Rhinelandic regiolect

Last updated

The terms Rhinelandic, Rhenish, and Rhinelandic regiolect refer to the vernacular lect spoken in the so-called Rhineland of West Germany. This linguistic region is approximately formed of the West of North Rhine-Westphalia, the North of Rhineland-Palatinate and several smaller adjacent areas, including some areas in neighbouring countries.

Contents

Although there is such a thing as a Rhinelandic accent, and the regiolect uses it, the Rhinelandic variety is not simply German spoken with an accent. Indeed, it differs from Standard German in several thousand [1] commonly used additional words, phrases, and idioms, and some grammatical constructions. Like other German regiolects, there is not a strict definition of what constitutes Rhinelandic; it can be spoken in a way very close to the standard idiom, but if locals talk to each other, it is mostly unintelligible to inhabitants of other German-speaking regions.[ citation needed ]

Linguists classify the Rhinelandic regiolect as a dialectal variety of Standard German having a strong substratum of the many diverse local community languages of the Rhineland. [2] As such, it occupies a middle position between the group of older West Central German languages, and Low Franconian languages spoken in the Rhineland, and the newer Standard German. The latter has only been brought into the area recently, under the Prussian reign, when local speakers merged many common properties and words of their local languages into the standard language. Thus a new regiolect formed, which in many respects follows the conventions of Standard German, but at the same time continues local linguistic traditions, making it comprehensible in a much wider area than the original local languages. Nevertheless, it still reflects differences inside the dialect continuum of the Rhineland, since speakers often prefer distinct words, styles or linguistic forms depending on the subregion they come from. [3]

Scientific recognition and documentation

Differing across subregions of the Rhineland, and continually evolving, the Rhinelandic regiolect is not easily formalized. Though spoken by millions, it is rarely written down, which hampers scientific treatment. It has long been regarded as 'sheer colloquial speech' by the scientific community, valued too low to be subject of serious recognition and research. Only recently [4] has it shifted into the focus of empirical research of some linguists. Most notably, the linguistics department of the Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte (Institute for Regional Studies and History, former: Amt für Rheinische Landeskunde (ARL) – Office of Rhinelandic Regional Knowledge and Documentation) of the Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR) has contributed to that work.

Scientists of today's Landschaftsverband have observed, documented, and researched lingual development in the Rhine Province, and lately the Rhineland, for about two hundred years. During the past decades, they have published several studies of the current regiolect, as well as scientific books and papers, popular science books, articles and essays. Some of their findings are available on the internet. [5] They regularly make surveys based on printed questionnaires which more recently can also be obtained and submitted via e-mail. These surveys are supplemented, extended, and updated by use of their interactive website Mitmachwörterbuch der rheinischen Umgangssprache [6] (Cooperative Dictionary of the Rhinelandic Colloquial Language) since 2007.

Literature on colloquialisms and colloquial German generally lists words and phrases coming from the Rhineland, marking their regional provenience appropriately. [7]

Despite obviously not having heen created for this purpose and not including regiolect references at all, the well-known extensive multi-volume compendium Rheinisches Wörterbuch [8] is nevertheless usually very helpful for finding hints to the probable meanings of words of the Rhinelandic regiolect that cannot be determined from other sources. Many regiolectal words [9] come from, or are identical to, local language words which are documented in the Rheinisches Wörterbuch. They usually bear identical, related, or quite similar meanings. [10]

Grammatical and syntactical deviations from Standard German

RhinelandicPeteris-demManfredseinFarradamRepariern
Dutch [De]Peteris-[aan de]Manfredz'nfietsaan hetrepareren
Standard German [Der]Peter-repariert[des]Manfreds-Fahrrad--
English [The]Peterisfixing[of the]Manfred‘s-bike--

Aan de (archaic: den) is the literal Dutch translation of Rhinelandic dem as used with masculine nouns, not Standard German des as used with masculine nouns, which would be van de (archaic: des).

