Hunsrückisch dialect

Wenn der Rapp bleht in Piddaschwald, a poem in the dialect of Peterswald-Löffelscheid

Hunsrückisch is a German dialect spoken in the Hunsrück region of Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate). This mountainous region of Germany has long been an exporter of emigrants to the United States, Brazil, Canada, Australia and other parts of the world.

Hunsrückisch was spoken on Edgar Reitz's acclaimed television series Heimat.

A poem in Mastershausen dialect

Features

Hunsrückisch is a West Central German dialect and a sub-group of Moselle Franconian, which means that it did not undergo all phases of the High German consonant shift. For example:

• Wat (English what, Dutch wat, German was)
• Mudder (English mother, Dutch moeder, German Mutter)

French influence

Because of its proximity to France, the Hunsrückisch dialect spoken in the Hunsrück region has experienced unique influences from the neighboring French language through the centuries. During Napoleonic times the Hunsrück region was incorporated into France for a short period.

Brazilian dialects

Main article: Riograndenser Hunsrückisch

There is a variation of this dialect in southern Brazil and in the northern state of Espírito Santo (counties of Marechal Floriano and Domingos Martins), named Riograndenser Hunsrückisch.

Throughout its almost 200-year history in Southern Brazil and Espírito Santo, Hunsrückisch has been greatly influenced by other German dialects such as Pomeranian, Swabian, and Austro-Bavarian, by other immigrant languages, and by Portuguese. Via Brazilian Portuguese, it has also incorporated Amerindian terminology, referring notably to fauna, flora and toponyms.

South-American Hunsrückisch is spoken in the states of Rio Grande do Sul neighboring state of Santa Catarina, in other parts of southern Brazil like Paraná, as well as in the Southeast region such as Espírito Santo and São Paulo, and to a lesser extent in other countries of the region, like Paraguay and Argentina.

External links

• Hunsrücker Platt, an A-Z of common Hunsrückisch words and phrases (as spoken in the village of Hundheim) and their standard German equivalents, as compiled by Achim Berg.