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Bavarian
Bairisch
Spoken in	Austria  Bavaria,  Germany  South Tyrol,  Italy
Native speakers	13 million  (2005)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Upper German Bavarian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bar
Location map of Bavarian

Bavarian (German:  Bairisch (help·info), Austro-Bavarian: Boarisch), also Austro-Bavarian, is a major group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south east of the German language area.

History and origin[link]

The Bavarian regiolect has its origins in the Germanic tribe known as the Bavarii, who established a tribal duchy, which covered much of what is today Bavaria and some of Austria in the early Middle Ages and was eventually subdued by Charlemagne. However, they gradually migrated down the Danube and into the Alps to all those areas where Bavarian dialects are spoken. German linguists refer to this speech variety, a group of three East Upper German dialects, as Bairisch "Bavarian". They are divided into Oberpfälzisch (Upper Palatinian, i.e. North[ern] Bavarian), Donaubairisch (Danube or Danubian Bavarian, i.e. Central Bavarian) and Alpenbairisch (Alpine Bavarian, i.e. South[ern] Bavarian).

These areas had been provinces of the Roman Empire, and the languages of the population were based on Latin, but this language was replaced by the Germanic dialects of the immigrants as the previous inhabitants were assimilated or forced out. This development contrasts with that in the provinces of Gallia and Hispania, where the Germanic languages of the conquerors of those territories were able to exert only a limited influence on the Romance dialects of the local populations.

In German, the very old word "Bairisch", referring to the language, is typically differentiated from the 19th-century term "Bayerisch", which refers to the state of Bavaria. Because of King Ludwig I's passion for all things Hellenic, the German name for Bavaria today is spelled "Bayern", using the Greek 'y', it also reflects the growth of Bavaria after the Congress of Vienna into culturally non-Bavarian areas, e.g. Franconia and Swabia, and the attempts to integrate them into the newly formed kingdom. The language spoken there has retained its original Germanic spelling "Bairisch", using the Roman 'i'.

Latin influence[link]

Because of its interaction with the Romance dialects of pre-Germanic inhabitants, some Latin language influence may be seen in Bavarian's morphology and lexicon.^{[citation needed]} Examples of Latinate vocabulary include "Semmel" or "Semmi" (bread roll) from the Latin simila "wheat flour", "Gaudi" (fun, joy) from the Latin gaudium and toponyms like Bregenz ("Brigantia"), Regensburg ("Castra Regina"), Passau ("Castra Batavia"), Wels ("Ovilava"), Linz ("Lentia"), Wien ("Vindobona").

Classification[link]

The ISO 639-3 code for the Bavarian language is "bar". It had no ISO 639-2 code of its own, but was classified under the "Germanic (Other)" collective language code "gem". Genetically, Bavarian is part of the Upper German family along with Alemannic (which includes Swabian and Swiss German), whereas Standard German is part of the Middle German family, closer to Upper Saxon German, which – linguistically – is a Thuringian dialect.

Regions where Bavarian is spoken[link]

• in Bavaria:
  • in Upper Bavaria
  • in Lower Bavaria
  • in the Upper Palatinate
• in Austria:
  • in all parts of the country with the exception of the federal-state of Vorarlberg and parts of the Reutte District in Tirol, where an Alemannic dialect is spoken.
• in Switzerland:
  • in the village of Samnaun, in Graubünden.
• in Italy:
  • in all of the province of South Tyrol and by small German speaking communities in Trento, Veneto (Cimbrian language) and Friuli.
• in Hungary:
  • the city of Sopron (Ödenburg) is officially bi-lingual.

Dialects[link]

There are three main dialect groups in Bavarian:

• Northern Bavarian, also spoken in the Upper Franconian district of Wunsiedel);
• Central Bavarian (along the main rivers Isar and Danube, spoken in Munich (by 20% of the people), Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, southern Upper Palatinate, the Swabian district of Aichach-Friedberg, the northern parts of the State of Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna (see Viennese German) and the Northern Burgenland)
• Southern Bavarian (in Tyrol, South Tyrol, Carinthia, Styria, and the southern parts of Salzburg and Burgenland).

There are clearly noticeable differences within those three subgroups, which in Austria often coincide with the borders of the particular states. For example, each of the accents of Carinthia, Styria and Tyrol can be easily recognised. Also there is a marked difference between Eastern and Western Central Bavarian, roughly coinciding with the border between Austria and Bavaria. In addition, the Viennese dialect ("Schönbrunner Deutsch", with its melodic "singing" and the very bright "a") has some characteristics distinguishing it from all other dialects. In Vienna there are even minor, but recognizable, variations that are characteristic for distinct regions of the city.

However, the various Bavarian dialects are normally mutually intelligible, with the possible exception of some versions of Tyrolean.