Rhinelandic-kommabeimich [11]
Standard German bittekommeeinmalzumir
English pleasecome-tome
Rhinelandicichbindatganzvergessen
Dutch ikbendathelemaalvergeten
Standard German ichhabeesvölligvergessen
English Ihaveitcompletelyforgotten
Rhinelandicichbindatganzvergessengewesen
Dutch ikwasdathelemaalvergeten-
Standard German ichhatteesvölligvergessen-
English Ihaditcompletelyforgotten-
RhinelandicIchhabdakein(e)Zeitfür-
Dutch Ikhebdaargeentijdvoor-
Standard German IchhabedafürkeineZeit--
English Ihave-notimeforthat
Rhinelandicduhasdenverschreck jemacht-
Dutch jehebthemlaten schrikken-
Standard German Duhastihnerschreckt-
English youhavescared or spookedhim
Rhinelandices/et/das/dat/de/dieLisaheiratgraad
Standard German [die]Lisaheiratetgerade
English [the]Lisamarriesat the moment
Rhinelandices/et/das/dat/de/dieLisaisamheiratn
Standard German [die]Lisaheiratetgerade
English [the]Lisaismarrying
Rhinelandicetkütt :Schmitz,dieSchmitz,un-etSchmitz
Standard German (literally)eskommt :derSchmitz,dieSchmitzund-dasSchmitz
(better)eskommendieEheleuteSchmitzmit-Tochter
English (literally)therecomes :the (masculine)Smith,the (feminine)Smith,and-the (neuter)Smith
(better)-coming are :Mr.andMrs. Smithwiththeirdaughter
Rhinelandic-hasse-schöngeputz,damussdeMamma-nichmehrbei[gehn]- [11]
Standard German dashastdu[so]gutgeputzt,  dass-ich-nicht[mehr]nacharbeitenmuss
English thishaveyou[so]nicelycleaned,  that-mom / Ineed[s]notany [more]rework-

Intermediate position between Standard German and broad dialect

The following exemplary sentences may show how the regiolect is related to both Standard German and the actual dialect (Kölsch in this case), and found to be in the middle between the two.

Kölsch DialectJetz setze mer uns_eesch_ens hen un drinke_uns_e Käffje.Dann sühd_et Levve att widder anders uß.Ärbeide künne mer emmer noch!
Rhenish RegiolectJetz setz'mer uns_ers'ma hin un trinken_uns_en Käffchen.Dann siehd_et Leben schonn wider anders_aus.Aabeiten köm_mer immer noch!
Standard GermanJetzt setzen wir uns erst mal hin und trinken einen Kaffee.Dann sieht das Leben schon wieder anders aus.Arbeiten können wir noch immer!
EnglishNow let's first sit down and have a cup of coffee.After that, life will look much better.Work can wait a while!

The example shows that the regiolect is based on Standard German. Thus, it uses ers'ma ("first") from the standard "erst mal" (vs. dialect: eesch ens), and schonn ("already") from the standard "schon" (vs. dialect: att or allt). With words common to both languages, vowel and consonant qualities are usually those of the standard (trinken instead of drinke; immer instead of emmer), as are the rules of morphology.

However, the strong dialectal influence is also evident: Word final t/d is often deleted after another consonant (jetz, un); there is a tendency towards vowel shortening (schonn, widder); some structure words come in the dialectal form (mer = "wir"; et = "es, das"); and words with an initial vowel are not separated from the preceding word by a glottal stop, but rather linked to it, like in English. (This is marked in the example by an underscore.) The regiolect also uses diminutives more often (Käffchen instead of "Kaffee"), and has borrowed from the dialect many syntactical constructions unknown in the standard, e.g. mer trinken uns (en Käffchen), literally "we drink (a coffee) to ourselves", meaning: "to drink something with ease and pleasure."

Another good example is the word "afternoon", for which the regiolect uses a form similar to the dialect, but has adapted a vowel and a consonant to the standard.

