Swiss German (

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...

: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in the German-speaking part of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and in some Alpine communities in

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

bordering Switzerland. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are grouped together with Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

and Austrian

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

, which are closely associated to Switzerland's. Linguistically, Alemannic is divided into Low, High and

Highest Alemannic Highest Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German and is often considered to be part of the German language, even though mutual intelligibility with Standard German and other non-Alemannic German dialects is very limited. Highest Alemannic dialect ...

, varieties all of which are spoken both inside and outside Switzerland. The only exception within German-speaking Switzerland is the municipality of Samnaun, where a Bavarian dialect is spoken. 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 other countries is restricted or even endangered. The dialects that comprise Swiss German must not be confused with

Swiss Standard German Swiss Standard German (SSG; ), or Swiss High German ( or ; ), referred to by the Swiss as , or , is the written form of one (German language, German) of four languages of Switzerland, national languages in Switzerland, besides French language, Fr ...

, the variety of

used in Switzerland. Swiss Standard German is fully intelligible to all speakers of Standard German, it is one of three major standards of German today. While Swiss Standard German is internationally easily intelligible, many people in Germany – especially in the north – do not understand non-standard Swiss German. An interview with a Swiss German speaker, when shown on television in Germany, generally requires subtitles. Although Swiss German is the native language in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, Swiss school students are taught Swiss Standard German from the age of six. They are thus capable of understanding, writing and speaking Standard German, with varying abilities.

Use

Unlike most regional languages in modern Europe, Swiss German is the everyday spoken language for the majority of the population, in all social strata, from urban centers to the countryside. Using Swiss German conveys neither social nor educational inferiority and is done with pride. There are a few settings where speaking Standard German is demanded or polite, e.g., in education (but not during breaks in school lessons, where the teachers will speak with students in Swiss German), in multilingual parliaments (the federal parliaments and a few cantonal and municipal ones), in the main news broadcast or in the presence of non- Alemannic speakers. This situation has been called a "medial

diglossia In linguistics, diglossia ( , ) is where two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" or "low" v ...

", since the

spoken language A spoken language is a form of communication produced through articulate sounds or, in some cases, through manual gestures, as opposed to written language. Oral or vocal languages are those produced using the vocal tract, whereas sign languages ar ...

is mainly Swiss German, whereas the

written language A written language is the representation of a language by means of writing. This involves the use of visual symbols, known as graphemes, to represent linguistic units such as phonemes, syllables, morphemes, or words. However, written language is ...

is mainly (the Swiss variety of) Standard German. In 2014, about 87% of the people living in the German-speaking portion of Switzerland were using Swiss German in their everyday lives. Swiss German is intelligible to speakers of other Alemannic dialects, but largely unintelligible to speakers of Standard German who lack adequate prior exposure. This is also a challenge for French- or Italian-speaking Swiss who learn Standard German at school. In the rare cases that Swiss German is heard on TV in Germany and Austria, the speaker is most likely to be dubbed or subtitled. More commonly, a Swiss speaker will speak Standard German on non-Swiss media. "Dialect rock" is a music genre using the language; many Swiss rock bands, however, sing in English instead. The

Swiss Amish The Swiss Amish ( Swiss German: ) are a subgroup of the Amish that emigrated to the United States mostly in the middle of the 19th century directly from Switzerland and Alsace, after the 18th-century emigration of most Amish via the Palatinate. ...

Adams County, Indiana Adams County lies in northeastern Indiana in the United States and shares its eastern border with Ohio. It was officially established in 1836. The county seat is Decatur. According to the 2020 census, its population was 35,809, an increase of ...

, and their daughter settlements also use a form of Swiss German.

Variation and distribution

Swiss German is a regional or political

umbrella term Hypernymy and hyponymy are the wikt:Wiktionary:Semantic relations, semantic relations between a generic term (''hypernym'') and a more specific term (''hyponym''). The hypernym is also called a ''supertype'', ''umbrella term'', or ''blanket term ...

, not a linguistic unity. For all Swiss-German dialects, there are idioms spoken outside Switzerland that are more closely related to them than to some other Swiss-German dialects. The main linguistic divisions within Swiss German are those of Low, High and Highest Alemannic, and mutual intelligibility across those groups is almost fully seamless, despite some differences in vocabulary. Low Alemannic is only spoken in the northernmost parts of Switzerland, in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

and around

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

. High Alemannic is spoken in most of the Swiss Plateau, and is divided into an eastern and a western group. Highest Alemannic is spoken in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

* Low Alemannic: ** Basel German in

Basel-Stadt Canton of Basel-Stadt or Basel-City ( ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of three municipalities with Basel as the capital. It is traditionally considered a " half-canton", the other half being B ...

