is swiss a language?

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the speak swedish in sweden, and turkish in turkey. do they speak swiss in switzerland? is it a language? or is a swiss just a person or a bank?

― ferdinand d. sosure, Saturday, 28 May 2005 13:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Switzerland has 4 official languages, I think: French, German, Italian and Romansch. I think Romansch is similar to German and probably confined to Switzerland. No Swiss, per se.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Saturday, 28 May 2005 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

From memory, 63% German, 31% French, 5% Italian and 1% Romansch, but that was when I was there over 30 years ago. Swiss is a nationality, and lots of countries don't have their own language - the US is quite a prominent example.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

There is swiss german but that's not really an official language. 'High' german is what is used in schools, swiss german is more of a colloquial language.

― lyra (lyra), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

schwyzerdytsch!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alemannic_language
http://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houptsyte

― fe zaffe (fezaffe), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

martin's pretty OTM. parts of the countries speak specific languages. i have relatives that live in ticino, which uses almost exclusively italian to communicate.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)

lots of countries don't have their own language - the US is quite a prominent example

Ebonics!

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

or is a swiss just a person or a bank?

dont forget the cheese! why do those holes make it so good?

― sunny successor (katharine), Saturday, 28 May 2005 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Cheese is the universal language. In Switzerland ("Proud Home of the Switzers!") they speak the Swiss variety.

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 28 May 2005 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

lots of countries don't have their own language - the US is quite a prominent example

That sounds odd and belittling - not that I'm a rabid Amurrican or anything.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 28 May 2005 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

let's not conflate "dialect" and "language."

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 28 May 2005 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

But...but...everyone does it. A friend of mine who is knowledgable in linguistics says, "A language is oftentimes just a dialect with its own national flag."

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 28 May 2005 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Just ask the Scandinavians. Or better not maybe.

― Ken L (Ken L), Saturday, 28 May 2005 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

i've been to switzerland plus i have a good friend who is swiss, and i understand Hochdeutsch -- and i have a hard time understanding schwyzerdytsch. as do a LOT of germans (particularly from northern germany*). so schwyzerdytsch has at least a colorable claim to being a separate language.

(*many northern germans speak a genuine separate language [NOT a dialect of german] -- Plattdeutsh. at least i THINK that Plattdeutsch is considered by many linguists to be a separate language [somewhere in b/w Hochdeutsch and Standard Dutch].)

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 28 May 2005 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

if colin meeder is still around, he could clear up all of this.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 28 May 2005 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Spencer, I didn't mean to belittle anything, I just meant to point out that the background assumption that it was weird that there was no language called 'Swiss' rather missed some large examples showing that wasn't weird.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 28 May 2005 21:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i speak in my own language, yes

(sorry)

― t0dd swiss (immobilisme), Saturday, 28 May 2005 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost
Oh I know, it just sounded odd that's all. I doubt anyone, especially me, took offense.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 28 May 2005 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Swiss is the language of the uncommitted.

― peronista (peronista), Sunday, 29 May 2005 10:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember being in Northern Germany and a bunch of us, all Scottish, were nattering away and this drunk German guy came over and was trying to talk to us in German 'cos he thought we were speaking German with a heavy Swiss accent. It goes without saying we were drunk too.

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Sunday, 29 May 2005 10:58 (twenty-one years ago)

in canada, we speak 'canadian', eh?

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Sunday, 29 May 2005 11:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i see martin's point in that the us/canada don't really have a, er, 'native' language per se - english (spanish, etc) was imported.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Sunday, 29 May 2005 11:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Some smartass will know doubt show up any minute to say Iroquois or somthin' but, rest assured, that smartass will not be me

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Sunday, 29 May 2005 11:09 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a difference between saying that there are native American languages and claiming that there is a language called American.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 29 May 2005 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I find this place useful. CLick on Europe and you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know.

http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp

nb, I am not aware of how to do links properly.

― alix (alix), Sunday, 29 May 2005 11:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Although, it appears to have worked.

― Alix (alix), Sunday, 29 May 2005 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Scots [sco] 100,000 in United Kingdom (1999 Billy Kay).

... unfortunately using a nutcase like Billy Kay as a source leads me to doubt some of the information provided by this site

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Sunday, 29 May 2005 11:56 (twenty-one years ago)

WHo is Billy Kay?

― alix (alix), Sunday, 29 May 2005 12:01 (twenty-one years ago)

He's Scots language fanatic who wants a'body to tak like this a' th time, ye ken?

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Sunday, 29 May 2005 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Aye, ah ken. That is unfortunate. Do you think that would lead him to over estimate or underestimate the Scots speaking population? Or neither?

― Alix (alix), Sunday, 29 May 2005 12:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Overestimate doesn't really do it justice... 100,000 Scots' speakers in Scotland? A 100 more like.

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Sunday, 29 May 2005 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

You know, I'm not entirely sure what they mean by 'Scots'. I thought it was referring to Scots Gaelic, but it seems more that they mean Scots as a dialect of English.

Anyway, what do I know?

― Alix (alix), Sunday, 29 May 2005 12:20 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a dialect of English. I was exaggerating, there probably are quite a few people who do speak Scots (tho numbers falling rapidly I would imagine), however the only person I've ever heard talk like Billy Kay is... Billy Kay.

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Sunday, 29 May 2005 12:26 (twenty-one years ago)

we're not all rob roys, you know.

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 29 May 2005 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

WHo is Billy Kay?

ARE YOU BILLY KAY?
WHO WANTS TO KNOW? WHO WANTS TO KNOW?

― Ian Riese-Moraine's Plateau Rouge! (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 29 May 2005 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Swiss German is so distinct from High German that I think it is a different language -- if not, Switzerland may be the only country in the world where they instantly assume you are an idiot the moment they establish that you speak the official language better than they do. That it is neither written nor taught is, I think, more a deliberate tactic by the Swiss to keep it unlearnable (and thus, to keep "being Swiss" an in-born, rather than attainable, status) than an indication of mere dialect status. Swiss Italian and Swiss French are pretty clearly Italian and French; Rhaeto-Romanisch sounds like a drowning Tyrolean speaking Latin.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Monday, 26 June 2006 12:40 (nineteen years ago)

What's the Swiss for 'boring, defensive tossers who won't be missed'?

― Daniel Giraffe (Daniel Giraffe), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 06:06 (nineteen years ago)

Nati.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 06:46 (nineteen years ago)

I just read that the German cantons on Switzerland have voted to make English the number one language of instruction in schools which I thought was interesting.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 08:45 (nineteen years ago)

is swiss a language?

you swish!

― tiit (tiit), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

Swiss German is so distinct from High German that I think it is a different language

Yeah, it is pretty different. My sister lives in Zurich and speaks high German, but she can't get her head around Swiss German.

― Hotman Paris Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

I got laughed at and shunnned once by a group of about 6 people for maintaining that Mexican isn't a language.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 10:10 (nineteen years ago)

I'm surprised you were shunned. The mentally handicapped, though
capricious and playful, are usually quite accepting of others.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 23:47 (nineteen years ago)

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