| Swiss Standard German | |
|---|---|
| Swiss High German[note 1] | |
| Schweizer Standarddeutsch Schweizer Hochdeutsch, Schweizerhochdeutsch | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈʃvaɪtsərˌʃtandarddɔʏtʃ], [ˈʃvaɪtsərˌhoːxdɔʏtʃ] |
| Region | Switzerland,Liechtenstein |
| Ethnicity | Swiss (Liechtensteiners) |
Indo-European
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | de-CH |
Swiss Standard German[1][2][3] (SSG;German:Schweizer Standarddeutsch),[4] orSwiss High German[5][6][7][note 1] (German:Schweizer Hochdeutsch[8] orSchweizerhochdeutsch;[9]Romansh:Svizzers Alt Tudestg), referred to by the Swiss asSchriftdeutsch, orGerman:Hochdeutsch, is the written form of one (German) of fournational languages inSwitzerland, besidesFrench,Italian, andRomansh.[10] It is a variety ofStandard German, used in theGerman-speaking part of Switzerland and inLiechtenstein. It is mainly written and rather less often spoken.
Swiss Standard German differs fromSwiss German, an umbrella term for the variousAlemannic Germandialects (in the sense of "traditional regional varieties") that are the default everyday languages inGerman-speaking Switzerland.
Standard German is apluricentric language. In contrast with other localvarieties of Standard German, Swiss Standard German has distinctive features in all linguistic domains: not only inphonology, but also invocabulary,syntax,morphology, andorthography. These characteristics of Swiss Standard German are calledHelvetisms. Besides influences fromAlemannic German, those characteristics include extensive use ofloan words fromRomance languages, especially French.
Swiss Standard German is the officialwritten language in German-speaking Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is used in books, all official publications (including all laws and regulations), in newspapers, printed notices, most advertising, and other printed matter. Authors write literature mainly using Swiss Standard German; some dialect literature exists. SSG is similar in most respects to the Standard German inGermany andAustria; there are a few differences in spelling, most notably the replacing of the Germanß withss (since the 20th century).[11][12] For example:
| Swiss Standard German | Standard German outside Switzerland and Liechtenstein | English |
|---|---|---|
| Strasse | Straße | street |
| gross | groß | big |
| Fussball | Fußball | football |
| süss | süß | sweet |
| weiss,Weiss | weiß,Weiß | white |
| fliessen | fließen | to flow |
There are some differences in vocabulary, including, for instance, using aloanword from another language. For example:
| Swiss Standard German | Standard German outside Switzerland and Liechtenstein | English | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billett | Fahrkarte | ticket (for bus/tram/train etc.) | ||||
| bostitchen | tackern | to staple | ||||
| Brockenhaus | Secondhandladen orSecondhandshop | second-hand shop/thrift store[13] | ||||
| Cornet | Eiswaffel,[a] Stanitzel[b] | ice cream cone | ||||
| demissionieren | zurücktreten | to resign (from office) | ||||
| Führerausweis,Fahrausweis, orBillet,[c] | Führerschein | driving licence | ||||
| Flaumer[d] | Mopp | mop (with thrums) | ||||
| Gletteisen | Bügeleisen | clothes iron | ||||
| grillieren | grillen | to grill | ||||
| Jupe[e] | Rock | skirt | ||||
| Lavabo | Waschbecken | washbasin/sink | ||||
| Natel orHandy | Handy orMobiltelefon | mobile phone | ||||
| Ofenküchlein | Windbeutel,[a] Brandteigkrapferl[b] | cream puff | ||||
| parkieren | parken | to park | ||||
| Peperoncino | Peperoni/Chili,[a] Pfefferoni[b] | chili pepper | ||||
| Peperoni | Paprika | bell pepper | ||||
| Poulet | Hähnchen | chicken | ||||
| rapportieren | berichten | to report | ||||
| Rande | Rote Bete,[a] Rote Rübe[b] | beetroot | ||||
| Rüebli | Karotte | carrot | ||||
| Sack | Tasche | |||||
| schnöden | spotten | to scoff | ||||
| Signallicht | Verkehrsampel | traffic light | ||||
| süsser orscharferPaprika | Paprika | paprika | ||||
| Velo | Fahrrad | bicycle | ||||
| Zucchetti | Zucchini | zucchini/courgette | ||||
In addition, SSG uses different orthography in letter writing, and the salutations used for the same also differ from Non-Swiss Standard German.
The Swiss use the Standard German wordSpital (hospital).Spital is also found in volumes of Standard German language dictionaries; however, Germans from northern Germany prefer to useKrankenhaus, whereasSpital is also used in areas of southern Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, andSouth Tyrol.
Some nouns have different gender:
Some expressions are borrowed from French and thus differ from usage in Germany, such as
TheSwiss keyboard layout has noß key, nor does it have the capitalumlaut keysÄ,Ö andÜ. This dates back to mechanicaltypewriters that had the Frenchdiacritical marks letters on these keys to allow the Swiss to write French on a Swiss GermanQWERTZ keyboard (and vice versa). Thus a Swiss GermanVSM keyboard has anä key that prints anà (a-grave) when shifted.[14] However, it is possible to write uppercase umlauts by use ofcaps lock or by using the¨dead key.
