Introduction

Whenever people think of Germany , they usually don't give a second thought to its language. But the country's speech is anything but uniform – hundreds of distinguishable inflections exist, some of them completely unintelligible to a speaker of pure ‘High German.' Someone could learn flawless, completely fluent German, only to be utterly confused by the dialects that pepper Germany 's countryside. Even for native Germans, the difference is not so simple as recognizing a New York or British accent. Instead, there is a very real language divide that hampers communication.

Some differences are stark: Switzerland , even though its most widely spoken language is German, adopts a bizarre mixture of dialects and accents that is termed “Swiss German.” Very few northern Germans, who generally speak a more standard language, can hope to decipher Swiss German, which actually has to be either subtitled or dubbed in films or television shows featuring Swiss actors.

It might seem like Germany would fragment uncontrollably with so many language differences, causing mayhem with even the basics of life, such as communicating and traveling. But fear not – I'm painting an extreme portrait. There are also ways that German is linguistically united. Only one ‘official' German exists, the one you might find through a dictionary or university class. This is the proper German that is taught to all students in school, and it remains the only written version. An exception exists for the unique vocabularies of dialectal German (some words are inventions of a particular dialect and don't exist in High German) and for Swiss German, which has only recently gained its own dictionary with semi-standardized spellings.

But enough introduction! For my interview, I plucked out a woman, Judith, from my neighborhood at home who speaks Swabian, which is a dialect favored in the south-western part of Germany (the red dot is Judith's hometown, Althengstett, in the Land , or federal state, of Baden-Württemberg), as you can see with the map. Like many southern dialects, it is difficult for a High German to understand. But, like all Germans, Judith understands and reads High German. It is more simply difficult for her to speak the prestige dialect, but that is merely because Swabian was her primary spoken language during that infamous critical period during which language becomes ingrained.

Transcription

Interview 1 C: Um, could you just tell me where you acquired your language and dialect, like, what city you grew up in? J: Kay, well, I grew up in a very, very small town in the south-western part of Germany…um, it's right at the edge of the Black Forest, and it is called Swabia, so we speak Swabisch, is the dialect. C: So the actual city is called Swabia ? J: No, the city is called – is the small town is Althengstett, but the whole area there, um, part of the Black Forest, I would say the eastern part of the Black Forest and towards the, uh, more Bavaria, that area is called Swabia – includes Stuttgart and Württemberg. The correct name would be Württemberg. C: Yeah, I ran across that name, whenever I was looking – J: Which is, is – the state is now called Baden-Württemberg, which is they took the two small states and made one. Baden is on the west side of the Black Forest and it's a little bit different dialect.

Interview 2 J: That's the sad part about the dialects. Because they're going to get lost. C: Yeah, well, I guess dialects are a pretty big part of life there. If you just had to speak High German, you would feel like you'd lost something. J: Right. Yeah. And, and it really doesn't happen overnight. But you know, over a couple – two, three generations, it's gonna get lost. Because like I said, I can already tell a big difference between the way I grew up and talked, and my nieces over there talk. And the, and the people over there – they really don't notice it as much, because they're just used to it. They hear it every day. And when I was over there just this past June, and I was with a friend, and her kids and my kids, and we went to a playground, and we talked about that. And I said, well, your kids, they don't speak Swabian like we do. And she said, yes they do. And I said, no they don't. So her little boy came over and said something like “can I have a drink,” I forget. And I said, now listen to what he said. She said, you're right. You know, she was surprised, and I'm like, see, he doesn't, you know, say it like we would say it. And she – they don't even realize it, because.. it just happens.

Interview 3 C: Is there any variation in dialect, within Swabian? I mean, I know Swabian German, but is there.. J: Yes. C: More pronounced heavy Swabian and light? J: No, but there are small, small differences from, from like even one village to the next. And it just might be a couple of words, like where I'm – in my town, instead of saying “nein,” we say “noy.” And just one town over, which is like three miles away, instead of saying “noy,” they say “noa.” And so it's just one little difference, you know, but if you hear – run into somebody that says “noa,” he from over that way, and then you know, like the whole area after that, after that they all say no, “noa.” And so you know he's from that area, and not from this area. You know, so it's little differences like that. C: Most of the towns there are fairly isolated and small? Or have they started to bridge together? J: No, they're fair – they're.. I don't want to call it 'isolated' because Germany , compared to over here, is very crowded. Okay, but the way they plan the towns and the cities, um, you can't just buy a lot somewhere and build there, so it's all concentrated in a town and then you might have fields and, and forest for two miles, and then the next town, and – but it's close together.

