Swiss German language

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Swiss German (Schweizerdeutsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzertütsch) is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland. The term Hochdeutsch (High German) or Schriftdeutsch is, in a Swiss context, often reserved for Standard German, which is imported from Germany and thus not a Swiss German dialect.

Use

Unlike most dialects in modern Europe, Swiss German is the spoken everyday language of all social levels in industrial cities as well as in the countryside. Using dialect conveys no social or educational inferiority. There are specific settings where speaking Standard German is demanded or polite, e.g. in school classes (but not during breaks), in parliament, in TV news, in the presence of German-speaking foreigners, but outside of such settings two Swiss do not speak Standard German with each other.

Swiss German is intelligible to speakers of other Alemannic dialects, but — unlike Austrian German — usually not intelligible to speakers of Standard German (which includes French- or Italian-speaking Swiss who learn Standard German at school). Swiss German speakers on TV or in movies are thus usually dubbed or subtitled if shown in Germany.

Variation

The Swiss dialects do have marked regional differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, but are mutually understandable - with a few exceptions from remote mountain regions, e.g., in the German part of Valais. Swiss dialects are an essential part of the local cultural identity, which goes in some places down to the local village or cultural subgroup level (the upper class of Basel has their special dialect as well as the farmers of Adelboden). In some regions a politician who does not speak the local idiom has lower chances in elections.

It expresses strong regional, cantonal and national Swiss separateness, setting Swiss residents apart from those living in "the big canton" (Germany).

History

Unlike most German dialects, most Swiss dialects did not participate in the second German vowel shift during medieval times - they use mostly the same vowels as Middle High German. As such, even though Swiss German linguistically is a High German language, its pronunciation is in places closer to Low German or Dutch than other High German dialects or standard German.

Example with SAMPA pronunciation: The Standard German Haus (haus) is in Swiss Dialects still Hus (hus) while some dialects in Central Switzerland retain the even older form Huis (huis)

Examples (in SAMPA):

On the other hand, most Swiss German dialects have completed the Second Germanic sound shift, that is, they've not only changed t to [ts]/[s] and p to [pf]/[f] but also k to [kχ]/[χ]. Most Swiss dialects that have initial [χ] or [kχ] instead of k; there are however exceptions, namely the idioms of Chur and Basel. Basel German is a mix between High and Low Alemannic (most, but not all, Alemannic dialects spoken in Germany are Low Alemannic), and Chur German is basically High Alemannic without initial [X] or [k_X].

Examples (in SAMPA):

Pronunciation

The Swiss [χ] is pronounced deep down in the throat.

Typical of all Swiss German dialects is that they do not have voiced plosives and [z]. Instead, short plosives are distinguished from long plosives.

Stress is usually on the first syllable (even in Franch loans such as ['mɛrs:i] "thanks").

Grammar

The grammar of Swiss dialects has some specialties compared to German: There is no preterite and in most dialects, there is no genitive.

The order between several verbs in the same sentence is different and may vary, e.g. wil du bisch cho/wil du cho bisch vs. standard German weil du gekommen bist "because you have [literally: is] come".

In combinations with other verbs, the verbs gah "go", cho "come", la "let" and aafa "begin" reduplicate.

Writing

Swiss German dialects are a spoken language. All formal writing, newspapers, books and much of informal writing is done in Standard German, which is usually called Schriftdeutsch (written German). Certain dialectal words are accepted regionalisms in Swiss standard German and are also sanctioned by the Duden, e.g. Zvieri (afternoon snack).

There exist relatively few written works in Swiss dialects. Today especially young people use the dialect more and more in informal written communication (e.g. email). However, most write standard German more fluently than their dialect.

There are no official rules about writing Swiss German. The orthographies used in the Swiss German literature can be roughly divided in two systems: Those that try to stay as close to standard German spelling as possible and those that try to represent the sounds as good as possible.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary is rather rich - especially in rural areas there are many special terms retained, e.g. regarding cattle or weather.

Swiss dialects have borrowed quite a few words from French, which are perfectly assimilated. Glace (ice cream) for example is pronounced /glas/ in French but ['glas:e:] or ['glas:ə] in many Swiss German dialects. The French word for 'thank you', merci, is also used as in merci vielmal, literally "merci very much".

In recent years, Swiss dialects have also borrowed some English words which already sound very Swiss, e.g. ['fu:də] (to eat, from "food"), ['geimə] (to play computer games) or ['snø:bə] or ['snœ:bə] - (boarding, from "snowboard"). While most of those loanwords are of recent origin, some have been in use for decades, e.g. ['ʃut:ə] (to play football, from "shoot").

Interestingly, there are also a few English words which are modern borrowings from the Swiss German languages. The dishes muesli and rösti have become English words, as did loess (fine grain), flysch (sandstone formation), and the act of putsching in a political sense.

Distribution of dialects

Distribution of Swiss German dialects

There are a number of distinct dialects in Swiss German (yellow). Although dialects of some regions are generally differentiated, it is possible to hear which town somebody comes from merely by listening to a person's speech. As people move around more in recent years, this distinction has weakened. The regional dialects, however, remain strong.

The main dialects are of Graubünden (GR), of St. Gallen (SG), Appenzell (AP), Thurgau (TG), Glarus (GL), Schaffhausen (SH), Zürich (ZH), Zug (Z), Schwyz (SZ), Lucerne (LU), Uri (UR), Unterwalden (UW), the Valais (VS), Aargau (AG), Bern (BE), Basel (BS), Solothurn (SO) and Fribourg (FR). Swiss German is also spoken in the north of Italy (P). The German dialect in the north west of Ticino (T) is a distinct dialect.

Literature

• Schweizerisches Idiotikon Comprehensive 17-volume Dictionary of Swiss Dialects (in university libraries)

External link

• Chochichästli-Orakel - choose the Swiss German words you would normally use and see how well this matches the dialect of your area. (German only)
• Dialekt.ch a site with sound samples from different dialects. (German only)
• An Examination of Swiss German in and around Zürich A paper that presents the differences between Swiss German and High-German.
• The Alternative Swiss German Dictionary A site with all the words you will not find elsewhere.

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