Central Bavarian
Central Bavarian (German: Mittelbairisch) is a major subgroup of the Bavarian dialects, spoken by millions primarily in central and eastern Bavaria and much of Austria. It belongs to the Upper German branch of West Germanic languages, forming a dialect continuum rather than a uniform variety. It is characterized by distinct phonological, grammatical, and lexical features that set it apart from Standard German, including the vocalization of post-vocalic /l/ to a vowel-like sound (e.g., Stuhl 'chair' pronounced as [ˈʃtʊɪ] or Stui) and a quantity-based vowel system without tense-lax distinctions.[1][2][3] Geographically, Central Bavarian is spoken across much of Austria, including Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna, Styria, Salzburg, Carinthia, and Burgenland, as well as in central and eastern regions of Bavaria, Germany, such as Upper Bavaria (e.g., around Munich and the Aichach-Friedberg district), Lower Bavaria (along the Danube, Isar, and Inn valleys), and parts of the Upper Palatinate. This area encompasses both urban centers like Vienna and rural zones, with the dialect serving as the primary vernacular for millions of speakers in a region where it coexists alongside Standard German in education, media, and official contexts. Within Central Bavarian, variations exist, such as West Central Bavarian around Munich and Altötting, which extends west to the Lech River and south into Austria, and more eastern forms influenced by Viennese speech.[1][2][3][4] Linguistically, Central Bavarian features opening and closing diphthongs (e.g., /ia/, /ua/, /ai/, /oa/), consonant lenition (weakening or deletion of lenis stops in codas), and a complementary length pattern where long vowels pair with short consonants and vice versa, often defying traditional Germanic sound laws like Pfalz's Law. Historically, it evolved from early Old High German vernaculars around the 8th century, with dialectal writing emerging prominently from the 17th century onward, influenced by the East Upper German-Austrian literary tradition; innovations frequently spread from Vienna along the Danube trade routes. In contemporary usage, the dialect faces convergence with Standard German, particularly among younger speakers through education and media, leading to shifts like vowel mergers and emerging tensity contrasts, though it remains a vibrant marker of regional identity in Austria and Bavaria.[1][2][3]Classification
Place within the Bavarian dialect group
Central Bavarian constitutes one of the three principal subgroups within the Bavarian dialect continuum, alongside Northern Bavarian and Southern Bavarian, and occupies the central or transitional zone between these variants. This classification, established by linguists such as Eberhard Kranzmayer in his work on dialect geography, positions Central Bavarian as the core representative of the broader Bavarian language group, which itself falls under the Upper German branch of West Germanic languages.[1][5] As a transitional dialect, Central Bavarian shares fundamental Bavarian characteristics, including preterite-present verb forms such as those for können (to be able) and müssen (to must), which exhibit ablaut patterns inherited from Proto-Germanic. However, it diverges from Northern Bavarian, which shows Franconian influences like conservative vocabulary retention (e.g., Mädlein for "girl") due to proximity to East Franconian areas, and from Southern Bavarian, which preserves more archaic Alpine features such as affricate distinctions (e.g., Kchua for "cow") and resistance to innovations like the vocalization of /l/ to [ɐ̯] or [ʊ̯]. Central Bavarian, in contrast, typically features such vocalizations (e.g., [håitn] for "halten," to hold) and spreads linguistic innovations along river valleys, marking its intermediate role.[1][6][5] In the linguistic hierarchy, Central Bavarian is situated as follows: Indo-European > Germanic > West Germanic > High German (Oberdeutsch) > Upper German > Bavarian > Central Bavarian. This placement underscores its role in bridging the continuum, with shared pronominal forms like es for "you (plural subject)" and enk for "you (plural object)," alongside lexical items such as Fasching for carnival, distinguishing the entire Bavarian group from neighboring varieties.[1] It is spoken by a substantial portion of the estimated 14 million total Bavarian speakers concentrated in central regions.[7]Relation to Standard German and other Upper German varieties