Kölsch DialectNommedach[ˈnɔməˌdax]
Rhenish RegiolectNammetach[ˈnaməˌtax]
Standard GermanNachmittag[ˈnaːxmɪˌtaːk]
Englishafternoon[ˌɑːftəˈnuːn]

The continuum Rhenish dialectsRhenish regiolectStandard German is comparable (however not wholly equal) to the continuum Scots (colloquial) Scottish English British Standard English in Lowland Scotland. The first end of the continuum is made up by the traditional regional language, which is closely related to the standard, but has had its independent development for several centuries; in both cases, it is alive, but losing ground in everyday communication, especially among younger people. The other end of the continuum is the supra-regional standard language used for example on national television. In between the two, we find the new common speech, which is based on the standard, but has a strong substratum from the traditional language.

Regional differences

The Rhinelandic regiolect has several regional and subregional features. Very many approximately coincide with the general dialect groups found in the local languages. For example:

EnglishGermanRhinelandic
(North)
Rhinelandic
(Center)
Rhinelandic
(South)
little jarGefäßKümpkenKümpche(n)Kimpche [12]

As usual, the Low Franconian area in the North uses their own way to build the diminutive. The Central Rhineland between the Benrath line and the Sankt Goar line usually has an intermediate position. In this instance, the South uses their own vocalism that already incorporates parts of the Palatinate German one, found even further South.

Rhinelandic influences on Standard German

Like other jargons and regional varieties, also the Rhinelandic is influencing the Vocabulary of the German Standard. Instances of more recent additions are:

A grammatical deviation too, the am-Progressive mentioned above, has invaded the colloquial speech of other parts of the German-speaking areas. Experts state that it can be seen as "almost standard language use in wide parts." [22]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Colognian or Kölsch is a small set of very closely related dialects, or variants, of the Ripuarian group of dialects of the Central German group. These dialects are spoken in the area covered by the Archdiocese and former Electorate of Cologne reaching from Neuss in the north to just south of Bonn, west to Düren and east to Olpe in northwest Germany.

Ripuarian language German dialect group

Ripuarian is a German dialect group, part of the West Central German language group. Together with the Moselle Franconian which includes the Luxembourgish language, Ripuarian belongs to the larger Central Franconian dialect family and also to the Rhinelandic linguistic continuum with the Low Franconian languages.

Rhinelandic

Rhinelandic is a term occasionally used for linguistic varieties of a region on both sides of the Middle and Lower Rhine river in Central West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It has at least two distinct meanings which often can only be determined from the fine grain context in which the term is used. One of the meanings of Rhinelandic is that of a group of local languages in an area called the Rhineland. Another meaning is that of the regiolect being used by the people approximately of the same area.

The Rheinische Dokumenta is a phonetic writing system developed in the early 1980s by a working group of academics, linguists, local language experts, and local language speakers of the Rhineland. It was presented to the public in 1986 by the Landschaftsverband Rheinland.

Lötzbeuren Municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Lötzbeuren is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

The Cooperative Dictionary of the Rhinelandic Colloquial Language, is a website that both documents and collects data on the current distinct variety of German used colloquially in the Rhineland region - where some 15 million speakers live.

Peter Honnen is a German linguist and specialist researcher of the languages of the Rhineland. He was born in Rheinhausen, Germany.