Rammstein - Nebel

Mist

Sie stehen eng umschlungen ein Fleischgemisch so reich an Tagen wo das Meer das Land berührt will sie ihm die Wahrheit sagen Doch ihre Worte frisst der Wind wo das Meer zu Ende ist hält sie zitternd seine Hand und hat ihn auf die Stirn geküsst sie trägt den Abend in der Brust und weiß dass sie verleben muss sie legt den Kopf in seinen Schoß und bittet einen letzten Kuss und dann hat er sie geküsst wo das Meer zu Ende ist ihre Lippen schwach und blass und seine Augen werden nass Der letzte Kuss ist so lang her der letzte Kuss er erinnert sich nicht mehr

They stand, tightly embraced a mixture of flesh, so rich in days where the sea touches the land she wants to tell him the truth But the wind eats her words where the sea comes to an end trembling, she holds his hand and kissed him atop the forehead She carries the evening in her breast and knows that she must wither away she lays her head in his lap and entreats a last kiss and then he kissed her where the sea ends her lips, delicate and pale and his eyes tear up The last kiss was so long ago the last kiss he remembers it no more

Baschi - Irgendwie wunderbar		Somehow wounderful
Swiss-German schwäbä lutlos über d nacht, verlierä rum und zit tauche uf und über mir schint d unendlichkait so wiit mach mini auge zue und looh mi goh chum mir fliege zu dä stärnä äs liächtjohr wit entferne irgendwie wunderbar	High German (Ich) schwebe lautlos über die Nacht, (ich) verliere Raum und Zeit (Ich) tauche auf und über mir scheint die Unendlichkeit so weit (Ich) schliesse meine Augen und (ich) lasse mich gehen komm, wir fliegen zu den Sternen ein Lichtjahr weit enfernt irgendwie wunderbar	English I float soundlessly over the night, I lose time and space. I emerge, and over me shines the endlessness, so far. I close my eyes and let myself go. Come, we'll fly to the stars A light-year away Somehow wonderful
chum mir loi eus aifach tribä richtig wulche 7 und du strahlsch mi aa irgendwie wunderbar	komm, wir lassen uns einfach treiben in Richtung Wolke sieben und du strahlst mich an irgendwie wunderbar	Come, we'll let ourselves simply drift Towards cloud nine And you beam at me Somehow wonderful
strahle taschte sich dur d nacht und der tag fangt langsam ah traumhaft schwümm ich mit der zit sekundä blibä stoh mach mini auge zue loh mi goo chum mir fliege zu dä stärnä... chum mir loi eus aifach tribä...	strahlen tasten sich durch die Nacht und der Tag fängt langsam an Traumhaft schwimme ich mit der Zeit die Sekunden bleiben stehen (Ich) mache meine Augen zu komm, wir fliegen zu den Sternen... komm, wir lassen uns einfach treiben...	We'll feel our way through the night, and The day begins slowly Fantastic I swim with the time The seconds stand still I close my eyes and let myself go… Come, we'll fly to the stars… Come, we'll let ourselves simply drift…
so schön so wunderschöön für mi so lüchtend hell so wiänen stärn für mi irgendwiä wunderbar wunderbar so wunderbar irgendwie wunderbar	so schön so wunderschön für mich so leuchtend hell so wie ein Stern für mich irgendwie wunderbar wunderbar so wunderbar irgendwie wunderbar	So beautiful So wonderfully beautiful for me So shining bright, like a star for me Somehow wonderful wonderful So wonderful Somehow wonderful

Hansel und Gretel
Vor einem großen Walde wohnte ein armer Holzhacker mit seiner Frau und seinen zwei Kindern; das Bübchen hieß Hänsel und das Mädchen Gretel. Er hatte wenig zu beißen und zu brechen, und einmal, als große Teuerung ins Land kam, konnte er das tägliche Brot nicht mehr schaffen.	Close to a large forest there lived a woodcutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. They were always very poor and had very little to live on. And at one time when there was famine in the land, he could no longer procure daily bread.
Wie er sich nun abends im Bette Gedanken machte und sich vor Sorgen herumwälzte, seufzte er und sprach zu seiner Frau: »Was soll aus uns werden? Wie können wir unsere armen Kinder ernähren da wir für uns selbst nichts mehr haben?«	One night when he lay in bed worrying over his troubles, he sighed and said to his wife, “What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children when we have nothing for ourselves?”
»Weißt du was, Mann«, antwortete die Frau, »wir wollen morgen in aller Frühe die Kinder hinaus in den Wald führen, wo er am dicksten ist. Da machen wir ihnen ein Feuer an und geben jedem noch ein Stückchen Brot, dann gehen wir an unsere Arbeit und lassen sie allein. Sie finden den Weg nicht wieder nach Haus, und wir sind sie los.«	“I'll tell you what, husband,” answered the woman. “Tomorrow morning we will take the children out quite early into the thickest part of the forest. We will light a fire and give each of them a piece of bread. Then we will go to our work and leave them alone. They won't be able to find their way back, and so we shall be rid of them.”

