WALSERSPRACHE - The four main objectives of the Alpine Space ...

Kurt Wanner
by Dino Vasina. In Rimella too an entire group of authors went to work under the guidelines
set by Marco Bauen. Of great interest was also a dictionary from Bosco Gurin, which shows
a long list of Italian loan words. Tobias Tomamichel had published a book on this Walser settlement
back in 1953, followed by three publications by Emily Gerstner-Hirzel. Walsers in the
Grey Cantons: Davos, Rheinwald, Schanfigg, Prättigau and Obersaxen. Valentin Bühler gave
his native village the first Walser dictionary ever in the 19 th century: «Davos in its Walser
Dialect», in four volumes. Roughly 100 years latter appeared the first of the newly belaboured
Walser dictionaries, the «Davos Dictionary» by Martin Schmid and Gaudenz Issler. As an
appendix to this dictionary there appeared in 1986 a list of words by Christian Patt. In 1987
appeared the dictionary of the dialect from Rheinwald compiled by Christian and Tilly Lorez.
The former also contributed a doctoral dissertation to the furthering of Walser language and
culture. In 1991 appeared the collectively compiled dictionary of the dialect from
Prättigau. In the fall of 1995 came one further dictionary by Maria Ettlin-Janka, about
the dialect of Obarsaxar. How one can best put a dictionary to use is aptly described in
a 1989 essay by Erika Hössli entitled «Working copybook for the discovery of language in
itself and by itself».
In Vorarlberg, until now just a tiny Walser valley … The dialect of the Walsers from the
Principauté of Liechtenstein has not been recorded in any dictionary to this day. There is
just a 1980 publication by Arthur Gassner about the Walser dialect from Triesenberg.
Alexander Frick supplies additional information about the same dialect, along with
Engelbert Bucher. For the region of Vorarlberg there appeared isolated word lists and a twovolume
«Dictionary of the Vorarlberg, inclusive of the Principauté of Liechtenstein». Tiburt
Fritz gave us a «Small Dictionary of the Dialect of Kleinwalsertal». He was aided by Werner
Drechsel and Karl Kessler. In conclusion, we would like to make some remarks about an
essay entitled «The Contemporary Situation with Dialects», included in the above mentioned
«Small Dictionary». In it we read: «Before the start of mass tourism, Kleinwalsertal had a life
of its own. Now this cosy existence is over. Alongside with all its taunted advantages, tourism
has taken its toll. Each tourist brought his language along. While trying to make the stay for
tourists as pleasant as possible, the native language was sidelined. As time went by even
natives felt insecure about their native dialect. The tiny valley experienced an avalanche of
new influences: craftsmen, employees and mixed marriages brought other mother tongues
along. TV did the rest. It became outdated to speak dialect. To be fashionable, one had to
make himself understandable to all other stakeholders. And so our dialect went down the
drain. In lieu of the old dialects new language ways barge in. Many expressions pertaining
to the old rural time fade away and become obsolete at a time of mass mechanisation. On
the other hand we witness newly coined words, which stem from today’s highly technological
and industrialised society. Existing words change in meaning and sound. If dialect is
to stand a chance it must be a living creature and constitute no hindrance to communication.
A dialect will live on if it is lived and experienced».
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