Bernese German (Standard German: Berndeutsch, ) is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau (Mittelland) part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions. A form of Bernese German is spoken by the Swiss Amish affiliation of the Old Order Amish in Adams County, Indiana, United States, as well as and other settlements in the US, primarily in Indiana. Varieties There is a lot of regional variation within Bernese German dialects. However, with the increasing importance of the big agglomeration of Bern, the variety of Bern is spreading out, levelling the old village dialects. Until the second half of the 20th century, there was a considerable range of sociolects in the city of Bern where four different groups could be distinguished: The patrician Bernese German of the high society. It has neither l-vocalisation nor nd-velarisation, it does not employ the alveolar trill but the French uvular trill, and it has more French loanwords than the other varieties. The variety of the native city population. The varieties of the countryside people who moved into the city. The variety of the – generally poor – people living in the part of the old town called Matte, known as Mattenenglisch (Matte-English), even though it has little relation with English, but has a number of loans from Jenisch, Rotwelsch and Yiddish. In addition to it, there was also a special kind of Pig Latin which is the proper Mattenenglisch according to some people. Phonology Bernese German is distinguished from other Swiss German dialects by the following characteristics: The shortening of many high vowels, e.g. Zyt 'time', Lüt 'people', lut 'loud' instead of the long vowel typical in other Alemannic dialects, e.g. Zurich German Ziit , Lüüt , luut (Standard German Zeit, Leute, laut). The l-vocalization, e.g. Hauue 'hall', Esu 'donkey' instead of Halle, Esel. This has led to an expanded repertoire of diphthongs and triphthongs, e.g. euter 'older', Seeu 'soul', Schueu 'school'. The velarization of nd to ng, e.g. angers 'different' (compare Standard German anders). The many words ending with -ng created the joke that Bernese sounds almost like Chinese: Schang gang hei, d Ching wei Hung 'Schang (Jean) go home, the kids want honey(bread)'. As in other Western High Alemannic dialects, words such as Fleisch 'flesh' and Oug 'eye' are pronounced with the diphthongs and , and not and . Pragmatics As in other Western Swiss German