[2] Due to these Alpine regions, many features of the Old Bavarian language from the Middle High German period have been preserved.

On the other hand, the Southern Bavarian dialect area is influenced by the Rhaeto-Romance languages, locally also Slovene and to a lesser extent Italian.

The speech area historically included the former linguistic enclaves in Carniola (present-day Slovenia) around Kočevje in the Gottschee region (Gottscheerish), Sorica (Zarz) and Nemški Rovt (Deutsch Ruth).

Southern Bavarian is also spoken in the Werdenfelser Land region around Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in German Upper Bavaria.

The Tyrolean Unterland, the Alpine regions of Salzburg (Pinzgau, Pongau and Lungau), as well as the adjacent parts of Styria and southern Burgenland form the dialect continuum with the Central Bavarian language area in the north.