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Background
Walser German is composed of a group of dialects in the Italian Alps, the Wallis region in Switzerland, Piedmont, Aosta Valley, Ticino, Graubünden, Liechtenstein, and Vorarlberg. This is due to migrations of the Alemannic population that dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries. Because the dialect group is quite spread out, there is rarely any contact between the dialects. Therefore, the dialects that compose Walser German are very different from each other. They are also very different from Standard German and Swiss German dialects. This isolation of the Walser German dialects has led to the maintenance of archaic features which makes it nearest to Old High German. Walser German dialects are considered endangered, and language shift to the majority language (Italian, German) is occurring. The total number of speakers in the world is about 22,780.

Phonology
Because the dialects of Walser German are different from each other, it is difficult to make generalizations about the language that applies to all the dialects. This section will be about the Walser German dialect of Formazza, or Pomattertitsch. Pomattertitsch is part of the Highest Alemannic German (höchstalemannisch) dialect group, which is made up of dialects that share similar features. The Highest Alemannic German group contains German dialects of Valais; Walser German dialects in Italy and Ticino; and eastern Walser German dialects in Grisons, Vorarlberg, and Liechtenstein. The first feature that is shared by this group is the palatalization of Middle High German (MHG) -s- to -sch-. This is actually really typical of Walser German dialects in general. For Pomattertitsch,however, this doesn't apply to every word that contains [s]: su 'son', sunna 'sun', and si 'to be'. The second feature is a change from -nk- to -ch- or -h-: German denken to Pomattertitsch teche 'think', German trinken to Pomattertitsch triche 'drink'. The final feature is the lack of diphthongs where they are present in German words: German bauen to Pomattertitsch büwe 'build', German schneien to Pomattertitsch schnie 'snow'.

Morphology
Again, this section will be about the Walser German dialect Pomattertitsch.

Noun Morphology
Pomattertitsch marks number (singular and plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) on nouns, like most dialects of German. It also marks case (nominative/accusative, genitive, dative) on nouns, although it has been reduced over time. It also distinguishes between strong and weak nouns, which is becoming blurred over time as well.

Table 1 Nouns: Pomattertitsch has definite (English 'the') and indefinite (English 'a') articles that agree in case, number, and gender with the noun:

Table 2 Definite Articles: Table 3 Indefinite Articles: Adjectives also agree in number, and gender with the noun it is modifying in Pomattertitsch. For adjectives in the attributive position, there is also agreement in strong versus weak nouns and in case.

Table 4 Strong Attributive 'tired': Table 5 Weak Attributive 'tired': Table 6 Predicative 'tired': In Pomattertitsch, there is a distinction between impersonal and personal pronouns. The impersonal pronoun is mu, which is third person singular. The personal pronouns agree in number and case, with third person agreeing in gender as well for singular pronouns only.

Table 7 Personal Pronouns:

Verb Morphology
The verbs in Pomattertitsch can be categorized into one of four classes depending on their past participle and infinitive endings: The two classes that are most productive are three and four. The third class is most productive in deriving verbs from nouns, and the fourth class is most productive in deriving loan-words from Italian.
 * 1) Strong verbs: infinitive ending in -ä, past participle ending in -ä. Examples: schlissä/gschlossä 'close', wärfä/gworfä 'throw', mälchä/gmolchä 'milk'.
 * 2) Weak verbs, Old High German -jan, -en: infinitive ending in -ä, past participle ending in -t. Examples: zellä/zellt 'speak', läbä/gläbt 'live'.
 * 3) Weak verbs, Old High German -on: infinitive ending in -u, past participle ending in -(u)t. Examples: machu/gmachut 'make', losu/glost 'listen', malu/gmalut 'paint'.
 * 4) Weak verbs derived from Italian: infinitive ending in -ire, past participle ending in -irt. Examples: pentsire/pentsirt 'think', studire/studirt 'study'.

Table 8 Verb Conjugations in Present Indicative of 'Normal Verbs': Table 9 Verb Conjugations in Present Indicative of 'Special Verbs': In Pomattertitsch, a 'dummy' auxiliary tö 'do' followed by the infinitive form of a verb is common for the present indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. This insertion has the same meaning as if the verb was to be conjugated normally: ich tö zellä 'I do speak/I speak'.

There is not a preterite form in Pomattertitsch. Instead, past tense is expressed using the present perfect, which in formed with auxiliaries 'to be' and 'to have' followed by the past participle. On the other hand, the future tense is expressed morphologically by adding the particle de at the end of an inflected verb and after enclitic pronouns, if there are any in the sentence.

The passive is expressed in Pomattertitsch by using the auxiliary cho 'come' followed by the past participle of the verb, which agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence: der salam chun röwä gässä 'salami is eaten raw'. The causative is expressed using tö 'do' followed by the agent of the caused event, then the preposition z (separate word, not morpheme), and then the infinitive: und töt ds metjie z ässä 'and he makes the girl eat'. The imperative is expressed most commonly by using tö 'do' plus the infinitive, as stated above: tö frägä! 'do ask, ask!'. Another way is the bare indicative stem for the singular form, and the same present indicative form for the plural: zel titsch, dü! 'speak German, you!' and chomet hier! 'come (pl) here!'.

There are two different subjunctive forms used in Pomattertitsch. The first form is used mainly in reported speech and in subordinate clauses that follow 'say' or 'think'. It also occurs in complement clauses that follow das 'that'. The second form is used for the conditional mood, where the conjunction wenn 'if' can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence.

Table 10 Subjunctive 1: Table 11 Subjunctive 2:

Syntax
The Walser German dialect group has the same word order as German, for the most part. For some dialects, however, there is a change occurring in the word order of verbal brace constructions. In German, the finite verb occurs in the second position, and the non-finite verb occurs in the final position:

Peter hat vorhin      den Ball  ins   Tor         geworfen

Peter has just now  the ball   into  the goal  thrown

'Peter threw the ball into the goal just now'

In some dialects, specifically Gressoney, Formazza, and Rimella, the finite and non-finite verbs occur right next to each other, with the complements and adverbials at the end of the sentence. An example of this in Rimella is given below:

de pappa  òn   d    mamma hein  gmacht  ds  chriz   dem     chénn

the father and the  mother have  made    the  cross  to the  child

'The father and mother made a cross for the child'

This is a change from SOV (subject, object, verb) to SVO word order. This change is due to the increasing influence of Italian on Walser German. However, the SOV word order is still used when there is negation and when there is an inverted subject.

Some southern dialects of Walser German are starting to omit the subject pronoun of sentences, just having the inflection on the verb to indicate what the subject is. This phenomena is known as pro-dropping, and is common among languages. Italian is a pro-drop language, and German is not, which means that Italian is influencing some southern dialects of Walser German.