(BS), closely related to Alsatian *

High Alemannic High Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German spoken in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg and in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Intelligibility of these dialects to non-Alemannic speakers tends to be limited. Language area The High ...

: **Western: ***

Bernese German Bernese German (Standard German: ''Berndeutsch'', ) is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau (Mittelland) part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions. A form of Bernese German is spoken by the Swiss A ...

, in the Swiss Plateau parts of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

(BE) ***Dialects of Basel-Landschaft (BL) ***Dialects of Solothurn (SO) ***Dialects of the western part of

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

(AG) **In a middle position between eastern and western: ***Dialects in the eastern part of

(AG) ***Dialects of

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

(LU) ***Dialects of

Zug Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ; )Named in the 16th century. is the largest List of cities in Switzerland, town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug. Zug is renowned as a hub for some of the wealthiest individuals in the wor ...

(ZG) *** Zürich German, in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

(ZH) **Eastern: ***Dialects of St. Gallen (SG) ***Dialects of

Appenzell Appenzell () was a cantons of Switzerland, canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen, in existence from 1403 to 1597. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered ...

(AR & AI) ***Dialects of

Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...

(TG) ***Dialects of

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

(SH) ***Dialects in parts of Graubünden (GR) *

: **Dialects in parts of

Canton of Fribourg The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg, is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French spoken by more than two thirds of the citizens and German by a little more than a quarter. Both are official languages in th ...

(FR) **Dialects of the

Bernese Oberland The Bernese Oberland (; ; ), sometimes also known as the Bernese Highlands, is the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern. It is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context it is referred to as ''Oberland'' witho ...

(BE) **Dialects of

Unterwalden Unterwalden, translated from the Latin ''inter silvas'' ("between the forests"), is the old name of a forest-canton of the Old Swiss Confederacy in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne, consisting of two valleys or '' Talschaften'', now tw ...

(OW & NW) and Uri (UR) **Dialects of

Schwyz Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''. The of ...

(SZ) **Dialects of

Glarus Glarus (; ; ; ; ) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality of Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.Walliser German in parts of the

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

(VS) ** Walser German: due to the medieval migration of the Walser, Highest Alemannic spread to pockets of what are now parts of northern Italy (Piedmont), the north-west of

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

(TI), parts of Graubünden (GR),

and

. One can separate each dialect into numerous local subdialects, sometimes down to a resolution of individual villages. Speaking the dialect is an important part of regional,

cantonal The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

and national identities. In the more urban areas of the Swiss plateau, regional differences are fading due to increasing mobility and to a growing population of non-Alemannic background. Despite the varied dialects, the Swiss can still understand one another, but may particularly have trouble understanding Walliser dialects.

History

Most Swiss German dialects have completed the

High German consonant shift In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development (sound change) that took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic languages, West Germanic dialect continuum. The ...

; exceptions are all ''Highest Alemanic'' dialects. Unlike

, which has only shifted ''t'' to or and ''p'' to or , they have also shifted ''k'' to or ; the dialects of

Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...

and

are exceptions to this particular difference. Basel German is a ''Low Alemannic'' dialect (mostly spoken in Germany near the Swiss border), and Chur German is basically ''High Alemannic'' without initial or . Examples: The High German consonant shift occurred between the 4th and 9th centuries south of the

Benrath line In German linguistics, the Benrath line () is the isogloss: dialects north of the line have the original in (to make), while those to the south have the innovative (). The line runs from Aachen in the west via Benrath (south of Düsseldorf) ...