Central Bavarian exhibits partial mutual intelligibility with Standard German, particularly among bilingual speakers accustomed to both varieties through education and media exposure, though unexposed listeners often face significant comprehension difficulties due to divergences in phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon.[8] This limited intelligibility is underscored by empirical studies showing lower performance in Standard German comprehension tasks for native Central Bavarian speakers, such as preschool children scoring markedly below their Standard German-speaking peers on standardized assessments.[8] Linguist Robert Hinderling has argued that the structural distance between Bavarian varieties like Central Bavarian and Standard German exceeds that between Danish and Norwegian, supporting calls to classify it as a distinct language rather than a dialect.[8] Within the Upper German family, Central Bavarian shares core historical developments with other varieties, including the complete High German consonant shift, which distinguishes Upper German from Central and Low German dialects by affricating or fricativizing stops (e.g., MHG /p/ > /pf/ in words like pfund).[9] However, Central Bavarian retains more conservative case endings in morphology compared to Standard German, preserving distinctions in dative and genitive forms that have eroded in the standard variety, such as using prepositional dative constructions with "vo" instead of genitive "der."[9] These shared Upper German traits position Central Bavarian closer to neighboring Bavarian subgroups than to more distant Upper German branches, though lexical overlap with Standard German remains low (e.g., Jaccard similarity of approximately 0.13 between dialectal and standard corpora).[9] In contrast to Alemannic dialects (e.g., Swabian or Swiss German), Central Bavarian shows less variation in diminutive suffixes, favoring consistent forms like -l or -erl (e.g., Hausl for "little house") over Alemannic's more diverse -le, -li, or -la endings, reflecting divergent morphological evolution post-Middle High German.[9] Rhotics also differ, with Central Bavarian typically employing a uvular [ʁ] influenced by Standard German, while Alemannic varieties often retain alveolar trills or approximants in rural forms, contributing to phonetic barriers between the subgroups.[10] These distinctions arose during the medieval dialectal separation of East Upper German (Bavarian) from West Upper German (Alemannic), reducing mutual intelligibility between Central Bavarian and Alemannic to levels lower than within the Bavarian group itself.[9] Central Bavarian's role in a diglossic context alongside Standard German is prominent, with the dialect serving as the low variety (L) for informal, everyday interactions in homes and communities, while Standard German functions as the high variety (H) for education, administration, and media.[8] This functional compartmentalization fosters frequent code-switching, especially among younger speakers, as interference from Bavarian phonology and syntax affects Standard German production, leading to hybrid forms in casual speech.[8] Anthony R. Rowley describes this dynamic as evidence of Bavarian's success as a vital dialect despite pressures toward standardization, maintaining ethnic and regional identity in informal domains.[9]History
Origins in Old High German
Central Bavarian emerged as a distinct dialect within the Old High German (OHG) language continuum during the 8th to 11th centuries, primarily in the Upper German-speaking regions of southern Germany and Austria. This development was shaped by the High German consonant shift, also known as the Second Germanic Consonant Shift, which began around the 7th century and fundamentally distinguished Upper German varieties, including proto-Bavarian, from Central and Low German dialects to the north. The shift involved systematic changes to voiceless stops, such as the affrication of initial /p/ to /pf/, as seen in the evolution from Proto-West Germanic *apul to OHG apful (modern Standard German Apfel), though in some Bavarian contexts affricates simplify further, e.g., "Pfund" to "Fund".[11][12][13] These sound changes were most fully realized in the southern Upper German areas, including Bavarian territories, where the complete shift affected stops at all positions of articulation.[11] The foundational influences on proto-Central Bavarian trace back to the migrations of the Bavarian (Baiuvarii) tribes in the 6th century, when these Germanic groups settled along the Danube River, establishing control over former Roman provinces in what is now Bavaria and eastern Austria. This settlement involved a blending of incoming East Germanic and West Germanic linguistic elements with local substrates, including residual Celtic and Late Latin varieties spoken by the indigenous population. Toponymic evidence, such as the term "Walchen" for Romance-speaking areas, illustrates this bilingual contact zone, where Germanic settlers adapted and incorporated substrate features into their emerging dialect. The resulting linguistic mixture laid the groundwork for the regional specificity of Central Bavarian within the broader OHG framework.[14][14] Early attestations of proto-Bavarian traits appear in 9th-century OHG glosses and manuscripts from the Bavarian region, providing the first written evidence of dialectal divergence. Texts such as the Kasseler Glossen and the Exhortatio ad plebem Christianam exhibit characteristic features, including monophthongization of certain West Germanic diphthongs (e.g., au > o), which marked an early stage of Bavarian vowel simplification distinct from other OHG varieties. These documents, originating from ecclesiastical centers like Freising, reflect the spoken vernacular of the Upper German south and highlight the consolidation of sound shifts like the consonant affrications during this formative period.[15][11]Medieval and modern development
