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 replace 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 ...

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Swiss German, Swiss German - Use, Swiss German - Variation and Distribution, Swiss German - History, Swiss German - Pronunciation, Swiss German - Consonants, Swiss German - Vowels, Swiss German - Suprasegmentals, Swiss German - Grammar, Swiss German - Writing, Swiss German - Vocabulary, Swiss German - Literature, Swiss German - External link

Read more here: » Swiss German: Encyclopedia II - Swiss German - Vocabulary

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Swiss German, Swiss German - Use, Swiss German - Variation and Distribution, Swiss German - History, Swiss German - Pronunciation, Swiss German - Consonants, Swiss German - Vowels, Swiss German - Suprasegmentals, Swiss German - Grammar, Swiss German - Writing, Swiss German - Vocabulary, Swiss German - Literature, Swiss German - External link

Read more here: » Swiss German: Encyclopedia II - Swiss German - Variation and Distribution

Swiss German - Consonants. Like in all Southern German dialects, Swiss German dialects have no voiced obstruents. Instead, there is a length distinction. Swiss German /p, t, k/ are not aspirated. Aspirated [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] have (in most dialects) secondarily developed by contractions or by borrowings from other languages (mainly standard German), e.g. /ˈ ...

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Swiss German, Swiss German - Use, Swiss German - Variation and Distribution, Swiss German - History, Swiss German - Pronunciation, Swiss German - Consonants, Swiss German - Vowels, Swiss German - Suprasegmentals, Swiss German - Grammar, Swiss German - Writing, Swiss German - Vocabulary, Swiss German - Literature, Swiss German - External link

Read more here: » Swiss German: Encyclopedia II - Swiss German - Pronunciation

main article: Bernese German phonology Bernese German is distinguished from other Swiss German dialects by the following characteristics: The vocalisation of l, e.g. Hauue, Esu instead of Halle, Esel ('hall', 'donkey'). This has led to a huge repertoire of diphthongs and triphthongs. The change of nd to ng, e.g. angers instead of anders ('different'). The many words ending with -ng created the joke that Bernese sounds almost like Chi ...

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Bernese German, Bernese German - Varieties, Bernese German - Phonology, Bernese German - Pragmatics, Bernese German - Vocabulary, Bernese German - Bernese German literature

Read more here: » Bernese German: Encyclopedia II - Bernese German - Phonology

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 German than other High German dialects or standard German. An exception are certain central Swiss dialects, e.g. the Uri dialect. Examples: Most Swiss German dialects, being High-Alemannic dialects, have completed the High German consonant shift, that is, th ...

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Swiss German, Swiss German - Use, Swiss German - Variation and Distribution, Swiss German - History, Swiss German - Pronunciation, Swiss German - Consonants, Swiss German - Vowels, Swiss German - Suprasegmentals, Swiss German - Grammar, Swiss German - Writing, Swiss German - Vocabulary, Swiss German - Literature, Swiss German - External link

Read more here: » Swiss German: Encyclopedia II - Swiss German - History

Swiss German dialects are usually not written, but only spoken. 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. e-mail or SMS). However, most write standard ...

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Swiss German, Swiss German - Use, Swiss German - Variation and Distribution, Swiss German - History, Swiss German - Pronunciation, Swiss German - Consonants, Swiss German - Vowels, Swiss German - Suprasegmentals, Swiss German - Grammar, Swiss German - Writing, Swiss German - Vocabulary, Swiss German - Literature, Swiss German - External link

Read more here: » Swiss German: Encyclopedia II - Swiss German - Writing

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 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 ...

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Swiss German, Swiss German - Use, Swiss German - Variation and Distribution, Swiss German - History, Swiss German - Pronunciation, Swiss German - Consonants, Swiss German - Vowels, Swiss German - Suprasegmentals, Swiss German - Grammar, Swiss German - Writing, Swiss German - Vocabulary, Swiss German - Literature, Swiss German - External link

Read more here: » Swiss German: Encyclopedia II - Swiss German - Use