The names of municipalities, towns, stations, and streets are often not written with a starting capital umlaut, but instead withAe,Oe, orUe, such as the Zürich suburbOerlikon, the hamletAetzikofen, and the Bernese municipalityUebeschi.[15] However, field names, such as Äbenegg, Ötikon (near Stäfa), or Überthal, and any other word, such asÄrzte (English: physicians), usually start with capital umlauts.[16]
As for the various dialects of Swiss German, they are occasionally written, but their written usage is mostly restricted to informal situations such as privatetext messages,e-mails,letters, notes, or within social media such asFacebook. The ability of German Swiss to transliterate their language into writing is an integral and important part of the identity and culture of German-speaking Switzerland.[17]
The defaultspoken language in German-speaking Switzerland is the respective local dialect. Due to a rather large inter-cantonal migration rate (about 5% p.a.) within modern Switzerland for decades, many different Swiss German dialects are spoken in any one place, especially in urban areas; for example, in the city of Zürich (end of 2013): of the 272,700 Swiss (total: 400,000) living in Zürich, only 40% (28%) are from Zürich itself with 51% (36%) from the entire canton of Zürich.[18]
Outside of any educational setting, Swiss Standard German is only spoken in very few specific formal situations, such as in news broadcasts and reputable programmes of the public media channels; in the parliaments of German-speakingcantons; in the federal parliament in Berne (unless another official language of Switzerland is used), although dialect is certainly encroaching on this domain; in loudspeaker announcements in public places such as railway stations, etc. Church services, including the sermon and prayers, are usually in Swiss Standard German. Generally in any educational setting Swiss Standard German is used (during lessons, lectures or tutorials). However, outside of lessons Swiss-German dialects are used, even when, for example, talking to a teacher about the class. The situations in which Swiss Standard German is spoken are characteristically formal and public, and there are situations where written communication is also important.
In informal situations, Swiss Standard German is only used whenever a German Swiss is communicating with a non-Swiss and it is assumed that this person does not understand the respective dialect. Amongst themselves, the German-speaking Swiss use their respective Swiss German dialect, irrespective of social class, education or topic.
Unlike other regions whereGerman varieties are spoken, there is no continuum between Swiss Standard German and the Swiss German dialects. The speakers speak either Swiss Standard German, or a Swiss German dialect, and they are conscious about this choice.[17]
Nevertheless, about 10%, or 828,200, of Swiss residents speakHigh German (also called Standard German) at home, but mainly due to the presence of German or Austrian immigrants.[19]
The concurrent usage of Swiss Standard German andSwiss German dialects has been called a typical case ofdiglossia,[20] although this term is often reserved to language pairs where the vernacular has lower prestige than the other,[21] while Swiss German dialects do not meet this criterion as they permeate every socio-economic class of society. Since Swiss Standard German is the usual written language and the Swiss German dialects are the usual spoken language, their interrelation has sometimes been called amedial diglossia instead.[21]
Most German Swiss can speak fluent Swiss Standard German, but may or may not like doing so, as it feels stilted and unnatural to many. When they compare their Swiss Standard German to the way people from Germany speak, they think their own proficiency is inferior because it is studied and slower. Most German Swiss think that the majority speak rather poor Swiss Standard German; however, when asked about their personal proficiency, a majority will answer that they speak quite well.[22]
In der Schweiz sind auf historischen Karten grosse Umlaute mit Ae, Oe und Ue bereits vor der Einführung der Schreibmaschine um ca. 1880 zu finden. Der Umstand, dass später auf der Schweizer Schreibmaschinentastatur keine Ä, Ö, Ü existierten, dürfte diese Schreibtradition gefördert haben. Heute wo die Schreibung Ä, Ö und Ü ohne weiteres möglich wäre, wurden wegen der einheitlichen Schreibweise in Verzeichnissen die grossen Umlaute von Gemeinde-, Ortschafts- und Stationsnamen konsequent als Ae, Oe und Ue geschrieben. ... Umlaute von A, O, U am Anfang von Flurnamen schreibt man gewöhnlich als Ä, Ö, Ü. Falls entsprechende Namen als Gemeinde oder Ortschaft existieren oder falls es sich um öffentliche Bauwerke handelt, werden die Umlaute häufig als Ae, Oe, Ue geschrieben
Die Schreibweise Ae, Oe, Ue am Anfang von Strassennamen ist weit verbreitet, ebenso bei Orts- und Stationsnamen. Die Weisung über die Erhebung und Schreibweise der Lokalnamen sieht für Lokalnamen Ä, Ö, Ü vor. Die Meinungen, welche Schreibweise für Strassennamen gewählt werden soll, sind recht unterschiedlich. Das Eidg. Gebäude- und Wohnungsregister macht zu einer allfälligen Umstellung keine Vorschläge, empfiehlt jedoch, sich innerhalb einer Gemeinde für die eine oder andere Variante zu entscheiden. Bei einer Schreibweise bestehender Namen mit Ae, Oe, Ue wird abgeraten, Ä, Ö und Ü für neue Strassennamen zu verwenden.
Zu Hause oder mit den Angehörigen sprechen 60,1% der betrachteten Bevölkerung hauptsächlich Schweizerdeutsch, 23,4% Französisch, 8,4% Italienisch, 10,1% Hochdeutsch und 4,6% Englisch
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