The Liechtenstein dialect, village by village

If I had to pick one detail to show how peculiar Liechtenstein is, I’d pick its dialect. Three quite distinct ways of speaking fit into 160 km², and the differences aren’t in obscure vocabulary but in the most basic words, like stone, flower or prince. What follows comes from the language article in the Historisches Lexikon, the country’s standard reference work, and I’ve only added the order and the opinions.

Alemannic, but not Swiss

Liechtenstein’s speech belongs to Alemannic, the family of southern German dialects that includes Swiss German. The Lexikon, though, puts it in a different branch, Low Alemannic, because of one specific feature. At the start of a word the k is aspirated, «Kind», whereas Swiss German turns it into a throaty sound, «Chind». On that point the Liechtenstein valley sides with Austria’s Vorarlberg and with the German of Chur and Basel.

Another feature links the valley villages with the Swiss side of the river and with Vorarlberg, while setting them apart from the rest of Alemannic. Where standard German has diphthongs, here you hear a single long vowel, «blääch» for pale, «Oog» for eye or «Höö» for hay. The Rhine is a political border today, and the Lexikon says it has gradually divided the speech of its two banks, though without erasing what they share.

Why do north and south speak differently?

History weighs heavily. The Oberland was the county of Vaduz and the Unterland the lordship of Schellenberg, and you can still hear that split. In the south, stone is «Stää», flower «Bluema» and prince «Förscht». In the north they’re «Stoo», «Blooma» and «Füerscht». The Unterland also lengthens vowels in open syllables, «Booda» for ground where the south says «Boda». The full list is in the table on this page, and each half’s story is on the Unterland of Liechtenstein.

Each half has its own shadings as well. In the south, Balzers has an accent of its own, related to the neighbouring Swiss valleys, which turns e into ä, «Hämp» for shirt where others say «Hemp». In the north, the old parish divisions can still be heard, because Eschen and Mauren say «Taal» for part while Gamprin, Schellenberg and Ruggell say «Tool». The Lexikon also places a speech boundary along Schaan’s northern edge.

The Walser of Triesenberg

The big exception is up the mountain. Around 1280 the Walser, settlers from the Valais, arrived in Triesenberg and brought an Alpine Alemannic speech that has survived to this day, quite unlike the valley’s. It has a «sch» sound the rest of the country doesn’t use, «böösch» for bad, and a diminutive in -elti, «Öpfelti» for little apple. Nor does it lower its i and u the way the valley does, so it says «Milch» and «Suppa» where down below you’d hear «Melch» and «Soppa».

What I like best is the grammar. Walser makes the adjective agree even after the verb, «der Ofa ischd chaalta», the stove is cold, something standard German never does. The Lexikon warns that it has lately been adapting to the neighbours’ speech, so I’d listen while you still can. The place to get to grips with it is the Walser Museum in Triesenberg, opened in 1961.

Dialect names on the map

Dialect seeps into place names as well. The Walser hamlets of Triesenberg have dialect forms in the Lexikon, such as Rotaboda, Wangerbärg and Steinord, while official maps write Rotenboden, Wangerberg and Steinort. In this guide I use the map form and add the dialect one in brackets the first time. A few, like Fromahus, Üenaboda and Litzi, exist only in dialect.

What to expect as a visitor

You don’t need any of this to get by. Everything written is in standard German, and in museums and hotels people will speak standard German or English with you without fuss. Dialect is what locals use with each other, and you’ll hear it at a café counter or in the bus queue. My advice is simply to listen, because there are few places in Europe where you can hear so clearly how a territory’s history sticks to the way people talk. The official side, with which language to use where, is on the language of Liechtenstein.