41 CHAPTER VII. COMPARISONS WITH OTHER DIALECTS. § 1. PG. not Swiss. PG. is not Swiss, altho it has a number of Swiss characteristics, and the line (Radlof, 2, 68)— "Was isch säll für e sufere kärli ?" is very near its PG. form The Was isch sel f'r e saubər kærli? What sort of cleanly fellow is that? PG. has both 'ær iss' and 'ær isch' (he is) according to the locality, of which the latter may be less common. Rev. D. Ziegler (a native, like myself) refers the 'isch' variety to the Mennonite and Dunker population, and as there were many Dunkers (or Tunkers) where my early years were passed, I heard more of this than of the other. The indicative mood present tense of haben and sein are, with some variations, as follows (Stalder, 1, 47–50)— Here the dative singular mir (to me) is used in the nominative plural instead of wir (we), and also in impersonal expressions; and the dative singular dir (to thee) is similarly used for Ihr (you), as in 'd'r sint' for G. Ihr seid (you are). G. Ihr habet (you have) has forced its t upon the first and third persons plural of the Swiss forms; and in PG. the second person is sometimes forced upon the third, as in the following, from the Wollenweber's Gemälde (in the German character), 1869, p. 124, 'For about' thirty-two years back, here have our laborers worked in the quarry, and quarried stone to 'fix' the big 'dam.' (Here the English fix and dam are used, instead of G. fixiren, and der damm.) Here the first for may be regarded as English, but the second occurs in the Palatinate-"for den Herr Ring sehr ungünschtig" (Kobell), for Mr. Ring very unfavorable" for sei Lügerei,”—for his truthlessness. The next is extracted from a poem by Tobias Witmer, dated from the State of New York, June 1, 1869, printed in the Father Abraham' English newspaper, in roman type, and reprinted Feb. 18, 1870. The original spelling is that of Mr. Rauch, and is not reproduced. Dialectic words are spaced, and English words are here put in italics. The translation is rather free. Geburts-Daak-An mei, Alti. Oo wass is schenner uf der welt dass blimlin, root un weiss ? un bloo un geel, im ærblə 2 felt wass sin sii doch so neis! Ich wees noch guut, in seller tseit hab ich niks liiwers duu 3 dass in dii wissə-lang un breit so blimlin ksuucht wii duu. Doch iss ǝs schun ǝ lang-i tseit sid'r ích dart in dem felt, dii blimlin ksuucht, uf lang un breit, un uf dei, bussǝm kschpellt. D'r hent emool ǝ gærtl katmei, schwesterli un duu; [schpaat ich hab s pripeerd mit hak un dii blummə nei, tsu duu,; un wuu ich hab im grossi schweel, dii kii dart hinne ksuucht, Birthday To my Wife. Oh what is finer in the world than flowrets red and white ? and blue and yellow in the field how beautiful and bright. I know yet well that in that time, nought would I rather do, than in the meadows long and wide such flowrets seek as you. Yet it is quite a lengthened time, since I in yonder field, sought out the flowers far and wide, and on thy bosom pinned. You also had a garden bedyou and my sister fair, which I prepared with hoe and spade to set the flowers there; and where I in the ample vale the cattle there had sought, 1 G. gelb, Ohg. gelo, Swiss, etc., gäl yellow. 4 2 Not PG. ærpsa, G. erbsen (peas), but a form of erdbeere (strawberry). 3 G. Ich habe nichts lieber gethan. (G. adj. and adv. lieber, adverbialised with -8.) Nothing would I rather have done. 4 The word is "schwohl" in the original-probably borrowed from the local English word swale. Wuu, G. wo, where. The author was born in 1816, at Niagara, in a small colony which had emigrated from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania-his father in 1811. The colony received additions about the year 1830. dii leedi-schlipperss, weiss un geel, hab ich mit, heem gebracht, un hab sii in sel gærtl plantst bei nacht, in muundos licht: [wantst' d'r hent s net gwist, bis juscht æt hent diir s gegest s war mich. 6 the lady-slippers, gold, and pale, with me I homeward brought, and in that garden bed at night I set them when the moon was light. You did not know who it could be, but all at once you thought of me. § 2. PG. not Bavarian. PG., Bavarian, Austrian and Suabian have the vowel of fall, and nasal vowels. In Pangkofer's Gedichte in Altbayerischer Mundart, are the PG. words 'aa' also; bissel' a little; ebbas,' G. etwas something; 'do is' there is; 'glei' (also Austrian) soon; 'sunst,' G. sonst besides; frumm,' G. fromm kind; kloo' claw; 'kumma,' G. gekommen come; Ohg. 'coman' and 'cuman' to come; 'mir' we, for G. wir; 'sel,' G. dasselbe that-same; but PG. has not 'mi' me; 'di' thee; 'hoarn' horn; 'hout' has; 'thuan' to do; 'g'spoasz,' sport; 'oamal' once; 'zwoa' two, G. zwei, PG. 'tswee'; wei, PG. weip' wife; zon, PG. 