposed to strongly aspirated [pʰ], [tʰ] and [kʰ] in dominant German dialects.

See also

References

  1. ^ Ludwig Erich Schmitt (Hrsg.): Germanische Dialektologie. Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 143
  2. ^ http://web.uni-marburg.de/sprache-in-hessen/flash/dt.swf

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Upper Saxon Circle — The Upper Saxon Circle ( de. Obersächsischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, created in 1512.The circle was dominated by the two electorates of Brandenburg and Saxony. Composition The circle was made up of the… …   Wikipedia

  • North Upper Saxon — Spoken in Germany Region Saxony, Saxony Anhalt, Brandenburg Language family Indo European Germanic …   Wikipedia

  • Saxon language — may refer to:* Low Saxon, Low German , the family of language varieties originating in Northern Germany and parts of the Netherlands ** Old Saxon, the ancestor language of Low Saxon * Old English language, Anglo Saxon , the ancestor of modern… …   Wikipedia

  • Saxon-Thuringian Dialect — Thuringian is an Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia. It is close to Upper Saxon German. It is one of the Central German dialects with the highest number of speakers …   Wikipedia

  • German language — German Deutsch Pronunciation [ˈdɔʏtʃ] Spoken in Primarily in German speaking Europe, as a minority language and amongst the German diaspora worldwide …   Wikipedia

  • German dialects — Distribution of the native speakers of major continental West Germanic dialects today[citation needed](Dialects of the following standard languages: Dutch, German and Frisian). The colours in this map do not reflect the actual relationship… …   Wikipedia

  • German Literature — • History starting with the pre Christian period to 800 A.D Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. German Literature     German Literature      …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Saxon — German Ger man, n.; pl. {Germans}[L. Germanus, prob. of Celtis origin.] 1. A native or one of the people of Germany. [1913 Webster] 2. The German language. [1913 Webster] 3. (a) A round dance, often with a waltz movement, abounding in capriciosly …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • German — Ger man, n.; pl. {Germans}[L. Germanus, prob. of Celtis origin.] 1. A native or one of the people of Germany. [1913 Webster] 2. The German language. [1913 Webster] 3. (a) A round dance, often with a waltz movement, abounding in capriciosly… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • East Central German — is the non Franconian sub group of Central German dialects, themselves part of High German: *Thuringian *Upper Saxon German *South Markish is a dialect of Berlin Brandenburg, whose best known form is the Berlinisch dialect of Berlin. The notable… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”