Hubbry Logo
Austrian GermanAustrian GermanMain
Open search
Austrian German
Community hub
Austrian German
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Austrian German
Austrian German
Austrian German
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Austrian German (Austrian)
Austrian Standard German
Austrian High German
Österreichisches Standarddeutsch
Österreichisches Hochdeutsch
Pronunciation[ˈøːstɐraɪçɪʃəs ˈʃtandardˌdɔʏtʃ, - ˈstan-]
[ˈøːstɐraɪçɪʃəs ˈhoːxdɔʏtʃ]
RegionAustria
EthnicityAustrians
Official status
Official language in
 Austria
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
IETFde-AT[1]

Austrian German[2] (German: Österreichisches Deutsch), Austrian Standard German (ASG),[3][4] Standard Austrian German[5] (Österreichisches Standarddeutsch), Austrian High German[2][6] (Österreichisches Hochdeutsch), or simply just Austrian (Österreichisch), is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria and South Tyrol.[7] It has the highest sociolinguistic prestige locally, as it is the variation used in the media and for other formal situations. In less formal situations, Austrians use Bavarian and Alemannic dialects, which are traditionally spoken but rarely written in Austria. It has been standardized with the publishing of the Österreichisches Wörterbuch in 1951.[8][9]

History

[edit]

Austrian German has its beginning in the mid-18th century, when Empress Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II introduced compulsory schooling in 1774, and several reforms of administration in their multilingual Habsburg Empire. At the time, the written standard was Oberdeutsche Schreibsprache (Upper German written language), which was highly influenced by the Bavarian and Alemannic dialects of Austria. Another option was to create a new standard based on the Southern German dialects, as proposed by the linguist Johann Siegmund Popowitsch. Instead they decided for pragmatic reasons to adopt the already-standardized chancellery language of Saxony (Sächsische Kanzleisprache or Meißner Kanzleideutsch), which was based on the administrative language of the non-Austrian area of Meißen and Dresden. Austria High German (Hochdeutsch in Österreich, not to be confused with the Bavarian Austria German dialects) has the same geographic origin as the Swiss High German (Schweizer Hochdeutsch, not to be confused with the Alemannic Swiss German dialects).

The process of introducing the new written standard was led by Joseph von Sonnenfels.

Since 1951, the standardized form of Austrian German for official governmental use and in schools has been defined by the Österreichisches Wörterbuch ("Austrian Dictionary"), published originally at the behest of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (in the 1950s the "Unterrichtsministerium", under minister Felix Hurdes) with Verlag Jugend & Volk, then by the Österreichischer Bundesverlag.[10]

Standard Austrian German

[edit]

The German language is a pluricentric language and Austrian German is one of its standardized forms. The official Austrian dictionary, Österreichisches Wörterbuch, prescribes spelling rules that define the official language.[5]

Austrian delegates participated in the international working group that drafted the German spelling reform of 1996 and several conferences leading up to the reform were hosted in Vienna at the invitation of the Austrian federal government. Austria adopted it as a signatory, along with Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, of an international memorandum of understanding (Wiener Absichtserklärung) signed in Vienna in 1996.

The eszett (ß) is used in Austria and Germany but not in Switzerland.[11][12] In Austria, it is usually only called "scharfes S" ("sharp s").[13]

Schulschrift (1995), an Austrian primary-school handwriting style
A sign in Vienna: Fußgeher ("pedestrian") is Fußgänger in Germany. In all-caps words, capital ẞ (instead of SS) became standard in both nations in 2017, but SS remains valid.

Distinctions in vocabulary persist, for example, in culinary terms, for which communication with Germans is frequently difficult, and administrative and legal language because of Austria's exclusion from the development of a German nation-state in the late 19th century and its manifold particular traditions. A comprehensive collection of Austrian-German legal, administrative and economic terms is offered in Markhardt, Heidemarie: Wörterbuch der österreichischen Rechts-, Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungsterminologie (Peter Lang, 2006).