Use[link]

In contrast to many other varieties of German, Bavarian differs sufficiently from Standard German to make it difficult for native speakers to adopt standard pronunciation. All educated Bavarians and Austrians, however, can read, write and understand standard German but may have very little opportunity to speak it, especially in rural areas. In those regions Standard German is restricted to use as the language of writing and the media. It is therefore often referred to as "Schriftdeutsch" (written German) rather than the usual term "Hochdeutsch" (High German or Standard German).

School[link]

Bavaria and Austria officially use Standard German as the primary medium of education. With the spread of universal education, the exposure of speakers of Bavarian to Standard German has been increasing, and many younger people, especially in the region's cities, and larger towns speak standard German with only a slight accent. This accent usually only exists in families where Bavarian is spoken regularly. If this is not the case, normally Standard German is being taught. In Austria, some parts of grammar and spelling are taught into Standard German lessons. There is no authoritative documented grammar or spelling system for Bavarian. As reading and writing in Bavarian is generally not taught at schools, almost all literate speakers of the language prefer to use Standard German for writing. Regional authors and literature may play a role in education as well but by and large standard German is the lingua franca.

Literature[link]

Although there exist grammars, vocabularies, and a translation of the Bible in Bavarian, there is no common orthographic standard. There is poetry written in various Bavarian dialects, and many pop songs use the language as well, especially ones belonging to the Austropop wave of the 1970s and 1980s.

Although Bavarian as a spoken language is in daily use in its region, standard German, often with strong regional influence, is preferred in the mass media.

On the use of Bavarian and standard German in Austria see Austrian German.

Grammar[link]

• Bavarian features case inflection in the article only. Nouns are not inflected for case, very few exceptions given.
• The simple past tense is very rare in Bavarian, and has been retained with only a very few verbs, including 'to be' and 'to want'. In general, the perfect is used to express past time.
• Moreover, Bavarian features verbal inflection for several moods, such as indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. Cf. the table below for inflection of the Bavarian verb måcha 'make; do':

Society[link]

Bavarians usually cultivate a large variety of nicknames for those who bear traditional Bavarian or German names like Josef, Theresa or Georg (becoming Sepp'l or more commonly Sepp, Resi and Schorsch respectively). Bavarians often refer to names with the family name coming first (like der Stoiber Ede instead of Edmund Stoiber). The use of the article is considered mandatory when using this linguistic variation. In addition there exists for almost every family (especially in little villages) a nickname different from their family name. It consists largely of their profession, names or profession of deceased inhabitants of their home or the site their home is located. This nickname is called "Hausname" (en: name of the house) and is seldom used to name the person but more to state where they come from, live in or to whom they are related.

Samples:

• Mohler (e.g. "Maler" - painter)
• Bachbauer (farmer who lives near a brook)
• Moosrees (Resi who lives near a brook)
• Schreiner (joiner)

Samples of Bavarian and Austrian[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

See also[link]

• Austrian German
• Viennese German
• German language

References[link]

External links[link]

Bavarian language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Ethnologue report for Bavarian
• Bavarian - English Dictionary from Webster's Online Dictionary - The Rosetta Edition

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

Paul Raymond Moss is the general manager of Media Prima network's media portal and a judge in 8TV's One in a Million singing contest.

Moss was the AS A&R director of record company Positive Tone from its inception in 1994 until last year.^{[citation needed]} Moss oversaw the transformation in Malaysian music that created whole new markets for English-language artistes and new genres of music.

Background[link]

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this section if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (October 2011)

Before settling in Malaysia, Moss, sometimes fondly addressed as Uncle Paul, was the song writer, guitarist and musical director for international pop band Aishah and The Fan Club.

The band originated from New Zealand and had five members. They were Paul Moss himself on guitars, Malcolm Smith on keyboards, Glenn Peters on Bass, Dave Larsen on drums and Aishah as their lead vocalist.

Aishah and The Fan Club were a big hit in 1990 when they ralbum Sensation which had three #1 singles in New Zealand and Malaysian charts. The hits were "Sensation", "Paradise" and "Call Me".

Their next album titled "Respect The Beat" also produced three hit singles such as "I Feel Love", "Never Gave Up On You" and the only single to actually debut in the US Billboard Hot 100 charts "Don't Let Me Fall Alone". The remixes for the song were also released and became one of the most played dance tunes during that time.

After the band split in 1993, Aishah went on her solo career and the rest of the members went back to New Zealand. Moss, however, returned and decided to settle down in Malaysia in 1995. He and Ahmad Izham Omar (who is today the CEO of 8TV, a Malaysian TV channel) formed their own music company called Positive Tone under the EMI label.

