Alsatian resources

[guyome]

I was going to post this in my log but it seems better to do it here.

For the last couple of years I've spent some time on learning Alsatian. Once or twice a year usually, I spend a few days working through some Assimil lessons, listening to some podcasts and reading a few pages here and there. It's not something I really plan, I just do it whenever I feel like doing it. Yiddish helps of course but my understanding of Alsatian is still not good enough for me to enjoy the material freely. More dedicated study time would help of course. Maybe this year, maybe next year...

I thought I'd post some links here, if only to make it easier for me to find them back next time I pick up the language again.

Course(s)
Assimil's L'alsacien sans peine by Jean-Jacques Brunner (2001). Out-of-print but can be found on the internet. It teaches a southern dialect but makes frequent reference to what would be heard elsewhere so the student would be well prepared to deal with various Alsatian varieties.

Dictionaries
Despite having a rather decent number of speakers, it seems to me that Alsatian lags far behind other minority/endangered languages I have studied as far as resources are concerned. This is especially the case for dictionaries. Things are made even more complex because until recently there was now real unified spelling system (see Orthal now), so good luck finding the word you're looking for in one of the few dictionaries/lexica available.
- 's Elsassischa Wärterbüach, 13000 words, Alsatian-French and French-Alsatian
- Wörterbuch der elsässischen Mundarten, a large but slightly unwieldy Alsatian-German dictionary published in 1899. Available online as scans or in website based version.

Radio
France Bleu Elsass seems to have discontinued some of its Alsatian programs I listened to last year. Here is a list of what I could find on their website:
- Morjerock - Mogarock, a daily 2-hour show (ongoing)
- Rhin und Nüss, 1-hour show with guests (last broadcast in march 2020, back after Covid?)
- La pépite des journeaux rhénans, short, humorous read through some regional newspapers (last broadcast in march 2020, back after Covid?)
- On cuisine ensemble, a 30-minute show about cooking and food (last broadcast in march 2020, back after Covid?)
- Le patrimoine alsacien, a show about Alsatian history, traditions, monuments (discontinued in 2018)
- Le patrimoine rhénan, same as above but for the whole Rhine region (discontinued in 2019)
- Producteurs d'Alsace, short interviews with professionals (discontinued in 2018)
- L'horoscope en alsacien (discontinued in 2019).

I saw afterwards that there was a tag "Alsacien - langue régionale", clicking on it gives you a list of podcasts in Alsatian. I don't know how comprehensive it is though, and it only goes back to mid 2019 so I left the list of individual programs above.

TV
- Rund Um, a short daily(?) broadcast by France 3 about various regional topics
- GsunTheim, weekly 25-min show
- many short videos on the OLCA youtube channel. Their website also contains some useful information about the language, the spelling, etc.

Literature
Plenty to read compared to last year now that the Strasbourg University Library has digitized many older publications:
- Alsatian theater, 148 plays from the 19th c. to the 1940s. Theater is probably the most developed field in Alsatian literature and is still very much alive today
- satirical press, various publications up to the 1930s, some in French or German, some bilingual, some all Alsatian (D'r Schambadis for instance)
- Alsatian poetry.

Oral Patrimony
Sàmmle, a rather large collection of videos in Alsatian on various topics (traditional crafts, music & dances, tales & legends, life stories, theater, literature). If you've read my log, you know I'm a sucker for this type of material and I've really enjoyed listening to Catherine Zingle or to André Gsell's World War 2 experience for instance.