Missingsch
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Missingsch is a Low German-colored regiolect of German, retaining Low German sentence construction and calques of Low German idioms into Hochdeutsch.
Historically, "Missingsch" comes from Hamburg, Bielefeld, Bremen, Danzig and other towns, which lay in the Low German speech area, where High German was an important influence for the inhabitants, so that they decided to speak High German. The term is derived from "Meissnisch", the Central German dialect of Meissen in Saxony, which was an influential supra-regional form of German, with high status, from the 15th century until the establishment of the Modern Standard German.
Missingsch is not a dialect of Low German, but rather a Low German-coloured accent, similar to the accents typical to Englishmen, Dutchmen, and Danes who try to speak High German (all from the same language family, namely Common Germanic).
[edit] Grammar and Pronunciation
The grammar of classical "Missingsch" is mostly Low German, and the vocabulary is a mixture of High German and Low German.
Some examples (Low German, High German, and English in parenthesis):
- Lang mich mal die Kanne Miich (Lang mi mol de Melkkann) (Gib mir bitte das Milchkännchen) (Give me the milk pitcher please)
- Sitzen gehen schallst du erst, wenn de Vadder da is (Sitten gahn schallst du iers, wenn de Vadder dor is) (Du wirst dich erst hinsetzen, wenn dein Vater da ist) (Only sit down when father is there)
- Ich tu dich blots ankucken, denn wirst du klar kriegen was die Klock geslagen hat. (Ik do di blots ankieken, denn schallst du klorkreegen, wat de Klock slaan hett) (Ich schaue dich nur an, dann wirst du schon wissen, was die Uhr geschlagen hat) (I only have to look at you, then you'll know what's what)
In the last example, it becomes very obvious that "Missingsch" is not a Low German variety: it uses "was" instead of the Low German "wat". More distinctive is the use of the High German "ich" instead of the Low German "ik".
