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Group of German dialects
the mostly spoken Swiss language, a family of local dialects

Swiss German (Standard German: Schweizerdeutsch, , and others) 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 understandable to all speakers of Standard German, while many people in Germany – especially in the north – do not understand Swiss German. An interview with a Swiss German speaker, when shown on television in Germany, will require 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.

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", since the spoken language is mainly Swiss German, whereas the written language 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 of Adams County, Indiana, and their daughter settlements also use a form of Swiss German.

Reduplication effects are weaker in the verbs laa 'to let' and afaa 'to start, to begin' than they are in gaa 'to go' and choo 'to come'. This means that afaa 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 laa and afaa, these effects are weakest in afaa. This means that while reduplication is mandatory for laa in declarative main clauses almost everywhere in the country, this is the case for fewer varieties of Swiss German with afaa. 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.

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

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 Grüezi, from Gott grüez i (Standard German Gott grüßen Euch), 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 Hügel 'hill' (instead of Egg, Bühl), Lippe 'lip' (instead of Lëfzge). Others have replaced the original words only in parts of Switzerland, e. g., Butter 'butter' (originally called Anke 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 Frühstück 'breakfast', niedlich 'cute' or zu hause 'at home'; instead, the native words Zmorge, härzig and dehei are used. Swiss dialects have quite a few words from French and Italian, which are perfectly assimilated. Glace (ice cream) for example is pronounced in French but or in many Swiss German dialects. The French word for 'thank you', merci, is also used as in merci vilmal (, cf. Standard German's danke vielmals and vielen Dank). 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', from shoot). There are also a few English words which are modern adoptions from Swiss German. The dishes müesli, and rösti have become English words, as did loess (fine grain), flysch (sandstone formation), kepi, landammann, kilch, schiffli, and putsch in a political sense. The term bivouac is sometimes explained as originating from Swiss German, while printed etymological dictionaries (e. g. the German Kluge or Knaurs Etymological Dictionary) derive it from Low German instead.

EnglishSwiss German (Bern)Hello. Grüessech. Yes. Ja. Yes please. Ja gärn. No. Nei. No thanks. Nei merci. Please. Bitte. Thank you. Merci. Thank you very much. Merci viu Mau. You're welcome. Gärn gscheh. I'd like a coffee please. I hätti gärn es Kaffi. Two beers please. Zwöi Bier bitte. Excuse me. Exgüsee. What time is it?Was isch für Ziit?Can you repeat that please?Chöiter das bitte wyderhole?Please speak more slowly. Red chli langsamber, bitte. I don't understand. Das verschtaani nid. Sorry. Sorry. Where are the toilets?Wo isch d´Tualette?How much does this cost?Was choschtet das?Welcome!Härzlech wiukomme!Good morning. Guete Morge!Good evening. Gueten Aabe!Good night. Guet Nacht!Goodbye. Tschüss!

Written forms that were mostly based on the local Alemannic varieties, thus similar to Middle High German, were only gradually replaced by the forms of New High German. 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 and were also associated with Lutheranism. 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 Bern 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 Swiss 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). 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 Schwyzertütschi Dialäktschrift 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.