Because of German's pluricentric nature, German dialects in Austria should not be confused with the variety of Standard Austrian German spoken by most Austrians, which is distinct from that of Germany or Switzerland. In the field of German dialectology, the notion of Standard Austrian German has been both debated and defended by German linguists since the 1970s. A One Standard German Axiom, effectively preventing the development of newer standards of German, has recently been offered as a characteristic of the field but remains to be discussed discipline-internally.[14]

Former spoken standard

[edit]

Until 1918, the spoken standard in Austria was the Schönbrunner Deutsch, a sociolect spoken by the imperial Habsburg family and the nobility of Austria-Hungary. The sociolect, a variety of Standard German, is influenced by Viennese German and other Austro-Bavarian dialects spoken in eastern Austria but is slightly nasalized.[15][16][note 1]

Special written forms

[edit]

For many years, Austria had a special form of the language for official government documents that is known as Österreichische Kanzleisprache, or "Austrian chancellery language". It is a very traditional form of the language, probably derived from medieval deeds and documents, and has a very complex structure and vocabulary generally reserved for such documents. For most speakers (even native speakers), this form of the language is generally difficult to understand, as it contains many highly specialised terms for diplomatic, internal, official, and military matters. There are no regional variations because the special written form has been used mainly by a government that has now for centuries been based in Vienna.

Österreichische Kanzleisprache is now used less and less because of various administrative reforms that reduced the number of traditional civil servants (Beamte). As a result, Standard Austrian German is replacing it in government and administrative texts.

European Union

[edit]

When Austria became a member of the European Union on 1 January 1995, 23 food-related terms were listed in its accession agreement as having the same legal status as the equivalent terms used in Germany,[17] for example, the words for "potato", "tomato", and "Brussels sprouts".[note 2] (Examples in "Vocabulary") Austrian German is the only variety of a pluricentric language recognized under international law or EU primary law.[19] The focus on food-related vocabulary in "Protocol 23" is owed to trade requirements and therefore utterly accidental.[20]

Grammar

[edit]

Verbs

[edit]

In Austria, as in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and in southern Germany, verbs that express a state tend to use sein as the auxiliary verb in the perfect, as well as verbs of movement. Verbs which fall into this category include sitzen (to sit), liegen (to lie) and, in parts of Styria and Carinthia, schlafen (to sleep). Therefore, the perfect of these verbs would be ich bin gesessen, ich bin gelegen and ich bin geschlafen, respectively.[citation needed]

In Germany, the words stehen (to stand) and gestehen (to confess) are identical in the present perfect: habe gestanden. The Austrian variant avoids that potential ambiguity (bin gestanden from stehen, "to stand"; and habe gestanden from gestehen, "to confess": "der Verbrecher ist vor dem Richter gestanden und hat gestanden").[citation needed]

In addition, the preterite (simple past) is very rarely used in Austria, especially in the spoken language, with the exception of some modal verbs (ich sollte, ich wollte).[citation needed]

Vocabulary

[edit]

There are many official terms that differ in Austrian German from their usage in most parts of Germany. Words used in Austria are Jänner (January) rather than Januar,[21] Feber (more rare than Jänner) in variation with Februar, heuer (this year) along with dieses Jahr, Stiege (stairs) along with Treppen, Rauchfang (chimney) instead of Schornstein, many administrative, legal and political terms, and many food terms, including the following:[22][23]

Austrian Standard German Standard German English
Brandteigkrapferl Windbeutel Cream puff
Eierspeise Rühreier Scrambled eggs
Erdapfel (also Bavarian and Southern German) Kartoffel Potato
Faschiertes Hackfleisch Minced meat/Ground beef
Fisolen Gartenbohnen
or Grüne Bohnen		 Common beans/green beans
Karfiol (also Bavarian and Southern German) Blumenkohl Cauliflower
Kohlsprossen Rosenkohl Brussel sprouts
Kren (also Bavarian and Southern German) Meerrettich Horseradish
Kukuruz (southeastern and western Austria) Mais Maize/corn
Marille Aprikose Apricot
Melange Milchkaffee Milk heavy coffee drink
Melanzani Aubergine Aubergine/eggplant
Palatschinke Pfannkuchen Pancake
Paradeiser
(Vienna, Eastern Austria)		 Tomate Tomato
Pfefferoni Peperoni or Chili Chili pepper
Rote Rübe Rote Bete Beetroot
Sauce Tartare Remoulade Tartar Sauce
Schlagobers Schlagsahne Whipped cream
Stanitzel Eiswaffel Ice cream cone
Staubzucker Puderzucker Icing sugar/powdered sugar
Topfen (also Bavarian) Quark Quark, a semi-sweet cottage cheese
Weckerl (also Bavarian) Brötchen Roll (bread)

There are, however, some false friends between the two regional varieties:

  • Kasten (wardrobe) along with or instead of Schrank as opposed to Kiste (box) instead of Kasten. Kiste in Germany means both "box" and "chest". Similarly, Eiskasten along with Kühlschrank (refrigerator).
  • Sessel (chair) instead of Stuhl. Sessel means "easy chair" in Germany and Stuhl means "stool (faeces)" in both varieties.

