418 AISTNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915. 



The origin of linguistic differences in Switzerland may be traced 

 to the early history of the country. At the time of Caesar's conquests, 

 Helvetia, then peopled by Celts, became subjected to Eome's imperial 

 rule. Later, during the period of invasions, the Helvetians were 

 conquered by the Burgundians, a Germanic tribe, who settled in the 

 western part of the country. A fusion of the two peoples followed 

 this conquest. The Celtic and Latin languages then prevailing gave 

 birth to French, which became essentially the speech of the Jura 

 highlanders. German, on the other hand, is a relic of Teutonic in- 

 vasions in eastern and central Switzerland. In the sixth century the 

 Alemanni took advantage of the weakening of the Burgundian King- 

 dom to spread beyond the Aar and overrun the attractive lake dis- 

 trict. By the eleventh century they had succeeded in imposing their 

 language on the native population of the Fribourg and Valais coun- 

 try. Eeligious struggles beginning in the fifteenth century and main- 

 tained to the seventeenth century, furthered the westerly advance of 

 the Germans. 



The history of Switzerland shows pertinently that, at bottom, lan- 

 guage does not always suffice to constitute nationality. Diversity of 

 language has not impaired Switzerland's existence as a sovereign 

 nation. Racial lack of unity in its population has likewise failed to 

 weaken national feeling. The indomitable determination of Swiss to 

 protect the liberal institutions and the religion around which their 

 national life revolved has maintained their independence through- 

 out the course of centuries. 



4. THE AREA OF GERMAN SPEECH. 



The area of German speech is interposed between the territories 

 of Slavic and Eomance languages. Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch, 

 the language of the plain, is restricted to the extensive northern 

 lowlands. Dialects spoken in Westphalia, Holstein, Mecklenburg, 

 Brandenburg, and Prussia enter into its composition. The wealth 

 of words in this tongue seems to indicate that ease of life on the 

 plain favored greater development of thought. Relative sterility 

 of the vocabulary derived from mountainous sections of central and 

 southern Germany is brought out by contrast. 



Oberdeutsch is the German of the highland. It comprises the 

 Bavarian, Swabian, and Alemannic dialects of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, 

 and Baden. Its adoption as the literary language of all German- 

 speaking people became well established in the Middle Ages. Luther's 

 translation of the Bible, written in a combination of Upper and Mid- 

 dle German, contributed no mean share in the diffusion of the lan- 

 guage. Printed German also followed this form. Its use has been 

 favored by Germany's most noted writers since the seventeenth cen- 

 tury. It is fast becoming the language of the educated classes. Its 



