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33-567: The Walser people are the speakers of the Walser German dialects, a variety of Highest Alemannic . They inhabit the region of the Alps of Switzerland and Liechtenstein , as well as the fringes of Italy and Austria . The Walser people are named after the Wallis (Valais), the uppermost Rhône valley, where they settled from roughly the 10th century in the late phase of the migration of

66-474: A Walser inhabited area. The Walser people originate from the Swiss canton of Valais. Around 1300, they started to migrate. As of 2022, the reasons are not historically documented and are speculated to be due to overpopulation, climate change or poverty. In many places Walser settlers received the "Walser right" (colonist right), that is, personal freedom, with the right to form their own judicial communities and

99-470: A schian ketschu in z'Überlann. Méin pappa ischt gsinh la déscendance, dschéin pappa, aschuan méin oalten atte, ischt gsinh aschuan doa .. Vitor van z'Überlann. Un té hedder kheen a su, hets amun gleit das méin pappa hetti kheisse amun Vitor. Eer het dschi gwéibut das s'het kheen sekschuvöfzg joar un het kheen zwia wetti das .. zwienu sén gsinh gmannutu un zwianu sén nöit gsinh gmannutu. Dsch'hen génh gweerhut middim un dschi pheebe middim. Un darnoa ischt mu gcheen

132-734: A speaker from Upper Valais – that is, the upper Rhone valley. In a series of migrations during the Late Middle Ages , people migrated out of the Upper Valais, across the higher valleys of the Alps . The Alemannic immigration to the Rhone valley started in the 8th century. There were presumably two different immigration routes, from what is now the Bernese Oberland , that led to two main groups of Walliser dialects. In

165-572: A wénghjen eina discher wettu. » "My grandfather came from Gaby , my grandmother from Issime, from hamlet Praz. Stévenin was the father, the grandmother came from the Chémonal family. [...] The pasture [in the Bourines Valley] probably belonged to my grandfather. I don't know whether he was from my father's side. It belonged to my family, they had a beautiful house in Gaby. Victor, my father,

198-699: Is a distinction between impersonal and personal pronouns . The impersonal pronoun is mu , which is third person singular. The personal pronouns agree in number and case, with third person agreeing in gender as well for singular pronouns only. Table 7 Personal Pronouns: Neuter: äs/-s Fem: schi/-sch Neuter: äs/-s Fem: schi/-scha Neuter: imu/-mu Fem: iru/-ru The verbs in Pomattertitsch can be categorized into one of four classes depending on their past participle and infinitive endings: The two classes that are most productive are three and four. The third class

231-520: Is most productive in deriving verbs from nouns, and the fourth class is most productive in deriving loan-words from Italian. Table 8 Verb Conjugations in Present Indicative of 'Normal Verbs': Table 9 Verb Conjugations in Present Indicative of 'Special Verbs': In Pomattertitsch, a 'dummy' auxiliary tö 'do' followed by the infinitive form of a verb is common for the present indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. This insertion has

264-702: Is not spoken any more). These are: Simplon , in Canton of Valais ; Bosco/Gurin , in Canton of Ticino ; and the following communities in Graubünden (Grisons): Obersaxen ; Valsertal ( Vals , St. Martin ); Safiental ( Valendas , Versam , Tenna , Safien ); Rheinwald ( Medels , Nufenen , Splügen , Sufers , Hinterrhein , Avers ); Schanfigg ( Arosa , Langwies ); Albula ( Mutten , Schmitten , Wiesen ); Landquart ( Davos , Klosters , Furna , Says , St. Antönien , Valzeina ). Wartau , ( Matug , Walserberg , Palfris ) and Walser speaking people may live in

297-959: Is one Walser community: Triesenberg , including Saminatal and Malbun . Until the 1930s, the dialects of Walser German and Romandy based on the French language was still spoken among a few hundred residents. In Austria , there are 14 Walser communities: Grosses Walsertal (Blons, Fontanella, Raggal, St. Gerold, Sonntag, Thüringerberg), Kleinwalsertal (Mittelberg, a practical enclave of Germany), Brandnertal (Brand), Montafon (Silbertal), Reintal (Laterns), Tannberg ( Schröcken , Lech, Warth), all in Vorarlberg ; and in Paznauntal ( Galtür ), in Tyrol . Additionally, Walser communities are reportedly found in Haute-Savoie , France (Vallorcine, in

330-625: Is rarely spoken by their parents and most commonly by the grandparents. Often, older people will speak to younger people in Walser German, with the younger people responding in Italian. Walser German is most commonly but not exclusively used in private and familial settings when no non-speakers are present. The total number of speakers in the world estimated at 22,000 speakers (as of 2004), of whom about 10,000 are in Switzerland. Because

