Highest Alemannic is a branch of
Alemannic German
Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish (''Alemannisch'', ), is a group of High German dialects. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alamanni ("all men").
Distribution
Alemannic dialects are spoken by approxim ...
and is often considered to be part of the
German language
German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...
, even though
mutual intelligibility with
Standard German
Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...
and other non-Alemannic German dialects is very limited.
Highest Alemannic dialects are spoken in
alpine regions of
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
: In the
Bernese Oberland, in the German-speaking parts of the
Canton of Fribourg
The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg (french: Canton de Fribourg ; german: Kanton Freiburg ; frp, Canton de Fribôrg rm, Chantun Friburg it, Canton Friburgo) is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French ...
, in the
Valais (see
Walliser German) and in the
Walser settlements (mostly in Switzerland, but also in
Italy and in
Austria; see
Walser German). In the West, the South and the South-East, they are surrounded by
Romance language
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
s; in the North, by
High Alemannic dialects. In the Swiss canton of
Graubünden (Grisons) only the Walser exclaves in the
Romansh part and the
Prättigau,
Schanfigg and
Davos
, neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch
, twintowns =
}
Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
are Highest Alemannic; the
Rhine Valley
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, source ...
with
Chur and
Engadin are High Alemannic.
Features
The distinctive feature of the Highest Alemannic dialects is the lack of
hiatus diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
ization, for instance 'to snow', 'to build' vs. High Alemannic , .
Many High Alemannic dialects have different
verbal plural endings for all three persons, for instance ''wir singe(n)'' 'we sing', ''ir singet'' 'you (plural) sing', ''si singent'' 'they sing'. Almost all other German dialects use the same ending for the first and third persons in the plural.
[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/217453916.pdf Stefan Rabanus: ''Morphological Change in German Dialects Two Cases of Plural Verbs in Alemannic'']
There are High Alemannic dialects that have preserved the ending -n which has been dropped in most
Upper German dialects.
The Highest Alemannic dialects are considered to be the most conservative dialects of German. The dialect of the
Lötschental, for instance, preserved the three distinct classes of
weak verbs (as in
Old High German) until the beginning of the 20th century.
References
Swiss German language
German dialects
{{Germanic-lang-stub