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ig bi Kafka und Kafka isch mi

Swiss people replace the German word ist (is) with isch, like in the example above, but is this exclusive to their country, or just specific German-speaking cantons? Does this verb count as Swiss standard German, or simply slang/dialect?

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    I don't believe they replace it. They pronounce it differently, as do other dialects. In particular, you can expect similarities between alemannic dialects.
    – Roland
    Dec 22, 2022 at 9:18
  • You writing "slang/dialect" hints you're thinking these would be the same - They aren't.
    – tofro
    Dec 22, 2022 at 10:02
  • Whatever slang that is, I don't understand it. The grammar doesn't make sense in any of the dialects I know.
    – PMF
    Dec 22, 2022 at 16:00

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Speaking "ist" as "isch" is neither slang nor specific to Swiss German - It is the common way how Alemannic (rather: "westoberdeutsch") dialects that roughly range from French Alsace in the west to Austrian Vorarlbergerisch in the east, and Swabian in the north to Swiss German dialects in the south morph the "-st" suffix to "-sch".

All of these dialects share some common traits, the most known are the phenmenon you encountered, or building the diminuitive with "-le" or "-li" instead of "-chen".

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