Dialects

[edit]

Classification

[edit]

Regional accents

[edit]

In addition to the standard variety, in everyday life most Austrians speak one of a number of Upper German dialects. [24]

While strong forms of the various dialects are not fully mutually intelligible to northern Germans, communication is much easier in Bavaria, especially rural areas, where the Bavarian dialect still predominates as the mother tongue. The Central Austro-Bavarian dialects are more intelligible to speakers of Standard German than the Southern Austro-Bavarian dialects of Tyrol.[citation needed]

Viennese, the Austro-Bavarian dialect of Vienna, is seen for many in Germany as quintessentially Austrian. The people of Graz, the capital of Styria, speak yet another dialect which is not very Styrian and more easily understood by people from other parts of Austria than other Styrian dialects, for example from western Styria.

Simple words in the various dialects are very similar, but pronunciation is distinct for each and, after listening to a few spoken words, it may be possible for an Austrian to realise which dialect is being spoken. However, in regard to the dialects of the deeper valleys of the Tyrol, other Tyroleans are often unable to understand them. Speakers from the different provinces of Austria can easily be distinguished from each other by their particular accents (probably more so than Bavarians), those of Carinthia, Styria, Vienna, Upper Austria, and the Tyrol being very characteristic. Speakers from those regions, even those speaking Standard German, can usually be easily identified by their accent, even by an untrained listener.

Several of the dialects have been influenced by contact with non-Germanic linguistic groups, such as the dialect of Carinthia, where, in the past, many speakers were bilingual (and, in the southeastern portions of the state, many still are even today) with Slovene, and the dialect of Vienna, which has been influenced by immigration during the Austro-Hungarian period, particularly from what is today the Czech Republic. The German dialects of South Tyrol have been influenced by local Romance languages, particularly noticeable with the many loanwords from Italian and Ladin.

The geographic borderlines between the different accents (isoglosses) coincide strongly with the borders of the states and also with the border with Bavaria, with Bavarians having a markedly different rhythm of speech in spite of the linguistic similarities.

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Austrian German

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Austrian German (German: Österreichisches Deutsch) is the variety of Standard German employed in formal speech, writing, education, media, and official contexts throughout Austria, where it functions as the sole official language and is natively spoken by over 98 percent of the country's approximately 9 million inhabitants. Influenced by Upper German dialects, particularly Austro-Bavarian, it diverges from the Standard German of Germany chiefly in vocabulary—such as Paradeiser for tomato versus Tomate—pronunciation, including a more open articulation of vowels and a distinct handling of the 'r' sound, and minor grammatical features like the occasional use of sein instead of haben in perfect tenses or variations in pronoun usage. These characteristics reflect historical developments tied to the Habsburg domains and regional linguistic substrates, rendering Austrian German mutually intelligible with other High German varieties yet distinctly flavored for native speakers and contributing to Austria's cultural identity through literature, theater, and public discourse.

Definition and Classification

Relation to Standard German and Dialect Continuum

Austrian German constitutes a regional standard variety of , incorporating phonological, lexical, and minor grammatical features influenced by underlying Austro-Bavarian dialects, while preserving full with the Standard German variety predominant in . This positioning reflects its role as an elaborated form, or Ausbausprache, built upon the Austro-Bavarian dialect substrate to serve official, educational, and media functions within , without constituting an independent Abstandsprache separated by inherent structural barriers. Linguistic studies emphasize that such elaboration enables standardized Austrian usage to diverge normatively from German German in codified elements like preferences and terminology, yet causal proximity in the shared High German lineage ensures seamless comprehension across borders. Within the broader German , Austrian German bridges peripheral Austro-Bavarian vernaculars—spoken by up to 40% of Austrians in daily informal contexts—and the supra-regional standard, forming gradual transitions rather than discrete linguistic divides. This continuum arises from geographic contiguity across the area, where dialects like Central Austro-Bavarian exhibit higher intelligibility with the standard than southern variants such as Tyrolean, reflecting substrate influences without disrupting overall unity. Unlike the more pronounced diglossic separation in between Alemannic dialects and , Austria's model integrates dialectal traits into the standard more fluidly, promoting a hybrid usage that varies by register and region but maintains continuum coherence.

