South Tyrolean German (German: 'Südtirolerisch or Südtirolisch', in the local vernacular also referred to as Südtiroulerisch oSîdtiroul(er)isch) is a dialect spoken in the northern Italian province of South Tyrol. German Philology includes South Tyrolean in a non-standardised continuum of Upper German dialects, whose varieties are spoken in the South Eastern part of the upper German linguistic area. It is generally considered to be a local variant of Bairisch, and is largely mutually intelligible with other variants of Südbairisch.
Characteristics
69.15% of the inhabitants of South Tyrol speak the German mother tongue. South Tyrolean tends to be used at home or in informal situations, while standard German in its Austrian variant prevails at school, work and for official purposes. As such, this medial Diglossia, since the spoken language is mainly the dialect, whereas the written language is mainly the Austrian German variety of Standard German.
Bairisch is spoken in South Tyrol. It preservesits specific traits and is basically homogeneous with Northern Tyrolean variants. It absorbed some Italian or Italian-based terms, especially for administrative purposes (for example, driving licence, General Practitioner, etc.) and some types of food. These terms are seldom present in Standard German or Austrian German.