Swabian is one of the language varieties of Alemannic German. It is in the Indo-European language family and belongs to the High German dialect group. As of 2006 there were about 820,000 speakers of this language. It is spoken in Swabia, the southwest of Bavaria, and by Caucasus Germans in Transcaucasia. There are also related language varieties of Danube Swabian spoken in Hungary, former Yugoslavia and Romania; these latter varieties are not always mutually intelligible and vary in how much they are influenced by the more common Swabian German.

Swabian varies in pronunciation and vocabulary from Standard German. The phonemes /s/ and /z/ are notably indistinguishable for many Swabian speakers, which varies from other German language varieties. There have been regional efforts to boost pride in Swabian, such as that launched by Baden-Württemberg’s government, but there is still some degree of condescension from northern German speakers. Work is being done to change this negative perception, such as ad campaigns using the slogan "Wir können alles. Außer Hochdeutsch”, which translates to, “We can do anything. Except High German”, joking that Swabian is significantly different from other varieties of German and promoting the idea that Swabian is part of southern Germany’s cultural heritage.