French victory
110-455: Sierre ( French pronunciation: [sjɛʁ] ; German : Siders [zidɐs] ; Arpitan : Siérro [ˈʃiʁo] ) is the capital municipality of the district of Sierre , located in the canton of Valais , Switzerland. It has a population of 16,332. Sierre is nicknamed City of the Sun ( French : Cité du Soleil ) for its average of 300 days of sunshine a year. It
220-465: 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
330-402: 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
440-612: 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
550-587: A defeat at Schindellegi , and although victorious at Rothenthurm they were unable to revert the situation. On 4 May, the Landsgemeinde of Schwyz gave up the fight. Impressed by the resistance of the central Swiss, the French granted them mild terms of surrender and allowed them to keep their arms. The last event of the French invasion was an initially successful revolt of the Upper Valais , which
660-548: A fractured scar high to the north. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a Sun in Splendour Or. The coat of arms is depicted (uncolorised) in the Schalbetter map (printed in 1545 by Sebastian Münster , Basel). Sierre has a population (as of December 2020) of 16,819. As of 2008, 27.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at
770-668: A gold signet ring with the name Graifarius from the 6th century have also been found. Other sites on nearby hills and near the chapel of Saint-Ginier, the Château de Villa, the churches of Sainte-Croix, Grands-Prés, Muraz, Glarey and Bernunes have yielded up graves originating from the Bronze Age to the Carolingian era. In Grands-Prés there is a fire pit from the beginning of the Late Iron Age (5th–6th century BC). During
880-559: 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
990-701: A long line of defense going from the Napf to Rapperswil . Reding took control of Lucerne and advanced across the Brünig Pass into the Bernese Oberland , but Schauenburg launched a counterattack towards Schwyz from occupied Zürich , moving through Zug , Lucerne and the Sattel Pass . Zug and Lucerne surrendered, and were soon followed by Glarus after the capture of Rapperswil and battles near Wollerau . Reding's troops had to retreat after
1100-458: 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
1210-696: 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
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#17327872196171320-812: A position favorable to the Confederacy. On 10 October 1797, Valtellina , Chiavenna and Bormio , dependencies of the Three Leagues , revolted and with French support seceded from the Confederacy to join the Cisalpine Republic. In December, the southern part of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel was occupied and annexed to France. Soon 10,000 French troops gathered near Geneva . The atmosphere inside Switzerland had changed significantly due to these developments, and many pro-French patriots hoped, and anti-French conservatives feared, that
1430-418: A rate of 12.3%. It has changed at a rate of 11.9% due to migration and at a rate of 0% due to births and deaths. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (10,710 or 74.8%) as their first language, German is the second most common (1,803 or 12.6%) and Italian is the third (765 or 5.3%). There are 6 people who speak Romansh . As of 2008, the population was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. The population
1540-796: 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
1650-483: 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
1760-463: A total of 5,728 apartments (84.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 875 apartments (12.9%) were seasonally occupied and 205 apartments (3.0%) were empty. As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 3.4 new units per 1,000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 1.15%. The historical population is given in the following chart: The Centrale Électrique et Bâtiments Alusuisse (Power station and buildings of
1870-792: A traitor. A Bernese victory at Neuenegg on 5 March, which stopped a French advance from the south through Murten and Freiburg, had no effect in the outcome of the war. Bern suffered 700 killed in the fighting, while French losses are unknown. The surrender of Bern led to even more dependencies across Switzerland declaring themselves independent republics. However, the Directory desired a single central republican state at France's eastern border, not dozens of small ones, and steered towards (re)establishment of national unity, though this time with equality for all its subdivisions. A new Constitution had already been written in Paris by Peter Ochs and approved by
1980-676: Is twinned with the towns of In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 34.23% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (19.19%), the FDP (17.78%) and the SVP (16.92%). In the federal election, a total of 5,203 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 57.3%. In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 4,904 votes were cast, of which 330 or about 6.7% were invalid. The voter participation
2090-466: Is December during which time Sierre receives an average of 72 mm (2.8 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 7.9 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is August, with an average of 8.4, but with only 58 mm (2.3 in) of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is September with an average of 37 mm (1.5 in) of precipitation over 5.7 days. In Sierre about 4,610 or (32.2%) of
