Issime (Piedmont). Some Western Swiss German dialects like Bernese German have preserved the old diphthongs , but the other dialects have like Standard German or . Zürich German, and some other dialects distinguish primary diphthongs from secondary ones that arose in hiatus: Zürich German from Middle High German versus Zürich German from Middle High German ; Zürich German 'leg, woman' from Middle High German , versus Zürich German 'free, building' from Middle High German , . Suprasegmentals In many Swiss German dialects, consonant length and vowel length are independent from each other, unlike other modern Germanic languages. Here are examples from Bernese German: Lexical stress is more often on the first syllable than in Standard German, even in French loans like or 'thanks' (despite stress falling on the final syllable in French). However, there are many different stress patterns, even within dialects. Bernese German has many words that are stressed on the first syllable: 'casino' while Standard German has . However, no Swiss German dialect is as consistent as Icelandic in that respect. Grammar The grammar of Swiss dialects has some idiosyncratic features in comparison to Standard German: There is no preterite indicative (yet there is a preterite subjunctive). The preterite is replaced by perfect constructs (this also happens in spoken Standard German, particularly in Southern Germany and Austria). It is still possible to form pluperfect phrases, by applying the perfect construct twice to the same sentence. There is no genitive case, though certain dialects have preserved a possessive genitive (for instance in rural Bernese German). The genitive case is replaced by two constructions: The first of these is often acceptable in Standard German as well: possession + Prp. (Std. German ) + possessor: vs. Standard German ('a book of a professor'), vs. Standard German ('the professor's book'). The second is still frowned on where it appears in Standard German (from dialects and spoken language): dative of the possessor + the possessive pronoun referring to the possessor + possession: ('the professor his book'). The order within verb groups may vary, e.g. vs. Standard German 'when you have come/came'. In fact, dependencies can be arbitrarily cross-serial, making Swiss German one of the few known non-context-free natural languages. All relative clauses are introduced by the relative particle ('where'), never by the relative pronouns as in Standard German, e.g. vs. Standard German ('the example that she writes'); vs. Standard German ('the example that