SWISS GERMAN

'''Swiss German''' (''Schweizerdeutsch'', ''Schwyzerdütsch'', ''Schwiizertüütsch'', ''Schwizertitsch'') is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are called Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein which are closely associated to Switzerland's.
Linguistically, Swiss German forms no unity. The linguistic division of Alemannic is rather into Low, High and Highest Alemannic, varieties of all of which are spoken both inside and outside of Switzerland. The reason "Swiss German" dialects constitute a special group is their almost unrestricted use as a spoken language in practically all situations of daily life, whereas the use of the Alemannic dialects in the other countries is restricted or even endangered.
The dialects of Swiss German must not be confused with Swiss Standard German, the variety of standard German used in Switzerland. Even though Swiss Standard German is influenced by the Swiss German dialects to a certain degree, it is very distinct and any native speaker will immediately note the difference.
There are a few practical books and small dictionaries with direct English to Swiss German translation and can occasionally be found in the bookstores in Switzerland. There are a few more comprehensive books and dictionaries that translate some of the major Swiss dialects into standard German. However, almost any Swiss German speaker will be able to speak standard German or even some English when necessary. For longer stays it may be better to try to learn the native dialect as most conversations between people will be in this unless there are Germans or Austrians involved in the conversation in which case the Swiss will usually switch to accommodate them.
The Italians put Swiss German (Svizzero-Tedesco) into a slightly larger group (Tedesco Alemanno) which encompasses the speech in parts of Southern Germany and the Alsace region in France. Within specifically Swiss German (Svizzero-Tedesco) they break it down generally to West Swiss German and East Swiss German as well as the "highest" German from the mountainous cantons, and also Basel German and Zurich German are in separate categories.

Contents

Use

Variation and Distribution

History

Pronunciation

Consonants

Vowels

Suprasegmentals

Grammar

Vocabulary

Literature

See Also

References

External links

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 and is spoken with pride^[1]. There are only a few specific settings where speaking Standard German is demanded or polite, e.g. in education (but not during breaks), in multilingual parliaments (the federal parliaments and a few cantonal and municipal ones), in the main news broadcast or in the presence of German-speaking foreigners. This situation has been called a ''medial diglossia'' since the spoken language is mainly the dialect whereas the written language is mainly Standard German.
Swiss German is intelligible to speakers of other Alemannic dialects but is usually not intelligible to speakers of Standard German, including 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.
Dialect rock is a music genre using the language.

Variation and Distribution

Swiss German is a regional or political umbrella term, not a linguistic unity. For all dialects, there are idioms spoken outside Switzerland that are more closely related to them than some Swiss German dialects. The main linguistic divisions within Swiss German are those of Low, High and Highest Alemannic. Low Alemannic is only spoken in the northernmost parts of Switzerland, in Basel and around Lake Constance. High Alemannic is spoken in most of the Swiss plateau, and is divided in an eastern and a western group. Highest Alemannic is spoken in the Alps.

★ Low Alemannic

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★ Basel German in Basel (BS), closely related to Alsatian

★ High Alemannic

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★ eastern

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★ Zürich German, in Zürich (ZH)

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★ dialects of St. Gallen (SG)

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★ dialects of Appenzell (AP)

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★ dialects of Thurgau (TG)

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★ dialects of Schaffhausen (SH)

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★ dialects of parts of Graubünden (GR)

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★ western

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★ Bernese German, in the Swiss plateau parts of Bern (BE)

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★ dialects of Aargau (AG)

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★ dialects of Solothurn (SO)

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★ dialects of Lucerne (LU)

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★ dialects of Zug (ZG)

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★ dialects of Schwyz (SZ)

★ Highest Alemannic

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★ dialects of the Bernese Oberland

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★ dialects of Glarus (GL)

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★ dialects of Unterwalden (UW) and Uri (UR)

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★ dialects of the German-speaking parts of Fribourg (FR).

