Köniz ( German pronunciation: [ˈkøːnɪt͡s] , Alemannic German pronunciation: [χʏnɪt͡s] ) is a statistical town (though residents still regard it as a village) and a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district right on the southern border to Bern in the canton of Bern in Switzerland . The municipality of Köniz as a single settlement would belong to the 15 most populous towns in Switzerland. It is also part of the larger agglomeration of Bern of about 400,000 inhabitants.
94-731: The official language of Köniz is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German , but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect. The current municipality has long been inhabited; there have been a number of Bronze - and Iron Age finds, as well as Roman villas ( villae rusticae ) and Early Middle Ages graveyards. The oldest parts of the current reformed parish church (formerly SS. Peter and Paul ) date back to around 1100. There may have been other previous buildings on this site, but archaeological digs have uncovered no evidence of them thus far. Köniz
188-460: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
282-467: 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,
376-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
470-587: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
564-556: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
658-688: A majority will answer that they speak quite well. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and
752-453: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
846-679: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
940-475: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1034-474: 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
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#17328700274881128-580: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1222-708: 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 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
1316-485: 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
1410-596: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
1504-546: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
1598-472: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
1692-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
1786-402: Is first mentioned in 1011 as Chunicis . According to legend the church was founded by Burgundian King Rudolph II and his wife Bertha . The parish did not only comprise the current municipality, but also the area around present day Bern , around 5 km away. In 1191 it became the parish church of the newly founded town, until it was given the status of its own parish in 1276. There
1880-455: Is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship . During the 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 4,089 students attending classes in Köniz. There were 32 kindergarten classes with a total of 630 students in
1974-520: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
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#17328700274882068-595: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
2162-559: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
2256-470: 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
2350-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
2444-587: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
2538-489: 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
2632-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
2726-526: 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 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
2820-510: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
2914-566: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
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3008-535: 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
3102-511: Is the second most common (1,023 or 2.7%) and Italian is the third (837 or 2.2%). There are 37 people who speak Romansh . As of 2008, the population was 47.8% male and 52.2% female. The population was made up of 15,355 Swiss men (39.6% of the population) and 3,188 (8.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 17,440 Swiss women (44.9%) and 2,840 (7.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 8,939 or about 23.7% were born in Köniz and lived there in 2000. There were 14,483 or 38.3% who were born in
3196-481: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
3290-562: Is used for agricultural purposes, while 15.73 km (6.07 sq mi) or 30.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.39 km (3.63 sq mi) or 18.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.17 km (0.066 sq mi) or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km (2.5 acres) or 0.0% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 10.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.8%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.1%. Out of
3384-673: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
3478-508: 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
3572-627: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
3666-509: The Christian Catholic Church , and there were 2,336 individuals (or about 6.18% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 45 individuals (or about 0.12% of the population) who were Jewish , and 980 (or about 2.59% of the population) who were Islamic . There were 154 individuals who were Buddhist , 327 individuals who were Hindu and 47 individuals who belonged to another church. 3,661 (or about 9.69% of
3760-522: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
3854-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
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3948-514: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
4042-724: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
4136-697: The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites . In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 25.21% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (24.07%), the FDP (16.56%) and the Green Party (14.76%). In the federal election, a total of 13,424 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.8%. As of 2010, Köniz had an unemployment rate of 3.1%. As of 2008, there were 473 people employed in
4230-633: The Lausanne–Bern line ; Liebefeld , Köniz , Moos , Gasel , Niederscherli , and Mittelhäusern on the Bern–Schwarzenburg line ; and Wabern bei Bern on the Gürbetal line between Bern and Belp . All are served by the Bern S-Bahn and have half-hourly or better service to various destinations. FC Köniz is the village's football club. In December 2003 the population of the villages that made up
4324-644: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
4418-640: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
4512-536: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
4606-503: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
4700-545: The Upper Municipality . The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Cross Sable. Köniz has a population (as of December 2020) of 42,388. As of 2010, 15.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 2.6%. Migration accounted for 3.4%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.6%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (32,994 or 87.3%) as their first language, French
4794-462: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
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#17328700274884888-446: The primary economic sector and about 157 businesses involved in this sector. 3,985 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 250 businesses in this sector. 14,713 people were employed in the tertiary sector , with 1,015 businesses in this sector. In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 15,322. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 308, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in
4982-714: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
5076-718: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