Status as a National Standard

Austrian German functions as the official national standard variety of in , designated by Article 8 of the Federal Constitution as the Republic's for all federal administrative, legislative, judicial, and educational purposes, without prejudice to minority linguistic rights under federal law. This status traces to the post-World War I reconfiguration of the , with the 1919 Treaty of recognizing the German-speaking Republic of and embedding German in its foundational legal framework, later enshrined in the 1920 constitution (reinstated in 1945). In practice, it serves as the sole medium for parliamentary proceedings, court documents, school curricula, and official publications, ensuring uniformity in state functions while accommodating regional dialects in non-formal spheres. Unlike Germany's more unified normative framework anchored by the dictionary's widespread prescriptive influence since 1880, Austria maintains no equivalent centralized linguistic authority, fostering relatively flexible codification. The Österreichisches Wörterbuch (ÖWB), initiated in 1951 by the and overseen by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, provides the primary official reference for spelling, vocabulary, and select Austrian-specific terms, with its 42nd edition released in 2012 encompassing over 200,000 entries. However, the ÖWB lacks binding force akin to a national or pronunciation guide, leaving norms variably influenced by media broadcasters like ORF, publishing standards, and academic bodies, which often prioritize Austrian lexical preferences over pan-German uniformity. Empirical surveys indicate near-universal proficiency, with 98% of speaking German as a first or proficient , predominantly in the Austrian standard form for national communication. In informal and cultural contexts, such as broadcasting and , Austrian variants—featuring localized vocabulary and phrasing—are overwhelmingly preferred, with 94% of viewing German as possessing multiple national standards distinct from Germany's. This pluricentric approach underscores incomplete formal , relying on consensus-driven evolution rather than top-down prescription, though it ensures effective functionality in and .

Historical Development

Origins in Early Modern German

Austrian German emerged within the period (approximately 1350–1650), evolving from the dialects of the era (1050–1350), particularly those in the Central and Eastern Alpine regions associated with the Bavarian linguistic continuum. These dialects shared core features with other High German varieties, including the completion of the , which distinguished them from by shifting consonants like /p/ to /pf/ (e.g., *appel to Apfel) and /t/ to /ts/ (e.g., *zint to Zeit). Regional proximity to Bavarian speech areas fostered consistent phonetic innovations, such as early shifts that set the stage for later Austrian-specific traits. Key phonological developments included monophthongization processes traceable to the 12th–13th centuries, where diphthongs like *ei simplified to long monophthongs (e.g., *weiz to wīz, influencing modern Austrian forms), a shift driven by areal in Bavarian-influenced territories and verifiable through comparative analysis of medieval manuscripts from southern German-speaking areas. This evolution reflected causal factors like geographic continuity with Bavarian dialects, promoting uniform sound changes over isolated innovations, rather than abrupt external impositions. Such shifts were not unique to Austrian varieties but intensified due to limited early cross-regional leveling before widespread printing. Vocabulary in proto-Austrian German incorporated Latin borrowings via medieval ecclesiastical and administrative channels, with terms for religious practices (e.g., altare to ) and scholarly concepts entering through church Latin used in monasteries and bishoprics across the Upper German lands. Medieval trade networks along Alpine routes further contributed lexical items from , such as Italianate terms for commerce and agriculture, embedding a practical layer atop the Germanic core and establishing shared High German lexical foundations without supplanting native stock. These influences were pragmatic, tied to institutional needs rather than wholesale adoption, preserving a predominantly Germanic as evidenced in surviving legal and devotional texts from the period.