During the High Middle Ages, from the 12th to 15th centuries, Central Bavarian dialects consolidated as a distinct variety within the Upper German group, influenced by the courtly and administrative languages of key centers like Vienna and Munich.[1] The Regensburg Kaiserchronik (c. 1140–1170) represents one of the earliest secular texts exhibiting regional Bavarian features in its orthography and lexicon.[1] By around 1300, a semi-standardized East Upper German-Austrian written form emerged, spanning from Augsburg to Vienna and incorporating Central Bavarian elements, as seen in manuscript variants of the Nibelungenlied (c. 1200), composed in Passau—a Central Bavarian hub—and reflecting local phonological and lexical traits in its transmission.[16][1] These developments were shaped by political consolidation under the Babenberg and Wittelsbach dynasties, which promoted vernacular use in chancellery documents and literature, fostering dialectal cohesion along the Danube corridor.[1] In the early modern period (16th–18th centuries), Central Bavarian experienced shifts due to the spread of printing and the Counter-Reformation, yet it resisted the full standardization seen in East Central German varieties like those in Saxony.[1] Bavaria's staunch Catholicism limited Protestant influences that elsewhere accelerated High German convergence via Luther's Bible translations, allowing dialects to persist in oral and some printed religious texts.[1] Printing presses in Munich and Vienna from the late 16th century onward produced occasional dialect materials, such as folk songs and sermons, but primarily reinforced a mixed vernacular-register rather than supplanting local speech.[1] A milestone was Johann Ludwig Prasch's Glossarium Bavaricum (1689), the first comprehensive dialect dictionary, which documented Central Bavarian lexicon and highlighted its divergence from emerging standard German.[1] The 19th and 20th centuries witnessed a romantic revival of Central Bavarian through folk literature and scholarly documentation, followed by mid-century decline and later regionalist resurgence. Johann Andreas Schmeller's Mundarten Bayerns grammatisch dargestellt (1821) and Bayerisches Wörterbuch (1827–1837) initiated systematic study, driven by romantic nationalism that celebrated dialects as cultural heritage.[1] Dialect societies, including the Bavarian Academy of Sciences' Kommission für Mundartforschung (established 1911), actively documented variations, compiling extensive vocabularies and grammars to preserve regional diversity.[1] Literary figures like Johann Nestroy (1801–1862) popularized Central Bavarian in Viennese theater, using its idiomatic expressions in farces to satirize society, thereby embedding the dialect in urban folk culture.[17] Post-World War II, mass media favoring standard German contributed to decline, with dialect use dropping as radio and television promoted national uniformity.[18] However, by the late 20th century, regionalism spurred resurgence, with about 60% of Germans, particularly those in the South, employing dialects daily to affirm local identity (as of 2009), supported by cultural initiatives and media like dialect theater and music.[18] In the 21st century, projects like digital corpora of dialect recordings continue to document and preserve Central Bavarian varieties.[19]Geographic distribution
Regions in Bavaria, Germany
Central Bavarian, also known as Mittelbairisch, is predominantly spoken across the historic core of Altbayern within the Free State of Bavaria, encompassing the majority of Upper Bavaria (Oberbayern), significant portions of Lower Bavaria (Niederbayern) along the Danube River, and the southern reaches of the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz). This dialect group forms a broad linguistic belt stretching from the area around Regensburg in the Upper Palatinate, through the Danube, Isar, and Inn valleys of Lower Bavaria, to most of Upper Bavaria, excluding the southern Werdenfelser Land which aligns more with Southern Bavarian varieties.