Bergish dialects Collective name for a group of West Germanic dialects

Bergish is a collective name for a group of West Germanic dialects spoken in the Bergisches Land region east of the Rhine in western Germany. The name is commonly used among its speakers, but is not of much linguistic relevance, because the varieties belong to several quite distinct groups inside the continental West Germanic dialect continuum. As usual inside a dialect continuum, neighbouring varieties have a high degree mutual intelligibility and share many similarities while the two more distant ones may be completely mutually unintelligible and considerably different. Therefore, speakers usually perceive the differences in their immediate neighbourhood as merely dialectal oddities of an otherwise larger, solid group or language that they are all part of, such as "Bergish". Bergish is itself commonly classified as a form of "Rhinelandic", which in turn is part of German. Bergish in a strict sense is the eastmost part of the Limburgish language group, which extends far beyond the rivers Rhine and Maas into the Netherlands and Belgium. Bergish in a strict sense is located in the North West. It combines Low Franconian properties with some Ripuarian properties and is seen as a transitory dialect between them in the dialect continuum of Dutch and German. The Bergish varieties in the northern areas are also referred to as parts of Meuse-Rhenish, which exclusively refers to the Low Franconian varieties, that are Limburgish including Bergish.

South Bergish or Upper Bergish is a group of German dialects of the Bergisches Land region East of the Rhine and approximately south of the Wupper and north of the Sieg. These dialects are part of the Ripuarian group and thus are also called East Ripuarian. Ripuarian dialects are also spoken west of the Rhine up to the German border, and in some small areas next to the respective borders in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Ripuarian Bergish dialects belong to the Middle German group, and thus are varieties of High German, where they belong to the northmost ones. In the North, they border to the Bergish dialects, which are part of the Low Franconian group like Dutch. Some of South Bergish is transitional with East Bergish.

East Bergish

East Bergish is a group of dialects of the Bergisches Land Region in western Germany. It combines features of the Westphalian group, the South Guelderish or Cleverlands group, and (predominantly) the Limburgish group, of which some of it is part of. South Guelderish covers much of the Lower Rhine area in Germany and extends into the Central Netherlands. It is a Low Franconian group, whereas Westphalian belongs to the Low German group. It is also seen as part of the larger Meuse-Rhenish language group. East Bergish is called Ostbergisch in German.

The Eifeler Regel is a linguistic phenomenon originally documented in the dialects of the Eifel region in the far west of Germany during the late 19th century. The rule describes a phonological process in the languages which causes the deletion of final in certain contexts, and may be reflected in spelling.

Adolf Kober

Adolf Kober was a rabbi and a historian.

Werner Eck is Professor of Ancient History at Cologne University, Germany, and a noted expert on the history and epigraphy of imperial Rome. His main interests are the prosopography of the Roman ruling class and the ancient city of Cologne, Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. He also researched the Bar Kokhba Revolt from the Roman point of view.

Gau Cologne-Aachen

The Gau Cologne-Aachen was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 in the north-central part of the Prussian Rhine Province. Before that, from 1931 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.

Jülich-Zülpich Börde Landscape in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The Jülich-Zülpich Börde is a landscape in the Rhineland in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the northern edge of the Eifel. It forms the western part of the Lower Rhine Bay, west of the Rhine, excluding the actual Cologne Lowland, from which it is separated by the ridge of the Ville. It is divided into the Jülich Börde around the town of Jülich in the north and the Zülpich Börde around the town of Zülpich in the south, the two areas being separated from one another by the Bürge forest. Both parts are natural region major units of the Lower Rhine Bay.

Dietrich Kämper is a German musicologist.

Udo Mainzer German art historian

Udo Mainzer is a German art historian and monument conservator. He held office until September 2011. as director of the LVR-Amt für Denkmalpflege im Rheinland and Landeskonservator of the Landschaftsverband Rheinland.

Central Dutch dialects are a group of dialects of the Dutch language from the Netherlands. They are spoken in Holland, Utrecht Province, Southern Gelderland, North Brabant and few parts of Limburg (Netherlands) and Friesland (Vlieland). It borders to Low Saxon without Gronings, Limburgish, Brabantian and Zeelandic. Urkers, Frisian and Frisian mixed varieties are geographically close, too. Mainly Hollandic-influenced Standard Dutch is spoken within the respective areas of East Flemish, West Flemish, West Limburgish, Southeast Limburgish and Gronings as well.

Wolfgang Dieter Brönner is a German art historian and historic preservationist. From 1991 to 2005, he was the Landeskonservator of the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate in Mainz.