363-489: Is shared by this group is the palatalization of Middle High German (MHG) -s- to -sch- . This is very typical of Walser German dialects in general. For Pomattertitsch, however, this does not apply to every word that contains - s -: su 'son' , sunna 'sun', and si 'to be'. The second feature is a change from -nk- to -ch- or -h-: German denken to Pomattertitsch teche 'think', German trinken to Pomattertitsch triche 'drink'. The final feature

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396-764: Is the lack of diphthongs where they are present in German words: German bauen to Pomattertitsch büwe 'build', German schneien to Pomattertitsch schnie 'snow'. Again, this section will be about the Walser German dialect Pomattertitsch. Pomattertitsch marks number (singular and plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) on nouns , like most dialects of German. It also marks case (nominative/accusative, genitive, dative) on nouns, although it has been reduced over time. It also distinguishes between strong and weak nouns. Table 1 Nouns: Pomattertitsch has definite (English 'the') and indefinite (English 'a') articles that agree in case, number, and gender with

429-534: The Alamanni , crossing from the Bernese Oberland ; because of linguistic differences among the Walser dialects, it is supposed that there were two independent immigration routes. From the upper Wallis, they began to spread south, west and east between the 12th and 13th centuries, in the so-called Walser migrations ( Walserwanderungen ). The causes of these further population movements, the last wave of settlement in

462-541: The Bernese Oberland and in Central Switzerland ( Uri , Schwyz , Unterwalden , Glarus ). There is limited mutual intelligibility with High Alemannic forms of Swiss German (whose speakers are called Üsserschwyzer "outer Swiss" by the Walliser), and barely any mutual intelligibility with Standard German . In Italy, Walser German is almost never spoken between children of Walser people and

495-740: The Chablais ), where the local Walser dialect is no longer spoken, and in the Berner Oberland (or Bernese Highlands), Switzerland (Grimseljoch-Sustenpass area, Lauterbrunnen , Mürren , etc.), where the local Walser dialect has assimilated to the (likewise Highest Alemannic ) dialects of the Berner Oberland. Some Walsers later settled portions of eastern Hungary , most were found in the Tokay wine region. Walsers, along with French Swiss speakers and French ( Lorraine ) vintners from

528-543: The Lötschental , for instance, preserved three distinct classes of weak verbs until the beginning of the 20th century. Walser German dialects are considered endangered, and language shift to the majority language ( French , Italian , Standard German ) has taken place in the course of the later 20th century. Walser German is part of the Highest Alemannic group, most closely related to dialects spoken in

561-703: The canton of Geneva . In Italy , there are nine communities that were settled by the Walser migration (and four others that originally were, but where Walser German is not spoken any more (with exception of a few elders)). These are: Gressoney-La-Trinité , Gressoney-Saint-Jean and Issime ( Lys Valley, in the Aosta Valley ); Formazza , Macugnaga , Campello Monti ( Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province ); Alagna Valsesia , Riva Valdobbia , Carcoforo , Rimasco , Rima San Giuseppe , Rimella (Sesia Valley or Valsesia , in Vercelli province ). In Liechtenstein , there

594-486: The 12th or 13th century, the Walliser began to settle other parts of the Alps . These new settlements are known as Walser migration. In many of these settlements, people still speak Walser. Because the people who speak Walser German live in the isolated valleys of the high mountains, Walser German has preserved certain archaisms retained from Old High German which were lost in other variants of German. The dialect of

627-811: The French with wine-producing skills arrived in the 19th century by invitation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Their descendants in the early 20th century were known as Français du Banat or the " Banat French", as well the Romandie de l'Ungerne or "the Romandies of Hungary". Walser German Usage of the terms Walser and Walliser has come to reflect a difference of geography, rather than language. The term Walser refers to those speakers whose ancestors migrated into other Alpine valleys in medieval times, whereas Walliser refers only to

660-407: The agent of the caused event, then the preposition z (separate word, not morpheme), and then the infinitive: und töt ds metjie z ässä 'and he makes the girl eat'. The imperative is expressed most commonly by using tö 'do' plus the infinitive, as stated above: tö frägä! 'do ask, ask!'. Another way is the bare indicative stem for the singular form, and the same present indicative form for

693-455: The ball into the goal thrown 'Peter threw the ball into the goal just now' In some dialects, specifically Gressoney, Formazza, and Rimella , the finite and non-finite verbs occur right next to each other, with the complements and adverbials at the end of the sentence. An example of this in Rimella is given below: de pappa òn d mamma hein gmacht ds chriz dem chénn the father and

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726-413: The dialect group is quite spread out, there is rarely any contact between the dialects. Therefore, the dialects that compose Walser German are very different from each other as well. Specific Walser dialects can be traced to eastern or western dialects of the Upper Valais. Conservative Walser dialects are more similar to the respective groups of Wallis dialects than to neighboring Walser dialects. Because

759-794: The dialects of Walser German are different from each other, it is difficult to make generalizations about the language that apply to all the dialects. This section will be about the Walser German dialect of Formazza , or Pomattertitsch. Pomattertitsch is part of the Highest Alemannic German ( höchstalemannisch ) dialect group, which is made up of dialects that share similar features. The Highest Alemannic German group contains German dialects of Valais ; Walser German dialects in Italy and Ticino; and eastern Walser German dialects in Grisons, Vorarlberg, and Liechtenstein. The first feature that

792-401: The end of an inflected verb and after enclitic pronouns, if there are any in the sentence. The passive is expressed in Pomattertitsch by using the auxiliary cho 'come' followed by the past participle of the verb, which agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence: der salam chun röwä gässä 'salami is eaten raw'. The causative is expressed using tö 'do' followed by

825-447: The higher valleys of the Alps , are not entirely clear. Some think that the large Walser migrations took place because of conflicts with the valley's feudal lords. Other theories contend it was because of overpopulation and yet others that they were reinforced by the respective local authorities in order to settle previously unpopulated regions. Starting in 1962, every three years a meeting of Walser people called Walsertreffen occurs in

858-466: The meaning of the sentence. Table 10 Subjunctive 1: Table 11 Subjunctive 2: The Walser German dialect group has the same word order as German, for the most part. For some dialects, however, there is a change occurring in the word order of verbal brace constructions. In German, the finite verb occurs in the second position, and the non-finite verb occurs in the final position: Peter hat vorhin den Ball ins Tor geworfen Peter has just now

891-460: The mother have made the cross to the child 'The father and mother made a cross for the child' This is a change from SOV (subject, object, verb) to SVO word order. This change is due to the increasing influence of Italian on Walser German. However, the SOV word order is still used when there is negation and when there is an inverted subject. Some southern dialects of Walser German are starting to omit

924-413: The noun: Table 2 Definite Articles: Table 3 Indefinite Articles: Adjectives also agree in number, and gender with the noun it is modifying in Pomattertitsch. For adjectives in the attributive position, there is also agreement in strong versus weak nouns, and in case. Table 4 Strong Attributive 'tired': Table 5 Weak Attributive 'tired': Table 6 Predicative 'tired': In Pomattertitsch, there

957-454: The plural: zel titsch, dü! 'speak German, you!' and chomet hier! 'come (pl) here!'. There are two different subjunctive forms used in Pomattertitsch. The first form is used mainly in reported speech and in subordinate clauses that follow 'say' or 'think'. It also occurs in complement clauses that follow das 'that'. The second form is used for the conditional mood, where the conjunction wenn 'if' can be omitted without changing

990-510: The right of the free hereditary rights of land. When a settler died, the estate passed to his heirs. The "Walser law" was granted against a moderate interest and the obligation to serve in the war. In Switzerland , the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais is the original region of the Walser. There are 26 Walser communities that were settled by the Walser migration (and seven others that originally were, but where Walser German

1023-401: The same meaning as if the verb was to be conjugated normally: ich tö zellä 'I do speak/I speak'. There is not a preterite form in Pomattertitsch. Instead, past tense is expressed using the present perfect, which is formed with auxiliaries 'to be' and 'to have' followed by the past participle. On the other hand, the future tense is expressed morphologically by adding the particle de at

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1056-638: The subject pronoun of sentences, just having the inflection on the verb to indicate what the subject is. This phenomenon is known as pro-dropping, and is common among languages. Italian is a pro-drop language , and German is not, which means that Italian is influencing some southern dialects of Walser German. « Méin oalten atte ischt gsinh van in z'Überlann, un d'oaltun mamma ischt van Éischeme, ischt gsing héi van im Proa. Stévenin ischt gsinh dar pappa, la nonna ischt gsinh des Chamonal. [...] D'alpu ischt gsinh aschua van méin oalten pappa. Ich wiss nöit ol z'is heji... Ischt gsinh aschuan d'oaltu, un d'ketschu, gmachut

1089-551: Was from his lineage, his father, my grandfather, came from over there... Victor le gabençois. Later he had a son, to whom he gave his name, so that my father's name was Victor too. He then got married when he was 56, and he had four sisters, two of them got married and two did not. They always worked and lived with him. Later one of them died." Issime Issime ( French pronunciation: [isim] ; Issime Walser : Éischeme ; German : Einsimmen ; Valdôtain : Eichima (locally in patois gabençois Éséima ) )

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