Colourful dialect words face extinction

A butterfly by any other name would look as beautiful Keystone / Axel Heimken

Schmätterling (butterfly) will completely displace the Swiss dialect words Summervogel and Pfifolter by 2060, according to a linguistic analysis. Other dialect terms will also disappear from use.

While in 1940 almost half of German-speaking Swiss still used Summervogel (summer bird) when referring to a butterfly, this term is heading for extinction, the Tages-Anzeiger External linkreportedExternal link on Thursday. It based its article on an analysis by Adrian Leemann, a professor of German studies at the University of Bern.

Kanapee, once sat on by two-thirds of the German-speaking population of Switzerland, is expected to disappear completely from the language by 2100. Instead, Sofa will gain widespread acceptance. Only in cantons Valais and Graubünden will terms like Ggutschi or Ggusch survive.

Leemann predicts that in 80 years it will mainly be Bernese households that will still be spreading Anke on their morning bread. The rest of the country will opt for Butter. Alternative terms such as Schmalz are expected to have melted away by 2060.

In general, the analysis showed that the number of words used is set to decline. In 1940 there were still 21 different terms for dandelion; today there are only nine. In 2100, according to the study, the whole of German-speaking Switzerland will speak only of the Löwenzahn – the Söiblueme will have died out.

Terms that are similar to standard German or that are widespread in large urban agglomerations such as Bern and Zurich will prevail, Leemann believed.

The predictions are based on dialect measurements at three points in time: the dialect of the so-called Lost Generation (1880-1900), Baby Boomers (1940-60), and Millennials (1980-2000). Based on these measurements, statistical modelling could be used to forecast the dialectal development.