2200-490: Is a net importer of workers, with about 1.7 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 10.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 63% used a private car. Sierre has a long history of winemaking and is home to the Rèze grape used to produce the sherry -style Swiss wine Vin des glaciers . From the 2000 census, 11,139 or 77.8% were Roman Catholic, while 715 or 5.0% belonged to
2310-601: 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
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#17327872196172420-463: Is a starting point for the tourist sites of the Val d'Anniviers , comprising the villages of Vercorin, Chandolin, St-Luc Vissoie, St-Jean Chandolin, Grimentz, Zinal, and Ayer. Sierre is connected with Crans-Montana by a funicular railway . Lac de Géronde is a small lake on its outskirts. The hilly topography of the valley floor derives from a very large postglacial rock avalanche, which collapsed from
2530-612: 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
2640-558: 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
2750-478: 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
2860-430: 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
2970-535: 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
3080-611: 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
3190-565: 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
3300-435: 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
3410-597: 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
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3520-401: 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
3630-525: 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
3740-560: Is the capital of the Sierre district. It is located in the middle Rhône valley, on the right bank of the river. The nearby Raspille mountain stream is considered the dividing line between the French and German-speaking portions of Switzerland. It consists of the city of Sierre, the villages of Granges, Noës and Muraz, and the hamlets and settlements of Gerunden, Plantzette, Vieux-Sierre, Bourg, Glarey, Borzuat, Zervettaz, Villa d'en Bas, d'en Haut, Sous Géronde, Cuchon, and Monderèche. Sierre
3850-509: Is the last official French-speaking city in Valais before the French–German language border of the canton located at the forêt de Finges, a few kilometres after the town. A German-speaking minority lives in Sierre, counting for around 8% of the population. Sierre was first mentioned around 800 as Sidrium , though a 12th-century document refers to the village being founded in 515. In 1179 it
3960-578: 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
4070-485: 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
4180-689: 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
4290-639: 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
4400-456: The Alpine passes , with supplying its war effort and using the military potential of Switzerland as secondary objectives. Due to internal political and social upheaval, the Confederacy could neither reach an arrangement with France nor organize resistance. In September 1797, Switzerland's situation was further aggravated by the removal of François Barthélemy from the Directory, who had defended
4510-523: The Alusuisse company ) is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance . The entire Sierre town and surrounding are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites . Sierre is host to a local wine museum (Musée Valaisan de la Vigne et du Vin) and of a museum dedicated to the memory of Rainer Maria Rilke who lived there until his death and is buried in the nearby town of Raron . Sierre
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4620-537: 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
4730-480: 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
4840-522: 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
4950-746: 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
5060-690: 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 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
5170-666: 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
5280-676: 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
5390-550: 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
5500-555: The Swiss Reformed Church . Of the rest of the population, there were 359 members of an Orthodox church (or about 2.51% of the population), there were 3 individuals (or about 0.02% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church , and there were 310 individuals (or about 2.17% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 5 individuals (or about 0.03% of
5610-460: 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
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#17327872196175720-469: 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
5830-401: The secondary sector and there were 145 businesses in this sector. 6,607 people were employed in the tertiary sector , with 729 businesses in this sector. There were 6,938 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.6% of the workforce. In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 7,876. The number of jobs in the primary sector