'tsum' to the. The following example of upper Bavarian is given by Klein, beside which a PG. version is placed for comparison. "Schau, nachbe', wàs mei' freud' is,— In suntàe', in der frûe, Gern lûs' i' in mei'n gâârt'l 'n kircheläut'n zue. "Dà is 's so still und hâemli', Kâe' lärm, kâe g'schrâe kimmt 'nei' : W' as in mei'n gâârt'l sei'." Sii nochbər wass mei, freet iss! Do 's iss so schtill un heemlich, See neighbor, what my joy is, on Sunday in the morn; I listen in my garden, to the church-bell ring. Here it is so still and calm, no turmoil, no strife comes within; in heaven (kann es nicht) it cannot be fairer than (es) it is in my little garden. 1 = at once. Dr. Jones, 1701, gives 'wans, wenst' as the English pronun- ciation in Shropshire and some parts of Wales. as correct English.-A. J. Ellis. 2 Die Sprache der Luxemburger. Luxemburg, 1855. 3 This word varies to heer, and horch may be used. 4 Here hii, is given for the rhyme, the proper word being G. da, PG. ‘doo.' On this account the Rev. D. Ziegler makes the following variation on my version Sii noochbər was mei, freet iss, Wann ich im gærtli schtee, § 3. PG. not Suabian. The Pennsylvania Germans have traditional stories against the Suabians, although their population is in part derived from the upper (Pfalz) Palatinate; and some Suabians settled in Northumberland County, Pa., the evidence of which remains in the name of a stream, Schwaben (or Swope) Creek. PG. resembles Suabian in using 'e, ee' for ö, and ‘ii' for ü-in the loss of infinitive -n,-in turning final -n into a nasal vowel (as in sei, for seyn), and in saying 'du bischt,' 'du kannscht,' etc. (for G. du bist), 'du witt' for du willst; 'nimme' for nicht mehr; 'glei' for gleich in the sense of soon -but the adjective' gleich' (similar) remains. PG. does not turn o into au, as in Suabian braut,' hauch,' for brot, hoch; nor cut down G. ich habe to 'i ha'; it does not add elements, as in 'bois' for G. bös, PG. 'bees,' 'bluat' for G. blut, 'reacht' for recht, 'kuine' for keine, and 'stuinige fealder' for steinige felder, a peculiarity of Suabian, Alsatian, Swiss, Bavarian and its kin Austrian. PG. has archaic 'hees' (hot) for G. heisz, but nothing like Bavarian haǝs. Difference of pronunciation causes confusion of speech between speakers of different dialects, as shown by Dr. Rapp in his Physiologie der Sprache, 4, 131. In the 'Fliegende Blätter' (13, 158) there is a dialogue called 'Ein Deutsch-Böhme' (a German Bohemian), between a Bauer and a Städter—but a Swiss speaker is now added, with the rejoinder to his remark. Bauer. Wie is de Suppe so hãsz! Städter. Man sagt ja nicht hāsz, sondern heisz. Has [G. hase, PG. haas hare] nennt man das Thier. Bauer. ... Dös haszt bei uns Hos! Städter. Das ist wieder falsch. Hos bedeutet jenes Kleidungsstück, womit Eure langen Beine bedeckt sind. Diminutives in PG. and Suabian are made with -li; both use 'des' for das, 'uffm' for auf dem, 'biire' for birnen, ‘ g’hat' or 'kat' for gehabt, 'suu,' for sohn, 'schoof' for schâf, 'Schwop' for Schwabe, als' for alles, and as' for als. § 4. PG. not Alsatian. In the very German county of Berks there is an Elsass township, which indicates an Alsatian influence. As a German province of France, two languages are in use, and are taught in the schools, but the French is Germanised in pronunciation, as may be verified among the Alsatian and German servants of Paris. Being akin to Swiss and Suabian, PG. has some points in common with this dialect, without being influenced by French. 6 Alsatian differs from PG. in having i haa for 'ich hab,' tsel for 'sel' (G. derselbe), bluat for bluut,' uss for 'aus,' hūs for 'haus,' tsiit for 'tseit,' bisch for 'bischt,' biim for 'bei'm,' morje for 'marrghə.' 6 PG. and Alsatian turn some b-s to w, they have the vowels of fall, what, up, and have 'prowiire' for probiren, 'ass' for als, do' for da, 'joo' for ja, 'joor' for jahr, 'hoor' for haar, 'fun' for von, 'isch' for ist, 'jets' for jetzt, uff' for auf, 'druff' for dorauf, uff'm' for auf dem, 'raus' for daraus, 'draan' for daran, iwwer' for über, 'dno' for darnach ; PG. 'affe,' Alsat. 'offe,' G. ofen; bal' for bald, 'm'r' for wir, 'm'r muss' for man musz, mee' for mehr, 'welli' for welche; was batt s' (what boots it). 6 The following lines (Radlof, 2, 110) are extracted from a piece of Alsatian which well illustrates the concurrent use of two languages. The French should be read in the German mode. Other French words occur in Radlof's examples, such as allong allons, tur tour, schalu jaloux, anterpoo entrepôt, bangenet baïonnette. The original of the following is in German (gothic) and French (roman) print according to the lan 1 This was written before the Franco-German war which re-annexed Alsatia to Germany. When I read out the first example in Chapter VIII. (Wiidər aa geschmiirt), to the Philological Society, on communicating this paper, 3 June, 1870, Dr. E. Mall, an Alsatian, who was present, remarked that it reminded him throughout of his native dialect, of which he thoroughly recognized the pronunciation. I may remark that I have never heard PG. pronounced, although I have heard Austrian, Saxon, Rhenish, Bavarian, and Swiss dialects, and read solely by the phonetic orthography here given.—A. J. Ellis. |