Habsburg Era and Literary Traditions

During the , which spanned from the 16th to the early , German served as the primary language of administration, court, and elite culture in a multi-ethnic empire encompassing diverse linguistic groups, fostering efforts to standardize a form of German that accommodated regional dialects while aspiring to broader literary norms. emerged as a central hub for German literary production in the 18th and 19th centuries, where Enlightenment reforms under rulers like and Joseph II promoted and theater as vehicles for linguistic refinement amid dialectal variation. This period saw the publication of early grammars tailored to imperial contexts, such as Johann Balthasar von Antesperg's Die kayserliche deutsche Grammatick in 1747, which sought to codify spoken and written German usage in , blending prescriptive rules with observations of local speech patterns to bridge courtly standards and vernacular diversity. Literary traditions in Habsburg Austria emphasized a German inflected by regional nuances, particularly in theater, where Vienna's became a key institution for staging works that reflected imperial themes alongside Austrian particularities. Figures like (1791–1872), a leading dramatist, composed tragedies such as Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg (1820), employing a High German framework enriched with subtle Austrian lexical and stylistic elements to evoke national-historical sentiments within the empire's cosmopolitan framework. These efforts balanced pan-German literary aspirations—influenced by figures like Johann Christoph Gottsched's earlier standardization pushes—with preservation of localisms, as Austrian writers navigated the tension between universal German ideals and the empire's plurilingual reality. The dissolution of the in 1918, following military defeat in , disrupted this imperial linguistic paradigm, where German had functioned as a supranational administrative tool, accelerating a pivot toward explicitly national standards in the emergent Republic of Austria that prioritized endogenous norms over former pan-imperial or Prussian-influenced variants. This transition underscored the causal link between the empire's multi-ethnic structure and prior German usage, as the loss of non-German territories reduced dialectal pressures and enabled consolidation of Austrian-specific conventions in and .

20th-Century Influences and Standardization

The of Austria into on March 12, 1938, initiated a period of linguistic , whereby Austrian variants of German were subordinated to the orthographic, lexical, and stylistic norms of the , including suppression of regional idioms in official and educational contexts to forge a unified Reichsdeutsch. This imposed disrupted pre-existing Austrian literary and administrative traditions, prioritizing Berlin-influenced High German over local usages, as part of broader policies. In the aftermath of and Austria's restoration as an independent republic in 1945, deliberate efforts emerged to reject these impositions and cultivate a distinct national standard, driven by the imperative of reinforcing sovereign identity amid occupation and partition. A pivotal step was the 1951 of the first edition of the Österreichisches Wörterbuch (ÖWB) by the , which systematically documented and codified approximately 60,000 Austrian-specific terms, idioms, and orthographic preferences, serving as the official reference for governmental, educational, and media usage. Subsequent revisions, including expansions in the , further entrenched this codification by incorporating empirical data from contemporary Austrian speech and writing, addressing gaps in vocabulary standardization left by wartime disruptions. Broadcasting played a central role in this , with the unification of regional stations into the Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) in 1955 establishing guidelines that privileged Austrian lexical choices—such as Paradeiser for over the German Tomate—in , programming, and public discourse to promote linguistic cohesion and cultural autonomy. Empirical analyses of media corpora, including the Austrian Media Corpus compiled from post-1955 newspapers and broadcasts, reveal quantifiable shifts: for instance, increasing frequency of Austrian-preferred synonyms and phraseologies in ORF outputs, with rates in usage rising from under 5% in the immediate years to over 15% by the 1980s, as measured against contemporaneous German media samples. These patterns underscore a causal trajectory from political to institutionalized linguistic differentiation, countering narratives of unbroken continuity with German German.

Post-1945 Divergence from German German

Following Austria's re-establishment as an independent republic in 1945 after seven years of by , state policies promoted distinctions in to reinforce national sovereignty and distance from pan-German unification ideologies discredited by the war. This pragmatic divergence prioritized language as a marker of separate statehood over ethnic linguistic unity, driven by the need to rebuild institutions amid Allied occupation and the 1943 Moscow Declaration recognizing Austria's victim status. Efforts included codification of Austrian variants in official usage, avoiding assimilation into West German norms emerging under the . In education, the Ministry of Education renamed the school subject "German" to "Language and Literature" from 1945 to 1952, explicitly to emphasize separation from German-language instruction associated with the prior regime and to foster Austrian-specific literary traditions. The published the first edition of the Österreichisches Wörterbuch in 1951, documenting national vocabulary preferences and usages not aligned with German dictionaries like , thereby institutionalizing lexical choices in administrative and pedagogical contexts. Austrian , via the Österreichischer Rundfunk established in 1955, further embedded these variants in media, retaining regional and historical terms over standardized German equivalents. Lexical distinctions, the primary area of post-war divergence, often preserved Austro-Hungarian-era loanwords reflecting multicultural imperial legacies, such as Palatschinke (from Hungarian palacsinta, denoting a thin pancake) versus Pfannkuchen or Eierkuchen in Germany, where foreign terms were more frequently Germanized. Linguistic surveys from the 1990s and 2000s, including pluricentricity analyses, estimate Austrian Standard German vocabulary diverges by approximately 4-8% from German Standard German in everyday and administrative domains, with higher rates in food, administration, and regional concepts. These differences arose not from phonetic or grammatical overhaul but from deliberate retention in curricula and media to support state cohesion, as evidenced by comparative lexical corpora showing stable post-1945 patterns.

