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Walser German () and Walliser German (Walliserdeutsch, locally Wallisertiitsch) are a group of Highest Alemannic dialects spoken in parts of Switzerland (Valais, Ticino, Grisons), Italy (Piedmont, Aosta Valley), Liechtenstein (Triesenberg, Planken), and Austria (Vorarlberg).
Usage of the terms Walser and Walliser has come to reflect a difference of geography, rather than language. The term Walser refers to those speakers whose ancestors migrated into other Alpine valleys in medieval times, whereas Walliser refers only to a speaker from Upper Valais – that is, the upper Rhone valley. In a series of migrations during the Late Middle Ages, people migrated out of the Upper Valais, across the higher valleys of the Alps.
Because the people who speak Walser German live in the isolated valleys of the high mountains, Walser German has preserved certain archaisms retained from Old High German which were lost in other variants of German. The dialect of the Lötschental, for instance, preserved three distinct classes of weak verbs until the beginning of the 20th century.
Walser German dialects are considered endangered, and language shift to the majority language (French language, Italian language, Standard German) has taken place in the course of the later 20th century.
There is limited mutual intelligibility with High Alemannic forms of Swiss German (whose speakers are called Üsserschwyzer "outer Swiss" by the Walliser), and barely any mutual intelligibility with Standard German.
| Nom./Acc. sg. | tag | attu | jar | hand | matta |
| Gen. sg. | tagsch | atte | jarsch | hand | mattu |
| Dat. sg. | tag | atte | jar | hand | mattu |
| Nom./Acc. pl. | taga | atte | jar | hend | matte |
| Gen. pl. | tagu (tago) | attu | jaru (jaro) | hendu (hendo) | mattu |
| Dat. pl. | tagu | attu | jaru | hendu | mattu |
| Nom. | der | ds | d(i) | d(i) |
| Acc. | der/de | ds | d(i) | d(i) |
| Gen. | tsch/ds | tsch/ds | der | de |
| Dat. | dem | dem | der | de |
| Nom. | e(n) | es | e(n) |
| Acc. | e(n) | es | e(n) |
| Gen. | es | es | er(e)(n) |
| Dat. | em/eme | em/eme | er(e)(n)/ener(e)(n) |
Table 4 Strong Attributive 'tired':
| Singular | Nom./Acc. | midä | mids | midi |
| Dat. | mide | mide | midu | |
| Plural | Nom./Acc. | mid | midi | mid |
| Dat. | mide | mide | mide |
| Singular | Nom./Acc. | mid | mid | mid |
| Dat. | mide | mide | midu | |
| Plural | Nom./Acc. | midu | midu | midu |
| Dat. | mide | mide | mide |
| Singular | midä | mids | midi |
| Plural | mid | midi | midu |
| Singular | Nom. | ich/-i | dü | Masc: är/-er
Neuter: äs/-s
Fem: schi/-sch |
| Acc. | mich/-mi | dich/-di | Masc: är/-ne
Neuter: äs/-s
Fem: schi/-scha | |
| Dat. | mir/-mer | dir/-der | Masc: imu/-mu
Neuter: imu/-mu
Fem: iru/-ru | |
| Plural | Nom. | wir/-wer | ir/-er | schi/-tsch/-schi |
| Acc. | intsch/-isch | eich (ewch) | schi/-schu | |
| Dat. | intsch | eich (ewch) | ine/-ne |
Table 8 Verb Conjugations in Present Indicative of 'Normal Verbs':
| ich 'I' | wärfä | zellä | machu |
| dü 'you' | wirfsch(t) | zellsch(t) | machuscht |
| är/äs/schi 'he, it, she' | wirft | zellt | machut |
| wiər 'we' | wärfä | zellä | machu |
| ir 'you all' | wärfät | zellät | machut |
| schi 'they' | wärfän | zellän | machun |
| ich 'I' | bi | tö | ga | weis | cha | mös |
| dü 'you' | bisch(t) | tösch(t) | ge(i)scht | weischt | chantsch | möscht |
| är/äs/schi 'he, it, she' | isch(t) | töt | ge(i)t | weis | chan | mös |
| wiər 'we' | si | tiə | gänge | wissu | chunnu | mössu |
| ir 'you all' | sit | tit | gänget | wist | chunt | mössut |
| schi 'they' | sin | tin | gängen | wissun | chunnum | mössun |
There is not a preterite form in Pomattertitsch. Instead, past tense is expressed using the present perfect, which is formed with auxiliaries 'to be' and 'to have' followed by the past participle. On the other hand, the future tense is expressed morphologically by adding the particle de at the end of an inflected verb and after enclitic pronouns, if there are any in the sentence.