, separating High German from Low German (where ''high'' refers to areas of greater altitude). It combines

Upper German Upper German ( ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (). History In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High German time, East F ...

and

Central German Central German or Middle German () is a group of High German languages spoken from the Rhineland in the west to the former eastern territories of Germany. Central German divides into two subgroups, West Central German and East Central Ger ...

varieties - also referring to their geographical locations. The Walser migration, which took place in the 12th and 13th centuries, spread varieties from upper

to the east and south, into

Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...

and to modern western Austria and northern Italy. Informally, a distinction is made between the German-speaking people living in Valais, the ''Walliser'', and those who have migrated, the '' Walsers''. The latter can mainly be found in Grisons and

in Switzerland,

in Austria, south of the

Monte Rosa Monte Rosa (; ; ; or ; ) is a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps, on the border between Italy (Piedmont and Aosta Valley) and Switzerland (Valais). The highest peak of the massif, amongst several peaks of over , is the D ...

mountain chain in Italy (e.g. in Issime in

Valle d'Aosta The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

in northern Italy, and the Allgäu in Bavaria). Generally, the Walser communities were situated on higher alpine regions, so were able to stay independent of the ruling forces of those days, who did not or were not able to oversee them all the time in these hostile environments. Hence the Walsers were pioneers of the liberation from

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

and

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

. In addition, Walser villages are easily distinguishable from Grisonian ones, as Walser houses are made of wood rather than stone.

Phonology

Consonants

Like most other Southern German dialects, Swiss German dialects have no voiced

obstruent An obstruent ( ) is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well ...

s. The voiceless lenis obstruents are often marked with the IPA diacritic for voicelessness as . Swiss German are not aspirated. Nonetheless, there is an opposition of consonant pairs such as and or and . Traditionally, it has been described as a distinction of

fortis and lenis In linguistics, ''fortis'' ( ; Latin for 'strong') and ''lenis'' (, ; Latin for 'weak'), sometimes identified with 'tense' and 'lax', are pronunciations of consonants with relatively greater and lesser energy, respectively. English has fortis ...

in the original sense, that is, distinguished by articulatory strength or

tenseness In phonology, tenseness or tensing is, most generally, the pronunciation of a sound with greater muscular effort or constriction than is typical. More specifically, tenseness is the pronunciation of a vowel with less centralization (i.e. either ...

. Alternatively, it has been claimed to be a distinction of quantity. Aspirated have secondarily developed by combinations of prefixes with word-initial or by borrowings from other languages (mainly Standard German): 'keep' (standard German ); 'tea' (standard German ); 'salary' (standard German ). In the dialects of Basel and Chur, aspirated is also present in native words, corresponding to the affricate of the other dialects, which does not occur in Basel or Chur. Swiss German keeps the fortis–lenis opposition at the end of words. There can be minimal pairs such as 'straight' and '

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

' or ''bis'' 'be ( imp.)' and 'bite'. That distinguishes Swiss German and

from German Standard German, which neutralizes the fortis–lenis opposition at the ends of words. The phenomenon is usually called

final-obstruent devoicing Final-obstruent devoicing or terminal devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as Catalan, German, Dutch, Quebec French, Breton, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Turkish, and Wolof. In such languages, voic ...

even though, in the case of German, phonetic voice may not be involved. Unlike Standard German, Swiss German does not have the allophone but is typically , with allophones . The typical Swiss

shibboleth A shibboleth ( ; ) is any custom or tradition—usually a choice of phrasing or single word—that distinguishes one group of people from another. Historically, shibboleths have been used as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of l ...

features this sound: ('kitchen cupboard'), pronounced . Most Swiss German dialects have gone through the Alemannic ''n''-

apocope In phonology, apocope () is the omission (elision) or loss of a sound or sounds at the end of a word. While it most commonly refers to the loss of a final vowel, it can also describe the deletion of final consonants or even entire syllables. ...

, which has led to the loss of final ''-n'' in words such as 'garden' (standard German ) or 'to make' (standard German ). In some Highest Alemannic dialects, the ''n''-apocope has also been effective in consonant clusters, for instance in 'horn' (High Alemannic ) or 'to think' (High Alemannic ). Only the Highest Alemannic dialects of the Lötschental and of the Haslital have preserved the -''n''. The

phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...

is pronounced as an

alveolar trill The voiced alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental consonant, dental, alveolar consonant, alveolar, and postalveolar consonant, postalve ...

in many dialects, but some dialects, especially in the Northeast or in the

region, have a

uvular trill The voiced uvular trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a small capital version of the Latin letter r. This consonant is one of ...

, and other allophones resulting in fricatives and an approximant as [] like in many German varieties of Germany. In many varieties of Bernese German and adjacent dialects, an at the syllable coda and intervocalic are pronounced as a or respectively. A labiodental approximant is used instead of the Northern Standard German fricative as the reflex of Middle High German . In Walser German, the fricative is used instead.

