
Isoglosses in the canton of Zürich. The red line marks the transition of ''/äng/'' "narrow" vs. ''/eng/'' in the dialect of the
Thurgau. The green line separates the ''/o:big/'' "evening" of the
Oberland from ''/a:big/'' elsewhere.
'Zürich German', or 'Züritüütsch' is the
dialect of
High Alemannic German spoken in the
Canton of Zürich,
Switzerland.
It is divided in six sub-dialects, covering the entire Canton with the exception of the parts north of the
Thur and the
Rhine.
★ The dialect of the town of
Zürich (''Stadt-Mundart'')
★ The dialect spoken around
Lake Zürich (''See-Mundart'')
★ The dialect of the
Knonauer Amt west of the
Albis (''Ämtler Mundart'')
★ The dialect of the area of
Winterthur
★ The dialect of the
Zürcher Oberland around
Lake Pfäffikon and the upper
Töss valley
★ The dialect of the
Zürcher Unterland around
Bülach and
Dielsdorf
Like all
Swiss German dialects, it is essentially a
spoken language, whereas the
written language is
standard German. Likewise, there is no official
orthography of the Zürich dialect. When it is written, it often follows the guidelines published by
Eugen Dieth in his book ''Schwyzertütschi Dialäktschrift''.
The Zürich dialect is generally perceived as fast spoken, less melodic than, for example, the Bernese. In the northern parts of the canton, the "r" is pronounced as a
uvular trill, whereas in the city around the lake and in the southern parts, it is pronounced as an
alveolar trill.
Characteristic of the city dialect is that it most easily adopts external influences; in particular, the second generation Italians (secondi) have had a crucial influence, as has the English language through the media. The wave of Turkish and ex-Yugoslavian immigration of the 1990s is leaving its imprint on the dialect of the city in particular.
Literature
★ Dieth, Eugen: ''Schwyzertütschi Dialäktschrift''. Aarau: Sauerländer. ISBN 379412832X (proposed orthography, in German)
★ Salzmann, Martin: ''Resumptive Prolepsis: A study in indirect A'-dependencies''. Utrecht: LOT, 2006 (=LOT Dissertation Series 136). ''Chapter 4: Resumptives in Zurich German relative clauses'', online
[1].
★ Weber, Albert: ''Zürichdeutsche Grammatik. Ein Wegweiser zur guten Mundart''. Unter Mitwirkung von
Eugen Dieth. Zürich (=und Wörterbücher des Schweizerdeutschen in allgemeinverständlicher Darstellung. Bd. I). (prescriptive grammar book, in German)
★ Weber, Albert and Bächtold, Jacques M.: ''Zürichdeutsches Wörterbuch''. Zürich (=Grammatiken und Wörterbücher des Schweizerdeutschen in allgemeinverständlicher Darstellung. Bd. III). (dictionary Zürich German - Standard German)