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A Swiss German speaker. Swiss German (Standard German: Schweizerdeutsch, Alemannic German: Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart, [note 1] 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.
The concurrent usage of Swiss Standard German and Swiss German dialects has been called a typical case of diglossia, [19] although this term is often reserved to language pairs where the vernacular has lower prestige than the other, [20] while Swiss German dialects do not meet this criterion as they permeate every socio-economic class of society.
The variety of the German language spoken in Switzerland is called Swiss German which refers to any of the Alemannic dialects and which are divided into Low, High and Highest Alemannic. The only exception within German-speaking Switzerland is the municipality of Samnaun where an Austro-Bavarian dialect is spoken.
The four national languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian, and Romansh. [4] German, French, and Italian maintain equal status as official languages at the national level within the Federal Administration of the Swiss Confederation, while Romansh is used in dealings with people who speak it. [5]
In the 18th century, poor Swiss German immigrants to the US were described as Krauts because they consumed sauerkraut. Sauerkraut was also a common food served on German ships to fight scurvy, while the British used lime and got called limey. In Switzerland it was a food preserved for hard winters that could go on for half a year.
Therefore, the situation has been called a medial diglossia. Standard German is seldom spoken among native Swiss, [b] [14] and even then the accent and vocabulary is very much Swiss except, for instance, when speaking with people who do not understand the Swiss German dialects at all, and it is expected to be used in school.
wae – Walser German, mainly spoken in Swiss Upper Valais in the Alps. Standard German is used in writing and in Germany orally in formal contexts throughout the Alemannic-speaking regions (with the exception of Alsace, where French or the Alsatian dialect of Alemannic is used instead).
The English name Switzerland is a portmanteau of Switzer, an obsolete term for a Swiss person which was in use during the 16th to 19th centuries, and land. [28] The English adjective Swiss is a loanword from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century.