Wahrnehmungsdialektologie : das Obersächsische im Alltagsverständnis von Laien How do ordinary people perceive regional modes of speech This question is often posed at present within German dialectology without however having produced a satisfactory answer. As part of an empirical pilot study in Saxony Saxon Anhalt Thuringia and South Brandenburg the present investigation uses the example of Upper Saxon to examine how the structures of everyday language related knowledge can be observed and described to look at the parameters within which this knowledge is organised and to determine the role played by extra linguistic factors in the perception of dialects