GottscheerishAndrew Willis: Brussels faces shortage of English-language interpreters . Euobserver.com, 19-02-2009Newflashenglish.com: UN says 2,500 languages face extinction , p. 2. (Göttscheabarisch,Maridi Tscherne: Wörterbuch Gottscheerisch-Slowenisch. Einrichtung für die Erhaltung des Kulturerbes Nesseltal, Koprivnik/Nesseltal 2010. , ) is an Upper German dialect which was the main language of communication among the Gottscheers in the enclave of Gottschee, Slovenia, before 1941. It is occasionally referred to as Granish or Granisch in the United States (< German Krainisch 'Carniolan'), a term also used for Slovene.Moseley, Christopher. 2007. Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages. New York: Routledge.Zarja / The Dawn. 1996. 68(5–6) (May–June), p. 27.Planinšič, J. 1976. "Bodimo ponosni, da smo Slovenci." Slovenska država 27(2): 3.
Language history Gottscheerish belongs to Southern Bavarian within the Bavarian dialect group. The Bavarian dialects of Carinthia are closest to it. Gottscheerish shares a lot of properties with the Bavarian dialects of the German language islands of the eastern Alps, among them Cimbrian in Veneto, Sappada (Pladen), and Timau (Tischelwang) in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Sorica (Zarz) in Upper Carniola (Slovenia).
Gottscheerish evolved independently for more than 600 years from the settlement of the first German-speaking settlers from Eastern Tyrol and Western Carinthia around 1330.
The Gottscheer Germans used Gottscheerish as oral language for daily communication, whereas their written language was Standard German. However, folk songs and folk tales collected in the 19th and 20th century have been published in Gottscheerish.
Already in the 19th century, many speakers of Gottscheerish left their homes to emigrate to the United States. After resettlement of most Gottscheers by the German occupation forces in 1941 during the Second World War, only a few hundred speakers of Gottscheerish remained in their homeland. After the war, Gottscheerish was forbidden in Yugoslavia.
Present situation According to the UNESCO, Gottscheerish is a "critically endangered language". The majority of its speakers live in the U.S., with a significant community in Queens, New York City.Turin, Mark. 2012. "New York, a graveyard for languages." BBC, 16 December. Most of them are of the oldest generation, who spent their childhood in Gottschee County. There are speakers in Canada, Austria and Germany as well; just as in the U.S., these populations have hardly any opportunity to practice it. Everyday language in the family and elsewhere is English and German or the local dialect, respectively.Anja Moric: Usoda Kočevskih Nemcev - Ohranjanje identitete kočevskih Nemcev. Diplomsko delo, Univerza v Ljubljani, 2007
In Slovenia, there are some families who preserved Gottscheerish in spite of the ban after World War II. Today, however, there are probably no more children learning it as first language. Most Gottscheerish speakers live in Moschnitze valley (Črmošnjiško-Poljanska dolina) between Kočevske Poljane and Črmošnjice, where some Gottscheer families collaborated with the partisan movement and therefore were allowed to stay.Pokrajinski muzej Kočevje: Vsi niso odšli / Not all of them left
Written representation As a primarily or exclusively spoken language, the written representation of Gottscheerish has varied considerably. The following table shows how some of the more problematic phonemes have been represented in different writing systems.
Phoneme Schröer (1870)Schröer, Karl Julius. 1870. Wörterbuch der Mundart von Gottschee. Vienna: K. u. k. Staatsdruckerei. Tschinkel (1908)Tschinkel, Hans. 1908. Grammatik der Gottscheer Mundart. Halle: Max Niemeyer. Schauer (1926)Schauer, August (ed). 1926. Gottscheer Kalender. Author. Contemporary – ṡ – – e ä ə ä ə j j j kh k kh kχ ö ȯ ó ö s, ß s ß s, ß sch š sch sch z ts z ts tsch tš tsch tsch ü u̇ u ü ch χ ch ch – ż – – ş ž sh sh
The symbol ə for schwa is frequently distorted in representations of Gottscheerish, incorrectly replaced by the partial differential symbol ∂ or umlauted ä.