[1][20] In urban settings, the Munich dialect serves as a prestigious variant of Central Bavarian, influencing media, literature, and cultural expressions throughout the region, though its use has diminished in formal and everyday contexts due to the dominance of Standard German. Rural areas maintain stronger dialect retention, particularly in pockets along the Franconian-Bavarian transition zones in the Upper Palatinate and northern Lower Bavaria, where Central Bavarian features blend with neighboring varieties. To the north, border influences result in gradual mixing with Northern Bavarian dialects, creating hybrid forms in transitional communities near the Danube and in the eastern Bavarian Forest around Straubing.[21][1][20] Estimates suggest that Central Bavarian is spoken by several million residents in Bavaria, reflecting its status as the most widespread subgroup of the Bavarian dialects; a 1975 survey indicated that 81% of respondents in Altbayern actively used the local dialect, though this figure is lower in contemporary urban environments. Among younger urban populations, particularly in Munich, dialect proficiency and usage have declined notably, with many under 40 favoring Standard German due to migration, education, and media influences, leading to a shift toward regional accents rather than full dialect forms.[1][1][21]Regions in Austria and beyond
Central Bavarian is predominantly spoken across several federal states in Austria, forming a core part of the country's Austro-Bavarian dialect continuum. It is the primary variety in Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), where it characterizes rural and urban speech in areas like Linz and the Innviertel region, reflecting a conservative form influenced by historical trade routes along the Danube.[22][23] In Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), the dialect prevails in both northern and central districts, including the Weinviertel and around St. Pölten, often blending with transitional features toward the east.[22][7] Vienna's urban variety, known as Wienerisch, represents a leveled and simplified form of Central Bavarian, adapted to the multicultural capital's diverse population and exhibiting reduced regional markers due to migration and standardization pressures.[22][3] The dialect extends into Salzburg, particularly its northern lowlands, where it incorporates subtle Alpine influences, creating a variant with melodic intonation suited to the state's mix of urban centers like Salzburg city and surrounding valleys.[7] In Styria (Steiermark), Central Bavarian appears in northern and central areas, such as around Graz, often as a transitional form that bridges to Southern varieties further south.[24] Parts of Carinthia (Kärnten) and Burgenland host marginal Central Bavarian pockets, mainly in border zones near Lower Austria, where it coexists with dominant Southern Bavarian traits amid the region's ethnic diversity.[24] Central Bavarian is the primary subgroup of Austro-Bavarian, which has an estimated 7-8 million speakers in Austria as of 2012, though exact figures for Central Bavarian vary due to diglossia with Standard German.[7][22] Austro-Bavarian is classified as vulnerable by UNESCO, facing pressures from urbanization and education in Standard German that limit intergenerational transmission.[25] Beyond Austria's borders, Central Bavarian maintains a limited presence through historical migrations. Southern Bavarian dominates in South Tyrol, Italy.[7] Diaspora communities, stemming from 19th-century emigrations, preserve elements of the dialect among Austrian immigrants overseas, often hybridizing with local languages but retaining core lexical and phonological features; these pockets number in the low thousands.[7]Phonology
Consonant system
The consonant inventory of Central Bavarian varies by subdialect, typically comprising around 20-25 phonemes, encompassing stops, affricates, fricatives, nasals, laterals, rhotics, and approximants.[26] The obstruents include voiceless stops /p, t, k/ and their voiced counterparts /b, d, ɡ/, alongside affricates such as /pf/, /ts/, and /tʃ/, and fricatives /f, v, s, z, ʃ, x, ɣ, h/.[26] Nasals are /m, n, ŋ/, the lateral is /l/, the rhotic is /ʀ/, and approximants include /j/ and /w/.[26] A defining feature of the system is the fortis-lenis opposition among obstruents, where fortis consonants (/p, t, k, f, s, ʃ, x/) are realized as long and voiceless, often with aspiration in initial position, while lenis variants (/b, d, ɡ, v, z, ɣ/) are short and prone to voicing.[26] This opposition is maintained through duration rather than strict voicing in medial positions, with lenis stops frequently undergoing lenition to fricatives intervocalically—for instance, underlying /p/ in words like nipa ('turnip') surfaces as [β] in [ˈniːβɐ].[26] Similarly, initial voiceless stops may lenite to partially devoiced stops, as in packen ('to pack') realized as [b̥ɔkən].