We have too few letters! And somehow not even own. Why? OÖN columnist Klaus Huber has plenty of answers to this question.
Huber studied English and Russian, so he has been dealing with languages all his life and always compares them with the Upper Austrian dialect. In doing so, he also illustrates the “great dilemma we have, namely that there are too few letters in our alphabet to represent the dialect in writing”. Gallneukirchner gives an example: “i hau” can mean both “I haue” and “I have” when written. It is only when it is said that it becomes clear what is meant. “In Cyrillic there are more vowels, in Slavic characters like “e?” help. “So our Latin letters can’t keep up with the variety of sounds we speak in dialect,” says Huber. “Unfortunately, that can’t be solved.”
On the other hand, you can explain that, and that’s exactly what Huber wants to do with his lecture “The Dialect Dilemma – About Gscher mi’n Talking and Writing” on Wednesday, June 22, in the parish hall of Linz Cathedral on Herrenstrasse (6:30 p.m.).
The only question that remains is why we don’t even have our own alphabet: the origins go back to the Phoenicians, the Greeks and Latins then changed it to the alphabet we have today.
Source: Nachrichten