The passive is expressed in Pomattertitsch by using the auxiliary cho 'come' followed by the past participle of the verb, which agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence: der salam chun röwä gässä 'salami is eaten raw'. The causative is expressed using tö 'do' followed by the agent of the caused event, then the preposition z (separate word, not morpheme), and then the infinitive: und töt ds metjie z ässä 'and he makes the girl eat'. The imperative is expressed most commonly by using tö 'do' plus the infinitive, as stated above: tö frägä! 'do ask, ask!'. Another way is the bare indicative stem for the singular form, and the same present indicative form for the plural: zel titsch, dü! 'speak German, you!' and chomet hier! 'come (pl) here!'.
There are two different subjunctive forms used in Pomattertitsch. The first form is used mainly in reported speech and in subordinate clauses that follow 'say' or 'think'. It also occurs in complement clauses that follow das 'that'. The second form is used for the conditional mood, where the conjunction wenn 'if' can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence.
| ich 'I' | sigi | tiji | gänge | chenne | ässe | wärche |
| dü 'you' | sigischt | tijischt | gängischt | chennischt | ässischt | wärchischt |
| är/äs/schi 'he, it, she' | sigi | tiji | gänge | chenne | ässe | wärche |
| wir 'we' | sigi | tiji | gänge | chenne | ässe | wärche |
| ir 'you all' | sigit | tijit | gänget | chennet | ässet | wärchet |
| schi 'they' | sigi | tiji | gänge | chenne | ässe | wärche |
| ich 'I' | wetti (wei) | täti | gängti | chenti | ästi (issti) | wärchuti |
| dü 'you' | wettisch(t) | tätisch(t) | gängtisch(t) | chentisch(t) | ästisch(t) | wärchutisch(t) |
| är/äs/schi 'he, it, she' | wetti (wei) | täti | gängti | chenti | ästi | wärchuti |
| wir 'we' | wetti | täti | gängti | chenti | ästi | wärchuti |
| ir 'you all' | wettit | tätit | gängtit | chentit | ästit | wärchutit |
| schi 'they' | wetti | täti | gängti | chenti | ästi | wärchuti |
Peter hat vorhin den Ball ins Tor geworfen
Peter has just now the ball into the goal thrown
'Peter threw the ball into the goal just now'
In some dialects, specifically Gressoney, Formazza, and Rimella, the finite and non-finite verbs occur right next to each other, with the complements and adverbials at the end of the sentence. An example of this in Rimella is given below:
de pappa òn d mamma hein gmacht ds chriz dem chénn
the father and the mother have made the cross to the child
'The father and mother made a cross for the child'
This is a change from SOV (subject, object, verb) to SVO word order. This change is due to the increasing influence of Italian on Walser German. However, the SOV word order is still used when there is negation and when there is an inverted subject.
Some southern dialects of Walser German are starting to omit the subject pronoun of sentences, just having the inflection on the verb to indicate what the subject is. This phenomenon is known as pro-dropping, and is common among languages. Italian is a pro-drop language, and German is not,With the reservation that colloquial and dialectal German, unlike the standard language, are also partially pro-drop. which means that Italian is influencing some southern dialects of Walser German.
«Méin oalten atte ischt gsinh van in z'Überlann, un d'oaltun mamma ischt van Éischeme, ischt gsing héi van im Proa. Stévenin ischt gsinh dar pappa, la nonna ischt gsinh des Chamonal. ... D'alpu ischt gsinh aschua van méin oalten pappa. Ich wiss nöit ol z'is heji... Ischt gsinh aschuan d'oaltu, un d'ketschu, gmachut a schian ketschu in z'Überlann. Méin pappa ischt gsinh la déscendance, dschéin pappa, aschuan méin oalten atte, ischt gsinh aschuan doa .. Vitor van z'Überlann. Un té hedder kheen a su, hets amun gleit das méin pappa hetti kheisse amun Vitor. Eer het dschi gwéibut das s'het kheen sekschuvöfzg joar un het kheen zwia wetti das .. zwienu sén gsinh gmannutu un zwianu sén nöit gsinh gmannutu. Dsch'hen génh gweerhut middim un dschi pheebe middim. Un darnoa ischt mu gcheen a wénghjen eina discher wettu.»
"My grandfather came from Gaby, my grandmother from Issime, from hamlet Praz. Stévenin was the father, the grandmother came from the Chémonal family. ... The pasture in probably belonged to my grandfather. I don't know whether he was from my father's side. It belonged to my family, they had a beautiful house in Gaby. Victor, my father, was from his lineage, his father, my grandfather, came from over there... Victor le gabençois. Later he had a son, to whom he gave his name, so that my father's name was Victor too. He then got married when he was 56, and he had four sisters, two of them got married and two did not. They always worked and lived with him. Later one of them died."
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