Matthias Joseph de Noël German merchant, painter, art collector and writer

Matthias Joseph de Noël was a German merchant, painter, art collector and writer.

References

  1. See "Mitmachwörterbuch" at http://www.mitmachwoerterbuch.lvr.de/lesen.php and following pages for an (incomplete) word list.
  2. For the relations and differences between Dialect, Regiolect, and Standard variety, see also: Dr. Georg Cornelissen (2008), Meine Oma spricht noch Platt : Wo bleibt der Dialekt im Rheinland? (in German), Köln: Greven Verlag, pp. 9, lower end, and following, ISBN   978-3-7743-0417-8
  3. Peter Honnen (2003), Kappes, Knies und Klüngel : Regionalwörterbuch des Rheinlands (in German), Köln: Greven Verlag, pp. 13 unten, ISBN   3-7743-0337-1
  4. beginning approximately in the 1970s
  5. An introduction can be found at "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-20. Retrieved 2013-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (last visited: June 1st, 2011)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2012-03-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. For instance: Heinz Küpper (1987), Wörterbuch der deutschen Umgangssprache (in German), Stuttgart: Klett Verlag, ISBN   3-12-570600-9
  8. Rheinisches Wörterbuch .Im Auftrag der Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, der Gesellschaft für Rheinische Geschichtskunde und des Provinzialverbandes der Rheinprovinz auf Grund der von Johannes Franck begonnenen, von allen Kreisen des Rheinischen Volkes unterstützten Sammlung bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Josef Müller, Heinrich Dittmaier, Rudolf Schützeichel und Mattias Zender. 9 volumes. Bonn/Berlin 1928-1971.
    Available online at http://www.woerterbuchnetz.de/woerterbuecher/rhwb/wbgui?lemid=%5B%5D
  9. According to an estimate of the linguistics department of the Institute for Regional Studies and History of the Landschaftsverband Rheinland, they have collected some 3000 to 6000 words of that kind.
  10. See also: Peter Honnen (2003), Kappes, Knies und Klüngel : Regionalwörterbuch des Rheinlandes (in German), Köln: Greven Verlag, pp. 15, 16, ISBN   3-7743-0337-1
  11. 1 2 Rheinisches Mitmachwörterbuch: bei, last visited January 12, 2011.
  12. (in German){{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. See also: Peter Honnen (2008), Alles Kokolores? - Wörter und Wortgeschichten aus dem Rheinland (in German), Köln: Greven Verlag, pp. 125 f, ISBN   978-3-7743-0418-5
  14. Compare: Rheinisches Mitmachwörterbuch: Knöllchen retrieved 17 January 2011.
  15. Peter Honnen (2003), Kappes, Knies und Klüngel. Regionalwörterbuch des Rheinlandes (in German), Köln: Greven Verlag, p. 156, ISBN   3-7743-0337-1
  16. Compare: Rheinisches Mitmachwörterbuch: poppen retrieved 17 January 2011.
  17. See also: Rheinisches Mitmachwörterbuch: eins retrieved 17 January 2011.
  18. See also: Peter Honnen (2008), Alles Kokolores? - Wörter und Wortgeschichten aus dem Rheinland (in German), Köln: Greven Verlag, p. 120, ISBN   978-3-7743-0418-5
  19. Compare: Rheinisches Mitmachwörterbuch: Klüngel Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 17 January 2011.
  20. Peter Honnen (2003), Kappes, Knies und Klüngel. Regionalwörterbuch des Rheinlandes (in German), Köln: Greven Verlag, pp. 173 f, ISBN   3-7743-0337-1
  21. See also: Rheinisches Mitmachwörterbuch: Schiss retrieved 17 January 2011.
  22. Duden, Volume 9, 6. edition 2007, p. 62

There are several sound samples of spoken Rhinelandic at the linguistic department at Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte of the Landschaftsverband Rheinland: