Central Hessian
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The Central Hessian dialect is a German dialect subgroup of the Hessian branch of Central German.[1][2] It has only partly undergone the High German (HG) consonant shift but has had a different vowel development than most other German dialects.
Phonetics and development from Middle High German
The dialect sounds softer than HG and often "glues" words together. It also is hard to understand for non-natives, fellow Germans as well.
Vowels
| front | central | back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| high | i: ɪ | u: ʊ | |
| mid | e: ɛ | ə | o: ɔ
ɔ: |
| low | a: a |
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ ɛɪ̯ ɔʊ̯ ɔɪ̯
Consonants
| bilabial | labiodental | alveolar | postalveolar | lateral | velar* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| strong | /p-b-p/ | /f-v-f/ | /d/ | /k-g-k/ | ||||
| soft (after back vowel) | /b-v-b/ | /v/ | /d-ɾ-d/ | /g-ɣ-x/ | ||||
| soft (after front vowel) | /g-(ɟ)-(ç)/ | |||||||
| continuous | /m/ | /n/ | /l/ | /ŋ/ | ||||
| hissing (after back vowel) | /z-z-s/ | /ts-dz-ts/ | /ʃ-ʒ-ʃ/ | /tʃ~dʒ~tʃ/ | /h-ɣ-x/ | |||
| hissing (after front vowel) | /h-ʒ-ʃ/ | |||||||
The "R" can be realised as a bunch of different phonemes, some dialects use the uvular trill, some the velar, some the alveolar, some do the English r and others just tap.
Development
Central Hessian did partake only partially in the HG consonant shift and later further underwent a general gradation process for almost all consonants.
In general
- /h/ from /k/ develops a vowel to consonant harmony; becomes [ʃ~ʒ] after front vowels and [x~ɣ] after back vowels
- /g/ also develops this harmony but tends to elide after front vowels, only to merge with /h/ after back vowels
HG consonant shift (partially) + Further consonant gradation
HG Consonant shift compared with Standard German
West Germanic [t] shifted to an affricate [ts] in initial and medial position, but to a fricative [s] if geminated or in final position. West Germanic [k] only shifted in non-geminated medial and final position, developing a front/back allophonic contrast between [x] and [ç]. WG [p] also only shifts in non-geminated medial and final position to [f]. Initial and geminated medial [p] does not shift to [pf], a parallel in all West Central German dialects. WG [ð] merges into [d], and [d] does not shift to [t]. Like in Standard German but unlike to many Upper German varieties WG [b] and [g] are not affected by the shift. Unlike Standard German [s] also palatalizes after [r], a feature of Upper German.
Consonant gradation
As a default rule between two vowels every consonant gradates into a weaker form, but at the end of a word is hardened (made voiceless). Voiceless consonants get voiced, voiced consonants turn to (voiced) fricates. Initial [s] is default voiced to [z]. [b] gradates to [v], [d] gradates to [r]. [ç] merges into [ʃ], the former back vs front allophony of [x] and [ç] thus is widened further into a phonetic contrast. [g] gradates to [ɣ] or [ɟ]/[j] depending on the preceding vowel, mut merges with [x] when in final position to either [x] or [ʃ].
Development of the vowels from MHG onwards
Diphthongisation
Like in modern HG long î and û underwent diphthongation.
î > ai
like in "t͡sa͜ɪt" MHG zît - time, and
û > au
like in "bɾa͜ʊɣə" MHG brûchen - to need
MHG diphthongs
Unlike HG the old diphthongs did not merge with diphthongizing long vowels but merged instead:
ei, eu, ou > â
some other diphthongs switched within
ie > ei
uo > ou (with some exceptions becoming u)
iu > oi (more consistent than HG)
Vowel heightening
In contrast to HG long ô, â and ê did not remain unchanged, they shifted to the now vacant position of the long high vowels.
ê > î
ô > û
Since long ô was now also vacant, â also shifted.
â > ô
Endings
All MHG inflectional endings were shortened.
-ən > -ə [en]
-ə > -◌ [e]
Other changes
It has to be mentioned tho, that this is only the basic development and every dialect may have some small changes. Short open i in some dialects shifted to [ɛ], short u to [ɔ]. Old long i in some dialects behaves differently and became oi in word final position or was simply shortened: "enoi"/"enin" - "hinein"
The development of vowels before "r" is especially tricky, because younger generations tend to not pronounce it in coda position. It may follow the same patterns as if there would be no "r", shifting further towards the evolving vowel realisation; "durch" [dɔrʃ~dɔʃ] (through) or even further away from it; "erst" [irʃt~iɐʃt] (first).
Vowel development as a chainshift
As a huge number of vowels shifted due to different reasons, their route of changing forms a chain of vowels supplementing each other.
