This is the first systematic study of the syntax of a German dialect to combine the findings of modern syntactic theory with other linguistic areas (diachrony, morphology, semantics, discourse representation theory) for the purpose of analyzing syntactic phenomena. First, a theoretically crucial distinction is made between first-order and second-order natural languages, assigning dialects to the first of these classes and arguing that this makes them the most appropriate objects of linguistic study. Four chapters are then devoted to central features of Bavarian syntax with a view to gaining insight into the functional system of a natural language. The results thus obtained confirm the necessity of such an undertaking.