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This contribution is a written version of a plenary conference held in German, as part of a symposium on language contact in 2003. Firstly, Haas revisits the definition of diglossia and related concepts, discussing a number of criteria. He then goes on to note the confusion that has arisen between “language variety” and “register,” following Fishman’s broadening of the definition. Using the work of Koch and Oesterreicher (1994), he argues that the primary experience of language contact is register, and that this distinction can then be replicated in different ways depending on sociolinguistic societal arrangements. In the second section of the text, Haas offers a linguistic analysis of an interactive Alemannic television program to highlight the show host’s language choices. The presenter draws on linguistic resources from both the Zurich and standard Swiss German dialects to adopt a Swiss Alemannic (from Zurich) media identity.