Very exact information, in my opinion. Just a small remark on the example: the word coffee is a loan word, so some developments may be different from Germanic words. For example, the dialect spoken around Bern pronounces this as [kAffe:]. -- dnjansen 18:57 14 Jun 2003 (UTC)
Should we include the Swiss German word for Swiss German in every single dialect? Also, can anyone add a list with the different dialects there are and maybe some more on the differences between the dialects (anyone with access to the Idiotikon?)? Kokiri
High German
Currently it says: Unlike most German dialects, most Swiss 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, it is in places closer to Low German or Dutch than High German. If I'm not mistaken the Swiss German dialects are linguistically High German. The confusion is of course that in Switzerland the standard language is referred to as Hochdeutsch... Does anyone know more? Kokiri 14:05, 7 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- I'm in the process of adding articles on German dialects. Swiss belongs to the Alemannic dialect family of the Upper Germanic language family — Upper Germanic is one of the High German families. Hochdeutsch refers properly only to standard German, which is a form of Middle German. Confusingly enough German speakers (and others) tend to refer to standard German as High German, and call all dialects and other German languages Low German or Plattdeutsch. Since this is standard usage, there is no way to avoid confusion. Linguistically speaking, Swiss is a High German dialect, but the pronunciation of Swiss is in some places Low German, the group where Plattdüütsch and Dutch properly belong to. If you know a way out of this confusion, it's up to you: I'm rather lost in the maze of Germanics. — Jor 14:18, Jan 7, 2004 (UTC)
- Changed it to Unlike most German dialects, most Swiss 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 Swiss German linguistically is a High German language, its pronunciation is in places closer to Low German or Dutch than other High German dialects or standard German.. — Jor 14:23, Jan 7, 2004 (UTC)
- That's what I thought... seems clearer now. Kokiri 17:12, 7 Jan 2004 (UTC)