Vowels

Most Swiss German dialects have rounded front vowels, unlike other High German dialects. Only in Low Alemannic dialects of northwestern Switzerland (mainly Basel) and in Walliser dialects have rounded front vowels been unrounded. In Basel, rounding is being reintroduced because of the influence of other Swiss German dialects. Like Bavarian language, Bavarian dialects, Swiss German dialects have preserved the opening

diphthongs A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, 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 ...

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

: : in 'lovely' (standard German but pronounced ); 'hat' (standard German ); 'cool' (Standard German ). Some diphthongs have become unrounded in several dialects. In the Zürich dialect, short pronunciations of // are realized as []. Sounds like the monophthong can frequently become unrounded to among many speakers of the Zürich dialect. Vowels such as a centralized [] and an open-mid [] only occur in the Bernese dialect. Like in

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

, most Swiss German dialects have preserved the old West-Germanic monophthongs : 'arrow' (Standard German ); 'belly' (Standard German ); 'pillar' (Standard German ). A few Alpine dialects show diphthongization, like in Standard German, especially some dialects of Unterwalden and Schanfigg (Graubünden) and the dialect of Issime (Piedmont). Some Western Swiss German dialects like Bernese German have preserved the old diphthongs , but the other dialects have like Standard German or . Zürich German, and some other dialects distinguish primary diphthongs from secondary ones that arose in hiatus: Zürich German from Middle High German versus Zürich German from Middle High German ; Zürich German 'leg, woman' from Middle High German '','' versus Zürich German 'free, building' from Middle High German '','' .

Suprasegmentals

In many Swiss German dialects,

consonant length In phonetics and phonology, gemination (; from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), or consonant lengthening, is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from ...

and

vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived or actual length (phonetics), duration of a vowel sound when pronounced. Vowels perceived as shorter are often called short vowels and those perceived as longer called long vowels. On one hand, many ...

are independent from each other, unlike other modern Germanic languages. Here are examples from Bernese German:

Lexical stress In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is typically caused by such properties as i ...

is more often on the first syllable than in Standard German, even in French loans like or 'thanks' (despite stress falling on the final syllable in French). However, there are many different stress patterns, even within dialects. Bernese German has many words that are stressed on the first syllable: 'casino' while Standard German has . However, no Swiss German dialect is as consistent as Icelandic in that respect.

Grammar

The grammar of Swiss dialects has some idiosyncratic features in comparison to Standard German: *There is no

preterite The preterite or preterit ( ; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple p ...

indicative A realis mood ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentence Dec ...

(yet there is a

subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as the conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unrealit ...

). *The

is replaced by perfect constructs (this also happens in spoken Standard German, particularly in Southern Germany and Austria). *It is still possible to form

pluperfect The pluperfect (shortening of plusquamperfect), usually called past perfect in English, characterizes certain verb forms and grammatical tenses involving an action from an antecedent point in time. Examples in English are: "we ''had arrived''" ...

phrases, by applying the perfect construct twice to the same sentence. *There is no

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

, though certain dialects have preserved a

possessive A possessive or ktetic form (Glossing abbreviation, abbreviated or ; from ; ) is a word or grammatical construction indicating a relationship of possession (linguistics), possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ownership, or a numbe ...

genitive (for instance in rural

). The

is replaced by two constructions: The first of these is often acceptable in Standard German as well: possession + Prp. (Std. German ) + possessor: vs. Standard German ('a book of a professor'), vs. Standard German ('the professor's book'). The second is still frowned on where it appears in Standard German (from dialects and spoken language): dative of the possessor + the possessive pronoun referring to the possessor + possession: ('the professor his book').Andreas Lötscher: Schweizerdeutsch – Geschichte, Dialekte, Gebrauch. Huber, Frauenfeld/Stuttgart 1983 *The order within verb groups may vary, e.g. vs. Standard German 'when you have come/came'. In fact, dependencies can be arbitrarily cross-serial, making Swiss German one of the few known non- context-free natural languages.. *All

relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phrase and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments in the relative clause refers to the noun or noun phrase. For example, in the sentence ''I met a man who wasn ...

s are introduced by the relative particle ('where'), never by the

relative pronoun A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause. An example is the word ''which'' in the sentence "This is the house which Jack built." Here the relative pronoun ''which'' introduces the relative clause. The relative clause modifies th ...

s as in Standard German, e.g. vs. Standard German ('the example that she writes'); vs. Standard German ('the example that she thinks of'). Whereas the relative particle replaces the Standard German relative pronouns in the Nom. (subject) and Acc. (direct object) without further complications, in phrases where plays the role of an indirect object, a prepositional object, a possessor or an adverbial adjunct it has to be taken up later in the relative clause by reference of (prp. +) the

personal pronoun Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it''). Personal pronouns may also take different f ...

