Highest Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic dialects and belongs to the German language, even though mutual intellegibility with Standard German and other non-Alemannic German dialects is very limited. Alemannic German (Alemannisch) is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. ... German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ... Standard German is the prescriptive norm variant of the German language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for communication between different dialect areas. ...

Highest Alemannic dialects are spoken in alpine regions of Switzerland: In the Bernese Oberland, in the German-speaking parts of the Canton of Fribourg, in the Valais (see Walliser German) and in the Walser settlements (mostly in Switzerland but also in Italy and in Austria; see Walser German). In the West, the South and the South-East, they are surrounded by Romance languages; in the North, by High Alemannic dialects. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... View of Thun and Lake Thun from the Niederhorn The Bernese Oberland (Bernese highlands) is the higher part of the canton of Bern, Switzerland, in the South of the canton: The area around Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, and the valleys of the Bernese Alps (thus, the inhabitable parts from... The Canton of Fribourg is a canton of Switzerland. ... The Valais (German:  ) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the south-western part of the country, in the Pennine Alps around the valley of the Rhone River from its springs to Lake Geneva. ... Distribution of Highest Alemannic dialects The Walliser German (Walliserdeutsch in German) is a group of Highest Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland, specifically in the German-speaking part of the Canton of Wallis (in French: Valais), in the uppermost Rhône valley. ... Distribution of Highest Alemannic dialects The Walser are German-speaking people (more specifically, they speak Walser German dialects) that live in the alps of Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein and Austria. ... Distribution of Highest Alemannic dialects The Walser language, in German Walserdeutsch, is a group of Highest Alemannic dialects spoken in Walser settlements in parts of Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Austria. ... The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages, are a subfamily of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken by the common people evolving in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire. ... High Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic dialects and belongs to the German language, even though they are only partly intelligible to German speakers. ...

Features

The distinctive feature of the Highest Alemannic dialects is the lack of hiatus diphthongization, for instance [ˈʃniː.ə(n)] 'to snow', [ˈb̥uː.ə(n)] 'to build' vs. High Alemannic [ˈʃnei̯jə], [ˈb̥ou̯wə]. Hiatus in linguistics is the separate pronunciation of two adjacent vowels, sometimes with an intervening glottal stop. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ...

Many High Alemannic dialects have different verbal plural endings for all three persons, for instance wir singe(n) 'we sing', ir singet 'you (plural) sing', si singent 'they sing'. Almost all other German dialects use the same ending for the first and third persons in the plural. It has been suggested that Verbal agreement be merged into this article or section. ...

There are High Alemannic dialects that have preserved the ending -n which has been dropped in most Upper German dialects. Some basics of Germanic linguistics : in linguistics, German and Germanic do not have the same meaning: see Germanic. ...

The Highest Alemannic dialects are considered to be the most conservative dialects of German. The dialect of the Lötschental, for instance, preserved the three distinct classes of weak verbs (like in Old High German) until the beginning of the 20th century. View of Lötschental The Lötschental is the largest northern side valley of Rhône valley in the Valais in Switzerland. ... In Germanic languages, weak verbs are by far the largest group of verbs, which are therefore often regarded as the norm, though historically they are not the oldest or most original group. ... The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch) refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. ...