Palatine German language

Palatine German, or Pfaelzisch–Lothringisch (Pälzisch; German: Pfälzisch), is a West Franconian dialect of German and is spoken in the Upper Rhine Valley, roughly in the area between Zweibrücken, Kaiserslautern, Alzey, Worms, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Speyer, Landau Wörth am Rhein and the border to Alsace, in France, but also beyond.

Palatine German
Pälzisch
Native to	Germany (Southwest Palatinate, Rheinpfalz)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Irminonic High German West Central German Rhenisch Franconian Palatine German
Dialects	Pennsylvania German
Writing system	Latin (German alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pfl
Glottolog	pala1330[1]

Pennsylvania German language, also called Pennsylvania Dutch, is descended primarily from the Palatine German dialects that were spoken by ethnic Germans who immigrated to North America from the 17th to the 19th centuries and chose to maintain their native language. Danube Swabians in Croatia and Serbia also use many elements of Palatinate German.

The Pfälzisch spoken in the western Palatinate (Westpfälzisch) is normally distinguished from the Pfälzisch spoken in the eastern Palatinate (Vorderpfälzisch).

The English term Palatine refers to the Palatinate region, where the dialects are spoken.

Pronunciation and grammar vary from region to region and even from town to town. Palatine Germans can often tell other speakers' region of the Palatinate or even their specific village.

Samples

Here are some words in Standard German and in Pfälzisch:

Vorderpfälzisch	Westpfälzisch	High German	English equivalent
Mais	Mais	Mäuse	mice
Lais	Lais	Läuse	lice
Grumbeea	Grumbeer	Kartoffel	potato
Schnook	Schdechmick	Stechmücke	mosquito
Bääm	Bääm	Bäume	trees
Bää	Bää	Beine	legs
Schdää	Schdää	Stein	stone
soi	sei	sein	his (possessive) / to be
unsa	unser	unsere	ours
net (nit)	net	nicht	not
dowedder/dewedda	degeche	dagegen	against
Fisch (Fusch)	Fisch	Fisch	fish
ebbes	ebbes	etwas	something
Ärwett	Arwett	Arbeit	work
Doa	Dor	Tor	gate
Abbel	Abbel	Apfel	apple
hawwe	hann	haben	have
Haffe	Hawwe	Kochtopf	pot (saucepan)

This sentence is pronounced in Vorderpfälzisch:

Isch habb's'm schunn vazehlt, awwa där hod ma's nit geglaabt.

In Westpfälzisch, it would be the following:

Ich hann's'm schunn verzehlt, awwer er had mer's net geglaabt.

In Standard German, the sentence would read:

Ich hab's ihm schon erzählt, aber er hat's mir nicht geglaubt.

In English, it means:

I have already told [it] him, but he didn't believe me.

Hasche aa Hunger? (Westpfälzisch)

Hoschd ach Hunga? (Vorderpfälzisch)

Hast du auch Hunger? (Standard German)

Are you hungry too? (English)

Grammar

Grammatically, all Palatine dialects do not use the genitive case, which is replaced by the dative, with or without von, and most dialects have no imperfect tense but only the perfect.

See also

• Riograndenser Hunsrückisch

References

1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Pfaelzisch-Lothringisch". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.