(if ' refers to a person) or the pronominal adverb (if ' refers to a thing). E.g. ('the professor whose book I showed you'), ('the mountain that we were upon').

Reduplication verbs

Overview

In Swiss German, a small number of verbs reduplicate in a reduced infinitival form, i.e. unstressed shorter form, when used in their finite form governing the

infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs that do not show a tense. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all ...

of another verb. The reduced and reduplicated part of the verb in question is normally put in front of the infinitive of the second verb. This is the case for the motion verbs 'to go' and 'to come' when used in the meaning of 'go (to) do something', 'come (to) do something', as well as the verbs 'to let' and in certain dialects 'to start, to begin' when used in the meaning of 'let do something', or 'start doing something'. Most affected by this phenomenon is the verb , followed by '. Both ' and ' are less affected and only when used in present tense declarative main clauses. Declarative sentence examples: As the examples show, all verbs are reduplicated with a reduced infinitival form when used in a declarative main clause. This is especially interesting as it stands in contrast to the standard variety of German and other varieties of the same, where such doubling effects are not found as outlined in the examples.

: weakest doubling effects

Reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a Morphology (linguistics), morphological process in which the Root (linguistics), root or Stem (linguistics), stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The cla ...

effects are weaker in the verbs 'to let' and 'to start, to begin' than they are in 'to go' and 'to come'. This means that ' is most likely to be used without its reduplicated and reduced form while retaining grammaticality, whereas utterances with ''goo'' are least likely to remain grammatical without the reduplicated part. Between ' and ', these effects are weakest in '. This means that while reduplication is mandatory for ' in declarative main clauses almost everywhere in the country, this is the case for fewer varieties of Swiss German with '. The reason for this is unknown, but it has been hypothesized that the fact that ''afaa'' has a separable prefix (''a''-) might weaken its doubling capacity. The presence of this separable prefix also makes the boundaries between the reduced infinitival reduplication form and the prefix hard if not impossible to determine. Thus, in the example above for ', an argument could be made that the prefix a- is left off, while the full reduplicated form is used: In this case, the prefix would be omitted, which is normally not permissible for separable prefixes, and in its place, the reduplication form is used. Meanwhile, ' is not reduplicated when used in a subordinate clause or in the past tense. In such instances, doubling would result in ungrammaticality: Past tense example with : The same is true for subordinate clauses and the verb ': Subordinate clause examples with : In order to achieve grammaticality in both instances, the reduced doubling part would have to be taken out.

and optionality of reduplication

While ' 'to start, to begin' is quite restricted when it comes to

reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a Morphology (linguistics), morphological process in which the Root (linguistics), root or Stem (linguistics), stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The cla ...

effects, the phenomenon is more permissive, but not mandatory in the verb 'to let'. While present tense declarative sentences are generally ungrammatical when ' remains unduplicated, this is not true for

past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...

and subordinate clauses, where doubling effects are optional at best: Past tense example with ': Subordinate clause example with ': In the use of this form, there are both geographical and age differences.

is found more often in the western part of Switzerland than in the eastern part, while younger generations are much more inclined to leave out reduplication, which means that the phenomenon is more widespread in older generations.

and : stronger reduplication

Ungrammaticality in reduplication of 'to start, to begin' in the past tense and in subordinate clauses as well as the somewhat more lenient use of reduplication with ' 'to let' stand in contrast to doubling effects of the motion verbs ' 'to go' and 'to come'. When the latter two verbs are used in other utterances other than a declarative main clause, where the finite verb traditionally is in second position, their use might not be mandatory; however, it is correct and grammatical to double them both in the past tense and in subordinate clauses: Past tense example with and : As outlined in both examples, the reduplicated form of both and can but does not have to be used in order for the past tense sentences to be grammatical.Notably, it is the reduced form of both verbs that is necessary, not the full participle form. Subordinate clause examples for and : In subordinate clauses, the reduplicated part is needed as the sentence would otherwise be ungrammatical in both ' and '. The same is true for the past tense. Since there is only one past tense in Swiss German and since this is formed using an auxiliary verb – 'to be' or 'to have', depending on the main verb – reduplication seems to be affected and therefore, less strictly enforced for ' and ', while it is completely ungrammatical for and optional for respectively.

