Mental models of linguistic varieties 277tural evaluation of different (Swiss German) dialects. Instead of adopting
the simple binary opposition of dialect and standard it is important to take
into account that there are various more or less stereotypical models of
many dialects (cf. Ris 1992; Werlen 1985). These stereotypical evaluations
of the different dialects have been described extensively, and the general
point of view taken by the researchers is the – rather uncontroversial - hy-
pothesis that negative or positive attitudes towards certain varieties are due
to cultural stereotypes (connotations) and imposed norms (cf. Giles, Bour-
his, and Davies 1975) and not to inherent characteristics of the languag-
es/varieties.
Table 3. Frequencies of mappings per stimulus, relative to the total number of
respondents (N=42). Only varieties which were attributed by 10 or more
participants are considered in the analysis
stimulus # French Berne dialect Zürich dialectItalian
Basel dialect
Standard High GermanWallis dialect St. Gallen dialectEnglish
Bavarian dialectUri dialect Aargau dialect Swiss German
Suabian dialect1 0% 2% 21% 10% 12% 14% 2% 24% 0% 5% 0% 5% 0% 2%
2 5% 0% 2% 12% 5% 5% 5% 5% 10% 5% 7% 2% 0% 0%
3 10% 10% 5% 5% 14% 2% 5% 5% 14% 10% 2% 5% 2% 0%
4 24% 7% 7% 7% 14% 2% 2% 0% 5% 7% 0% 0% 5% 10%
5 5% 2% 5% 2% 5% 0% 0% 5% 10% 0% 12% 5% 0% 10%
6 17% 21% 2% 10% 5% 2% 21% 0% 2% 12% 2% 0% 2% 5%
7 5% 5% 21% 2% 5% 36% 5% 19% 0% 0% 10% 0% 7% 0%
8 7% 2% 2% 10% 2% 10% 5% 2% 7% 0% 0% 10% 5% 0%
9 12% 7% 2% 5% 7% 2% 7% 5% 2% 2% 2% 10% 12% 2%
10 2% 33% 0% 0% 5% 0% 5% 2% 5% 7% 10% 2% 2% 2%
11 2% 2% 5% 17% 5% 0% 14% 2% 2% 5% 0% 2% 2% 2%
12 7% 0% 17% 5% 5% 10% 7% 7% 7% 2% 0% 2% 5% 2%In this section, however, I will at least partially make an argument for the
possibility of an inherent linguistic component of our mental models of
language (cf. for a similar line of thought Cuonz 2008). This will be done
by comparing the different mapping patterns for two major Swiss German