5940-600: The Bernese aristocrats, but his appeal fell to deaf ears, and he had to flee to Revolutionary France , where he resumed his activism. In late 1797, French general Napoleon Bonaparte , who had just successfully conquered northern Italy and founded the Cisalpine Republic , pressed the French Directory to occupy Switzerland. France's main goal in the invasion was securing access to northern Italy via
6050-410: The Bishop's representative. In 1559, Plan-Sierre divided into four quarters: Villa, Monderèche, La Salla, and Glarey. In 1620, the town hall was built. As the capital of a Zenden, Sierre fought the French in the 1798–99 invasion . In 1799, the city was occupied by French and Vaudois troops. The French set up their headquarters in Sierre. In the conflicts between the conservative Upper Valais and
6160-407: The Directory. Many Swiss rebels detested it, and the National Convention in Basel passed a modified version, which was then adopted by many other entities, but the French government insisted on the original. A proposal by Brune on 16 and 19 March to divide Switzerland into three republics ( Tellgovie , Hélvetie and Rhodanie ) was also overruled. On 12 April 1798, 121 cantonal deputies proclaimed
6270-614: 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
6380-438: The French attained a decisive victory at the Battle of Grauholz , confirming Vaud's secession. Schauenburg then received the capitulation signed the day before by Karl Albrecht von Frisching, leader of the pro-French Reform Party, who was appointed head of a new provisional government. Erlach, who intended to continue resistance after retreating from Grauholz, was murdered near Wichtrach by his own soldiers who mistook him for
6490-414: 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
6600-417: 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
6710-399: 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
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#17327872196176820-623: 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
6930-475: The Helvetic Republic, a client state of Revolutionary France. The new regime abolished cantonal sovereignty and feudalism, establishing a unitary state based on the ideas of the French Revolution . Subsequently, the cantons of Schwyz , Nidwalden and Uri in Central Switzerland rejected the Helvetic constitution. They were able to gather around 10,000 soldiers, under the command of Alois von Reding , Landeshauptmann of Schwyz. Their forces dispersed on
7040-547: 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
7150-408: 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
7260-473: The Revolution would now spread to the rest of the Confederacy, with or without direct French military intervention. France used the dissatisfaction of the rural elites in the dependencies and the Enlightened citizenry in the cantons to stimulate revolutionary excitement. The first event of what would become known as the Helvetic Revolution happened with a patriot uprising in Liestal in the canton of Basel on 17 January 1798. The rebels demanded equality before
7370-411: The Roman era it appears that there was no major population center, but rather several scattered groupings of separate, upper-class dwellings. Under the chapel of Saint-Ginier, the remains of a Roman-era house or estate have been discovered. Other Roman ruins have been found near the Château de Villa, in the church of Sainte-Croix (small terraced bath), in Grands-Prés by Muraz another house and in Gerunden
7480-589: The Sierre school system. The education system in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten . During that school year, there 2 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 31 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Sierre there were a total of 8 classes and 149 students in the primary school. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All
7590-401: The agglomeration of Sierre/Crans-Montana was formed to address created to common problems, especially in the fields of tourism and transportation. Sierre has an area, as of 2009, of 19.2 square kilometers (7.4 sq mi). Of this area, 6.61 km (2.55 sq mi) or 34.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.1 km (1.6 sq mi) or 21.4% is forested. Of the rest of
7700-469: The area of Murten and Fribourg . A second army under General Balthazar Alexis Henri Schauenburg advanced from Mont-Terrible , the former Prince-Bishopric of Basel, towards Bern and demanded its government to put pro-French Revolutionary parties in power. The Bernese refusal to do so was used by the French to justify war. Bernese field marshal Karl Ludwig von Erlach was appointed supreme commander of all Swiss forces, while General Guillaume Brune held
7810-437: The area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.4%. Out of the forested land, 18.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.9% is used for growing crops and 2.5% is pastures, while 25.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 1.3% is in lakes and 5.5% is in rivers and streams. The municipality
7920-580: The country. At the invitation of the Lemanic Republic, 12,000 French troops under General Philippe Romain Ménard [ fr ] invaded Vaud on 28 January. An incident on 25 January, in which two French hussars were killed by Swiss soldiers in Thierrens , was cited as a pretext. They occupied Vaud without resistance and were cheered on by the population, as Bernese troops withdrew to
