Swabian language - Definition and Overview

Swabian (Schwäbisch), a dialect of High German spoken in the region Swabia. Swabia covers much of Germany's southwestern Land (state) of Baden-Württemberg (including the capital Stuttgart and in the rural area known as the Swabian Jura) and in the southwest of the Land Bavaria.

The dialect ranges from a 'standard' Swabian, spoken in Stuttgart, to slightly differing and 'thicker' forms found in smaller towns in the countryside. Old people can often tell the exact village a person comes from merely by hearing his or her accent.

True Swabian, with its nasal intonations and grammatical adjustments to common words, is known for being difficult for speakers of Standard German to understand.

As well, Swabian contains vocabulary that differs altogether from Standard German (eg. 'jam' in Standard German is Marmelade while in Swabian it becomes G'saelz).

External links

• The Swabian-English dictionary (http://www.schwaebisch-englisch.de/)