Altstätten is a small historic rural town and a municipality in the district Rhine Valley , in the canton of St. Gall in Switzerland . It is located with some secure distance of about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west from the Alpine Rhine in the flat and wide St. Gall Rhine Valley , which also designates the border with Austria . It further gives access to the higher situated Appenzell to the west.
37-718: The official language of Altstätten is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German , but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect. The town consists of the following tracts: Alter Zoll, Altstätten, Bächis, Baumert, Bieser, Büeberg, Bühl, Bühl (Gätziberg), Bühl bei Hinterforst, Burgfeld, Bürglen, Burst, Domishäuser, Fidern, Gätziberg, Gfell, Hoher Kasten, Hub, Kornberg, Krans, Kreuzstrasse, Lithen, Lienz ( exclave ), Lüchingen, Mariahilf (monastery), Oberbüchel, Plona, Riet, Rosenhaus, Ruppen, Strick, Unterlitten, Warmesberg, Weidest und Ziel. Altstätten
74-467: A medial diglossia instead. Most German Swiss can speak fluent Swiss Standard German, but may or may not like doing so, as it feels stilted and unnatural to many. When they compare their Swiss Standard German to the way people from Germany speak, they think their own proficiency is inferior because it is studied and slower. Most German Swiss think that the majority speak rather poor Swiss Standard German; however, when asked about their personal proficiency,
111-474: A couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 5,673 (or 54.6%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 575 (or 5.5%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 68 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 37 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 49 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 494 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing. In
148-583: A majority will answer that they speak quite well. 2007 Swiss federal election Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly , the federal parliament of Switzerland , were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007. For the 48th legislative term of the federal parliament (2007–2011), voters in 26 cantons elected all 200 members of
185-528: A route to Berneck . Altstätten now operates a bus transport network, RTB. Supra-regional popularity was attained by Altstätten by its long and upscale Shrove-Tuesday tradition (carnival). Each January and February performances are held by the Röllelibutzen-club, founded in 1919, as well as many of the town's and region's Youth Music Societies. A highlight is the international parade, which attracts over 30'000 spectators from all of Switzerland. Altstätten
222-670: A single seat each. The centrist parties won 71 seats, with the CVP and the centre-right FDP each having won 31 seats, and the remaining 9 seats won by minor parties: Liberals, 4 seats; Green Liberals, 3 seats; Evangelical People's Party, 2 seats. 59 of 200 seats (29.5%) were won by women, as compared to 50 in 2003. Ricardo Lumengo (Social Democrats, born in Angola ) is notable as the first black Swiss national councillor. 23 incumbents did not get re-elected and lost their mandate, among them Zürich right wing politician Ulrich Schlüer (SVP). The turnout of
259-474: A typical case of diglossia , although this term is often reserved to language pairs where the vernacular has lower prestige than the other, while Swiss German dialects do not meet this criterion as they permeate every socio-economic class of society. Since Swiss Standard German is the usual written language and the Swiss German dialects are the usual spoken language, their interrelation has sometimes been called
296-424: Is 884 people or 8.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 689 people or 6.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 350 people or 3.4% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 62 people or 0.6% who are between 90 and 99, and 1 person who is 100 or more. In 2000 there were 1,323 persons (or 12.7% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 2,162 (or 20.8%) persons who were part of
333-480: Is also found in volumes of Standard German language dictionaries; however, Germans from northern Germany prefer to use Krankenhaus , whereas Spital is also used in areas of southern Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and South Tyrol . Some nouns have different gender: Some expressions are borrowed from French and thus differ from usage in Germany, such as The Swiss keyboard layout has no ß key, nor does it have
370-485: Is also important. In informal situations, Swiss Standard German is only used whenever a German Swiss is communicating with a non-Swiss and it is assumed that this person does not understand the respective dialect. Amongst themselves, the German-speaking Swiss use their respective Swiss German dialect, irrespective of social class, education or topic. Unlike other regions where German varieties are spoken, there
407-509: Is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites . In the 1970s, Altstätten's football club, FC Altstätten founded in 1945, was at national league B level, and played in the premiership. Today the club plays in the 2. Liga . Altstätten has two train stations: Altstätten Stadt , the eastern terminus of the Altstätten–Gais railway , and Altstätten SG , an intermediate stop on
