Languages of Liechtenstein

Languages of Liechtenstein
German-language sign in Steg
Official	German
Vernacular	Highest Alemannic, High Alemannic, Walser German, Swiss Standard German
Immigrant	Italian, Turkish, Portuguese[1]
Foreign	English, French
Signed	Swiss-German Sign Language
Keyboard layout	Swiss QWERTZ

Liechtenstein's official language is German, and the principality is the smallest of the four countries in Europe populated by a majority of German speakers.

The Highest Alemannic-speaking part of Liechtenstein is marked in red, in the south of the country. The rest of Liechtenstein is High Alemannic speaking.

German and Alemannic

The local German dialect is Alemannic, a dialect (sometimes considered a language) belonging to a highly divergent group including Swiss German (spoken by all Swiss-Germans, the majority of the country), Alsatian (spoken in the Alsace region of France), Germans living in Baden-Württemberg and Bavarian Swabia, and Austrians living in Vorarlberg. Eighty-six percent of the country is "ethnic Alemannic", and are speakers of the language. Highest Alemannic is spoken in the south of the country, and High Alemannic in the rest of the country. It can be difficult to achieve mutual intelligibility between Alemannic and Standard German, especially with the Highest Alemannic variety.^{[citation needed]}

Notable people

• Ida Ospelt-Amann (1899-1996), poet who wrote exclusively in the Vaduz dialect^[2][3]

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook (2024 ed.). CIA. (Archived 2006 edition.)

1. "Liechtenstein Languages - Demographics". www.indexmundi.com.
2. Phaf-Rheinberger, Ineke (2021-01-12). Ricardo Porros Architektur in Vaduz und Havanna (in German). Books on Demand. p. 76. ISBN 978-3-7526-8278-6.
3. Allmende (in German). J. Thorbecke. 1998. p. 7.