Deutsche Dialekte - Linkverzeichnis
(German Dialects Link Catalogue - Paul Joyce)
SCHWEIZERDEUTSCH (Swiss German)
• The Languages of Switzerland
The website Swissworld explains the four national languages in Switzerland and gives an insight into who speaks which language in which contexts.
• Languages in Switzerland 
Listen to a radio report from Swiss Radio International on the language situation in Switzerland. Real Player required.
• Die Sprachgrenzen in der Schweiz
A 1997 study reveals that the boundaries between the four national languages of Switzerland appear to be solidifying...
• Verteilung der Sprachen in der Schweiz
... whereas a 2002 report shows that the usage of French in Switzerland is on the increase.
• Standard languages and dialects
A special report on the dialect situation in Switzerland from the website Swissworld.
• The difference between Swiss German and High German
A fifteen minute radio report on the differences between the two languages from Schweizer Radio International.
• A quick guide to the Swiss German language
A very useful introduction to Swiss German from Eldrid Hågård Aas. Her guide to the language is aimed at both beginners and advanced students and contains a number of sound files.
• Die Staaten und Territorien der Erde und ihre sprachliche Situation - Schweiz
Johannes Reese summarises the different types of language that you can expect to hear in Switzerland.
• Schweizerdeutsch - Wikipedia
An introduction to the Swiss German dialects from the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
• Dialektologie des Schweizerdeutschen - Dialectology of Swiss German
A special edition of Linguistik Online edited by Beat Siebenhaar offers a number of online articles on the current state of the Swiss dialects.
• Swiss German
An English-language overview of how and when Swiss German is used from the website Switzerland.isyours.com.
• Schwyzertüütsch
A brief English-language guide to Swiss German dialects.
• Dialekt.ch
A comprehensive guide to the dialects spoken in German-speaking Switzerland. Many sound files.
• Sprache - lose, luege, stuune
This introduction to the Swiss German language from the website Hallo Schweiz contains a Kleines Spracharsenal of vocabulary for the beginner. You can also keep up to date with news on Swiss German language by visiting their news page.
• Mittelhochdeutsche Wurzeln im Schweizerdeutschen
An article tracing the roots of Swiss German back to Middle High German.
• Swiss German Morphology and Lexicon
An examination of Swiss German in and around Zurich by Nancy L. Thuleen that focuses primarily on morphology and lexicon.
• Deutsch als Schriftsprache in der Schweiz
Key differences between Swiss German and Standard German in their written forms.
• Das Verhältnis von Mundarten und Standardsprache in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz
Beat Siebenhaar analyses the relationship between dialects and standard German in German-speaking Switzerland.
• „Wääh, Ostschwiizer!“ oder arrogante Zürcher? Spracheinstellungen zu sechs Schweizer Dialekten und ihren Sprechenden
Christa Dürscheid examines the attitudes towards six Swiss dialects and to the people who speak them.
• Variation im heutigen Schweizerdeutschen
A further article from Beat Siebenhaar on variation in the usage of Swiss German.
• Ist Standarddeutsch für Deutschschweizer eine Fremdsprache? Untersuchungen zu einem Topos des sprachreflexiven Diskurses
An article by Sara Hägi and Joachim Scharloth examining whether Standard German has become a foreign language for Swiss Germans.
• Zwischen Fremdsprache und nationaler Varietät. Untersuchungen zum Plurizentrizitätsbewusstsein der Deutschschweizer
This article by Joachim Scharloth examines the extent to which Swiss Germans react to the pluricentricity of the German language.
• Das Chochichästli-Orakel
Dominik Heeb's "oracle" will tell you which of the Swiss dialects you speak!
• Mundart und Hochdeutsch im Vergleich
In this article, Beat Siebenhaar compares the Swiss dialects and Standard German from a grammatical and lexical perspective.
• Die Schweizermacher: A Swiss German Tutorial
The downloadable extracts from this Swiss German tutorial concentrate on Swiss German grammar.
• Sprachgebrauch im Arbeitsbereich in der Schweiz
Which forms of the German language are spoken in the workplace in Switzerland?
• Which languages should be studied in Switzerland?
Which languages should Swiss schoolchildren be taught?
• Mehr Hochdeutsch, weniger Schwyzerdütsch
Teachers across German-speaking Switzerland are being urged to use High German rather than dialect in the classroom. The move, which coincides with the start of the academic year 2003/04, is aimed at improving literacy levels among Swiss teenagers.
