Swiss German

Switzerland's language situation is without doubt special. There is not just one, but four national languages (German, French, Italian and Romansh), with German being the most widely spoken language in Switzerland. In addition, there is a diglossia situation in German-speaking Switzerland. In a diglossia situation, two languages, or rather two linguistic varieties, co-exist and differ in their contexts of use. In the case of German-speaking Switzerland, these two varieties are Swiss Standard German and Swiss German. In this first introductory blog post on Swiss German, we will look at both Swiss Standard German and Swiss German, clarify differences between them [...]