Phonology The phonological inventory of Gottscheerish differs from standard German in a number of ways, especially regarding palatal consonants. The phonological inventory here is based on Hans Tschinkel's 1908 grammar. Tschinkel does not explicitly distinguish between phonemic and phonetic status.
Consonants Consonants in parentheses are either phonetic/positional variants, idiolect variants, or dialect variants.Tschinkel, Hans. 1908. Grammatik der Gottscheer Mundart. Halle: Max Niemeyer, pp. 20–30.
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Palatal Velar Pharyngeal Plosivevoicelessptkaspiratekʰ voicedbdɡFricativevoicelessfs(ɕ) ʃxhvoicedwvz(ʑ) ʒAffricatepftstʃkxNasalmn(ɲ)ŋTrillr Laterall(ʎ)
In the westernmost part of Gottschee, known as the Suchen Plateau (), the phonemes /s/ and /ʃ/ merged to yield /ɕ/ and the phonemes /z/ and /ʒ/ merged to yield /ʑ/.Tschinkel, Hans. 1908. Grammatik der Gottscheer Mundart. Halle: Max Niemeyer, p. 26. The phoneme /r/ is rarely realized as [ʁ].Tschinkel, Hans. 1908. Grammatik der Gottscheer Mundart. Halle: Max Niemeyer, p. 22. The phoneme /l/ is realized as [ʟ] after front vowels and after labial/velar obstruents.
Vowels Tschinkel gives a large vowel inventory for Gottscheerish, especially for vowel clusters. He does not strictly distinguish between phonemic and phonetic values.Tschinkel, Hans. 1908. Grammatik der Gottscheer Mundart. Halle: Max Niemeyer, pp. 12–20.
Front Central Back High Hi-Mid Lo-Mid Low
Falling diphthongs: ai, ao, au, aʉ, ea, ei, ia, iə, oa, oɛ, oi, ou, ɵi, ɵʉ, ua, ui, uə, ʉi, ʉə, əi, aːi, aːo
Rising diphthongs: , , , , , , , , , , ː, , , , ,
Falling triphthongs: oai, uai, eau, iəu, ʉəu, oːai, uːai
Rising-falling triphthongs: , , , , , , , , , ,
Tetraphthongs: oai, , ,
Grammar
Personal pronouns The following pronouns are given in Hans Tschinkel's transcription.Tschinkel, Hans. 1908. Grammatik der Gottscheer Mundart. Halle: Max Niemeyer, pp. 267–270. Singular Plural Formal (sg./pl.) Case 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 2nd person (English nominative) I you he it she we you they you Nominative iχ, ī, i, iχχe dū̇, du̇ ār, ar, a īns, is, əs, ’s žī, ži biər, bər iər, ər, dər žai žai Genitive maindər daindər žaindər (īmonš) īrdər inžər, inžə(r)dər aijər, airər, aijə(r)dər īr īr Dative miər, miərə, mər diər, diərə, dər īmon (īmonə), mon īr (īrə), ir inš ai in, ən, ’n, nən in, ən, ’n, nən Accusative mī, mi dī, di in, ən, ’n īns, əs, ’s žai, žə inš ai žai, žə, ž’ žai, žə, ž’
Numbers The following numbers are given in abridged form in Hans Tschinkel's transcription.Tschinkel, Hans. 1908. Grammatik der Gottscheer Mundart. Halle: Max Niemeyer, pp. 265–266.
