The question of languages in Alsace and in Lorraine.

In France, a distinction is made betwwen a dialect and a patois. A dialect is the regional variation of a language, and a patois is a specific way of speaking in a well delimited area inside the region of the dialect.

Alsatian is an Alemannic dialect that derives from Upper German (Oberdeutsch). You have to imagine that Germany is a federal nation that has as many dialects as there are regions or "Länder": bavarian, lower saxon, frisian, berlinish, etc. Alemannic was the language used by the Alamans (or Alemanni) who occupied the region as soon as the fourth century.

In the north of the departement of Moselle, in Luxembourg, in Saarland, in Rhineland-Palatinate and in northern Alsace (Hilly Alsace and Wissembourg area), dialects do not derive from Alemannic, but from Franconian. This is the case of the dialect of western Moselle and of Luxembourgeois, as it is also the case of the dialects of eastern Moselle, of Rhineland and Saarland. As it appears from its name, Franconian has a Frank origin. It was the language of the Franks that invaded Europe during the fifth century.

German dialects in continental Europe

• Low German (Bas Allemand / Niederdeutsch)
• Frisian (Frison / Friesisch)
• Low Franconian (Bas Francique / Niederfränkisch): Flemish, Dutch
• Low Saxon (Bas Saxon / Niedersächsisch), spoken in northern Germany
• Middle German (Moyen Allemand / Mitteldeutsch)
• Middle Franconian (Moyen Francique / Mittelfränkisch)
  • Ripuarian
  • Moselle Franconian
  • Luxembourgeois
• Rhine Franconian (Francique Rhénan / Rheinfränkisch)
• Thuringian (Thüringisch)
• Upper Saxon (Obersächsisch)
• Silesian (Schlesisch)
• Upper German (Allemand Supérieur / Oberdeutsch)
• South Franconian (Süd-Fränkisch)
• East Franconian (Ostfränkisch)
• Alemannic (Alémanique / Alemannisch):
• Swabian (Schwäbisch)
• Low Alemannic (Niederalemannisch), north of Alsace
• Upper Alemannic (Oberalemannisch), south of Alsace, Switzerland
• Bavarian - North, Middle or South Bavarian (Bavarois / Nord-,Mittel-, Süd-Bayerisch)

For further information about dialects in Alsace and in Lorraine

• Dialectionnaire - dictionnaire dialectal, Claude Guizard, Jean Speth, 1992, Editions du Rhin.
• Précis pratique de grammaire alsacienne, Alphonse Jenny, Doris Richert, 1984, Istra, Strasbourg.
• La langue perdue des Alsaciens - Dialecte et schizophrénie, Pierre Kretz, 1995, Saisons d'Alsace Editions
• La Lorraine francique, Daniel Laumesfeld, 1996, l'Harmattan
• Verdammi [in French / in English / in German]
  History of Alsace and the Alsatian dialect.
• Le dialecte alsacien [in French / in Alsatian Dialect]
  Jean-Luc Ripp's site will let you discover the Alsatian dialect by means of jokes, of poems and counting rhymes, of proverbs ..and swear words.