Baden Language and Handwriting: Difference between revisions

In [http://www.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/Mundarten_in_Baden-Wuerttemberg/85836.html Baden] two [http://www.villa-reitzenstein.de/de/Mundarten_in_Baden-Wuerttemberg/85836.html traditional dialects] are spoken: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Franconian Frankish (also called Franconian)] in the north and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Alemannic Alemannic] in the south. It is beyond the scope of this short article to outline all the features of these two dialects. However, we may mention a few items, especially those that might appear in old records. In the realm of pronunciation, we find [sh] in some words where Standard German has [s], e.g. ''fescht ''for ''fest''. We also find the ''ich''-sound [ç] at the beginning of words where Standard German has only [k]. Therefore, the researcher might see in a record ''Kind ''spelled as ''Khind''. Although this spelling is indicative of Switzerland today, in the past it was found much further north, i.e. in Baden. In morphology, the southern German dialects have very distinctive features that are still common today. The diminutive suffix ''–l, -le, -li ''is common, such as in ''Häusli'', 'little/dear house.' This suffix can also be attached to names, e.g. ''Hänsel ''and ''Gretel'', and ''Stückl ''as a surname. This is one of the most indicative features of southern German and the researcher should be aware of this.  

Although the linked article is not dedicated to any dialect in particular, it does contain some [[Spelling Variants in German Documents|variant spellings]] that the researcher might encounter in Baden research.

For further reading</u> <br>Noble. C.A.M. ''Modern German Dialects''. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. 1983.<br>König, Werner. ''dtv-Atlas zur deutschen Sprache''. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. 1989.<br>Russ, Charles V.J. ''The Dialects of Modern German''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1989.<br>Keller, R. E. ''German Dialects''. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1961.<br>