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★ Walliser German in parts of the Valais (VS)

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★ Walser German: Via the medieval migration of the Walser, Highest Alemannic was spread to pockets of what are now parts of northern Italy (P), the north west of Ticino (T), parts of Graubünden (GR), Liechtenstein and Vorarlberg.
Each dialect is separable in numerous local sub-dialects, sometimes down to a resolution of individual villages. Speaking the dialect is an important part of regional, cantonal and national identity. In the more urban areas of the Swiss plateau, regional differences are fading due to increasing mobility, and a growing population of non-Alemannic descent. Despite the varied dialects, the Swiss can still understand one another (although on occasion just barely) but may particularly have trouble understanding Walliser dialects.

History

As Alemannic dialects, Swiss German 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 the Alemannic dialects belong to High German, their vowels are closer to Low Saxon than other High German dialects or standard German. An exception are certain central Swiss dialects, e.g. the Uri dialect.
Examples:

Zürich dialect	Unterwalden dialect	Standard German	translation
			''house''
			''brown''

Most Swiss German dialects, being High-Alemannic dialects, have completed the High German consonant shift, that is, they have not only changed ''t'' to or and ''p'' to or but also ''k'' to or . Most Swiss dialects have initial or instead of ''k''; there are however exceptions, namely the idioms of Chur and Basel.
Basel German is a Low Alemannic dialect (like most, but not all, Alemannic dialects spoken in Germany), and Chur German is basically High Alemannic without initial or .
Examples:

High Alemannic	Low Alemannic	Standard German	translation
			''chest'' or ''box''
			''Caribbean''

Pronunciation

Consonants

Like in all Southern German dialects, Swiss German dialects have no voiced obstruents. Instead, there is a length distinction.
Swiss German are not aspirated. Aspirated have (in most dialects) secondarily developed by contractions or by borrowings from other languages (mainly standard German), e.g. 'keep' (standard German ''behalten''); 'tea' (standard German ''Tee'' ); 'salary' (standard German ''Gehalt'').
In the dialects of Basel and Chur, aspirated /k/ is also present in native words.
Unlike Standard German, Swiss German does not have the allophone , but is always , or in many dialects even . The typical Swiss shibboleth features this sound: ''Chuchichäschtli'' ('kitchen cupboard'), pronounced .
Neither Swiss German nor the Swiss national variety of standard German exhibits final devoicing, unlike the German national variety of standard German.
Most Swiss German dialects have gone through the Alemannic n-apocope, which has led to the loss of final ''-n'' in words such as ''Garte'' 'garden' (standard German ''Garten'') or ''mache'' 'to make' (standard German ''machen''). In some Highest Alemannic dialects, the n-apokope has also been effective in consonant clusters, for instance in ''Hore'' 'horn' (High Alemannic ''Horn'') or ''däiche'' 'to think' (High Alemannic ''dänke''). Only the Highest Alemannic dialects of the Lötschental and of the Haslital have preserved the ''-n''.
The phoneme /r/ is pronounced as an alveolar trill [r] in many dialects, though certain dialects, especially in the Northeast, have an uvular trill like that of standard German.

Vowels

Most Swiss German dialects have rounded front vowels, unlike many German dialects. Only in the Low Alemannic dialects of northwest Switzerland (mainly Basel) and in the Walliser dialects, these have been unrounded. Due to influence from other Swiss German dialects, the rounding is spreading.
Like Bavarian dialects, Swiss German dialects have preserved the opening diphthongs of Middle High German: , e.g. in 'lovely' (standard German ''lieb'', but pronounced ); 'hat' (standard German ''Hut'' ); 'cool' (standard German ''kühl'' ). Note that some of those diphthongs have been unrounded in several dialects.
Like Low Saxon dialects, Swiss German dialects have preserved the old monophthongs , e.g. 'arrow' (standard German ''Pfeil'' ); 'belly' (standard German ''Bauch'' ); 'pillar' (standard German ''Säule'' ).
Western Swiss German dialects (e.g. Bernese German) have preserved the old diphthongs , whereas the other dialects have like Standard German.

