Petuh from Flensburg
A blended speech of Standard German, Low German and Danish, named after the Petuh aunts and now close to extinct.
Keep readingDialects and language culture
Northern Germany does not speak with one voice. Between the coast, the fjord and the Danish border, several forms of speech have survived, and they are easily mixed up. One of them is Petuh from Flensburg, a blend of Standard German, Low German and Danish. The city sits at the inner end of the Flensburg Fjord, right next to the Danish border.

Nordschnack is an independent information project. It sorts out what often gets lumped together, in a factual tone and with a wink. The material is spread over four articles: Petuh, Low German, Missingsch and the languages along the German-Danish border. Each article covers one of these subjects, so you can pick what interests you and still see how the varieties differ.
A blended speech of Standard German, Low German and Danish, named after the Petuh aunts and now close to extinct.
Keep readingThe Low German language, the second sound shift and the question of where it is spoken and protected today.
Keep readingStandard German words on Low German grammar: a regional speech form found from Hamburg to eastern Westphalia.
Keep readingDanish, South Jutish and North Frisian around Flensburg and along the North Sea coast.
Keep readingLow German, the language of the northern lowlands, never took part in the second sound shift. That is what sets it apart from Standard German, and it means Low German is not a dialect in which people "get German wrong." Missingsch, by contrast, is a regional variety of Standard German. It arose when native speakers of Low German started speaking High German. Petuh developed in a border city and brings three languages together.
Flensburg is the center of the Danish minority in southern Schleswig. It is therefore no surprise that Danish influence shows up in Petuh. The article on the border languages explains this connection in more detail.
The texts draw on generally available reference works and aim to explain how the languages relate to each other. Nordschnack belongs to no association and no individual. The articles exist only to satisfy readers' curiosity. Dialects are taken seriously here, but not deadly seriously: a language that people joke in at the quay can also be described with a light touch.

A few key figures help put things in context. Flensburg has more than 90,000 residents and lies at the inner end of the fjord, which measures 40 to 50 kilometers depending on how it is counted. The Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein is estimated at around 50,000 people, and in southern Schleswig it makes up about ten percent of the population.
The history of these languages reaches far back as well. Middle Low German served as a trade language around the Baltic Sea from the 13th to the 17th century. The Ohnsorg Theater in Hamburg, which brought Low German to the stage, goes back to Richard Ohnsorg and the year 1902. And Kurt Tucholsky's 1931 summer story Schloss Gripsholm is a well known example of literary Missingsch.
These figures are rough guides taken from generally available sources. The individual articles look at each number more closely.
If you want the precise picture, begin with Low German and the sound shift. If you are curious about a blend of three languages in everyday speech, read the article on Petuh first. And if you would like to see how one form of speech grows out of another, the article on Missingsch offers a clear example.
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