Which of the features of each variant are considered 'standard' varies depending on time, region and even individual views of the speaker/author. As a general rule, however, speakers of the southern variants may consciously imitate northern speech, but a northern native speaker will not train himself to use a southern form.
Sources:
Note that is a shorthand for an allophonic range of central vowels which assimilate in heighth to the preceding vowel.
| Phoneme | Swiss variant | Northern variant | Austrian variant |
|---|---|---|---|
| /a/, /aː/ | , | , | , |
| /ar/ | , may merge with /aː/ | , merges with /aː/ | |
| /ɪ, ʊ, ʏ/ | ; are the native local realisations | ||
| /ə/ | , may become allophonically in labial/lateral environment | ||
| /e/ | , merges with /ɛ/ | , may merge with /ɛ/ | |
| /ɛː/ | , distribution according to etymology | , distribution according to spelling, may merge with /eː/ | , distribution according to spelling, may merge with /eː/ |
| /aɪ, aʊ, ɔɪ/ | ? | ||
| /z/ | , may merge with /sː/ | , may merge with /sː/ ; intervocalic | |
| /r/ | |||
| /rC/ | /rC/ | /rC~ɐC/ | /rC~ɐC/ |
| /ər/ | |||
| /x/ | |||
| /xs/ | |||
| /Cː/ | /Cː/ | /C/, ambisyllabic | /Cː~C/, ambisyllabic if short |
| final /l/ | , may vocalise | , velarisation tends to be avoided by non‐conservative speakers | , may vocalise |
| intervocalic /h/ | mute | mute | |
| /p, t, k/ | , may merge with /b, d, g/ intervocally, /k/ may merge with /g/ word‐initially before consonants | ||
| non‐final /b, d, g/ | |||
| final /b, d, g/ | |||
| qu | /kw/ | /kv/ | /kv/ |
| final /ɪg/ |