Suprasegmentals

In many Swiss German dialects, consonant length and vowel length are independent from each other, whereas they interdepend in the other Germanic languages. Examples from Bernese German:

	short	long
short	'bowl'	'the honest ones'
long	'apes'	'to sleep'

Stress is more often on the first syllable than in standard German, even in French loans such as or "thanks". Note that there are many different stress patterns even within dialects. Bernese German is one of the dialects where many words are stressed on the first syllable, e.g. 'casino', whereas standard German has . However, no Swiss German dialect is as consistent as the Icelandic language in this respect.

Grammar

The grammar of Swiss dialects has some specialties compared to Standard German:

★ There is no preterite indicative (yet there is a preterite subjunctive).

★ There is no genitive case, though certain dialects have preserved a possessive genitive (for instance in rural Bernese German).

★ The order within verb groups may vary, e.g. ''wil du bisch cho/wil du cho bisch'' vs. standard German ''weil du gekommen bist'' "because you have come/came".

★ All relative clauses are introduced by the relative particle ''wo'' (‘where’), never by the demonstrative particles ''der, die, das, welcher, welches'' as in Standard German, e.g. ''ds Bispil, wo si schrybt'' vs. Standard German ''das Beispiel, das sie schreibt'' (‘the example that she writes’); ''ds Bispil, wo si dra dänkt'' vs. Standard German ''das Beispiel, an das sie denkt'' (‘the example that she thinks of’).

★ In combinations with other verbs, the verbs ''gah'' or ''goh'' "go", ''cho'' "come", ''la'' or ''lo'' "let" and ''aafa'' or ''aafo'' "begin" reduplicate, prefixed to the main verb.
:

example:	Si	chunt	üse	Chrischtboum	cho	schmücke.
literal translation:	she	comes	our	Christmas tree	''come''	adorn
translation	She comes to adorn our Christmas tree.

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example:	Si	lat	ne	nid	la	schlafe.
literal translation:	she	lets	him	not	''let''	sleep
translation:	She doesn't let him sleep.

:This is probably a generalisation of a close association of these verbs with the following verb in perfect tense or modal verb constructions:
:

perfect tense:	Si	het	ne	nid	''la schlafe''.
literal translation:	she	has	him	not	let sleep
translation:	She hasn't let/didn't let him sleep.

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modal verb:	Si	wot	ne	nid	''la schlafe''.
literal translation:	she	wants	him	not	let sleep
translation:	She doesn't want to let him sleep.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary is rather rich - especially in rural areas there are many special terms retained, e.g. regarding cattle or weather. In the cities, much of the rural vocabulary has been lost.
Most borrowings come from Standard German. Many of these are now so common that they have totally replaced the original Swiss German words, e.g. the words ''Hügel'' 'hill' (instead of ''Egg, Bühl''), ''Lippe'' 'lip' (instead of ''Lefzge''). Others have replaced the original words only in parts of Switzerland, e.g. ''Butter'' 'butter' (originally called ''Anken'' in most parts of Switzerland). Virtually any Swiss Standard German word can be borrowed into Swiss German, always adapted to Swiss German phonology. However, certain Standard German words are never used in Swiss German, for instance ''Frühstück'' 'breakfast', ''niedlich'' 'cute' or ''zu hause'' 'at home'; instead, the native words ''Zmorge'', ''härzig'' and ''dehei'' are used.
Swiss dialects have quite a few words from French, which are perfectly assimilated. ''Glace'' (ice cream) for example is pronounced in French but or in many Swiss German dialects. The French word for 'thank you', ''merci'', is also used as in ''merci vilmal'', literally "thanks many times". Maybe these words aren't direct borrowings from French but survivors of the once more numerous French loans in Standard German, many of which have fallen out of use in Germany.
In recent years, Swiss dialects have also borrowed some English words which already sound very Swiss, e.g. ('to eat', from "food"), ('to play computer games', from "game") or - ('to snowboard', from "snowboard"). These words are probably not direct loans from English, but have been adopted through standard German intermediation. While most of those loanwords are of recent origin, some have been in use for decades, e.g. (to play football, from "shoot").
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), bivouac, kepi, landamman, kilch, schiffli, and the act of putsching in a political sense.

