I came across the Swiss German word Gitzitrichäli (I couldn't find the meaning of it anywhere). In my head I always the "ä" as a short vowel and thus thought of it as being either [ɛ] or [e]. However, in this video, at 0:13, the word can be heard and the pronounciation to me is nearly identical to that of an "a" such as in gemacht.
I know that Swiss German doesn't have any written standard (so I shouldn't expect a lot of consistency), but I've seen so many double dots on vowels, and I wonder if all of them are there indeed to represent "umlaut", and if not, what is the real reason for them to exist.
Why is it written "Gitzitrichäli" and not "Gitzitrichali"? Why is pronounced the way it is?
Out of curiosity, if anyone could also provide the translation of the world, I would be thankful.