Bernese German is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau (Mittelland) part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... High Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic dialects and belongs to the German language, even though they are only partly intelligible to German speakers. ... The Swiss plateau (plateau suisse in French, Schweizer Mittelland in German) constitutes one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura mountains and the Alps. ... The Swiss canton of (help· info) is bilingual (German: Kanton Bern; French Canton de Berne) and has a population of about 947,000. ...

Varieties

There is a lot of regional variation within Bernese German. Native people can tell from which village one comes only by hearing the dialect. However, with the increasing importance of the big agglomeration of Bern, the variety of Bern is spreading out, levelling the old village dialects. Location within Switzerland The city of Bern, English traditionally Berne (Bernese German Bärn , German Bern , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna ), is the Bundesstadt (administrative capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ...

Until the first half of the 20th century, there was a considerable range of sociolects within Bernese German cities, especially in Bern where four different groups could be distinguished: In linguistics, a sociolect is the language spoken by a social group, social class or subculture. ... Location within Switzerland The city of Bern, English traditionally Berne (Bernese German Bärn , German Bern , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna ), is the Bundesstadt (administrative capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ...

• The patrician Bernese German of the high society. It has neither l-vocalisation nor nd-velarisation, it does not employ the alveolar trill but the French uvular trill, and it has more French loanwords than the other varieties.

• The variety of the native city population. It is more conservative than the countryside varieties.

• The varieties of the countryside people who moved into the city. Until the 19th century, people weren't allowed to settle in the city.

• The variety of the poorest, known as Mattenenglisch 'meadow-English', even though it has little relation with English; the name derives rather from Mattenängi 'narrowing of the Matte'. It has a number of loans from Yiddish and from Yenish. These people used also a special kind of Pig Latin which is the proper Mattenenglisch according to some people.

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages (such as Russian, Spanish, Armenian, and Polish). ... The uvular trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... Pig latin is a language game primarily used in English. ...

Phonology

main article: Bernese German phonology Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Bernese German is distinguished from other Swiss German dialects by the following characteristics: This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

• The vocalisation of l, e.g. Hauue, Esu instead of Halle, Esel ('hall', 'donkey'). This has led to a huge repertoire of diphthongs and triphthongs.

• The change of nd to ng, e.g. angers instead of anders ('different'). The many words ending with -ng created the joke that Bernese sounds almost like Chinese: "Schang chum hey d'Ching wei Hung" ("Schang (Jean) come home, the kids want honey(bread)")

• The shortening of many high vowels, e.g Zit, Lüt, lut instead of Ziit, Lüüt, luut (Standard German Zeit, Leute, laut; 'time', 'people', 'loud').

In animals, vocalization is a means of communication generated in many cases by their primitive versions of vocal chords. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a vowel combination in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... In phonetics, a triphthong is a monosyllabic vowel combination usually involving a quick, but smooth movement from one vowel to another that passes over a third one. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Pragmatics

As in other Western Swiss German dialects and as in French, the polite form of address is the 2nd person plural and not the 3rd person plural as in German.

Vocabulary

A lot of the vocabulary known as typical to Bernese German comes from the Mattenenglisch, e.g. Gieu 'boy', Modi 'girl'. The best known shibboleths of Bernese German may be the words äuä 'no way', (j)ieu 'yes', geng (or ging, gäng) 'always'. Look up Shibboleth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...   (IPA: , other possible spellings include äuää, äuuä, äuwä, ällwä) is a typical shibboleth of Bernese German. ...

Bernese German literature

Although Bernese German is mainly a spoken language (for writing, the standard German language is used), there is a relatively extant literature which goes back to the beginnings of the 20th century.

Bernese German grammars and dictionaries also exist. Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ... A dictionary is a list of words with their definitions, a list of characters with their glyphs, or a list of words with corresponding words in other languages. ...

Bernese German music

Many Bernese German chansons have become popular all over the German speaking part of Switzerland, especially those of Mani Matter. This may have influenced the development of Bernese German rock music, which was the first Swiss German rock music to appear and continues to be one of the most important ones. Chanson is a French word for song, and in English-language contexts is often applied to any song with French words, particularly a cabaret song. ... The German speaking part of Switzerland (German: Deutschschweiz) comprises about 65 % of Switzerland (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switzerland, most of the Swiss plateau and the greater part of the Swiss Alps) In most Swiss cantons, German is the only official language (Aargau, Appenzell, Basel, Glarus, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden... Mani Matter (1936–1972, officially Hans-Peter Matter) was a popular Swiss songwriter. ...

Today, notable bands singing in Bernese German include Züri West and Stiller Has. Züri West is one of Switzerlands most well-known rock bands. ... Stiller Has (German for Silent Hare) are a musical trio founded 1989 in Berne, Switzerland. ...