Questions

Questions behave a lot like their declarative counterparts, and reduplication is therefore mandatory for both motion verbs ' 'to go' and ' 'to come', while ' 'to let' and ' 'to start, to begin' show weaker doubling effects and more optionality. Furthermore, this is the case for both open and close (yes/no) questions. Consider the following examples: in open and close questions: Just like in declarative forms, could be reduced to ''a-'' and thus be considered the detachable prefix. In this case, ' would no longer be a reduplicated verb, and that is where the language development seems to move towards. in open and close questions: and especially , however, do not allow for their reduced doubling part to be left out in questions, irrespective of the fact whether they are open or close: in open and close questions: in open and close questions:

Imperative mood

In the

imperative mood The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. They are sometimes called ' ...

, just like in questions, 'to go' and 'come' are very strict in their demand for doubling. The same is true for 'to let'; it is ungrammatical to use it in imperative mood undoubled. On the other hand, leaves a lot more room for the speaker to play with. Speakers accept both sentences with only the detachable prefix and no doubling, and sentences with the full doubled form. Imperative mood: Imperative mood: Imperative mood: Imperative mood:

Cross-doubling with and

In the case of the verb 'to come', there are situations when instead of it being reduplicated with its reduced form , the doubled short form of 'to go', , is used instead. This is possible in almost all instances of ', regardless of mood or tense. The examples below outline ' reduplicated with both its reduced form ' and the reduced form of ', ', in different sentence forms. Declarative main clause, present tense Declarative main clause past tense Subordinate clause Imperative mood

Multiple reduplication with and

With the motion verbs 'to go' and 'to come', where reduplication effects are strongest, there is some variation regarding their reduplicated or reduced forms. Thus, in some Swiss German dialects, ' will be doubled as , while will be doubled as . In some analyses, this is described as a multiple reduplication phenomenon in that the reduced infinitives or part is repeated as , providing the forms ' and '. However, these forms are used less frequently than their shorter counterparts and seem to be concentrated into a small geographic area of Switzerland.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary is varied, especially in rural areas: many specialized terms have been retained, e.g., regarding cattle or weather. In the cities, much of the rural vocabulary has been lost. A Swiss German greeting is , from (Standard German ' ), loosely meaning 'God bless you'. Most word adoptions 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 'hill' (instead of '','' ), 'lip' (instead of ). Others have replaced the original words only in parts of Switzerland, e.g., 'butter' (originally called in most 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 'breakfast', 'cute' or 'at home'; instead, the native words , and are used. Swiss dialects have quite a few words from French and Italian, which are perfectly assimilated. (ice cream) for example is pronounced in French but or in many Swiss German dialects. The French word for 'thank you', , is also used as in (, cf. Standard German's and ). Possibly, these words are not direct adoptions from French but survivors of the once more numerous French loanwords in Standard German, many of which have fallen out of use in Germany. In recent years, Swiss dialects have also taken some English words which already sound very Swiss, e.g., ('to eat', from 'food'), ('to play computer games', from ''game'') or or – ('to snowboard', from ''snowboard''). These words are probably not direct loanwords 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 Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

', from ''shoot''). There are also a few English words which are modern adoptions from Swiss German. The dishes ''

müesli Muesli ( ) is a cold Swiss breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats. Traditionally, it is set to soak in water overnight ("overnight oats") and eaten the next morning with fresh fruit, nuts, lemon juice, and cream sweeten ...

'', and ''

rösti or () is a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes, sautéed or shallow-fried in a pan. It was originally a breakfast dish, commonly eaten by farmers in the canton of Bern and in parts of the canton of Fribourg, but is now eaten all over Sw ...

'' have become English words, as did ''

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

'' (fine grain), ''

flysch Flysch () is a sequence of sedimentary rock layers that progress from deep-water and turbidity flow deposits to shallow-water shales and sandstones. It is deposited when a deep basin forms rapidly on the continental side of a mountain building ep ...

