Urner German

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Urner German

Spoken in

Switzerland ( Uri )
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in -
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

gsw ( Swiss German )

ISO 639-3

gsw (Swiss German)

Uri German is a Swiss dialect that is spoken by the residents of the canton of Uri and belongs to the highest Alemannic dialect group .

Lute

The «Ürnerditsch» is characterized by the frequent use of open «ü» and «ä». The differences to other dialects are less in the vocabulary than much more in the pronunciation. Their characteristics are for example:

  • the vowels are stretched in open syllables: lääsä (read), Schleegel (Schlegel), Boodä (Boden)
  • the rounded vowels ö, ü, üe and öi are rounded to e, i, iä and äi : scheen (beautiful), hibsch (pretty), Biächer (books), Häiw (hay)
  • u and ue are rounded to ü and üä : Üüri (Uri), Büäch (book)
  • b, d and g before l are hardened to p, t and gg : hoplä (planing), Fitlä (Füdli, Hinter)

More:
a, aa pretty dark. Shortness and length equal in the sound value: Gaplä (fork), Aabet (evening)

ä, ää over- open e-sound. K & L equal in sound value, vowel with the greatest sonority: Wägg (Weg); Bäärg (mountain)

è open e like hdt. «mountain», i. A. only for short: èrbä (inherit), finished

e slightly open e like hdt. «save»; only in brief: Gescht (guests), chlepfä (pop)

ee closed e as in hdt. «See»: cheerä (to turn), Chneebäl (toggle)

o, oo closed o: Boodä (floor), Schrootä (corner)

u, uu open, close to o: Chugglä, Chuugäli (sphere, globule)

Example sentence: "The mouse runs under the wall."

  • "The Müüs runs under dr Müürä durä." (Urner German)
  • "D Muus runs under de Muur dure." ( Zurich German )

The Uri dialect is difficult to imitate for “non-Urners”. Often it sounds more like a kind of Valaisian German .

literature

Basics

  • Rudolf Hotzenköcherle : On the linguistic position and structure of Central Switzerland. In: Ders .: The linguistic landscapes of German-speaking Switzerland. Edited by Niklaus Bigler and Robert Schläpfer. Sauerländer, Aarau / Frankfurt a. M./Salzburg 1984 (Sprachlandschaft 1), pp. 237-292; specific to Uri pp. 266-277.

dictionary

  • Felix Aschwanden, Walter Clauss: Urner Dialect Dictionary. Edited by the Uri Library Society in conjunction with the Schwyzertütsch Federation. Altdorf 1982 (19th annual edition of the Uri Library Society; grammars and dictionaries of Swiss German in a generally understandable representation VIII).
  • Felix Aschwanden, Charlotte Germann: New Urner Dialect Dictionary. Edited by the patrons' association of the Uri Cantonal Library. Altdorf 2013.

Grammars