8030-476: The daily affairs in the villages and acquired the right to appoint their own judges. Eventually, this grew into the Noble Contrée which then formed the core of Sierre Zenden from which the city of Sierre later developed. The town of Plan-Sierre soon took over the leadership role in the Noble Contrée. Until 1798, the Noble Contrée was appointed by a council of village representatives, under the leadership of
8140-535: 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
8250-456: 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
8360-519: 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
8470-475: The equivalent office over French forces. Fighting began on 1 March, and the next day there were battles around Lengnau , Grenchen and in the Ruhsel forest between Alfermée and Twann , which ended with the surrender of the canton of Solothurn . On 4 March, Bern's government resigned, nevertheless its troops continued to resist the French advance. The next day, the Bernese were defeated at Fraubrunnen and
8580-736: The fief lived on the Gerunden, Vieux-Sierre, and Plantzette hills. On each of these hills there was a castle that served as the residence for the Bishop's representatives and as a refuge for the population. The castles were razed in the mid-14th century when the noble families stood with the Bishop in his war with the Zenden of the Upper Valais and Counts of Savoy . The demolished castles and villages were abandoned and most residents settled farther north, in plan-Sierre. The only castle that survived
8690-435: 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,
8800-481: 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
8910-748: The invasion and simultaneous internal revolts called the "Helvetic Revolution". The Swiss ancien régime institutions were abolished and replaced by the centralised Helvetic Republic , one of the sister republics of the French First Republic . Before 1798, the modern canton of Vaud belonged to the canton of Bern , to which it had a subject status. Moreover, the majority of the Francophone Vaudois felt oppressed by German-speaking Bern. Several Vaudois patriots such as Frédéric-César de La Harpe advocated for independence. In 1795, La Harpe called on his compatriots to rise up against
9020-480: The land, 6.6 km (2.5 sq mi) or 34.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 1.31 km (0.51 sq mi) or 6.8% is either rivers or lakes and 0.6 km (0.23 sq mi) or 3.1% is unproductive land. Of the built-up area, industrial buildings made up 5.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 10.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 10.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.0% of
9130-507: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . French invasion of Switzerland#Collapse The French invasion of Switzerland ( German : Franzoseneinfall ) occurred from January to May 1798 as part of the French Revolutionary Wars . The independent Old Swiss Confederacy collapsed from
9240-575: The law, erected a liberty tree and burnt down three Vogtei castles by 23 January. On 24 January, the urban elite of Vaud proclaimed the Lemanic Republic ( République lémanique ) in Lausanne , which became its seat of government. Next, citizens and subjects in countless Swiss cities, cantons and their dependencies rebelled, and after the example of Vaud, more than 40 other short-lived republics were proclaimed in February, March and April throughout
9350-526: The liberal Lower Valais, Sierre served as the seat of government in 1839–40. After 1848, the villages of the Noble Contrée became municipalities under the Valais cantonal constitution. The Zenden of Sierre became the District of Sierre with Sierre as the capital. The new city executive council had nine members, while of the General Council (legislature) had 60. Initially, the majority of the power
9460-470: The lower and upper secondary students from Sierre attend their school in a neighboring municipality. As of 2000, there were 1,077 students in Sierre who came from another municipality, while 517 residents attended schools outside the municipality. Sierre is home to the Bibliothèque et Médiathèque Sierre library. The library has (as of 2008) 65,898 books or other media, and loaned out 92,412 items in
9570-402: 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
9680-429: The movement and storage of goods, 401 or 7.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 255 or 4.9% were in the information industry, 104 or 2.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 414 or 8.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 300 or 5.8% were in education and 1,194 or 23.1% were in health care. In 2000, there were 4,257 workers who commuted into the municipality and 2,470 workers who commuted away. The municipality
9790-653: 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
9900-405: The population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education , and 1,576 or (11.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule ). Of the 1,576 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.1% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women, 7.6% were non-Swiss men and 6.3% were non-Swiss women. During the 2010–2011 school year there were a total of 149 students in
10010-550: The population) who were Jewish, and 430 (or about 3.00% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 31 individuals who were Buddhist , 8 individuals who were Hindu , and 25 individuals who belonged to another church. 636 (or about 4.44% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist , and 805 individuals (or about 5.62% of the population) did not answer the question. Sierre has an average of 87.2 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 657 mm (25.9 in) of precipitation . The wettest month