• DStimm vo di Schwiiz
A newsletter for the celebration of Swiss German dialects in North America, tracing the various histories of Swiss German and furthering its continued use in America.
• Ist unsere Sprache nur ein deutscher Dialekt?
An impassioned defence of Schweizerdeutsch against its detractors.
• Swiss Language Maps
A series of maps indicating the languages spoken in Switzerland.
• Aspekte der Stadtsprachenforschung in der Schweiz
Beat Siebenhaar analyses how city dialects are studied in Switzerland.
• Stadtsprache - Sprachen in der Stadt am Beispiel Basels
The concluding report on an research project into language usage in Swiss cities.
• Wenn viele Wege aus dem Fenster führen - Konzeptuelle Variation im Bereich von Bewegungsereignissen
In this contribution, different varieties of German (Swiss German dialects, Standard High German) are compared with regard to their conceptual and syntactic elaboration of spatial descriptions. The case study examines a particular scene from the informant's picture-book based narratives, a scene wich refers to a dog climbing onto a window sill and then falling out of the window. Raphael Berthele's article is also available as a PDF file.
• Linguistic Politeness and Greeting Rituals in German-speaking Switzerland
Felicity Rash's paper describes the results of research into linguistic politeness in German-speaking Switzerland (GSS) and into one type of politeness in particular, namely the speech acts of greeting and leave-taking denoted by the German verb grüssen. The article is also available as a PDF file.
• Blogwiese
Jens-Rainer Wiese's blog discusses helveticisms and expresses the linguistic experiences of a German in Switzerland.
• Schweizer Aufnahmen - Phonogrammarchiv der Universität Zürich
The Phonographic Archive of the University of Zurich contains the oldest sound recordings of Swiss dialects in all four national languages.
• Dialekte der Deutschschweiz
A brief overview of the Swiss dialects from the Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.
Wörterbücher und Vokabeln
(Dictionaries and Vocabulary)
• Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch
This Swiss German dictionary is the most comprehensive regional German dictionary with fifteen volumes and over 150,000 headwords.
• Sammlung Schweizerdeutscher Dialektwörter und -begriffe
A collection of Swiss German dialect words and phrases compiled by Beat Nussbaumer. You can also click here to download some of the Swiss German vocabulary from his collection.
• The Alternative Swiss German Dictionary
A dictionary of Swiss slang for broad-minded people!
• Auswahl Schweizer Dialektwörter
A selection of Swiss German dialect words compiled by the Coop-Zeitschrift in February 2002.
• Allgäuisch-Schwiitzerdüütsch Lexikon
This dictionary from Andrea Kullak enables you to translate from Allgäuisch into Swiss German.
Vereine und Institutionen
(Associations and Institutions)
• Sprachkreis Deutsch
A Swiss society for all men and women who are interested in the usage of the German language (in all its forms) in Switzerland.
Literatur und Texte
(Literature and Texts)
• Geschichte der Schweizerdeutschen Literatur
A history of Swiss language literature written in both English and Standard German.
• Der Stein von Rosetta - Dialekte der Schweiz
The poem Mym Bueb sy Hosesagg has translated here into several Swiss dialects which allows you to compare and contrast them with each other.
• Mundart Geschichten aus Liechtenstein
A collection of dialect stories from Liechtenstein.
• Literatur in Mundart
A selection of texts published in Swiss German dialect.
Musik (Music)
• Schweizer Mundartmusik
Tatjana Ingold's collection of texts from Swiss dialect songs.
• Mundart-Lieder
Another collection of texts from Swiss dialect songs.
• Mani Matter - Texte
The songs of Switzerland's most famous dialect singer-songwriter.
• Berner Troubadours
The homepage of a dialect group from Bern. Contains MP3 sound files.
• Roland Zoss
Rock poetry in dialect from the Swiss singer-songwriter Roland Zoss. Click here for a bibliography of his fairy-tales and children's songs. Contains MP3 sound files.
Regional
• Innerrhoder Dialekt - Eine kleine Auswahl für Einsteiger
A selection of vocabulary spoken in the Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.
• Luzerndeutsch
An analysis of Lucerne German as an example of Hochalemannisch from Marburg University.
• Amerikanisches Schweizerdeutsch - Idiotikon und Wörterbuch
An Idiotikon of Swiss German as it is spoken in the United States.
See also: Walliserdeutsch und Walserdeutsch
If you find links that you think should appear on this page, or if you think that any of the links here should be deleted, please e-mail the site's creator, Paul Joyce. Click here to go to the homepage of this German dialects index. Click here to find out more about studying German at the University of Portsmouth.
