User:Bhollan2/Language selection
I have no preference for who to work with.
Alemannisch
Morphological Typology
Alemannisch morphological typology is characterized as synthetic-fusional, though like most modern Germanic languages, it shows a significant historical shift toward analytic structures, while it still uses endings and internal sound changes (umlauts) to express grammar, it increasingly relies on helper words (prepositions and auxiliaries) compared to its ancestor, Old High German. [1]
Alemannic (or Alemannisch) is a group of High German dialects primarily spoken in Switzerland, Southwestern Germany, Alsace (France), and Vorarlberg (Austria). Its morphological typology is characterized as synthetic-fusional, though like most modern Germanic languages, it shows a significant historical shift toward analytic structures.
In simpler terms, while it still uses endings and internal sound changes (umlauts) to express grammar, it increasingly relies on helper words (prepositions and auxiliaries) compared to its ancestor, Old High German.
Key Morphological Features
- Noun Morphology (Declension)
- Alemannic retains a system of gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and number, but the case system is more reduced than in Standard German:
- The genitive case has almost entirely disappeared in spoken Alemannic. Possession is instead expressed analytically using the dative + a possessive pronoun (e.g., em Vatter sis Hus — "to the father his house" instead of "the father's house").
- Plural Formation: Unlike English, which mostly uses "-s", Alemannic uses fusional markers like vowel changes (Umlaut) or various suffixes (e.g., Apfel → Äpfel, Hus → Hüser).
- Verb Morphology (Conjugation)
- Tense Reduction: Most Alemannic dialects have lost the "Simple Past" (Präteritum) entirely. All past actions are expressed using the Analytic Perfect (I ha gseit — "I have said").
- The Diminutive: Alemannic is famous for its productive use of the diminutive suffix -li (e.g., Hüsli for "little house"), which is a morphological hallmark of the dialect group.
Language and its speakers
While it is often categorized as a "dialect group" of German, its linguistic distance and unique social status frequently lead to its treatment as a distinct language in linguistic contexts.
Estimates for the total number of Alemannic speakers vary because the boundaries between "dialect" and "standard" are fluid in Germany. However, most sources, including Ethnologue and Wikipedia, estimate between 10 million and 12 million speakers.
- Switzerland: Roughly 5 million speakers (approx. 60% of the population).
- Germany: Approx. 4–5 million (concentrated in Baden-Württemberg and Bavarian Swabia).
- France (Alsace): Approx. 500,000–800,000 (Alsatian is a Low Alemannic variety).
- Austria: Approx. 300,000 in the state of Vorarlberg.
- Liechtenstein: The entire population (approx. 40,000).
- Italy: Small pockets of Walser speakers in the Piedmont and Aosta Valley.
- Venezuela: A unique isolated variety, Alemán Coloniero, spoken by a few thousand in Colonia Tovar.
Status and Multilingualism
- Switzerland/Liechtenstein: Extremely high. It is the primary spoken language for all social classes. Transmission to future generations is ~100%.
- Germany/Austria: Moderate. There is a "dialect-standard continuum" where younger generations often speak a more standardized version (Regiolekt), though the dialect remains a strong marker of identity.
- Alsace (France): Endangered. Transmission is declining as French becomes the dominant home language for younger generations.
Almost all speakers are bi-dialectal in Standard German (Hochdeutsch). In Alsace, speakers are often trilingual (Alsatian, French, and Standard German). In Switzerland, it is common for speakers to also know English or another national language (French/Italian).
ISO 639-3 Code: gsw (covers Swiss German, Alemannic, and Alsatian). Swabian sometimes uses its own code swg.
Orthography
There is no official or binding normative orthography. Dieth-Schreibung is the closest thing to a standardized writing system and it standardized some sounds for swiss german.
Material Availability
The Alemannic Wikipedia (Alemannische Wikipedia) contains over 30,000 articles written entirely in various Alemannic dialects. Bible translations also exist.
Limburgish
Morphological Typology
Limburgish is synthetic-fusional with significant analytic trends.
Tonal Morphology: It uses pitch accents—Stoottoon (push tone) and Sleeptoon (dragging tone) to distinguish meaning or grammatical category. In some dialects, the word daag (day) with a dragging tone is singular, but with a push tone, it becomes plural.
Unlike Modern Dutch (which has largely merged masculine and feminine), Limburgish maintains a robust three-gender system (Masculine, Feminine, Neuter). Like Alemannic, Limburgish makes heavy use of internal vowel changes for plurals (e.g., book → beuk) and verb conjugations.
Language and its speakers
Roughly 1.3 million to 1.6 million speakers.
- Netherlands: Province of Limburg (approx. 75% of the population speaks it).
- Belgium: Province of Limburg and the "Low Dietsch" area in Liège.
- Germany: The Lower Rhine region.
Status & Transmission
It is recognized as a regional language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Part II in the Netherlands). In Dutch Limburg, transmission is relatively high, though the language is increasingly influenced by Dutch vocabulary (adstratum). In Belgium and Germany, it is under more pressure from the national standard languages and is considered "vulnerable." Almost all speakers are bilingual in their respective national standard (Dutch, French, or German).
Orthography
ISO 639-3 Code: lim There is no single official orthography for the entire region, as the language spans three countries.
Veldeke-spelling is the most common system in the Netherlands, standardized by the Veldeke Vereniging. It uses Dutch-based spelling rules but adds diacritics (like the circumflex ^ or grave accent `) to indicate vowel length and tone.
Limburgish wikipedia alone has some 14,000 articles so there is no lack of resources.
Sources [3]
Kernewek (Cornish)
Morphological Typology
Cornish is primarily synthetic-fusional, but it is famous for its Initial Consonant Mutations, a feature unique to Celtic languages. This is where the first letter of a word changes depending on the preceding word (grammatical context). This is a form of prefixing morphology that signals gender, number, or tense. Example: Kas (a cat), an gas (the cat). The 'K' mutates to 'G'.
Agglutinative/Fusional Mix: Verbs are highly inflected. A single verb form can indicate tense, mood, person, and number.
Vowel Affection: Like its cousins Welsh and Breton, Cornish uses internal vowel changes to indicate plurals (e.g., mab "son" → mebyon "sons").
Cornish fuses prepositions with pronouns into a single word. Example: Gans (with) + me (me) = genery (with me).
Language and its speakers
Estimates range from 500 to 2,000 fluent speakers, with up to 10,000 having some knowledge. Primarily the county of Cornwall (Kernow) in the United Kingdom. There are small diaspora groups in Australia and the US (particularly in former mining communities).
Status and Multilingualism
Cornish is a "Critically Endangered" language that has been successfully revived. It was declared "extinct" by UNESCO in 2009, but after local protest, they updated the status to "Living." It is now being taught in some primary schools and nurseries (Skol Veythrin) in Cornwall. There are "New Native" speakers—children raised with Cornish as a first language. All Cornish speakers are bilingual in English.
ISO 639-3 Code: cor
Orthography
Standard Written Form (SWF) or Fform Screfys Savonek
Disclaimer
I have no formal linguistics experience so take all the claims concerning morphology and language formation with a pinch of salt since I couldn't independently verify any of the claims about the language that any one source may have said.,,,,