[27] Affricates like /pf/ and /ts/ preserve High German consonant shift outcomes and occur primarily word-initially or after nasals, without widespread gemination except in emphatic or regional emphatic speech.[28] Allophonic variation is prominent, particularly among fricatives and rhotics. The velar fricative /x/ has a palatal allophone [ç] in postvocalic positions before front vowels or glides, as in realizations approaching Standard German ich [ɪç] but often simplified to [ɪx] in broader Central Bavarian varieties.[29] Voiceless fricatives /f, s, ʃ/ may voice to [v, z, ʒ] intervocalically, though this is less consistent than stop lenition.[28] The rhotic /ʀ/—typically uvular—flaps to [ɾ] in onset positions, especially word-finally before syllabic /l/, as in Kerl ('fellow') pronounced [kɛɾl̩], reflecting a dialect-specific sonority adjustment where flaps rank below laterals in the hierarchy.[29] Nasals assimilate in place before stops, yielding [ŋk] or [mp], and /h/ is restricted to initial positions, often weakening to zero in casual speech.[28]| Manner | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental/Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | p, b | t, d | k, g | ||||
| Affricates | pf | ts | tʃ | ||||
| Fricatives | f, v | s, z | ʃ | x, ɣ | h | ||
| Nasals | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Rhotic | ʀ | ||||||
| Approximants | w | j |
Vowel system and diphthongs
Central Bavarian dialects exhibit a vowel system with 8 to 13 monophthongal qualities, varying by subdialect, characterized by distinctions in height, frontness/backness, rounding, and length. Inventories vary; for example, West Central Bavarian typically lacks front rounded vowels like /y, ø, œ/, unlike East Central varieties.[30] The core inventory includes high vowels /i, y, u/ and their lax counterparts /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ/; mid vowels /e, ø, o/ and /ɛ, œ, ɔ/; and low vowels /a/ and /ɑ/, with some varieties featuring centralized or near-open /ɐ/ and /ɶ/. Front rounded vowels /y, ø, œ/ are retained, reflecting historical developments from Old High German, though their realization may show influence from Standard German in urban areas. Length contrasts are phonemic, with long vowels typically tense (/iː, yː, uː, eː, øː, oː, aː, ɑː/) opposing short lax ones (/ɪ, ʏ, ʊ, ɛ, œ, ɔ, a/), but in many subdialects, vowel length is complementary to following consonant duration, where short vowels precede geminates or fortis consonants (VCː) and long vowels precede single lenis ones (VːC).[30][31]| Height | Front unrounded | Front rounded | Central unrounded | Back rounded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | /iː, ɪ/ | /yː, ʏ/ | - | /uː, ʊ/ |
| Mid-high | /eː, ɛ/ | /øː, œ/ | /ə/ | /oː, o/ |
| Mid-low | - | - | - | /ɔ/ |
| Low | /aː, a/ | - | /ɐ/ | /ɑː, ɑ/ |
Morphology and syntax
Nominal morphology
Central Bavarian uses a three-case system for nouns—nominative, accusative, and dative—in everyday usage, with the genitive largely avoided and replaced by constructions with the preposition von followed by the dative or possessive pronouns.[34] The dative case is frequently marked by schwa endings on articles (e.g., -ə or -m) or expressed through prepositions such as mit or zu.[35] This simplification reflects broader trends in Upper German dialects, where case distinctions are less rigidly enforced on nouns themselves and more on accompanying articles or pronouns.[36] The language maintains three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter, which determine agreement with articles, adjectives, and pronouns.[34] Noun genders largely align with those in Standard German, with occasional dialectal shifts (e.g., Della 'plate' as neuter instead of masculine).[34] Diminutives, a productive feature in Central Bavarian, are formed with suffixes like -l or -el (often shifting the noun to neuter gender), as in Haus 'house' becoming Häusl 'little house'.[35] These forms convey affection or smallness and are common in colloquial speech.[34] Declension patterns in Central Bavarian are simplified compared to Standard German, with weak and strong adjective endings reduced in complexity, and case-number-gender marking primarily carried by articles rather than nouns.[35] Nouns themselves show minimal inflection beyond plurals, which are formed with markers such as -a (e.g., Madl 'girl' to Madla), -ən (e.g., for weak masculines like Mensch 'person' to Menschn), or vowel alternations.[34] Definite articles vary by case and gender, undergoing phonetic reduction: masculine nominative der becomes da, feminine die shortens to de or d’, and neuter das to ’s (e.g., da Mann 'the man', de Katz 'the cat', ’s Roß 'the horse').[34] In the dative, forms like ’m Hund 'to the dog' illustrate the schwa marking.[34] Indefinite articles follow similar patterns, often reduced to a or an.[34]Verbal morphology and syntax
