Language geography is the branch of human geography that studies the geographic distribution of language or its constituent elements. There are two principal fields of study within the geography of language: the “geography of languages”, which deals with the distribution through history and space of languages,and “linguistic geography”, which deals with regional linguistic variations within languages.
Swiss Italian is the name given to the dialect spoken by about 500,000 Swiss in the canton of Ticino and in the southern part of Grisons (Canton Grigioni). Swiss Italian is also the term used to signify the Italian-speaking autochthonous population in Switzerland.
Swiss German (Schwitzerdütsch, Schwyzerdütch, Schwitzertüütsch, Schwizertitsch) refers to the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland. In 17 of the 26 Swiss cantons, German is the only official language: Aargau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Glarus, Luzern, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Uri, Zug, Zürich.
(©wikipedia, Savoyerli) The Suisse romande or Romandie is the French speaking part of western Switzerland. It inlcudes the cantons of Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, western Valais, Vaud and the northern part of Berne (cfr. Jura Bernois or the Bernese Jura).
Some people don’t know that Switzerland is multilingual. I’ve often been asked if I was able to talk „Swiss“, as I’ve lived there for a long time. Even if this kind of comment seems funny to those who live in or close to Switzerland, it is quite a […]
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Expat Since Birth – A Life spent "abroad" 