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#1733085806024444-428: Is first mentioned in 853 as Altsteti . The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or a bear passant Sable langued, armed and in his virility Gules and in chief a Mullet of Five of the last. Altstätten has an area, as of 2006, of 39.5 km (15.3 sq mi). Of this area, 63.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 21.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 12.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and
481-470: Is no continuum between Swiss Standard German and the Swiss German dialects. The speakers speak either Swiss Standard German, or a Swiss German dialect, and they are conscious about this choice. Nevertheless, about 10%, or 828,200, of Swiss residents speak High German (also called Standard German) at home, but mainly due to the presence of German or Austrian immigrants. The concurrent usage of Swiss Standard German and Swiss German dialects has been called
518-489: Is only spoken in very few specific formal situations, such as in news broadcasts and reputable programmes of the public media channels; in the parliaments of German-speaking cantons ; in the federal parliament in Berne (unless another official language of Switzerland is used), although dialect is certainly encroaching on this domain; in loudspeaker announcements in public places such as railway stations, etc. Church services, including
555-596: Is situated between the town of St. Margrethen and the town of Buchs/SG, near to the border of Austria, at the foot of the Alpstein-Mountains. In Altstätten has the start of the rack-and-pinion railway line of the Appenzeller Trams to Gais . An electric tramway served the town from 1897 until 1973, operated by the Rheintaler Vekehrsbetriebe , which also operated trolleybuses from 1940 to 1977, on
592-535: Is the respective local dialect. Due to a rather large inter-cantonal migration rate (about 5% p.a.) within modern Switzerland for decades, many different Swiss German dialects are spoken in any one place, especially in urban areas; for example, in the city of Zürich (end of 2013): of the 272,700 Swiss (total: 400,000) living in Zürich, only 40% (28%) are from Zürich itself with 51% (36%) from the entire canton of Zürich. Outside of any educational setting, Swiss Standard German
629-639: Is the written form of one ( German ) of four national languages in Switzerland , besides French , Italian , and Romansh . It is a variety of Standard German , used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland and in Liechtenstein . It is mainly written and rather less often spoken. Swiss Standard German is the official written language in German-speaking Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It
666-511: Is used in books, all official publications (including all laws and regulations), in newspapers, printed notices, most advertising, and other printed matter. Authors write literature mainly using Swiss Standard German; some dialect literature exists. SSG is similar in most respects to the Standard German in Germany and Austria ; there are a few differences in spelling, most notably the replacing of
703-508: The ¨ dead key . The names of municipalities, towns, stations, and streets are often not written with a starting capital umlaut, but instead with Ae , Oe , or Ue , such as the Zürich suburb Oerlikon , the hamlet Aetzikofen , and the Bernese municipality Uebeschi . However, field names, such as Äbenegg, Ötikon (near Stäfa), or Überthal, and any other word, such as Ärzte (English: physicians), usually start with capital umlauts. As for
740-586: The 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 41.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (28%), the SP (9.9%) and the FDP (9.4%). In Altstätten about 64.4% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule ). Out of
777-475: The Chur–Rorschach line with frequent local and long-distance service. 18th century 19th century 20th century Sport Swiss Standard German Swiss Standard German (SSG; German : Schweizer Standarddeutsch ), or Swiss High German ( German : Schweizer Hochdeutsch or Schweizerhochdeutsch ), referred to by the Swiss as Schriftdeutsch , or German : Hochdeutsch ,
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#1733085806024814-738: The Green and Green Liberal parties. The right-wing parties won 64 seats made up of the SVP with 62 seats and a single seat of the Christian right Federal Democratic Union and the regional Ticino League respectively. The left-wing parties won 65 seats, with 43 of the Social Democrats, 20 of the Green party, and the Christian-left Christian Social Party and the far-left Labour Party with
851-581: The National Council as well as 43 out of 46 members of the Council of States . The other three members of the Council of States for that term of service were elected at an earlier date. On 12 December 2007, the newly elected legislature elected the Swiss federal government, the Swiss Federal Council , for a four-year-term. The results reflected yet another rise in support for the strongest party,
888-593: The Swiss Reformed Church . Of the rest of the population, there are 12 individuals (or about 0.12% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 310 individuals (or about 2.99% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 152 individuals (or about 1.46% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 3 individuals (or about 0.03% of
925-409: The primary economic sector and about 147 businesses involved in this sector. 2,675 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 152 businesses in this sector. 3,313 people are employed in the tertiary sector , with 426 businesses in this sector. As of October 2009 the average unemployment rate was 4.0%. There were 726 businesses in the municipality of which 148 were involved in