Central Bavarian verbs are conjugated for person and number, with distinctions between weak and strong classes similar to those in Standard German but featuring dialect-specific endings and stem changes. Weak verbs typically add suffixes such as -st for second person singular and -t for third person singular in the present tense, as in kummst ('you come') and kummt ('he/she/it comes'). Strong verbs often involve ablaut patterns in the preterite, such as singn ('to sing') becoming sung in the past stem, while present forms may show vowel shifts like sing(i) for first person singular.[37][38] The tense system includes a present tense formed by adding personal endings to the infinitive stem, a preterite primarily used in written or formal contexts, and a periphrastic perfect tense constructed with auxiliaries habn ('to have') or sejn ('to be') plus the past participle, which ends in -n (e.g., gessn 'eaten' from essen). For motion verbs, sejn serves as the auxiliary, as in i bin gloffa ('I have run'). The preterite is less common in spoken Central Bavarian, where the perfect predominates for past events.[38][37] Subjunctive mood, particularly subjunctive II for counterfactuals, is formed synthetically using the preterite stem with umlaut or ablaut for strong verbs (e.g., tat from tun 'to do') or by adding the suffix -at (or -ət) to weak verbs (e.g., sōg-at from sagen 'to say'). Periphrastic constructions employ auxiliaries like tät (from tun) or wiad (from werden), as in wenn er kemma tät ('if he were to come'). This -at suffix, inherited from Old High German -ôt(a), appears between the stem and personal endings, yielding forms like sōg-at-st ('you would say').[39] Modal verbs exhibit simplified forms, such as konna ('to be able to', from können) and müassən ('to have to', from müssen), which conjugate similarly to main verbs but often infinitivize the following verb without zu. Syntax follows a verb-second (V2) word order in main clauses, with the finite verb in second position and subject-verb inversion after adverbs or questions (e.g., Heit regnt's 'It's raining today'). Underlyingly subject-object-verb order emerges in subordinate clauses, as in ...dass i geh ('...that I go'). A periphrastic future is expressed with wui ('want', from wollen) plus infinitive, as in i wui geh ('I will go'). Rich verbal agreement allows partial pro-drop, especially in second person.[37][40]Lexicon
Core vocabulary differences
Central Bavarian exhibits notable differences in core vocabulary from Standard German, primarily through phonetic shifts, diminutives, and semantic nuances that reflect its Upper German heritage. These variations often involve vowel changes, such as the monophthongization of diphthongs, and the frequent use of affectionate or diminutive forms in everyday speech. For instance, basic terms for household and daily activities show systematic alterations: the Standard German word for "house," Haus, becomes Hoas or Hois in Central Bavarian, reflecting a shift from /aʊ/ to /oəs/ or similar diphthongs.[41] Similarly, "water" (Wasser) is rendered as Wåssa or Wossa, with a simplified vowel structure and loss of the final schwa. The verb "to eat" (essen) appears as essn or essən, often with reduced endings in casual usage. Semantic divergences further distinguish Central Bavarian, creating potential false friends or shifts in connotation compared to Standard German. Animal terms frequently employ diminutives for endearment; "dog" (Hund) is commonly Hundl, emphasizing a smaller or pet-like quality not as prevalent in standard usage.[42] The word fiakə, pronounced with a schwa-like ending, refers to a horse-drawn carriage in dialect contexts, akin to Standard German Fiaker but with regional phonetic adaptation that can lead to misunderstandings outside Bavaria and Austria.[43] Common phrases and numerals also highlight these differences, integrating into daily interactions. The greeting Grüß Gott, widely used in southern Germany and Austria, is pronounced approximately as [ɡʀyːs ɡot] in Central Bavarian, with a rolled 'r' and shorter vowels, conveying "God greet you" in a more folksy tone than its standard [ɡʁyːs ɡɔt].[44] Numbers from one to ten undergo phonetic modifications, such as eins becoming oans and zwei shifting to zwoa, which aids in counting during markets or social settings but requires adjustment for standard comprehension.[45]| Standard German | Central Bavarian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Haus | Hoas/Hois | House |
| Wasser | Wåssa/Wossa | Water |
| essen | essn/essən | To eat |
| Hund | Hundl | Dog |
| eins | oans | One |
| zwei | zwoa | Two |
| drei | drai | Three |
| vier | viar/viara | Four |
| fünf | fimf/fimfe | Five |
| sechs | sech(s)/sechse | Six |
| sieben | siem/sieme | Seven |
| acht | acht/åcht | Eight |
| neun | nean/neine | Nine |
| zehn | zean/zene | Ten |