>But the situation would be no different from that of
>diglossia, examples being German/Schwyzerdütsch,
>Classical/Colloquial Arabic.
But German, i.e. Hochdeutsch, is an... artificial
language. (That's what they'll tell you, esp. those
whose mother tongue is highly different from the
dialect on which Hochdeutsch is based.) In this
respect, Schwyzerdüütsch is a mere dialect family
(actually it is Alemannisch); to people from neigh-
boring Baden and Württemberg areas Swiss German
dialects (?) and/or sub-dialects might be more
familiar than the "cold", "hieratic" Hochdeutsch
(a "paper language" <- "papierene Sprache" :-).
In spite of that, Swiss German sounds German-like,
along with South-German and Middle German -- in
contrast with Niederdeutsch sub-dialects: to a
southerner as well as to someone who is in command
of Hochdeutsch as a foreigner, Niederdeutsche
Mundarten sound rather like Flemish and North
Germanic languages: "wat is dat? to maken; to huus;
he sedd" - quit a contrast to this kind of...
Moderspraak: "was ist das (or wos is'n des); zu
machen; zu Haus; er sagt". :)
>>I'm sorry too.
>
>I'm sorry three.
Pavlov's reflex (-:
Maggie Thatcher & Helmut Kohl drinking beer.
MT: "To your health." HK: "To your dunkelth."
(helles Bier (lager) vs dunkles "dark" Bier)
>Torsten
George