Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the Rennsteig ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to Upper Saxon spoken mainly in the state of Saxony, therefore both are also regarded as one Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialect group. Thuringian dialects are among the Central German dialects with the highest number of speakers.
History
Thuringian emerged during the medieval German
Ostsiedlung migration from about 1100, when settlers from
Franconia (Main Franconia), Bavaria, Saxony, and
Flanders settled in the areas east of the
Saale River previously inhabited by
Polabian Slavs.
Characteristics
The Thuringian dialect is characterized by a rounding of the vowels, the weakening of consonants of Standard German (the lenition of the consonants "p," "t," and "k"), a marked difference in the pronunciation of the "g" sound (which is most common in the areas of North Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt areas), and a highly-idiosyncratic, melodic intonation of sentences. The second German consonant shift manifested itself in a manner different from that elsewhere in the areas that spoke High German. In many words, "b" is pronounced as "w" or "f" would be in
Standard German. For example, the word aber (but) is pronounced as "aḅer". The Thuringian dialect has advanced beyond the stage of
basilect.
Classification
Grouping according to German
dialectology:
[Wolfgang Putschke:
]
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Ostmitteldeutsch. In: Lexikon der Germanistischen Linguistik. Herausgegeben von Hans Peter Althaus, Helmut Henne, Herbert Ernst Wiegand. 2nd ed., Max Niemeyer Verlag Tübingen, 1980 (1st ed. 1973), p. 474ff., here p. 474–477
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Ostmitteldeutsche Dialektologie. In: Ludwig Erich Schmitt (ed.): Germanische Dialektologie. Festschrift für Walther Mitzka zum 80. Geburtstag. I. ( Zeitschrift für Mundartforschung. Beihefte, Neue Folge 5.) Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 105–154, here p. 132 and 143 uses
[C. A. M. Noble: Modern German Dialects. Peter Lang, New York / Berne / Frankfort on the Main, p. 131]
Ostmitteldeutsch (East Middle German, East Central German)
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Thüringisch (Thuringian)
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Zentralthüringisch (Central Thuringian)
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Westthüringisch (West Thuringian)
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Ostthüringisch (East Thuringian)
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Nordthüringisch (North Thuringian)
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Honsteinisch
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Sonderhäusisch
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Eichsfeldisch
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Südmansfeldisch
Another way to subdivide it is:[Karl Spangenberg: Thuringian. In: Charles V. J. Russ (ed.): The Dialects of Modern German: A Linguistic Survey. Routledge, first published 1990, reprinted 2000, transferred to Digital Printing 2006, ISBN, p. 265–289, here 267–278 (in the chapter Dialect Structure and Dialect Features) it]
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Thüringisch / Thuringian
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Nordthüringisch / North Thuringian: around Mühlhausen and Nordhausen
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Nordostthüringisch / North-east Thuringian: spoken around Artern as well as in the adjacent areas of Querfurt, Halle and Merseburg of Saxony-Anhalt
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Westthüringisch / West Thuringian: around Bad Salzungen and Eisenach, with transitions into the East Franconian (Henneberg) and (East) Hessian dialects dialect area
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Zentralthüringisch / Central Thuringian: spoken around the Turingian capital Erfurt, Gotha, and Ilmenau
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Ilmthüringisch / Ilm Thuringian: around Rudolstadt, Jena, and Weimar
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Ostthüringisch / East Thuringian: spoken around Eisenberg and Altenburg as well as in the adjacent area of Naumburg, Weissenfels and Zeitz in Saxony-Anhalt
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Südostthüringisch / South-east Thuringian: around Schleiz, Greiz, Saalfeld and Gera, as well as around Ludwigsstadt in neighbouring Bavaria
