Alemannic German

Alemannic German (Alemannic German: Alemannisch) is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. It is spoken by about ten million people in southern Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Italy. In Switzerland it is sometimes called Swiss German. In Alsace, the language is usually called Alsatian.

Alemannic
Alemannisch
Pronunciation	[alɛˈman(ː)ɪʃ]
Native to	Switzerland: entire German-speaking part. Germany: most of Baden-Württemberg and Bavarian Swabia. Austria: Vorarlberg and some parts of Tyrol. Liechtenstein: entire country. France: most of Alsace. Italy: some parts of Aosta Valley and northern Piedmont United States: Amish in Adams and Allen counties, Indiana Venezuela: Alemán Coloniero
Native speakers	7,162,000 (2004–2012)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Upper German Alemannic
Writing system	Latin, Historically Elder Futhark
Language codes
ISO 639-2	gsw
ISO 639-3	Variously: gct – Colonia Tovar gsw – Swiss German and Alsatian swg – Swabian wae – Walser
Glottolog	alem1243
Blue indicates the traditional distribution area of Western Upper German (=Alemannic) dialects.
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Outside this area: the village Zădăreni in Romania, Old-order Amish in Adams County and Allen County in the United States, and Colonia Tovar in Venezuela. In the US: the Bernese dialects are stable, and spoken by about 5% of all Amish (15.000 people), Alsatian dialects are in decline there.

In contrast to other languages, Alemannic German is only a spoken language; there is no fixed orthography for the language.

References

1. Colonia Tovar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Swiss German and Alsatian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Swabian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Walser at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)