Editing Swiss German (section)

==Orthography==
=== History ===
Written forms that were mostly based on the local Alemannic varieties, thus similar to [[Middle High German]], were only gradually replaced by the forms of [[New High German]]. This replacement took from the 15th to 18th centuries to complete. In the 16th century, the Alemannic forms of writing were considered the original, truly Swiss forms, whereas the New High German forms were perceived as foreign innovations. The innovations were brought about by the [[printing press]] and were also associated with [[Lutheranism]]. An example of the language shift is the [[Froschauer Bible]]: Its first impressions after 1524 were largely written in an Alemannic language, but since 1527, the New High German forms were gradually adopted. The Alemannic forms were longest preserved in the chancelleries, with the chancellery of [[Bern]] being the last to adopt New High German in the second half of the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sonderegger |first=Stefan |title=Historischen Lexikon der Schweiz |title-link=Historical Dictionary of Switzerland |publisher=[[Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences|Akademien der Wissenschaften Schweiz]] [Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences] |year=1998 |location=[[Switzerland|Schweiz]] [Switzerland] |language=de |trans-title=Historical Dictionary of Switzerland |chapter=2.3 - Frühneuhochdeutsch und älteres Neuhochdeutsch in der Schweiz |trans-chapter=2.3 - Early New High German and older Modern High German in Switzerland |chapter-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109140021id_/http://hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/d/D11194-3-3.php}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gsteiger |first=Manfred |title=Historische Lexikon der Schweiz |title-link=Historical Dictionary of Switzerland |date=2016-07-11 |publisher=[[Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences|Akademien der Wissenschaften Schweiz]] [Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences] |location=[[Switzerland|Schweiz]] [Switzerland] |language=de |translator-last=Neuenschwander |translator-first=Christoph |trans-title=Historical Dictionary of Switzerland |chapter=Dialektliteratur |trans-chapter=Dialect literature |chapter-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728195631id_/https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/011206/2016-07-11/}}</ref><ref>Walter Haas: ''Dialekt als Sprache literarischer Werke.'' In: ''Dialektologie. Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung.'' Ed. by Werner Besch, Ulrich Knoop, Wolfgang Putschke, Herbert Ernst Wiegand. 2nd half-volume. Berlin&nbsp;/ New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1983, pp.&nbsp;1637–1651.</ref>

Today all formal writing, newspapers, books and much informal writing is done in [[Swiss Standard German]], which is usually called {{Lang|de|Schriftdeutsch}} (written German). Certain dialectal words are accepted regionalisms in Swiss Standard German and are also sanctioned by the [[Duden]], e.g., {{Lang|gsw|Zvieri}} (afternoon snack). Swiss Standard German is virtually identical to Standard German as used in Germany, with most differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and orthography. For example, Swiss Standard German always uses a double s (''ss'') instead of the [[eszett]] (''ß'').

There are no official rules of Swiss German orthography. The orthographies used in the Swiss-German literature can be roughly divided into two systems: Those that try to stay as close to standard German spelling as possible and those that try to represent the sounds as well as possible. The so-called {{Lang|gsw|Schwyzertütschi Dialäktschrift}} was developed by [[Eugen Dieth]], but knowledge of these guidelines is limited mostly to language experts. Furthermore, the spellings originally proposed by Dieth included some special signs not found on a normal [[Alphanumeric keyboard|keyboard]], such as {{angle bracket|ʃ}} instead of {{angle bracket|sch}} for {{IPA|[ʃ]}} or {{angle bracket|ǜ}} instead of {{angle bracket|ü}} for {{IPA|[ʏ]}}. In 1986, a revised version of the ''Dieth-Schreibung'' was published, designed to be typed with a regular typewriter.<ref>Dieth, Eugen: ''Schwyzertütschi Dialäktschrift. Dieth-Schreibung''. 2nd ed. revised and edited by Christian Schmid-Cadalbert, Aarau: Sauerländer, 1986. {{ISBN|3-7941-2832-X}}</ref>

=== Conventions ===
A few letters are used differently from the Standard German rules:
*{{angle bracket|k}} (and {{angle bracket|ck}}) are used for the [[affricate]] {{IPA|/kx/}}.
*{{angle bracket|gg}} is used for the [[unaspirated]] [[fortis (phonetics)|fortis]] {{IPA|/k/}}.
*{{angle bracket|y}} (and sometimes {{angle bracket|yy}}) traditionally stands for the {{IPA|/iː/}} (in many dialects shortened to {{IPA|/i/}}, but still with closed quality) that corresponds to Standard German {{IPA|/aɪ̯/}}, e.g. in {{Lang|gsw|Rys}} 'rice' (standard German {{Lang|de|Reis}} {{IPA|/raɪ̯s/}}) vs. {{Lang|de|Ris}} 'giant' (standard German {{Lang|de|Riese}} {{IPA|/riːzə/}}). This usage goes back to an old [[IJ (letter)|ij-ligature]]. Many writers, however, do not use {{angle bracket|y}}, but {{angle bracket|i}}/{{angle bracket|ii}}, especially in the dialects that have lost distinction between these sounds, compare [[Zürich German]] {{Lang|gsw|Riis}} {{IPA|/riːz̥/}} 'rice' or 'giant' to [[Bernese German]] {{Lang|gsw|Rys}} {{IPA|/riːz̥/}} 'rice' vs. {{Lang|gsw|Ris}} {{IPA|/rɪːz̥/}} ('giant'). Some use even {{angle bracket|ie}}, influenced by Standard German spelling, which leads to confusion with {{angle bracket|ie}} for {{IPA|/iə̯/}}.
*{{angle bracket|w}} represents {{IPA|[ʋ]}}, slightly different from Standard German as {{IPA|[v]}}.
*{{angle bracket|ä}} usually represents {{IPA|[æ]}}, and can also represent {{IPA|[ə]}} or {{IPA|[ɛ]}}.
*{{angle bracket|ph}} represents {{IPA|[pʰ]}}, {{angle bracket|th}} represents {{IPA|[tʰ]}}, and {{angle bracket|gh}} represents {{IPA|[kʰ]}}.
*Since {{IPA|[ei]}} is written as {{angle bracket|ei}}, {{IPA|[ai]}} is written as {{angle bracket|äi}}, though in eastern Switzerland {{angle bracket|ei}} is often used for both of these phonemes.