Alsatian Language: Low Alemannic German dialect spoken in most of Alsace, a region in eastern France
Alsatian (French: Alsacien, German: Elsässisch) is a Germanic language.
It is spoken in Alsace (eastern part of France). It is used for a number of dialects, spoken in Alsace, Franche-Comté, and Jura. Linguistically, we are looking at a number of dialects, with common properties.
| Alsatian | |
|---|---|
| Native to | France |
| Region | Alsace |
Native speakers | 900,000 (2013) |
Indo-European
| |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | No official regulation |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | gsw (with Swiss German) |
| Glottolog | swis1247 Swiss German |
Most of the Alsatian dialects are Germanic. Alsatian is also used for a few dialects that are based on French, and that are spoken in the Vosges, Franche-Comte, territoire de Belfort, and Jura (on both sides of the border).
There are slight differences in the dialects, the one in the north have a sligtly different vocabulary and grammar to the ones in the south. The dialect spoken in the city of Strasbourg is also slighlty different from those in the sourrounding areas.
Statistics
In 2012, the Office pour la Langue et la Culture d’Alsace did a survey:
- 43% said they had a good knowledge of Alsatian, and they used it regularly.
- 33% said they had a basic knowledge or understanding of Alsatian
- 25% said they didn't know Alsatian.
Of those who speak Alsatian:
- 96% speak it with their families
- 88% speak it with friends
- 48% speak it at the office
Those who speak Alsatian are generally older:
- In the age group 60 years and older, 74% speak Alsatian
- In the age group 44-59, 54% do
- Of those 30-44, 24% do,
- 12% of the 18-30 year old
- only 3% of the 3 to 17 year old
In the three big cities of the region (Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse), Alsatian is spoken less. There, fewer than a third of the adults say they speak Alsatian. Around Wissenbourg, Haguenau, and Saverne, over half the people answered they were good speakers.
References
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