The Dialects in Tyrol belong to the Upper German dialect groups Bavarian and - only marginally - Alemannic. A large part of it is occupied by Southern Bavarian, which in Tyrol includes the western and central parts of North Tyrol as well as South and East Tyrol.
The Ötztal dialect, which represents the transitional area between the Bavarian and Alemannic continuum and also has borrowings from the Rhaeto-Romanic language formerly spoken in the region and still spoken in parts of neighboring Graubünden, was designated an intangible cultural heritage in Austria by the Austrian UNESCO Commission as of October 2010 because of its specificity, and because it represents a living linguistic landscape.
General characteristics
Common features of Southern Bavarian, as distinguished from Central Bavarian, are:
Diphthongization of mhd. ê and ô to ea and oa, as in Schnea, German: 'Schnee' and roat, German: 'rot'. Distinction between voiced and voiceless final sounds, as in Dåch next to Tåg; Old k is sound-shifted to kch, as in kchlea (German: Klee); Missing r and l vocalization, as in Håls and i will (so not Håis and i wui); Preservation of the prefix ge-, as in getrunkchn; Preservation of the vowel sound in articles; st becomes scht (e.g., gestern → geschtern, lustig → luschtig).
However, these features do not occur in all speakers, or some are on the wane.
Lexic
Tyrolean shows partial lexical similarities with Alemannic; for example, the Alm/Alp isogloss runs through Tyrol (in the Inn Valley: between Ötztal and Imst).
Differences from the rest of Austria are also evident in vocabulary, as in:
ållm, ålli, olli - always
aniadr, aniedr / aniade - each / every
auchi, aufi, auchn, aucha - upwards
aweck - away, away (cf. English away)
Fleischkas - meat loaf
gegga - fie, bad (children's language)
gleim (also in Carinthia) - close (together)
Gluuf, Gluufe, Glufa - safety pin, pin (cf. Gufe in Swiss German and Glufa in Swabian)
lei (also in Carinthian) - only
losna, horchn - to hear (cf. Swiss German verb lose)
lipfa, lupfn - to lift up
marenda - snack (between meals)
Halbmittag - mid-morning snack (specific to South Tyrol)
marenda or untern - snack
Mosbeer - blueberries
oi, oui, euchi, öachn, ouchn, ocha - downhill
d - this
dear, dr - the
dia - the
semm, zem, detta, dert - there
The following terms are widely used; their meaning may vary somewhat from place to place. Not all pronunciation variants are included in the list.
bekirnan, pekiengin - to swallow
decht - nevertheless, yet
drlada, drloadn - to bore, to annoy
dunta - down
endern - beyond
felli, fellig, föllig - almost, nearly
floka lossa, flacken - to lie down
formas, foarmos - breakfast
gahl, lobelat - weakly salted
ghilb, gehilbe - cloudy, foggy
glangla losa, glenggang - to dangle, to hang (loosely)
gliandi, gleanig, gluenig - glowing
grantl, gront, grant, troug - trough
graschglan, graschplen - to crackle, crunch, rustle
Griffl - finger
huppm, happm - to take (a child) in the arm
Huudr, Hüdr, Hudo - rag, shred of cloth
iatz - now
inrua lossa, unkeit lossn - to leave unmolested, to leave alone
kallar, schöpfa - ladle
kraaln, gralln - to scratch
Kondla, Kondl - jug
Lulle, Lüllar, Luller - pacifier
night - yesterday
nikarli mocha, nåpsln, nuagerle - midday nap
Neunerlen - morning snack
Ora, Losar - ears
Patatti - potato (Tyrolean Oberland)
plindara, plintern - to move, to change apartment
Pundl, Pundal - jug, container
Purzigogla, Puchzigoglar, Purzigagel - somersault
riibl, riiblar - a kind of schmarren
roogl, rougl, rougla - loose, not solidified
schiifara, schiifer - splinter of wood (in the skin)