[net.nlang] Swiss German dialects

tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) (03/21/85)

As a (first,second?) generation Swiss-American [my parents come from there],
I'm always looking around for thumbnail descriptions of what Swiss dialects
are like (what, why, how, ...).  One humorous way to ease into the problem is
to mention that there are x dialects of schwyzerduetsch.  I read a number
somewhere, but now I've forgotten.

Does any one know of a number for how many schwyzerduetsch dialects there
are?  Or how such a number would be arrived at?

Another question:  would anyone know of courses in the US (California esp.)
on Swiss-German?  Some sad life stories I've heard indicate that going to
Switzerland to learn it is no solution at all.

Tony Wuersch
{amd,amdcad}!cae780!ubvax!tonyw