'' (sandstone formation), '' kepi'', ''

landammann ''Landammann'' (plural ''Landammänner''), is the German title used by the chief magistrate in certain Cantons of Switzerland and at times featured in the Head of state's style at the confederal level. Old Swiss Confederacy ''Landammann'' or ''A ...

'', '' kilch'', ', and '' putsch'' in a political sense. The term ' is sometimes explained as originating from Swiss German, while printed etymological dictionaries (e.g. the German '' Kluge'' or '' Knaurs Etymological Dictionary'') derive it from

instead.

Sample phrases

Orthography

History

Written forms that were mostly based on the local Alemannic varieties, thus similar to

, were only gradually replaced by the forms of

New High German New High German (NHG; ) is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language, starting in the 17th century. It is a loan translation of the German (). The most important characteristic of the period is the developme ...

. This replacement took from the 15th to 18th centuries to complete. In the 16th century, the Alemannic forms of writing were considered 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 A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

and were also associated with

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

. 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

being the last to adopt New High German in the second half of the 18th century. Today all formal writing, newspapers, books and much informal writing is done in

, which is usually called (written German). Certain dialectal words are accepted regionalisms in Swiss Standard German and are also sanctioned by the

Duden The Duden () is a dictionary of the Standard High German language, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880, and later by Bibliographisches Institut GmbH, which was merged into Cornelsen Verlag in 2022. The Duden is updated regularly with ...

, e.g., (afternoon snack). 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''). There are no official rules of Swiss German orthography. The orthographies used in the Swiss-German literature can be roughly divided into 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. The so-called was developed by Eugen Dieth, but knowledge of these guidelines is limited mostly to language experts. Furthermore, the spellings originally proposed by Dieth included some special signs not found on a normal keyboard, such as instead of for or instead of for . In 1986, a revised version of the ''Dieth-Schreibung'' was published, designed to be typed with a regular typewriter.

Conventions

A few letters are used differently from the Standard German rules: * (and ) are used for the

affricate An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...

. * is used for the

unaspirated In phonetics, aspiration is a strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with thei ...

fortis Fortis may refer to: Business * Fortis (Swiss watchmaker), a Swiss watch company * Fortis Films, an American film and television production company founded by actress and producer Sandra Bullock * Fortis Healthcare, a chain of hospitals in ...

. * (and sometimes ) traditionally stands for the (in many dialects shortened to , but still with closed quality) that corresponds to Standard German , e.g. in 'rice' (standard German ) vs. 'giant' (standard German ). This usage goes back to an old ij-ligature. Many writers, however, do not use , but /, especially in the dialects that have lost distinction between these sounds, compare Zürich German 'rice' or 'giant' to

'rice' vs. ('giant'). Some use even , influenced by Standard German spelling, which leads to confusion with for . * represents , slightly different from Standard German as . * usually represents , and can also represent or . * represents , represents , and represents . *Since is written as , is written as , though in eastern Switzerland is often used for both of these phonemes.

Literature

Since the 19th century, a considerable body of Swiss German literature has accumulated. The earliest works were in Lucerne German (Jost Bernhard Häfliger, Josef Felix Ineichen), in

