§ 4 Nasal Vowels and Dipthongs
PG. is not a harsh dialect, like Swiss. It has, however, the Suabian feature of nasal vowels,10 but to a less extent. They will be indicated with (˛) a modification of the Polish mode. This nasality replaces a lost n (but not a lost m), and it does not pervert the vowel or dipthong, as in the French un, vin, as compared with une, vinaigre. Nor does it affect all vowels which have been followed by n, for most of them remain pure. Nasal ’ee’ (in they, French é) is very common, but does not occur in French, and French un does not occur in PG. Being unaware of the existence of this feature, the writers of the dialect neglect it in the printed examples, which makes it difficult for a foreigner to comprehend them, because a word like ‘aa’ (the English syllable awe) would stand for G. auch (also), and when nasal (aa˛) for G. an (on); and ‘schtee’ would represent both the German stehe and stein, as in saying ‘I stand on the stone’—
G. Ich stehe auf dem stein.—PG. ich schtee uf m schtee˛.
The following words afford examples:—
aa˛-fang-ǝ (G. anfangen) to begin; alée˛ (G. alleín) alone; schee˛ (G. schön) handsome; bee˛ (G. bein, pl. beine) leg, legs; kee˛ (G. kein) none; grii˛ (G. grün) green; duu˛ (G. thun) to do. Was hǝt ær geduu˛? (G. Was hat er gethan?) what has he done? mei˛ (G. mein, meine) my; dei˛ (G. dein) thy; nei˛ (G. hinein) within; ei˛ being the only nasal dipthong.
The obscurity arising from a neglect of the nasal vowels appears in the following lines—
“Die amshel singt so huebsch un’ feih,
Die lerch sie duht ihr lied ah neih;”...
“Awhaemle duht mich eppes noh.”
—Rachel Bahn.
Final n is not always rejected, but remains in many words, among which are—‘in’ in; ‘bin’ am; ’un’ and; ‘iin’(him) G. ihn (but hii˛ for G. hin thither); ‘fun’ (from) G. von; ‘wan’ (when); ‘hen’ (have) G. haben; ‘kan’ (can); ‘schun’ (already) G. schon.
German infinitives in-en end in-ǝ in PG., a vowel not subject to nasality, so that when G. gehen (to go) remains a dissyllable it is ‘gee’ǝ,’ but when monosyllabised it becomes ‘gee˛’—this vowel being nasalisable. Similarly, G. zu stehen (to stand) becomes ‘tsu schteeǝ’ and ‘tsu schtee˛;’ G. zu thun (to do) may be ‘tsu tuu˛’—‘tsu tuuǝ’ or (with n preserved) ‘tsu tuunǝ,’ and G. gehen (to go) may have the same phases.