Wiktionary:Bavarian entry guidelines

Bavarian is a group of Germanic dialects in the southeast of the German language area, particularly in Bavaria, Austria and Italy.

See also

• Wiktionary:Gottscheerish entry guidelines (the Bavarian lect spoken by Gottscheers, which has its own header + code, gmw-gts)

Phonology

Consonants

Letters		Sound
Simple	Geminated
b	–	[b̥]
bf	–	[b̥v̥]
ch		[x~χ] (after back vowel) [ç] (after front vowel)
d	–	[d̥]
f, v	ff	[f] (fortis), [v̥] (lenis)
g	–	[ɡ̊]
h	–	[h]
j	–	[j]
k	ck	[k] [kʰ] (onset of stressed syllable)
l	ll	[l]
m	mm	[m]
n	nn	[n]
ng		[ŋ]
p	pp	[p]
pf		[pf]
qu	–	[ɡ̊ʋ~ɡ̊β̞]
r	rr	[r~ɾ~ʀ~ʁ]
s, ß	ss	[s] (fortis), [z̥] (lenis)
sch		[ʃ] (fortis), [ʒ̊] (lenis)
sp	–	[ʃp] (onset of syllable)
st	–	[ʃt] (onset of syllable)
w	–	[ʋ~β̞]
x		[ks]
z	tz	[ts] (fortis), [d̥z̥] (lenis)

Consonants should be written as geminates in at the end of stressed fortis syllables (short vowel) as long as they are not preceded or followed by another consonant. Although the gemination might not be pronounced in word final position, it helps to mark the vowel length.

Aspiration

When a word starts with the prefix “b” or “g” followed by the letter “h”, both letters merge into an aspirated sound:

Letters	Sound	Example
bh	[pʰ]	bhåitn	[ˈpʰɔi̯tn̩]
gh	[kʰ]	gheard	[kʰeɐ̯d̥]

Nasalization

When a words end in “b”, “d” or “g” followed by “n” (mostly in verbs), both lettes merge into a nasal sound:

Letters	Sound	Example
bn	[m]	lebn	[leːm]
dn	[n]	redn	[reːn]
gn	[ŋ]	sågn	[sɔːŋ]

Vowels

Standard German			Middle High German	Bavarian
Letters	IPA	Example		Northern	West Central	East Central	Southern
a	[a]	Wasser	a	[ɒ~ɔ]			[ɔ]
		Platz		[oː], [ɔː]	[ɔː], [ɒː]
	[aː]	Wagen					[ɔː], [oː]
		Schaf	â	[ɔu̯]
ä	[ɛ]	Plätze	ä, e	[a], [e]		[e]	[a]
	[ɛː]	Wägen		[aː], [eː]		[eː]	[aː]
		Käse	æ	[aː]
e	[ɛ]	Bett	e	[e]			[ɛ]
		Essen	ë	[e], [ɛ]		[e]
		Dreck		[eː]	[eː], [ɛː]	[eː]
	[eː]	Feder					[ɛː], [eː~ei̯]
		Esel	e	[eː], [iː]	[eː]		[eː~ei̯]
		Schnee	ê	[ɛi̯]	[ɛː]		[ɛɐ̯]
i, ie	[ɪ]	bitten	i	[i]			[i]
		Fisch		[iː]
	[iː]	nieder		[iː]	[iː], [iɐ̯]		[iː]
		fliegen	ie	[ei̯]	[iɐ̯]
o	[ɔ]	Glocke	o	[o]			[o]
		Frosch		[oː], [uː]	[oː]
	[oː]	Vogel					[oː~ou̯]
		rot	ô	[ɔu̯]	[ou̯]	[oː], [ɔː]	[ɔɐ̯]
ö	[œ]	Frösche	ö	[e]
	[øː]	Vögel		[eː], [iː]	[eː]	[eː], [øː]	[eː~ei̯]
		böse	œ	[ɛi̯]	[ɛː]		[ɛɐ̯]
u	[ʊ]	dumm	u	[u]			[u]
		Guss		[uː]
	[uː]	Kuh	uo	[ou̯]	[uɐ̯]
ü	[ʏ]	Brücke	ü, u	[u]
		Schlüssel	ü	[i]
	[y]	Flügel		[iː]		[iː], [yː]	[iː], [iɐ̯]
		Kühe	üo	[ei̯]	[iɐ̯]
au	[aʊ̯]	Baum	ou	[aː]
		Haus	û	[au̯]	[ạu̯]/[au̯], [aː], [ɒː]	[ɒu̯]	[au̯]
äu	[ɔʏ̯]	Bäume	öu	[aː], [ai̯]		[aː]
		Häuser	iu	[ai̯]		[æe̯]	[ai̯]
eu		Feuer					[ui̯~oi̯]
ei	[aɪ̯]	Eis	î				[ai̯]
		breit	ei	[oɐ̯]	[oɐ̯]
		Leiter		[oi̯]

L- and R-vocalization

Standard German vowel	Bavarian
	L-vocalization				R-vocalization
	Northern	West Central	East-Central	Southern	Northern	West Central	East-Central	Southern
a	[ɑl~ɔl], [oːl]	[ɔi̯]		[ɔl]	[ɔɐ̯], [ɔwɐ̯]	[ɒː], [ɔɐ̯]	[ɔɐ̯]	[oːr]
ä	[al], [ɛl]	[əi̯]	[øː]	[ɛl], [al]	[aː], [eɐ̯]			[ɛːr]
e, ö	[œl]				[ɛɐ̯], [ɛjɐ̯]	[eɐ̯]		[eːr]
o	[ol], [ul]	[oi̯]		[ol], [ul]	[oɐ̯]		[oɐ̯], [uɐ̯]	[oːr]
i, ü	[ʏl]	[ui̯], [ɛi̯]	[yː]	[il]	[iɐ̯], [ejɐ̯]	[iɐ̯]		[iːr], [iɐ̯r]
u	[ul]	[ui̯]		[ul]	[uɐ̯], [owɐ̯]	[uɐ̯]		[uːr], [uɐ̯r]

Orthographic conventions

Vowel length

Long vowels shouln't be marked by doubling or adding a silent “h” unless it's done in a Standard German cognate or common practice by Bavarian speakers. The consistent doubling of all long vowels is only done in exact transcriptions such as in scientific papers or dictionaries that don't provide IPA transcription.

The vowel length is largely predictable, since they tend to be long in stressed syllables that either end in no consonant or a simple/lenis consonant, while they are short in all other cases.

Vowel quality

Diacritics should not be used in the entries. Ä, ö, ü and å are considered a separate letters. Although “å” is no Standard German letter and therefore not present on most keyboards, it's used in Wiktionary since it's a distinct phoneme and to avoid duplicate entries using “a” and “o” instead.

Phoneme	Primary spelling		Alternative spellings
	Entry	With diacritics
/ɒ~ɔ/	å	å [ɒ], ò [ɔ]	o
/o/	o
/u/	u
/a/	a	à	aa
/ɐ/		ă (unstressed)	er
/ɛ/	e	è	ä
/e/		é
/i/	i
/i~e/	i (unstressed)
/ø/	ö
/y/	ü