(Gottlieb Jakob Kuhn), in Glarus German (Cosimus Freuler) and in Zürich German (Johann Martin Usteri, Jakob Stutz); the works of Jeremias Gotthelf which were published at the same time are in Swiss Standard German, but use many expressions of Bernese German. Some of the more important dialect writing authors and their works are: *Anna Maria Bacher (born 1947), (South Walser German of Formazza/Pomatt) *Albert Bächtold (1891–1981), (Schaffhausen dialect of Klettgau) *Ernst Burren (born 1944), (Solothurn dialect) *August Corrodi (1826–1885), (Zurich dialect) *Barbara Egli (1918–2005), (Zurich Oberland dialect) *Fritz Enderlin (1883–1971), '','' translated from C. F. Ramuz's French poem "" (Upper Thurgovian dialect) *Martin Frank (born 1950), (Bernese dialect with Zurich interferences) *Simon Gfeller (1868–1943), (Bernese dialect of Emmental) *Georg Fient (1845–1915), (Graubünden Walser dialect of Prättigau) *Paul Haller (1882–1920), (Western Aargau dialect) *Frida Hilty-Gröbli (1893–1957), (St Gall dialect) *Josef Hug (1903–1985), (Graubünden Rhine Valley dialect) * Guy Krneta (born 1964), (collection of short stories), (prose), (Bernese dialect) *Michael Kuoni (1838–1891), (Graubünden Walser dialect of Prättigau) *Maria Lauber (1891–1973), (Bernese Oberland dialect) *Pedro Lenz (born 1965), (Bernese Dialect) *Meinrad Lienert (1865–1933), (Schwyz dialect of Einsiedeln) *Carl Albert Loosli (1877–1959), (Bernese dialect of Emmental) * Kurt Marti (born 1921), (Bernese dialect) *Werner Marti (1920–2013), (Bernese dialect) * Mani Matter (1936–1972), songwriter (Bernese dialect) *Traugott Meyer (1895–1959), (Basel-Landschaft dialect) * Gall Morel (1803–1872), (Schwyz German of Iberg) *Viktor Schobinger (born 1934), and a lot of other ''Züri Krimi'' (Zurich dialect) *Caspar Streiff (1853–1917), (Glarus dialect) * Jakob Stutz (1801–1877), (Zurich Oberland dialect) * Rudolf von Tavel (1866–1934), (Bernese dialect) *Alfred Tobler (1845–1923), (Appenzell dialect) * Johann Martin Usteri (1763–1827), (Zurich German) *Hans Valär (1871–1947), (Graubünden Walser dialect of Davos) *Bernhard Wyss (1833–1889), (Solothurn dialect) Parts of the Bible were translated in different Swiss German dialects, e.g.: * (Bernese New Testament, translated by Hans and Ruth Bietenhard, 1989) * (parts of the Old Testament in Bernese dialect, translated by Hans and Ruth Bietenhard, 1990) * (Psalms in Bernese dialect, translated by Hans, Ruth and Benedikt Bietenhard, 1994) * (Zurich German New Testament, translated by Emil Weber, 1997) * (Psalms in Zurich German, translated by Josua Boesch, 1990) * (parts of the Old and the New Testament in Basel dialect, 1981) * (Gospel of Mark in Lucerne dialect, translated by Walter Haas, 1988) * (Gospel of Mark in the

Obwalden Canton of Obwalden or Obwald ( ; ; ; ) is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of seven municipalities and the seat of the government and parliament is in Sarnen. It is traditio ...

dialect, translated by Karl Imfeld, 1979)

Cinema and television

Many films and TV series produced in German-speaking Switzerland are filmed in Swiss German, although these are sometimes re-dubbed into Standard German for broadcast or when shown in cinemas. For instance, ''Swiss Tatort'' episodes are originally re-recorded with dialogue in dialects, usually various Swiss German dialects, or for example French or Italian, as required by the corresponding role, for broadcasting on German Swiss channels ( SRF), and dubbed in Standard German spoken with a Swiss accent to preserve the local colour of the setting for broadcasting on German and Austrian channels.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Albert Bachmann (ed.), ''Beiträge zur schweizerdeutschen Grammatik'' (BSG), 20 vols., Frauenfeld: Huber, 1919–1941. * * Rudolf Hotzenköcherle (ed.), ''Beiträge zur schweizerdeutschen Mundartforschung'' (BSM), 24 vols., Frauenfeld: Huber, 1949–1982. * Rudolf Hotzenköcherle, Robert Schläpfer, Rudolf Trüb (ed.), '' Sprachatlas der deutschen Schweiz.'' Bern/Tübingen: Francke, 1962–1997, vol. 1–8. – Helen Christen, Elvira Glaser, Matthias Friedli (ed.), ''Kleiner Sprachatlas der deutschen Schweiz.'' Frauenfeld: Huber, 2010 (and later editions),

* Verein für das Schweizerdeutsche Wörterbuch (ed.), '' Schweizerisches Idiotikon: Wörterbuch der schweizerdeutschen Sprache''. Frauenfeld: Huber; Basel: Schwabe, 17 vols. (16 complete), 1881–,

External links

Chochichästli-Orakel
– choose the Swiss German words you would normally use and see how well this matches the dialect of your area.
Dialekt.ch
a site with sound samples from different dialects.
Schweizerisches Idiotikon
The homepage of the Swiss national dictionary.

{{Authority control Swiss German language, * Alemannic German language Upper German languages German dialects Languages of Switzerland Diglossia