10120-531: The population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.1%. As of 2000, there were 5,651 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,891 married individuals, 974 widows or widowers and 801 individuals who are divorced. As of 2000, there were 6,016 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 2,133 households that consist of only one person and 319 households with five or more people. In 2000,
10230-462: 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
10340-538: The remains of buttress reinforced masonry indicate that a public or government building once stood there. Five altars were found in Saint-Ginier, along with another two in the scattered settlements, one of which was dedicated to Mercury . During the early imperial period, the duumvir or mayor of the Civitas Vallensium , Caius Cominus Chiu, lived in Sierre. In the late imperial period, the family of
10450-488: The same year. It was open for a total of 295 days, with an average of 26 hours per week during that year. HC Sierre plays in the Swiss League , the second tier of Swiss ice hockey, as Genève-Servette HC 's affiliate. They play their home games in the 4,500-seat Graben Arena. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in
10560-566: The senator of Vinelia Modestina also lived in the area. The chapel of Saint-Félix was built in the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century on Gerunden hill. In 515 the estate at Sierre was given by the King of Burgundy Sigismund to the Abbey of Saint-Maurice to hold as a fief . By the 11th century, the fief of Sierre was owned by the Bishop of Sion . The aristocratic families and the residents of
10670-546: 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,
10780-500: 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
10890-459: The wars of the 14th century was Goubing Castle, southeast of Sierre, which belonged to the lords of Granges. The Contrée of Sierre was originally a group that managed the commons . As vassals of the Bishop, they had the right to assemble twice a year to regulate the management of the common lands and the affairs of the local police. In the 14th and 15th centuries, this cooperative adopted a larger political role as they started to administer more of
11000-555: 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
11110-600: 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
11220-437: Was 134, of which 118 were in agriculture and 16 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,570 of which 1,834 or (71.4%) were in manufacturing, 13 or (0.5%) were in mining and 584 (22.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 5,172. In the tertiary sector; 1,373 or 26.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 224 or 4.3% were in
11330-488: Was 54.4%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 5,130 votes were cast, of which 498 or about 9.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 57.4%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%. As of 2010, Sierre had an unemployment rate of 5%. As of 2008, there were 195 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 62 businesses involved in this sector. 2,654 people were employed in
11440-429: 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
11550-547: 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
11660-492: 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
11770-800: Was held by the Conservatives (now the Christian Democrats ). In 1913, they were joined by the Liberals , in 1945 the Social Democrats , and in 2004 the Greens . At the beginning of the 20th century, Sierre became economically important as aluminium smelting has been historically enabled by its access to hydroelectricity . Today the aluminium companies Novelis and Alcan employ 1,200 workers in Chippis and Sierre. In 2007,
11880-571: Was made up of 5,339 Swiss men (33.8% of the population) and 2,305 (14.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 6,123 Swiss women (38.8%) and 2,020 (12.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 5,363 or about 37.5% were born in Sierre and lived there in 2000. There were 3,705 or 25.9% who were born in the same canton, while 1,412 or 9.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,273 or 22.9% were born outside of Switzerland. As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22% of
11990-426: Was mentioned as Sirro and in 1393 as Syder . The area around the modern town, especially Gerunden hill, was settled very early. Archeological sites on the Gerunden hill have produced neolithic objects and grave goods (including a polished stone ax), Bronze Age weapons and jewelry, Early Iron Age objects, and Roman era inscriptions, jars, jewelry, and coins. A soapstone pot from the Early Middle Ages and
12100-595: Was suppressed in late May. The Nidwalden uprising, an episode related to the invasion though distinct from it, took place in September 1798 and was quashed by the French under Schauenburg, leaving some 100 killed on both sides, along with 300 civilians massacred. The invasion strained the recently concluded Treaty of Campo Formio (18 October 1797) that had ended the War of the First Coalition against France. Now,
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