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Andreas Lötscher: Dialektsyntax oder Syntax der gesprochenen Sprache? Eine Fallstudie anhand von Nebensatzproblemen im Schweizerdeutschen

It is often maintained that dialect syntax is merely the syntax of the spoken language, and therefore, as a consequence, is identical in all spoken varieties of German. A closer examination shows that this is not necessarily the case. The present article poses the question as to how far specific syntactic patterns in a dialect can be attributed to the general conditions of spoken usage and to what extent they result from the specific syntactical rules of that dialect. The investigation is based on two Swiss German television discussions. The analysis focuses on three different syntactic problems, namely, (a) the appearance of Verbzweitphänomene in subordinate clauses, (b) the use of the subjunctive in indirect speech, and (c) the formation of relative clauses with the relative particlewo. In all three cases, it turns out that certain syntactic peculiarities of Swiss German can be attributed to the general conditions of the spoken language. Nevertheless, these patterns represent specific grammatical solutions, which differ structurally from those of spoken or written Standard German. The exploitation of general strategies of spoken language can be regionally conventionalized, and their implementation in the particular grammatical framework of a dialect can lead to patterns specific to this dialect.