5170-475: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
5264-447: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
5358-675: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
5452-646: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
5546-1008: The Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
5640-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
5734-421: 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
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#17328700274885828-406: The classroom language. During the same year, there were 66 lower secondary classes with a total of 1,213 students. There were 15.3% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 22.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language. As of 2000, there were 742 students in Köniz who came from another municipality, while 1,177 residents attended schools outside
5922-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
6016-404: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
6110-435: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
6204-409: The forested land, 29.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 31.2% is used for growing crops and 18.0% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the agglomeration of Bern. It stretches from the river Aare in
6298-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
6392-417: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
6486-439: The information industry, 573 or 5.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 1,368 or 12.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 807 or 7.2% were in education and 1,283 or 11.4% were in health care. In 2000, there were 9,948 workers who commuted into the municipality and 14,010 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of
6580-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
6674-517: The municipality of Köniz had the following populations. Current populations will be similar. 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 , is the written form of one ( German ) of four national languages in Switzerland , besides French , Italian , and Romansh . It
6768-401: The municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. There were 6,657 households that consist of only one person and 700 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 16,917 apartments (92.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,096 apartments (6.0%) were seasonally occupied and 305 apartments (1.7%) were empty. As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units
6862-496: The municipality. Köniz is home to the Verein Könizer Mediotheken VKM library. The library has (as of 2008) 72,759 books or other media, and loaned out 285,688 items in the same year. It was open a total of 260 days with average of 34 hours per week during that year. There are eleven railway stations within the borders of the municipality: Niederwangen , Oberwangen , Thörishaus Station , and Thörishaus Dorf on
6956-401: The municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 19.2% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 26.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 108 primary classes and 2,036 students. Of the primary students, 19.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 29.3% have a different mother language than
7050-630: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
7144-453: The north-east to the rivers Schwarzwasser and Sense in the southeast. It consists of the village of Köniz and Wabern in the center, the garden towns of Liebefeld am Könizberg and Spiegel am Gurten as well as a number of other settlements including; Niederwangen, Oberwangen and Thörishaus in the Wangen valley as well as Schliern, Schwanden, Niederscherli and Oberscherli, Mittelhäusern und Gasel in
7238-656: The population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist , and 1,574 individuals (or about 4.17% of the population) did not answer the question. In Köniz about 15,795 or (41.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education , and 6,423 or (17.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule ). Of the 6,423 who completed tertiary schooling, 63.7% were Swiss men, 26.0% were Swiss women, 5.9% were non-Swiss men and 4.4% were non-Swiss women. The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten , followed by six years of Primary school. This
7332-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
7426-629: The salutations used for the same also differ from Non-Swiss Standard German. The Swiss use the Standard German word Spital (hospital). Spital 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
7520-616: The same canton, while 6,983 or 18.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 5,691 or 15.1% were born outside of Switzerland. As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.4%. As of 2000, there were 15,582 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 17,687 married individuals, 2,306 widows or widowers and 2,207 individuals who are divorced. As of 2000, there were 17,240 private households in
7614-428: The secondary sector was 3,745 of which 2,413 or (64.4%) were in manufacturing, 16 or (0.4%) were in mining and 1,210 (32.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 11,269. In the tertiary sector; 2,021 or 17.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 282 or 2.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 425 or 3.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2,223 or 19.7% were in
7708-506: 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
7802-810: The settlement there was raised to commendam status, whose principle was the parish priest in Bern. The Köniz commendam was secularised in 1528 during the Bernese Reformation , but was given back to the Order in 1552 after pressure from the Catholic Cantons. In 1729 the Order sold the commendam to Bern. A bailiwick was established, which existed until the collapse of the old Bern in 1798. The municipality of Köniz in its present form, came into being in 1846. Köniz has an area of 51.01 km (19.70 sq mi). Of this area, 25.78 km (9.95 sq mi) or 50.5%
7896-541: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
7990-496: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
8084-472: 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
8178-481: The working population, 43.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 34.3% used a private car. From the 2000 census, 7,426 or 19.7% were Roman Catholic , while 21,948 or 58.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church . Of the rest of the population, there were 370 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.98% of the population), there were 42 individuals (or about 0.11% of the population) who belonged to
8272-543: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
8366-579: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
8460-656: Was 4.7 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 0.75%. The historical population is given in the following chart: The farm house at Herzwilstrasse 175, the Roman Era farmhouse at Chly-Wabere, the former commandry with castle , church and outbuildings, the Herrenstock, Hof Burren at Mengestorfbergstrasse 191, 193, the noble's wooden house and Villa Morillon are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance . The hamlets of Gurtendörfli, Herzwil, Liebewil and Mengestorf are all part of
8554-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
8648-593: Was an Augustinian monastery at the church, which was given to the Teutonic Knights by King Heinrich VII , the son and heir to the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II , in 1226. The order established a commendam at the church, which belonged to the Ballei of Schwaben-Elsass-Burgund , as well as a settlement in Bern. One of the friars was installed as parish priest. With the growth of the parish of Bern,
8742-530: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
8836-427: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
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