Basel German

Basel German or Baseldytsch (also Baseldütsch, Baslerdüütsch, Baseldeutsch) is the dialect of the city of Basel, Switzerland. Among the Swiss German dialects, it is the only Low Alemannic one.

Phonetics and Phonology

Consonants

Aspirated plosives

Basel German is characterised by aspirates /kʰ, tʰ, pʰ/ which are absent or at least less common in other dialects. Compare Basel German Khind (usually spelled Kind), pronounced more or less as Standard German Kind, with Chind with initial /x-/, used in all other Swiss German dialects, with the exception of the dialect of Chur. Thus, Basel German didn't complete the second Germanic sound shift (High German consonant shift). Nowadays, many speakers pronounce the /x-/ (or [χ], to be more exact), however. There are nevertheless still words that are never pronounced with /x-/, for example kenne (Standard German kennen, to know) or Keenig/König (Standard German König). Typically, words from Standard German or Latin are pronounced with aspirated /kʰ, pʰ, tʰ/, too, which is not or only to a lesser extent done in other dialects.