Bavarian Swabia in the context of "Swabian language"

Vorarlberg (/ˈfɔːrɑːrlbɜːrɡ/ FOR-arl-burg; Austrian German: [foːɐ̯ˈarlbɛrɡ] ; Vorarlbergisch: Vorarlbearg, Voralbärg, or Voraadelbearg) is the westernmost state (Land) of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest population density (also after Vienna). It borders three countries: Germany (Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg via Lake Constance), Switzerland (Grisons and St. Gallen), and Liechtenstein. The only Austrian state that shares a border with Vorarlberg is Tyrol, to the east.

The capital of Vorarlberg is Bregenz (29,698 inhabitants), although Dornbirn (49,845 inhabitants) and Feldkirch (34,192 inhabitants) have larger populations. Vorarlberg is also the only state in Austria where the local dialect is not Austro-Bavarian, but rather an Alemannic dialect; it therefore has much more in common culturally with (historically) Alemannic-speaking German-speaking Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Baden-Württemberg, Bavarian Swabia, and Alsace than with the rest of Austria, southeastern Bavaria, and South Tyrol.

Swabian (German: Schwäbisch [ˈʃvɛːbɪʃ] ) is one of the dialect groups of Upper German, sometimes one of the dialect groups of Alemannic German (in the broad sense), that belong to the High German dialect continuum. It is mainly spoken in Swabia, which is located in central and southeastern Baden-Württemberg (including its capital Stuttgart and the Swabian Jura region) and the southwest of Bavaria (Bavarian Swabia). Furthermore, Swabian German dialects are spoken by Caucasus Germans in Transcaucasia. The dialects of the Danube Swabian population of Hungary, the former Yugoslavia and Romania are only nominally Swabian and can be traced back not only to Swabian but also to Franconian, Bavarian and Hessian dialects, with locally varying degrees of influence of the initial dialects.