I wrote:
> A few questions:
>
> 1) where was High German originally spoken? Is there a particular dialect
> playing an important role in NHG's development (as Fiorentino for
Italian)?
>
> 2) where does the HG / LG division lies, today?
that'd obviously be 'where does.... *lie*'
> 3) how is it possible that Hannover, in the North, speaks the clearest
> version of High German?
>
> 4) are dialects in Germany well alive? In Switzerland they are - people
> generally can't speak properly German... /'Abb@R@ zi: 'kYnn@ nu@R
> 'Svitts@RdutS Sprex@/.
that'd be /'Svitts@RdytS/, with /y/, not /u/.
5) Are cases preserved in modern German dialects? Dutch hasn't cases
anymore: Low German?
I'm not sure about this matter Alemannisch dialects as Schwitzerdütsch...
Luca
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Luca
>
> > Hi!
> >
> > Frank George Valoczy <valoczy@...> writes:
> > >
> > > Then, two extra-short [n]'s?
> >
> > Maybe, but I don't know, maybe one n that is truely shared.
> >
> > > Yes, in Eeschtraaksch.
> > >
> > > I think what we need to do is something I've had difficulty with for a
> > > long time: determining the distinction between what is truly "High
> > > German" and what is dialect.
> >
> > Usually you can see from the vowels whether it is High German. Maybe
> > if the second German vowel shift applies, I'd consider it HG.
> > I.e. `Haus' and `Baum' have the same diphthong and no monophthongs.
> > `Euch' has [OI] and not [aI] or anything. There are rounded front
> > vowels. These I would take as indications. If all apply (maybe
> > others), I'd consider it HG.
> >
> > > In my experience the speech of Frankfurt am Main is fairly close to
what
> I
> > > generally consider to be High German [namely that what they speak on
> > > Deutsche Welle], so is that HG or dialect that lays close to it?
> >
> > Hannover is assumed to have the clearest version. Frankfurt is ok,
> > but there is dialect around it and probably only the city has High
> > German.
> >
> > > I find that in big cities generally the speech is fairly close to
> Standard
> > > HG [or is that just people reciprocating when they hear me speak HG?
Tho
> >
> > No, I'd say that it's usually correct that cities have clearer HG.
> >
> > > even my HG is a bit coloured by dialect, example I say /IS/ for /IC/
and
> > > /nISt/, or even /nIt/ if I'm not being careful, for /nICt/] but I've
> >
> > I say [?IC] and [nIC]. If the fricative drops in `nicht', I'd start
> > thinking it's no HG anymore. Dropping the end-T seems ok. But it's not
> > clear who makes up these rules, right. :-)
> >
> > > It's often feelings like that which lead to interesting discoveries.
> >
> > That's why I still answer using my impression only. :-)))
> >
> > **Henrik
> >