Number Gottscheerish 1 uains 2 tsboai 3 drai 4 viər 5 vemf 6 žekš 7 žībm 8 oχt 9 nain 10 tsēhŋ
Number Gottscheerish 11 uaindlof 12 tsbelf 13 draitsain 14 viərttsain 15 vu̇ftsain, vemftsain 16 žaχtsain 17 žimtsain 18 oχtsain 19 naintsain 20 tsbȯntsikh
Number Gottscheerish 21 uian-in-tsbȯntsikh 22 tsboai-in-tsbȯntsikh 23 drai-in-tsbȯntsikh 24 viər-in-tsbȯntsikh 25 vemv-in-tsbȯntsikh 30 draisikh 40 viərttsikh 50 vu̇ftsikh, vemftsikh 60 žaχtsikh 70 žimtsikh
Number Gottscheerish 80 oχtsikh 90 naintsikh 100 hu̇ndərt 101 hu̇ndərt-uain 110 hu̇ndərt-tsēhŋ 200 tsbianhu̇ndərt, tsboaihu̇ndərt 300 draihu̇ndərt 1,000 tau̇žnt 2,000 tsbaintau̇žnt, tsboaitau̇žnt 1,000,000 miliōn
Examples
A text in Karl Schröer's orthography (1870):
GottscheerishSchröer, Karl Julius. 1870. Wörterbuch der Mundart von Gottschee. Vienna: K. u. k. Staatsdruckerei, p. 266. German EnglishBie wrüe işt auf dar Hanşel junc, ar stéanot şmóaronş gûr wrüe auf, ar legot şih gûr schíander ån, ar géanot ahin of es kîrtàgle.Wie früh ist auf der Hänsel jung, er stund des morgens gar früh auf, er legte sich gar schön (schöner) an, er gieng hin auf den Jahrmarkt.How early young Johnny is up, He got up very early this morning, He put on his fine clothes, He went to the parish fair.
A text partially based on Hans Tschinkel's orthography (ca. 1908):
GottscheerishTschinkel, Hans et al. 1984. Gottscheer Volkslieder. Nachträge zu Bd. 1. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, p. 470. GermanPetschauer, Erich. 1980. Das Jahrhundertbuch der Gottscheer. Klagenfurt: Leustik, p. 79. EnglishDu̇ hoscht lai oin Ammoin, oin Attoin dərzu̇ə, du̇ hoscht lai oin Hoimət, Gottschəabarschər Pu̇ə.Du hast nur eine Mutter einen Vater dazu, du hast nur eine Heimat, Gottscheer Bub.You have only one mother One father as well. You have only one homeland, Gottschee boy.
Notes
References
Bibliography Karl Julius Schröer: Wörterbuch der Mundart von Gottschee. K. k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien 1870. Adolf Hauffen: Die deutsche Sprachinsel Gottschee. Geschichte und Mundart, Lebensverhältnisse, Sitten und Gebräuche, Sagen, Märchen und Lieder. K. k. Universitäts-Buchdruckerei und Verlags-Buchhandlung ‚Styria‘, Graz 1895. S. 19-33: Die Gottscheer Mundart. Hans Tschinkel: Grammatik der Gottscheer Mundart. Niemeyer, Halle a. S. 1908. Walter Tschinkel: Wörterbuch der Gottscheer Mundart. 2 Bände. Mit Illustrationen von Anni Tschinkel. Studien zur Österreichisch-Bairischen Dialektkunde. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1973. Maridi Tscherne: Du höscht lai oin Hoimöt. Domovina je ena sama. Pesmarica pesmi v kočevarskem narečju. Slovensko kočevarsko društvo Peter Kosler, Ljubljana 2010. Maridi Tscherne: Beartərpiəchla - Göttscheabarisch-Kroinarisch. Kočevarsko-slovenski slovarček. Zavod za ohranitev kulturne dediščine Nesseltal Koprivnik, Koprivnik/Nesseltal 2010.
External links Gottscheer Relief Association, New York: Language Lessons. Gottscheerisch for English Speakers Gottschee.de: Folk songs in Gottscheerish Peter Kosler Association, Slovenia Kultura po 700 letih na robu propada (Domen Caharijas, Dnevnik, 17 October 2009, in Slovene), parts of the body in Gottscheerish