Paul Moss is responsible for artist signing, artistic direction, recording, production and content development at Positive Tone. Paul Moss is also a multi-award-winning music producer, songwriter and arranger. He has produced several gold and platinum releases and Anugerah Industri Malaysia (AIM) winners from OAG, Innuendo and Juliet the Orange. He has also worked with other recording artists such as Too Phat, Ella and Nice Stupid Playground.

[edit] Malaysian Idol

Alongside with Roslan Aziz and Fauziah Latiff, Paul Moss is one of the judges in Malaysian Idol, a singing competition that is part of the Idol series that first started as Pop Idol. Moss expresses his opinions on Malaysian Idol harshly, often causing himself to be compared to Simon Cowell. He was a judge in the first Asian Idol held in Indonesia, representing Malaysian Idol.

[edit] One in a Million

Paul Moss is currently a judge on the reality television series One in a Million alongside Syafinaz Selamat.^[1] Moss's job is similar to his previous role in Malaysian Idol.

Media portals[link]

Moss was also appointed as Media Prima Network Media Portals Super General Manager.

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)

Mikhail Chigorin
Mikhail Chigorin
Full name	Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin
Country	Russian Empire
Born	12 November 1850 Gatchina, St. Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	January 25, 1908(1908-01-25) (aged 57) Lublin, Lublin Governorate Russian Empire (Congress Poland)

Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin also (Tchigorin; Russian: Михаил Чигорин) (12 November 1850 (31 October old style), Gatchina – 25 January 1908, Lublin) was a leading Russian chess player. The last great player of the Romantic chess style, he also served as a major source of inspiration for the "Soviet school of chess", which dominated the chess world in the middle and latter parts of the 20th century.

Chess career[link]

Chigorin was born near St. Petersburg and moved to the city some time later. His father worked in the Okhtensk gunpowder works. Chigorin's parents died young and Chigorin entered the Gatchinsk Orphans' Institute at the age of 10. He became serious about chess uncommonly late in life; his schoolteacher taught him the moves at the age of 16, but he did not take to the game until around 1874, having first finished his studies before commencing a career as a government officer.

Once smitten with the game, he terminated his employment and started life as a chess professional. In 1876, he started a chess magazine, Chess Sheet, which he edited until 1881 (only 250 subscribers in all of Russia). He played a series of matches with established masters Emanuel Schiffers (1878–1880) and Semyon Alapin (1880) and notched up a large plus score against each. It was not long after that he was regarded as the best player in the city and possibly the whole of Russia.

His first international tournament was Berlin 1881, where he was equal third (+10-5=1) with Szymon Winawer, behind Johannes Zukertort and Joseph Henry Blackburne. There were 17 master competitors in this event.

At the great London tournament of 1883, he finished fourth (+16-10=0) behind Zukertort, Wilhelm Steinitz and Blackburne. There were 14 competitors in this double round robin event. The tournament included practically all the best chessplayers in the world.

At the very strong tournament of New York 1889 he was equal first with Max Weiss. Following this great success he challenged the world champion Steinitz for a match with the World Championship at stake.

The match was played at Havana in 1889, but he lost 10½–6½ (+6-10=1). A second match was played also at Havana in 1892, but he still lost 12½–10½ (+8-10=5). His overall record against Steinitz was very close (+24-27=8). He also played a much publicised 'telegraph match' against Steinitz in 1890, devised to settle a theoretical argument. Chigorin had the slight advantage of choosing the openings in advance from a list supplied by Steinitz and duly won both games.

Towards the end of the century, his standing at home and abroad continued to rise, and he joined the ranks of the world's top four or five players. His reputation as a match player too, continued to grow. He drew an 1893 match with Siegbert Tarrasch in Saint Petersburg (+9-9=4) and in his lifetime, maintained a narrow plus score against the German (+14-13=8), who was a fearsome player in his own right. He had a strong plus score against Richard Teichmann (+8-3=1), but a poor record versus David Janowski (+4-17=4). Most of his losses to Janowski occurred late in Chigorin's life, when he was past his best.

In all likelihood, his best performance occurred at the Hastings 1895 chess tournament, where he placed second, ahead of reigning world champion Emanuel Lasker, Tarrasch and former world champion Steinitz. All of the greatest players of the time participated in the event and Chigorin's outstanding result included winning his individual encounter with tournament victor, Harry Nelson Pillsbury. Pillsbury had great respect for Chigorin's ability and for good reason, as Chigorin had a marginal lifetime plus score against him (+8-7=6). Although Chigorin had a poor record against Lasker in serious play (+1-8=4), he was victorious with the black pieces in their first game of this 1895 tournament, in which he outplayed Lasker in a classic two knights versus two bishops ending.^[1]

In other major competitions, he was joint winner at Budapest 1896, and beat Rudolf Charousek (+3-1) in the playoff. At Cologne in 1898, he was equal second with Charousek and Wilhelm Cohn after Amos Burn. His 7th place finish at London 1899 was disappointing in comparison, but this was another tournament notable for its impressive list of participants. At Monte Carlo 1901, he placed equal third after Janowski and Carl Schlecter.

