Hamburg German, also known as Hamburg dialect or Hamburger dialect (natively , ), is a group of Northern Low Saxon varieties spoken in Hamburg, Germany. Occasionally, the term Hamburgisch is also used for Hamburg Missingsch, a variety of standard German with Low Saxon substrates. These are urban dialects that have absorbed numerous English and Dutch loanwords, for instance Törn 'trip' (< turn) and suutje 'gently' (< Dutch ).

Hamburg's name is pronounced in these dialects, with a "ch" similar to that in the standard German words ich or Milch (ich-Laut). Typical of the Hamburg dialects and other Lower Elbe dialects is the pronunciation (and eu spelling) for the diphthong (written öö, öh or ö), e.g.:

{| class="wikitable"

! in Hamburg

! elsewhere

! standard German

! English translation

|-

|keupen || köpen || kaufen || to buy

|-

|scheun || schöön || schön || beautiful

|}

However, as in most other Low Saxon dialects, the long monophthong is pronounced (as in French peu), for instance Kööm ~ Kœm 'caraway'.

The Low Saxon language in Hamburg is divided in several subdialects, namely:

  • Finkwarder Platt
  • Olwarder Platt
  • Veerlanner Platt (with many sub-sub-dialects)
  • Barmbeker Platt.

The Hamborger Veermaster is a famous sea shanty sung in the regional dialect. The all-purpose greeting "moin" is universally used in Hamburg.

Sources

  • http://www.plattmaster.de