Sound Change in Bernese German - Illustrated by Staub's Law

Schneider, Christa (20 April 2017). Sound Change in Bernese German - Illustrated by Staub's Law (Unpublished). In: 4th Workshop on Sound Change. Edinburgh. 19.04.2017-22.04.2017.

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Sound change in Bernese German – Illustrated by Staub's Law
The atlas of German-speaking Switzerland (SDS) was published in 8 volumes between 1962 and 1997, containing more than 1500 dialect maps. In order to describe the variety spoken in the greater area of Bern (Berner Mittelland), Hotzenköcherle et al. collected data in 20 different towns and villages by questioning mainly NORMs, but some women have also been taken into account. In the SDS we find data on the greater area of Bern (Berner Mittelland), collected around 1944. Since then, only very specific factors of this particular linguistic variety have been examined, e.g. Hodler 1969 on Bernese German syntax, Marti 1976 on Bernese German grammar more generally or Siebenhaar 2000 on social varieties in the city of Bern, but the dialect has not been examined in its entirety. In my PhD project, I collect new data for Bern and its greater area according to selected variables already surveyed in the SDS, and compare them to the original data. My main focus is on sound changes and reasons for these changes. Moreover, I try to find out to what extent the high prestige variation of the city of Bern is spreading to the surrounding rural areas.
Staub's law (/n/ → ø_fricative; with vowel lengthening and/or diphthongisation) was postulated by Friedrich Staub in 1874, when he tried to explain the loss of /n/ in some Swiss German dialects. In the Berner Mittelland, sound changes according to Staub's law are documented in the SDS rather frequently, but mainly for rural areas where dialects with a slightly lower social prestige are spoken. Werlen (1977) points out that the pronunciation according to Staub's law is declining because of:
a) The coexistence of Standard German words which do not undergo sound change according to Staub's law and
b) The low social prestige of diphthongs, which normally result from changes according to Staub's law.
Therefore, we can expect to find less evidence of Staub's law in a contemporary data collection as in the historic data of the SDS. First analyses of the new data confirm Werlen's assumption of 1977, as the following table shows:
Bern Belp Worb
SDS data tɾɪŋkxə tɾɪ:xə tɾɛixə
New data tɾɪŋkxə tɾɪŋkxə tɾɪŋkxə

Whereas the SDS clearly documents variation in the pronunciation of the Standard German variable trinken (to drink) for the examined places, the contemporary data collection shows the already predicted decline in variation.
Currently, more variables and places are examined in order to present the shift of the isogloss as soon as possible.

References:
Baumgartner Heinrich, Hotzenköcherle Rudolf (1962-2003). Sprachatlas der deutschen Schweiz. Bern, Basel: Francke Verlag
Baumgartner, Heinrich (1940). Stadtmundart : Stadt- und Landmundart : Beiträge zur bernischen Mundartgeographie. Bern: Lang
Christen Helen, Glaser Elvira und Friedli Matthias (2012). Kleiner Sprachatlas der deutschen Schweiz. Frauenfeld: Verlag Huber
Hodler, Werner (1969). Berndeutsche Syntax. Bern: Francke Verlag,
Marti, Werner (1985). Berndeutsch-Grammatik für die heutige Mundart zwischen Thun und Jura. Bern: A. Francke
Siebenhaar Beat, Stäheli Fredy, Ris Roland (2000). Stadtberndeutsch : Sprachporträts aus der Stadt Bern. Murten: Licorne-Verlag
Staub, Friedrich (1874): Die Vokalisierung des n bei den schweizerischen Alemannen. Halle: Buchdruckerei des Waisenhauses.
Werlen, Iwar (1977): "Das 'Staubsche Gesetz' im Schweizerdeutschen". In: Schmidt, Jürgen Erich (Hrsg.): Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik. Jahrgang 44, Heft 3. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 257-281.

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