What is Dialects in Tyrol?
The '''Dialects in Tyrol''' belong to the [[Upper German]] dialect groups [[Bavarian language|Bavarian]] and - only marginally - [[Alemannic German|Alemannic]]. A large part of it is occupied by [[Southern Bavarian]], which in [[Tyrol (state)|Tyrol]] includes the western and central parts of [[North Tyrol]] as well as [[South Tyrol|South]] and [[East Tyrol]]. The Ötztal dialect, which represents the transitional area between the Bavarian and Alemannic continuum and also has borrowings from the Rhaeto-Romanic language formerly spoken in the region and still spoken in parts of neighboring [[Graubünden]], was designated an intangible [[cultural heritage]] in [[Austria]] by the Austrian UNESCO Commission as of October 2010 because of its specificity, and because it represents a living linguistic landscape. == General characteristics == Common features of Southern Bavarian, as distinguished from [[Central Bavarian]], are: * Diphthongization of [[Middle High German|mhd]]. ''ê'' and ''ô'' to ''ea'' and ''oa'', as in ''Schnea'', [[German language|German]]: 'Schnee' and ''roat'', German: 'rot'. * Distinction between voiced and voiceless final sounds, as in ''Dåch'' next to ''Tåg''; * Old k is sound-shifted to kch, as in ''kchlea'' (German: ''Klee''); * Missing r and l vocalization, as in ''Håls'' and ''i will'' (so not ''Håis'' and ''i wui''); * Preservation of the prefix ge-, as in ''getrunkchn''; * Preservation of the vowel sound in articles; * ''st'' becomes ''scht'' (e.g., ''gestern'' ''→'' ''geschtern'', ''lustig'' ''→ luschtig''). However, these features do not occur in all speakers, or some are on the wane. == Lexic == Tyrolean shows partial lexical similarities with Alemannic; for example, the Alm/Alp isogloss runs through Tyrol (in the Inn Valley: between Ötztal and Imst).<ref>Statistik Austria: ''[[Ortsverzeichnis (Österreich)|Ortsverzeichnis]]: Tirol. 2001.'' Einträge ''Haiming'' S. 36 resp. ''Roppen'', S. 44 – die Ortslagen ''Alm'' und ''Alpe'' werden hier getrennt geführt, vergl. ''Erläuterungen:'' 7. ''