Transylvanian Saxon (Saxon: Siweberjesch-Såksesch or just Såksesch, German: Siebenbürgisch-Sächsisch or siebenbürgisch-sächsische Sprache, Hungarian: Erdélyi szász nyelv, Romanian: Limba săsească or dialectul săsesc) is the German dialect of the Transylvanian Saxons, a Romanian-German ethnicity from Transylvania, central Romania.[2]

Transylvanian Saxon
Siweberjesch-Såksesch Såksesch
Native to	Romania[lower-alpha 1]
Region	Transylvania (German: Siebenbürgen)
Native speakers	c. 200,000[1]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Irminonic High German West Central German Central Franconian Moselle Franconian Transylvanian Saxon
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	tran1294
Areas where Transylvanian Saxon was spoken in the Kingdom of Romania in 1918 (the grey-coloured areas to the west denote where Swabian was spoken).
Transylvanian Saxon is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Background

In terms of comparative linguistics, it pertains to the Moselle Franconian group of West Central German dialects. In this particular regard, it must be mentioned that it shares a consistent amount of lexical similarities with Luxembourgish.[3][4]

The dialect was mainly spoken in Transylvania (contemporary central Romania), by individuals of German, Flemish, and Walloon origins who were settled in the Kingdom of Hungary starting in the 12th century. Over the passing of time, it had been consistently influenced by both Romanian and Hungarian.[5][6] The main areas where Transylvanian Saxon was spoken in Transylvania were southern and northern Transylvania.[7][8]

In the contemporary era, the vast majority of the native speakers have emigrated in several waves, initially to Germany and Austria, but then subsequently to the USA, Canada as well as other Western European countries, managing in the process to preserve (at least temporarily) their specific language there.

Distribution of the dialect in Transylvania

Traditionally, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect was mainly spoken in the rural areas of Transylvania throughout the passing of time, since the arrival of the Transylvanian Saxons in the Carpathian Basin during the High Middle Ages onwards. In the urban settlements (i.e. towns and cities), standard German (i.e. Hochdeutsch) was spoken and written.

Furthermore, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect also varied from village to village where it was spoken (a village could have a slightly different form of Transylvanian Saxon than other; analogous to how English accents vary on a radius of 5 miles in the United Kingdom for example).

Recent history of the dialect (1989–present)

Before the Romanian Revolution of 1989, most of the Transylvanian Saxons were still living in Transylvania. During the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, many thousands of these Saxons were sold for a total of around $6 million paid to socialist Romania by West Germany.[9]

By 1990, the number of Saxons living in Transylvania had decreased dramatically. Shortly after the fall of Communism, from 1991 to 1994, many Transylvanian Saxons who still remained in Transylvania decided to ultimately emigrate to re-unified Germany, leaving just a minority of approximately 20,0000 Transylvanian Saxons in Romania at the round of the 21st century (or less than 1 percent of the entire population of Transylvania).[10][11]

The number of native Transylvanian Saxon speakers today is estimated at approximately 200,000 persons. Transylvanian Saxon is also the native dialect of the current President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, by virtue of the fact that he is a Transylvanian Saxon.[12] Additionally, according to the 2011 Romanian census, only 11,400 Transylvanian Saxon were still living in Transylvania at that time.[13]

Alphabet

• A - a
• B - be
• C - ce
• D - de
• E - e
• F - ef
• G - ge
• H - ha
• I - i
• J - jot
• K - ka
• L - el
• M - em
• N - en
• O - o
• P - pe
• Q - ku
• R - er
• S - es
• T - te
• U - u
• V - vau
• W - we
• X - ix
• Y - ipsilon
• Z - zet[14]

Orthography and pronunciation

Vowels

• a - [a/aː]
• au - [aʊ̯]
• å - [ɔː]
• ä - [ɛ/ɛː]
• äi - [eɪ̯]
• e - [ɛ~e~ə/eː]
• ei - [aɪ̯]
• ë - [e]
• i - [ɪ/iː]
• ië - [i]
• o - [ɔ/oː]
• u - [ʊ/uː]
• uë - [u]
• ü/y - [ʏ/yː][15]

Consonants

• b - [b~p]
• c - [k~g̊]
• ch - [x~ʃ]
• ck - [k]
• d - [d~t]
• dsch - [d͡ʒ]
• f - [f]
• g - [g~k~ʃ]
• h - [h~ː]
• j - [j]
• k - [k~g̊]
• l - [l]
• m - [m]
• n - [n]
• ng - [ŋ]
• nj - [ɲ]
• p - [p~b̥]
• pf - [p͡f]
• qv - [kv]
• r - [r~∅]
• s - [s~ʃ~z]
• sch - [ʃ]
• ss - [s]
• t - [t~d̥]
• tsch - [t͡ʃ]
• v - [f/v]
• w - [v]
• x - [ks]
• z - [t͡s][16]

Bibliography

• Siebenbürgisch-Sächsisches Wörterbuch. A. Schullerus, B. Capesius, A. Tudt, S. Haldenwang et al. (in German)
  • Band 1, Buchstabe A – C, 1925, de Gruyter, ASIN: B0000BUORT
  • Band 2, Buchstabe D – F, 1926, de Gruyter, ASIN: B0000BUORU
  • Band 3, Buchstabe G, 1971, de Gruyter, ASIN: B0000BUORV
  • Band 4, Buchstabe H – J, 1972
  • Band 5, Buchstabe K, 1975
  • Band 6, Buchstabe L, 1997, Böhlau Verlag, ISBN 978-3-412-03286-9
  • Band 7: Buchstabe M, 1998, Böhlau Verlag, ISBN 978-3-412-09098-2
  • Band 8, Buchstabe N - P, 2002, Böhlau Verlag, ISBN 978-3-412-12801-2
  • Band 9: Buchstabe Q - R, 2007, Böhlau Verlag, ISBN 978-3-412-06906-3

Notes

References

External links

• SibiWeb: Die Sprache des siebenbürgisch-sächsischen Volkes von Adolf Schullerus (German)
• Verband der Siebenbürgersachsen in Deutschland: Sprachaufnahmen in siebenbürgisch-sächsischer Mundart - Audiosamples (German, Såksesch)
• Siebenbürgersachsen Baden-Württemberg: Die Mundart der Siebenbürger Sachsen von Waltraut Schuller (German)
• Hörprobe in Siebenbürgersächsisch (Mundart von Honigberg - Hărman) und Vergleich mit anderen Germanischen Sprachen (German)

На других языках

[de] Siebenbürgisch-Sächsisch

[fr] Dialecte saxon de Transylvanie

[it] Dialetto sassone di Transilvania