Which Dialect ?

Language Corner
1
Hi,

I wondered in which dialect the following text was written. I learnt a little bit Schwiizertütsch, but this sounds not like the dialects I already heard (Züri, Basel...)

(all final "a" are pronounced as "o", as in Basel)

"Snowli Snowli üsara Fründ mit da langa wissaa Ohra zeigsch üs wia ma laufa tuat mit dr Hilf vom Brummelbär? ->Dr Brummelbär, dr Brummelbär lauft locker hin und her... "

Thanks for your help !

2
Graubünden dialect

T.

3
Merci Vilmal Thomas !

This is the kids song of the Swiss Snow Sports School, sung inter alia in Wallis. Strange that they chose such a dialect.

4
Bern ! To short

5
Here is the complete song :

http://www.snowsports.ch/download/sss/snowli_song.pdf

6
Because of "tuat" and -a endings, I also thought Bündnerdeutsch, but is it that clearly identifiable? that looks quite standard and a flexible way of writing, one does not know always if they mean on a or ä (like in "wia" because nobody would pronounce wio for "wie", right?)

7
Second thought "Buentner"

8
I don't know why that is, Lorenzi.

In this interview, Peter Bodenmann is a very good example for somebody who speaks a Wallis dialect (while the interviewer Roger Schawinski speaks a typical Zürcher dialect)

9
(I didn't get the "buentner" joke, sorry).

I see in the complete text stands "klii" - that sounds Churerdeutsch. Interestingly, SBB pronounces it CHur and the viafer retica rhärische Bahn pronounces it KHur in German.

Does the whole German speaking part of Grischun/Graubünden/Grigioni says klii with k-?

10
I would exclude Bern from this - as they always pronoucne the L always as W

And sometimes they pronounce the D as G

For example they say Merci Vilmal --> Merci Fi Maw

and they say Andera --> Angera

11
tuat sounds like buendner dialekt, or chur or something in this corner of switzerland. but it woud be good to hear the song, because some words can be pronounced this or that.

buendern dialekt generally lengthen the pronunciation, wiiise ooohra, is the main focus on ooooo how is the r pronounced?

Chur is the "regular" swiss german, if something like this exists. Kuuhr is buendner dialekt.

12
it's mainly -nd- > -ng-

I'm pretty confident one could find examples with -nn- > -ng-

Kuhr sounds good to me, the older people in my block speak Baseldeutsch with Kh- too. This was my point: SBB goes federal, RhB/VFR stay local. Fair enough.

I was asking an "advanced" question, for people who know the region. (I only stay in Romansh speaking Grischun). So the upper valleys have CH- in all positions for K and CK. thanks.

13
I would say that it is in Berndeutsch.

"er fahrt und bremst ganz gschwind".

"gschwind" is typical Berndeutsch and means quick.

(He drives and brakes very quick.)

"wissaa Ohra " is also typical, Berndeutsch is spoken quite slowly.

The Swiss Snow Sports School, is from Belp near to Bern this could also speak for Berndeutsch.

Salut Zämma

14
sorry but it ain't berndütsch

15
really? I didn't know that for Switzerland.

Geschwind sounds so southern German to me; Like Bavarian theatre on telly on the bavarian channel, you know...

16
What is typical :

- all "a" are pronounced as closed "o" : mit do longo wisso ohro

- chlii is pronounced "chlai"

- üsara ?

17
Most definitely not Berndeutsch. The written text does look very much like Bündner dialect "klii", "üsara" and "...a". But the "o" endings sounds like Wallisser dialect.

"Swiss Snow Sports" is the umbrella organisation of ski- and snowboardschools (and "Snowli" is their kid activities mascot). So maybe the text was written by a Bündner member of this organisation and sung by a Walliser teacher (although some Walliser seem to end more on "u").

18
My guess from a very polydialectal background is the Grisons. Granted, Valais German ( Höchstalemannisch ) is pretty close to it, although a written representation of the Walliser pronunciation, especially of the vowels, is extremely difficult. Anyway, the lyrics definitely have nothing to do with Bernese. " Gschwind " can be found everywhere in the Alemannic areas but not in Bern, where it is " gschwing ."

As for Chur, actually, the by far most frequent pronunciation in the German speaking parts of the Grisons is "G huur ", with a very strongly aspirated "g". I have yet to meet a Püntner who can properly pronounce a German " ch ", be it the Swiss German variant (extremely guttural) or any of the two Standard German versions.

Faltrad is pretty close to the truth: " Chuur " is the regular Swiss German pronunciation, whereas "G huur " is what you hear in all of the Grisons, i.e. very often even when native Rumansh speakers speak German. The dividing line between " Ghuur " and " Chuur " is right in the middle of the Rhine bridge between Maienfeld (GR) and Bad Ragaz (SG).

As for the Standard German soft " ch " (after i- or e-like phonemes), which is as guttural and coarse as the other variant in all German speaking Switzerland except Basel, you may notice that the pronunciation in the German speaking parts of the Grisons depends on its position in a word. In words like " wichtig " it may be almost as soft as in Standard German, whereas in "Richard" or " stecha " (=stechen) it may be pretty close to a pure h. My primary school teacher back in the 'fifties, born and grown up in " Ghuur ", always called my class mate, Richard, "Riihard."

@ misr: In Bern, "Merci vilmal" is pronounced "Märssi füu mau."

@ Lorenzi: Right, and in many local dialects of the German speaking speaking Valais, many of those trailing o's are even pronounced like a German "u": "mit do longu wiissu Ohru," as alluded by jj muge.

19
There are also Walser dialects in Graubünden/Grischun too. Old immigration. I read about the Gualsers in my romansh paper. There must be some mixed forms or influences.

20
Correct. That's one of the main reasons for many similarities between Valais and the Grisons. The Höchstalemannisch speaking immigrants, called Walser , from the Valais settled in many pretty isolated areas that were avoided by the original inhabitants of the Grisons. Examples are the Valsertal and adjacent valley, and the Prättigau, which is almost entirely Walserisch . Walsers can be found even in Austrian Vorarlberg too ( Grosses and Kleines Walsertal ). The mountain settlements in Southern St. Gallen and partly also in Glarus were founded by Walser settlers too.

In the Chur area, there are Walser pockets all over the place, which, of course, caused a blend of the languages in the course of many centuries.