962-523: The right-wing populist Swiss People's Party , at 29% of the popular vote, and the growth of the Green and Green Liberal parties at the expense of the Social Democrats . The Swiss People's Party successfully came out of the election as the strongest party, rising another 2.3% to 29.0% of the popular vote. Among the left-wing parties, support of the Social Democrats eroded to the benefit of
999-466: The German ß with ss (since the 20th century). For example: There are some differences in vocabulary, including, for instance, using a loanword from another language. For example: In addition, SSG uses different orthography in letter writing, and the salutations used for the same also differ from Non-Swiss Standard German. The Swiss use the Standard German word Spital (hospital). Spital
1036-652: The Swiss national languages (as of 2000), 9,243 speak German , 17 people speak French , 172 people speak Italian , and 22 people speak Romansh . The age distribution, as of 2000, in Altstätten is; 1,296 children or 12.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,438 teenagers or 13.9% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,337 people or 12.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,614 people or 15.5% are between 30 and 39, 1,410 people or 13.6% are between 40 and 49, and 1,300 people or 12.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution
1073-470: The capital umlaut keys Ä , Ö and Ü . This dates back to mechanical typewriters that had the French diacritical marks letters on these keys to allow the Swiss to write French on a Swiss German QWERTZ keyboard (and vice versa). Thus a Swiss German VSM keyboard has an ä key that prints an à (a-grave) when shifted. However, it is possible to write uppercase umlauts by use of caps lock or by using
1110-529: The election was 48,9% a rise of 3,7% from the previous elections in 2003. Contrary to the developments in the National Council, the Council of States remains dominated by the traditional centrist parties FDP and CVP. Robert Cramer (Geneva) is the first member of the Green Party to be elected to the Council of States, joined in the second round by Luc Recordon of Vaud. Verena Diener (Zurich), formerly of
1147-499: The population) who are Jewish , and 762 (or about 7.34% of the population) who are Islamic . There are 74 individuals (or about 0.71% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 468 (or about 4.51% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist , and 334 individuals (or about 3.22% of the population) did not answer the question. As of 2007, Altstätten had an unemployment rate of 2.17%. As of 2005, there were 399 people employed in
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1184-616: The remainder (2.9%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality is the capital of the Rheintal Wahlkreis and formerly the capital of the Oberrheintal district. The traditional farming city is located on the western side of the Rhine river between the Appenzell hill country. Altstätten has a population (as of 31 December 2020) of 11,938. As of 2007, about 21.5% of the population
1221-515: The secondary sector of the economy while 443 were involved in the third. As of 2000 there were 3,302 residents who worked in the municipality, while 2,025 residents worked outside Altstätten and 3,269 people commuted into the municipality for work. The village of Altstätten as well as a concentration of castles, which is known as the Schlosslandschaft Ober/Unterrheintal and spans Altstätten, Balgach , Berneck and Marbach ,
1258-506: The sermon and prayers, are usually in Swiss Standard German. Generally in any educational setting Swiss Standard German is used (during lessons, lectures or tutorials). However, outside of lessons Swiss-German dialects are used, even when, for example, talking to a teacher about the class. The situations in which Swiss Standard German is spoken are characteristically formal and public, and there are situations where written communication
1295-467: The total population in Altstätten, as of 2000, the highest education level completed by 2,532 people (24.4% of the population) was Primary , while 3,579 (34.5%) have completed Secondary, 905 (8.7%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 488 (4.7%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question. The historical population is given in the following table: From the 2000 census, 6,216 or 59.9% are Roman Catholic , while 2,050 or 19.7% belonged to
1332-472: The various dialects of Swiss German, they are occasionally written, but their written usage is mostly restricted to informal situations such as private text messages , e-mails , letters , notes, or within social media such as Facebook . The ability of German Swiss to transliterate their language into writing is an integral and important part of the identity and culture of German-speaking Switzerland. The default spoken language in German-speaking Switzerland
1369-447: Was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (as of 2000), 175 are from Germany , 228 are from Italy , 1108 are from ex- Yugoslavia , 143 are from Austria , 82 are from Turkey , and 316 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 3.5%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (89.0%), with Albanian being second most common ( 3.1%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 2.7%). Of
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