Analysis

Now's when I try to become more technical about this! All these dialects of Germany – Swabian and many, many others – all find themselves related to a common language, a sort of older sibling: High German. Inside of Germany , you could think of High German as being the dominant lingua franca , since business and politics are conducted in that language, often between people who might find communicating challenging at best, and mutually unintelligible at worst. With as many diverse tongues as exist in Germany , there must exist a common language. Unfortunately, many of the dialects are outside of the ‘space' of a High German speaker, that built-in tolerance for language quirks that don't stick to a standard. 1 The variation is simply too great for a High German to compensate for, and is certainly too much for a student. I can follow along with transcriptions such as Judith's reading of Hänsel und Gretel , but it's a completely mystery, otherwise!

In very apparent ways, German also exhibits a diglossic lingual society. In such occurrences, there is a prestige dialect through which business and formal relations are conducted, which is complemented by a vulgar form. In nearly all facets of everyday life, dialectal German serves as the mother tongue for people; High German is used only when communicating to others whose dialects are incomprehensible, or to Germans who speak High German natively. Germany is a curious type of diglossic society, however, because there isn't just one ‘common' dialect! Instead, it is composed of many different dialects. Furthermore, few of the dialects are regarded as being inferior to High German, since so many dialects are spoken.

In the chapter The Tower of Babel in Pinker, we've seen that languages begin to diverge under a few criteria. 2 So, does Germany look anything like that? Linguistic innovation – check. Heredity – check. Isolation – check. Whatever we ultimately end up with, we have a strong candidate already.

I'll tackle isolation first, since it began as the impetus for this entire divergence. From Judith's transcriptions, towns in Germany are zoned fairly strictly, preserving regions of forest and limiting housing. As a result, populations are kept relatively separate, as compared to the well-connected suburbia of America , and that separation grows only more apparent if you go back in time.

Germany was a very amorphous country until 1871, when the nation coalesced from loosely-allied states in the Prussian Kingdom. 3 Some, like Baden and Württemberg, the now-unified state from which Judith came, were rival kingdoms. 4 Even now, Baden-Württemberg remains “one of the most geographically varied territories of Germany,” 5 a fact which has only facilitated the gradual separation of German into distinct dialects.

This history of isolation and, in some cases, rivalry, is only being overturned now by the phenomenal growth of the internet and the increasing ease of travel. Even though Germany retains the village structure that has followed its development throughout the centuries, movement is growing more common between areas and cities because of the lure of employment and adventure. What used to be pockets of communal dialects is beginning to be eroded by increased communication and contact between the people in southern Germany and the northern cities, which tend to adhere to a stricter standard of German.

Heredity obviously exists for maintaining Germany 's dialects, because children in Germany grow up speaking the same dialect as their parents and their peers. But, as you saw in Judith's second transcription, the once-powerful lineage of Swabian is faltering before a more globally- and media-conscious society.

And lastly, Swabian is hardly unique among dialects for its innovation – there are words scattered everywhere that don't exist in High German. Though pronunciation is the primary difference between dialect and standard, grammar is loosened somewhat and an inventive vocabulary asserts itself.

Pinker ends his chapter “on a sad and urgent note,” and that same gloominess is evident here with Swabian and the dialects of Germany . You heard in Judith's transcription about the gradual erosion of Swabian after she visited Germany and could tell the difference between her speech and the speech of the next generation. The logistics of maintaining a cohesive nation demand that High German be taught everywhere, but that also means that dialects suffer. After time, Germany 's dialects may finally decline to where they are only a relic of former generations. It makes it easier for me, a student of German (who is utterly confused at dialectal speech), but it's also sadder for me, as a student of language.

Sources:

1. "Dimensions of Language Variation," James Noblitt
2. Pinker, Steven. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language . New York : HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1994.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany
4. http://www.karl-schlecht.de/stiftung/bawue.htm
5. http://www.hfac.uh.edu/gbrown/philosophers/leibniz/BritannicaPages/Baden-Wurttemberg/Baden-Wurttemberg.html 

About the Author

I've spent the majority of my life about twenty minutes outside of Charlotte in Gastonia . After completing first grade, I dropped out of elementary school and was home-schooled until taking classes at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte .

And that's where I met the wonderful people at the German department! Initially, Spanish was my choice of language – until discovering that everyone in the entire county held similar ambitions, enough to make registration impossible. So German became the choice of desperation, as universities required a minimum of two years of a foreign language, and it remains one of my best decisions. Since then, I have taken four years of German, which gave me the impetus for learning more about the dialects of that country. Obviously, if you scroll upward, you can find the results of that for yourself.

I remain classically undecided in my field of study: though languages are engrossing subjects, other departments call to me as well. Piano is still a major part of my life, so I'll have to discover a way to interweave all these interests into something that I'll be satisfied with for the remainder of my college years.