Editing Languages of Switzerland (section)

===German===
{{Further|Swiss German|Swiss Standard German|German-speaking Switzerland|Walser German}}
[[File:Brunig-Napf-Reuss-Linie.png|thumb|180px|Distribution of [[High Alemannic]] dialects. Marked in red is the [[Brünig-Napf-Reuss line]].]]
[[File:Hoechstalemannisch.png|thumb|180px|Distribution of [[Highest Alemannic German|Highest Alemannic]] dialects]]

The German-speaking part of Switzerland ({{langx|de|Deutschschweiz}}, {{langx|fr|Suisse alémanique}}, {{langx|it|Svizzera tedesca}}, {{langx|rm|Svizra tudestga}}) constitutes about 65% of [[Switzerland]] (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switzerland, most of the [[Swiss Plateau]] and the greater part of the [[Swiss Alps]]).

In seventeen of the Swiss cantons, German is the only official language ([[Canton of Aargau|Aargau]], [[Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden|Appenzell Ausserrhoden]], [[Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden|Appenzell Innerrhoden]], [[Canton of Basel-Stadt|Basel-Stadt]], [[Canton of Basel-Landschaft|Basel-Landschaft]], [[Canton of Glarus|Glarus]], [[Canton of Lucerne|Luzern]], [[Canton of Nidwalden|Nidwalden]], [[Canton of Obwalden|Obwalden]], [[Canton of Schaffhausen|Schaffhausen]], [[Canton of Schwyz|Schwyz]], [[Canton of Solothurn|Solothurn]], [[Canton of St. Gallen|St. Gallen]], [[Canton of Thurgau|Thurgau]], [[Canton of Uri|Uri]], [[Canton of Zug|Zug]], and [[Canton of Zurich|Zürich]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/101/a1.html |title=SR 101 The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999 (Status as of 12 February 2017): Art. 1: The Swiss Confederation |date=12 February 2017 |publisher=The Federal Council |location=Berne, Switzerland |website=The portal of the Swiss government |type=Federal Law collection |access-date=13 June 2017 |archive-date=4 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141004144901/http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/101/a1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the cantons of [[Canton of Bern|Bern]], [[Canton of Fribourg|Fribourg]] and [[Canton of Valais|Valais]], French is co-official; in the trilingual [[canton of Graubünden]], more than half of the population speaks German, while the rest speak [[Romansh language|Romansh]] or [[Italian language|Italian]]. In each case, all languages are [[official language]]s of the respective canton.

While the French-speaking Swiss prefer to call themselves ''Romands'' and their part of the country is [[Romandy]], the German-speaking Swiss used to (and, colloquially, still do) refer to the French-speaking Swiss as "Welsche", and to their area as ''Welschland'', which has the same etymology as the English [[Wiktionary: Welsh|Welsh]] (see ''[[Walha]]'').<ref>{{cite web
	| url = https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/48ajo6/til_that_the_swiss_german_word_for_a_swiss_french/?rdt=33694	| title = TIL	| website = Reddit	| date = 29 February 2016	| access-date = 7 March 2024}}
</ref> Research shows that individuals with a French-sounding name in the German-speaking part suffer from social discrimination.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nesseler|first1=Cornel|last2=Carlos|first2=Gomez-Gonzalez|last3=Dietl|first3=Helmut|date=2019|title=What's in a name? Measuring access to social activities with a field experiment|journal=Palgrave Communications|volume=5|pages=1–7|doi=10.1057/s41599-019-0372-0|doi-access=free|hdl=11250/2635691|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dietl|first1=Helmut|last2=Carlos|first2=Gomez-Gonzalez|last3=Moretti|first3=Paolo|last4=Nesseler|first4=Cornel|date=2020|title=Does persistence pay off? Accessing social activities with a foreign-sounding name|journal=Applied Economic Letters|volume=28|issue=10|pages=881–885|doi= 10.1080/13504851.2020.1784381|doi-access=free|hdl=11250/2659779|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Nevertheless, in 2017, 11.1%, or about 920,600 of the Swiss residents speak [[Standard German]] ("Hochdeutsch") at home, but this figure likely includes numerous German (and Austrian) immigrants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/kataloge-datenbanken/tabellen.assetdetail.7226746.html|title=Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach zuhause gesprochenen Sprachen - 2017 {{!}} Tabelle|last=Statistik|first=Bundesamt für|date=29 January 2019|website=Bundesamt für Statistik|language=de|access-date=21 February 2019}}</ref>
[[File:Sprachgebiete der Schweiz im 20. Jahrhundert.jpg|thumb|Geography of languages in Switzerland in the early 20th century. Page from a school atlas, in the [[Jewish Museum of Switzerland]]'s collection.]]
By the [[Middle Ages]], a marked difference had developed within the German-speaking part of Switzerland between the rural cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus, Zug, Appenzell, Schaffhausen) and the city cantons (Lucerne, Berne, Zurich, Solothurn, Fribourg, Basel, St. Gallen), divided by views about trade and commerce. After the [[Swiss Reformation|Reformation]], all cantons were either Catholic or Protestant, and the denominational influences on culture added to the differences. Even today, when all cantons are somewhat denominationally mixed, the different historical denominations can be seen in the mountain villages, where Roman Catholic Central Switzerland abounds with chapels and statues of saints, and the farmhouses in the very similar landscape of the Protestant Bernese Oberland show Bible verses carved on the housefronts instead.

In addition to this more widespread notion of Swiss German dialect, there is also [[Walser German]], another [[Highest Alemannic]] speech brought by [[Walser]] emigrants from [[Valais]].

Because German is the dominant language in Switzerland, many Swiss people whose first languages are French, Italian, or Romansh move into the German-speaking regions. Consequently, their children, born in these predominantly German-speaking areas, usually grow up speaking German as their primary language.