Low Alemannic German is a branch of Alemannic German, which is part of Upper German. Its varieties are only partly intelligible to non-Alemannic speakers.

Subdivisions

Features

The feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic from High Alemannic is the retention of Germanic /k/, for instance kalt 'cold' vs. High Alemannic chalt. The feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic from Swabian is the retention of the Middle High German monophthongs, for instance Huus 'house' vs. Swabian Hous or Ziit 'time' vs. Swabian Zejt.

Orthography

(All of the below is specific to the dialects spoken near Freiburg im Breisgau) Vowels: Consonants: Are as in Standard German, with the following notes:

Articles

Definite Article Indefinite Article

Substantives

Plurals Diminutives

Adjectives

Weak Declension Strong Declension Comparative Superlative Irregular

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Verbs

1. Infinitive Infinitive ends in -e
2. Participle 2.1 Prefix 2.2 Suffix 2.3 Types 2.3.1 Infinitive and Present Sg y/èi/ai - Participle i 2.3.1.1 y > i (e.g. abwyyse > abgwiise) 2.3.1.2 èi > i (e.g. verzèie > verziie) 2.3.1.3 ai > i (e.g. schaide > gschiide) 2.3.2 Infinitive and Present Sg ie/u/au/èi/i - Participle o/öu/öe 2.3.2.1 ie > o (e.g. biede > bode) 2.3.2.2 u > o (e.g. sufe > gsofe) 2.3.2.3 au > o (e.g. laufe > glofe) 2.3.2.4 èi > öu (e.g. rèie > gröue) 2.3.2.5 ie > öe (e.g. riefe > gröefe) 2.3.2.5 i > o (e.g. wiige > gwooge) 2.3.3 Infinitive and Present Sg i - Participle ù 2.3.3.1 i > u (e.g. binde > bùnde) 2.3.4 Infinitive ä/e - Present i - Participle o/u 2.3.4.1 ä - i - o (e.g. bräche > broche) 2.3.4.2 ä - i - u (e.g. hälfe > ghùlfe) 2.3.4.3 e/è - i - o (e.g. verdèèrbe > verdoorbe) 2.3.4.4 e - i - ù (e.g. schmelze > gschmùlze) 2.3.5 Infinitive ä/i - Present i - Participle ä 2.3.5.1 ä - i - ä (e.g. äse > gäse) 2.3.5.2 i - i - ä (e.g. bide > bäde) 2.3.6 Infinitive Vowel is the same as the Participle 2.3.5.1 (e.g. bache > bache; fale > gfale)
3. Conjugation 3.1 Present Tense 3.1.1 Regular Verb

Numbers