Should Swiss German be considered a different language?

+7

Is Swiss German it's own language?

I propose that Swiss German be considered a new language to standard German. We consider Luxembourgish and Dutch to be seperate languages from German, but they are far much more similar to German than Swiss German. Swiss German uses different vocabulary, grammar, and pronounciation.

A breif overview of Swiss German

Swiss German is more formally called, "Alemanic German." In French (Which Swiss German has many loan words from), "Alemagne," is Germany. This shows that Swiss German is a mix between French and German. Some other names for Swiss German are, Schweizerdeutsch, Schwitzerdutsch, Schwyzerdutsch, Schwiizertuutisch, Schwitzertitisch, and Mundart. Alemanic German is spoken by about 60% of people and Switzerland, almost all of Liechtenstein, and parts of Austria and Italy. Swiss and standard German are so different that they often cannot communicate.

Some of the bigger differences

When I first started hearing about Swiss German, I assumed that there was just a few different small words that would be interchangable in standard German, but almost every word is pronounced or spelled differently. Instead of saying Hallo, they say, Gruezi,  which is a short version of the old German phrase,  Ich grusse sie, meaning I greet you. Instead of saying, Ich, Swiss Germans go with, Isch, meaning I. Also, the  Swiss do not use the Eszet, they use two 's' instead. Anyway, you get the point, Swiss German  is very different from normal German.

 

So... Is Swiss German it's  own language?

No. It has so many differences but it actually just considered German everywhere you look. If anyone is interested in the idea of Swiss German becoming it's own language, tell me in the comments. If you do not, try to give me a good reason why. I will be reasonable and consider all of your comments. Thanks for reading.

7 Comments
+1
Level 65
Nov 1, 2021
I think you should explain ß = ss
+1
Level 59
Nov 7, 2021
A few examples (First sentence of the Paternoster):

Eise Papp am Himmel, gehellegt sief däin Numm. Lëtzebuergesch

Vater unser im Himmel, geheiligt werde dein Name. Standard German

Onze Vader die in de hemelen zijt, uw naam worde geheiligd. Dutch

Vatter im Himmel, mach is dy Name heilig. Swiss German (Basel)

Üse Vatter im Himel, mach, dass dy Name heilig ghalte wird. Swiss German (Bern)

Euise Vater im Himmel, din Name söll gheiliget werde. Swiss German (Zürich)

In Switzerland there is Swiss Standard German which is exactly like german and several dialects of the alemannic dialect group. The thing with it being a mix of french and german is

+1
Level 59
Nov 7, 2021
PS: The alemans are germanic tribe that moved to the area of alsace/ baden-württemberg/ bavarian swabia during the migration period (ca. 4th century). The french using the name og one tribe for all germans isnt that uncommon e.g. the finnish, livonian and estonian call germany saksa, saksāmo and saksamaa after the saxons.
+1
Level 59
Nov 7, 2021
*just wrong.
+1
Level 59
Nov 7, 2021
And while there can be communication problems between German Speakers and Swiss German Speakers the same problems while show up if for example a German Speaker is to communicate with a Low German Speaker or a Bavarian Speaker (at least if they speak full on dialect which has become somewhat rare). I think you could consider (especially the low german) dialects own languages, because of their many differences, but Swiss German isn't really an exception in that. Also alemannic dialects are spoken over all of southwestern Germany and in the Alsace too. They're often grouped with the southeastern german dialects (e.g. Bavarian, Franconian etc.) as Upper German (Wikipedia). For the greeting forms there are strong regional differences between all dialects and regions (Grüß Gott, Servus, Moin, Tach, Mahlzeit etc.). Writing "ss" instead of "ß" isn't really a big difference after all its very common in standard german too to do that.
+1
Level 59
Nov 7, 2021
PS: For the Ich/ Isch both pronounciation are very similar and common in many other regions, while in some parts of north germany ick is the preferred form for I.
+1
Level 59
Nov 7, 2021
To sum up:

I can see your point, but I wouldn't single out swiss german from other german (or continental-germanic (with dutch etc.) dialects.

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I hope my criticism wasn't too long or boring.