varieties, Bernese German shows monosyllabic lengthening in comparison to Middle High German, in words such as ('bath'), ('speech'). However, there is normally no open syllable lengthening, so the corresponding disyllabic words have a short vowel, such as ('to bathe'), ('to speak'). Open syllable lengthening occurs only in a few cases, mainly before and , for example ('to drive') or ('valleys'). A distinctive trait of Bernese German that sets it apart from other High Alemannic varieties is the occurrence of vowel shortening in comparison to Middle High German. This shortening applies most generally before [t] in words such as ('time') or ('loud'). Before other consonants, it may be restricted to disyllabic words, for instance ('finer'), ('to foul') as opposed to monosyllabic ('fine'), ('foul') with an unshortened vowel. In the close vowels, the shortened and lengthened vowels remain distinct from originally short and long vowels. This is why the distinction between close and near-close vowels is phonemic, even though the contrast has a low functional load, with only very few actual minimal pairs such as ('rider', shortened vowel) vs. ('knight', originally short vowel) or ('door', lengthened vowel) vs. ('to increase in price', originally long vowel). References Literature Swiss German language German dialects Canton of Bern German phonology