A highly skilled exponent of gambit lines, he won the King's Gambit-themed Vienna Tournament of 1903 and defeated Lasker (+2-1=3) in a sponsored Rice Gambit tournament in Brighton. The latter was however something of a hollow victory, as it was emerging that the Rice Gambit was unsound and so, playing the black side in each game gave him a distinct advantage. He was also perhaps the most skilled 19th century practitioner of the Evans Gambit, which featured in many of his great duels with Steinitz. At Łódź 1906, in a four-person event, he finished second to Akiba Rubinstein.

Alongside these international events, he also entered and won the first three All-Russia Tournaments of 1899, 1900/01 and 1903. These prestigious successes further cemented his reputation as Russia's best player. Upon losing the fourth such event in 1906, he challenged the winner Gersz Salwe to a match and came out the victor (+7=3-5).

Style and demeanour[link]

His playing style featured a well honed tactical ability and an imaginative approach to the opening. He rejected many of the inflexible doctrines put forward by Tarrasch and Steinitz, but accepted Steinitz' teachings about the soundness of the defensive centre. Indeed, he went on to add to the development of the concept through the work he carried out with closed variations of the Ruy Lopez. He also pioneered some variations of the Slav Defence. Although a large bearded man, Chigorin was also described as 'decidedly handsome'.

Frank Marshall once commented on the highly agitated state that would possess Chigorin when faced with difficult positions. Aside from the usual frantic foot-tapping and crossing of legs, he would occasionally become "a bundle of nerves", at which point his temperament could turn "quite fierce".

Later life[link]

Mikhail Chigorin shortly before his death in 1908

As an ambassador for Russian chess, Chigorin was a shining example; he gave many lectures, wrote magazine articles and chess columns and subsidised or otherwise supported a number of periodicals to keep them afloat despite low readership levels. He also founded a chess club in Saint Petersburg and tried for many years to establish a chess association, an attempt that finally succeeded just a few years after his death.

According to the Canadian International Master Lawrence Day, Chigorin travelled with the young Fedor Bogatyrchuk to Russian events in the 1905-1907 period, helping to train him. After moving to Canada following World War II, Bogatyrchuk then trained Day.

In 1907, Chigorin failed badly in a chess tournament. He was clearly not in good health and was diagnosed by doctors in Carlsbad with an advanced and untreatable case of diabetes. This prompted a prediction that he had only months to live, whereupon he returned to his estranged wife and daughter in Lublin and died the following January. In 1909, a Chigorin Memorial tournament was played in St. Petersburg. After that many more followed: from 1947 onwards mainly in Sochi and from 1990 back in Saint Petersburg.

Legacy[link]

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Mikhail Chigorin on a 1958 Soviet postage stamp.

Through his original talent, lively games and prolific teachings, many Russians regard Mikhail Chigorin as the founder of their "School of chess", later to become known as the Soviet School of Chess. Overshadowed to some extent in the 1920s by the exciting new theories of the hypermodern movement, Chigorin's influence nevertheless demands a prominent and permanent place in the Soviet chess hegemony of the 20th century.

Chigorin has several chess openings or variations of openings named after him, the two most important being the Chigorin Variation of the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5) and the Chigorin Defence to the Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6). Whilst the former has remained popular through the 1900s, the latter struggled to attract a great many devotees until relatively recently. Igor Miladinović has used the Chigorin Defence with great regularity, but its current revival owes much to the efforts of Alexander Morozevich, who has championed the opening both in play and in his book - The Chigorin Defence According To Morozevich (published 2007).

Another opening line invented by Chigorin is 1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 in the French Defence. It is now generally regarded as a forerunner of King's Indian setups, but Chigorin also played it with other ideas (such as b2-b3) in mind.^[2]

In popular culture[link]

A famous Chigorin game played against Steinitz in 1892 is used as the base for the plot of The Squares of the City, a 1965 science-fiction novel by John Brunner.

References[link]

• Adams, Jimmy (1987). Mikhail Chigorin: The Creative Chess Genius. Caissa Editions. ISBN 0-939433-05-2. 

• Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion To Chess. Oxford University. ISBN 0-19-280049-3. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mikhail Chigorin

• Mikhail Chigorin player profile at ChessGames.com
• Mikhail Chigorin download 171 of his games in pgn format.
• Statistics at ChessWorld.net