Literature

Written forms that were mostly based on the local Alemannic varieties, thus similar to Middle High German, were only gradually replaced by the forms of New High German. This replacement took from the 15th to the 18th century to be completed. In the 16th century, the Alemannic forms of writing were considered to be the original, truly Swiss forms, whereas the New High German forms were perceived as foreign innovations. The innovations were brought about by the printing press and were also associated with Lutheranism. An example of the language shift is the Froschauer Bible: Its first impressions after 1524 were largely written in an Alemannic language, but since 1527, the New High German forms were gradually adopted. The Alemannic forms were longest preserved in the chancelleries, with the chancellery of Berne being the last to adopt New High German in the second half of the 18th century.^[2]
Today All formal writing, newspapers, books and much of informal writing is done in Swiss 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). Note that Swiss Standard German is virtually identical to Standard German as used in Germany, with most differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and orthography. For example Swiss Standard German always uses a double s (''ss'') instead of the eszett (''ß'').
Today especially young people use the dialect more and more in informal written communication (e.g. e-mail or text messaging). 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 well as possible.
A few letters are used differently from the Standard German rules:

★ The letter (and ) is used for the affricate .

★ The letter is used for the fortis .

★ (and sometimes ) traditionally stands for the that corresponds to Standard German , e.g. in ''Rys'' ‘rice’ (standard German ''Reis'' ) vs. ''Ris'' ‘giant’ (standard German ). This usage goes back to an old ij-ligature. Many writers, however, don't use , but Zürich German ''Riis'' ‘rice’ or 'giant' to Bernese German ''Rys'' 'rice' vs. ''Ris'' (‘giant’). Some use even , influenced by Standard German spelling, which leads to confusion with for .
Since the 19th century, a small body of Swiss German literature has accumulated. Before 1900, most of the works were in Bernese German

★ Gall Morel (1803-1872), ''Dr Franzos im Ybrig'' (the frenchman in Iberg), dialect of Iberg (Schwyz), printed 1917, adapted 1895

★ Rudolf von Tavels (1866-1934), various novels (''Ring I der Chetti , Gueti Gschpane, Meishter und Ritter, Der Stärn vo Buebebärg, D’Frou Kätheli und ihri Buebe, Der Frondeur, Ds velorene Lied, D’Haselmuus, Unspunne, Jä Gäl, so Geit’s!, Der Houpme Lombach, Götti und Gotteli, Der Donnergueg, Veteranezyt, Heinz Tillman, Die heilige Flamme, Am Kaminfüür, Bernbiet, Schweizer daheim und draußen, Simeon und Eisi, Geschichten aus dem Bernerland'')[1]

★ Otto von Greyerz (1863-1940)

★ Simon Gfeller (1868-1943)

★ C.A. Loosli (1877-1959)

★ Paul Haller (1882-1920), ''Maria und Robert'' (Aargau dialect)

★ Albert Bächtold, ''Pjotr Ivanowitsch'' (Schaffhausen dialect)

★ Kurt Marti (born 1921), "Vierzg Gedicht ir Bärner Umgangssprache"; "Rosa Loui" (1967) (Berne dialect)

★ Mani Matter (1936-1972)

★ Thomas Hürlimann, ''Dr Franzos im Ybrig'', loosely based on Morel's play

See Also

★ Swiss French, Swiss Italian

References

1. See for instance an Examination of Swiss German in and around Zürich, a paper that presents the differences between Swiss German and High-German.
2. Entry ''Deutsch'' ('German') in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland


★ Schweizerisches Idiotikon Comprehensive 17-volume Dictionary of Swiss Dialects and historic language (in university libraries)

External links

★ 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)

★ The Alternative Swiss German Dictionary A site with all the words you will not find elsewhere.

★ One Poem in 29 Swiss dialects (and English)

★ Swiss German Morphology and Lexicon