Bernese German

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.

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.

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:

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.

Phonology

main article: Bernese German phonology

Bernese German is distinguished from other Swiss German dialects by the following characteristics:

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').

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'.

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.

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.

Today, notable bands singing in Bernese German include Züri West and Stiller Has.

High German languages | Languages of Switzerland | Bern (canton)