Swiss German

Swiss German is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy bordering Switzerland. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are grouped together with Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg, which are closely associated to Switzerland's.
Linguistically, Alemannic is divided into Low, High and Highest Alemannic, 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, the variety of Standard German used in Switzerland. Swiss Standard German is fully intelligible to all speakers of Standard German, and 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, in multilingual parliaments, in the main news broadcast or in the presence of non-Alemannic speakers. This situation has been called a "medial diglossia", since the spoken language is mainly Swiss German, whereas the written language is mainly 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 of Adams County, Indiana, and their daughter settlements also use a form of Swiss German.

Variation and distribution

Swiss German is a regional or political umbrella 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 and around Lake Constance. 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.

Low Alemannic:
*Basel German in Basel-Stadt, closely related to Alsatian
High Alemannic:
*Western:
**Bernese German, in the Swiss Plateau parts of Bern
**Dialects of Basel-Landschaft
**Dialects of Solothurn
**Dialects of the western part of Aargau
*In a middle position between eastern and western:
**Dialects in the eastern part of Aargau
**Dialects of Lucerne
**Dialects of Zug
**Zürich German, in Zürich
*Eastern:
**Dialects of St. Gallen
**Dialects of Appenzell
**Dialects of Thurgau
**Dialects of Schaffhausen
**Dialects in parts of Graubünden
Highest Alemannic:
*Dialects in parts of Canton of Fribourg
*Dialects of the Bernese Oberland
*Dialects of Unterwalden and Uri
*Dialects of Schwyz
*Dialects of Glarus
*Walliser German in parts of the Valais
*Walser German: due to the medieval migration of the Walser, Highest Alemannic spread to pockets of what are now parts of northern Italy, the north-west of Ticino, parts of Graubünden, Liechtenstein and Vorarlberg.

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 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; exceptions are all Highest Alemanic dialects. Unlike Standard German, which has only shifted t to or and p to or, they have also shifted k to or ; the dialects of Chur and Basel are exceptions to this particular difference. Basel German is a Low Alemannic dialect, and Chur German is basically High Alemannic without initial or.
Examples:

High Alemannic	Low Alemannic	Standard German	Spelling	Translation
			'Kasten'	'box'
			'Karibik'	'Caribbean'

The High German consonant shift occurred between the 4th and 9th centuries south of the Benrath line, separating High German from Low German. It combines Upper German and Central German varieties - also referring to their geographical locations.
The Walser migration, which took place in the 12th and 13th centuries, spread varieties from upper Valais to the east and south, into Grisons 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 Ticino in Switzerland, Vorarlberg in Austria, south of the Monte Rosa mountain chain in Italy.
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 and feudalism. 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 obstruents. 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 the original sense, that is, distinguished by articulatory strength or tenseness. 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 : 'keep' ; 'tea' ; 'salary'. 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 graad 'straight' and Graat 'arête' or bis 'be ' and Biss 'bite'. That distinguishes Swiss German and Swiss Standard German from German Standard German, which neutralizes the fortis–lenis opposition at the ends of words. The phenomenon is usually called final-obstruent devoicing 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 features this sound: Chuchichäschtli, pronounced.
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' or mache 'to make'. In some Highest Alemannic dialects, the n-apocope has also been effective in consonant clusters, for instance in Hore 'horn' or däiche 'to think'. Only the Highest Alemannic dialects of the Lötschental and of the Haslital have preserved the -n.
The phoneme is pronounced as an alveolar trill in many dialects, but some dialects, especially in the Northeast or in the Basel region, have a uvular trill, 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.