Zürich German

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Zürich German, or Züritüütsch is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Canton of Zürich, Switzerland.

It is divided in six sub-dialects, covering the entire Canton with the exception of the parts north of the Thur and the Rhine.

The dialect of the town of Zürich (Stadt-Mundart)
The dialect spoken around Lake Zürich (See-Mundart)
The dialect of the Knonauer Amt west of the Albis (Ämtler Mundart)
The dialect of the area of Winterthur
The dialect of the Zürcher Oberland around Lake Pfäffikon and the upper Töss valley
The dialect of the Zürcher Unterland around Bülach and Dielsdorf

Like all Swiss German dialects, it is essentially a spoken language, whereas the written language is standard German. Likewise, there is no official orthography of the Zürich dialect. When it is written, it often follows the guidelines published by Eugen Dieth in his book Schwyzertütschi Dialäktschrift.

The Zürich dialect is generally perceived as fast spoken, less melodic than, for example, the Bernese. In the northern parts of the canton, the "r" is pronounced as a uvular trill, whereas in the city around the lake and in the southern parts, it is pronounced as an alveolar trill.

Characteristic of the city dialect is that it most easily adopts external influences; in particular, the second generation Italians (secondi) have had a crucial influence, as has the English language through the media. The wave of Turkish and ex-Yugoslavian immigration of the 1990s is leaving its imprint on the dialect of the city in particular.

[edit] Literature

Dieth, Eugen: Schwyzertütschi Dialäktschrift. Aarau: Sauerländer. ISBN 379412832X (proposed orthography, in German)
Salzmann, Martin: Resumptive Prolepsis: A study in indirect A'-dependencies. Utrecht: LOT, 2006 (=LOT Dissertation Series 136). Chapter 4: Resumptives in Zurich German relative clauses, online [1].
Weber, Albert: Zürichdeutsche Grammatik. Ein Wegweiser zur guten Mundart. Unter Mitwirkung von Eugen Dieth. Zürich (=und Wörterbücher des Schweizerdeutschen in allgemeinverständlicher Darstellung. Bd. I). (prescriptive grammar book, in German)
Weber, Albert and Bächtold, Jacques M.: Zürichdeutsches Wörterbuch. Zürich (=Grammatiken und Wörterbücher des Schweizerdeutschen in allgemeinverständlicher Darstellung. Bd. III). (dictionary Zürich German - Standard German)