Linguistic Features

Phonological Characteristics

Standard Austrian German (SAG) exhibits a phonological system characterized by , whereby underlyingly voiced obstruents in word-final position are realized as voiceless, a feature shared with northern varieties but reinforced by the Austro-Bavarian continuum's substrate effects that preserve similar devoicing patterns without notable leniency in standard usage. Plosives are differentiated primarily through voice onset time (VOT), with lenis stops displaying short lag VOT of 5-20 ms (voiceless unaspirated) and fortis stops longer lag VOT of 40-60 ms (aspirated voiceless), as measured in acoustic analyses of Viennese speakers; this aligns with southern German tendencies toward less prevoicing in intervocalic contexts compared to northern realizations. The inventory comprises 13 monophthongs, distinguished by tongue height, backness, and rounding, with empirical acoustic data revealing frequent neutralization of tense-lax contrasts in high s, such as /iː/-/ɪ/ (e.g., Miete vs. ), particularly among older speakers where overlaps (F1/F2 proximity) indicate mergers rooted in Bavarian-influenced substrates. Diphthongs include /aɪ/, /aʊ/, and /ɔɪ/, with spectrographic evidence showing variable trajectories; for example, /aʊ/ in Haus realizes as [haʊs] but may monophthongize to [hæːs] in casual speech, while /ɔɪ/ in neu appears as [nɔɪ], reflecting a centralized onset influenced by southern shifts rather than northern monophthongal tendencies. Ongoing dispersion in contrasts, tracked via measurements (e.g., F2 dispersion) in corpus-based studies of speakers aged 18-20 versus 50+, demonstrates a gradual widening of the space toward northern norms, though retention of mergers positions SAG closer to with slower assimilation of High German innovations. Prosodic features include intonation patterns with declining (f0) contours, expanded f0 range, and prolonged pauses relative to northern , as quantified in phonetic recordings, contributing to a perceived melodic derived from Middle Bavarian substrate elements like l-vocalization (e.g., also [ˈɔlso] → [ˈɔ so]). The /r/ varies between uvular [ʁ] and alveolar [ɹ], with occasional vocalization in codas (e.g., Vater [ˈfɑːtɐ]), further evidencing regional anchoring over northern uvular dominance.

Lexical Distinctions

Austrian German preserves numerous archaisms and regionalisms absent or obsolete in spoken in , often retaining forms or incorporating substrate influences from Romance and due to Austria's historical position in the multilingual Habsburg Empire. These lexical items frequently pertain to everyday objects, food, and agriculture, reflecting local etymologies and cultural practices. For example, Paradeiser, used for "" particularly in and eastern Austria, derives from Paradeisapfel ("paradise apple"), an older designation evoking the fruit's exotic origins and biblical associations, whereas employs Tomate borrowed directly from French/Latin. In dairy terminology, Topfen refers to quark, a fresh curd cheese central to Austrian desserts and baking; this term, from Middle High German topf implying a pot-shaped curd mass, contrasts with Quark in Germany, which stems from Slavic roots and entered northern usage later.) Other food-related distinctions include Marille for apricot, likely from Venetian marola via Italianate Habsburg trade routes, versus German Aprikose; and Erdäpfel for potato, an archaic diminutive meaning "earth apple" preserved in Austria but replaced by Kartoffel (from Italian tartufo) elsewhere. Daily life vocabulary also diverges, such as Sackerl for a small paper bag, from regional diminutives not used in Germany where Tüte predominates, or Palatschinke for pancake, borrowed from Hungarian palacsinta during the Austro-Hungarian era, unlike German Pfannkuchen. These items, documented in the Österreichisches Wörterbuch, number in the thousands and stem from Austria's etymological conservatism and cross-linguistic contacts, though false friends like Paradeiser or Topfen pose only minor comprehension barriers given high lexical overlap exceeding 95% with standard German.

Grammatical Variations

Austrian German adheres closely to the grammatical standards of High German, with variations limited to frequency-based preferences in morphology and rather than structural overhauls. Corpus-based linguistic , including analyses of read and conversational data, reveals that syntactic compatibility between Austrian and German Standard varieties approaches near-complete overlap, with major divergences occurring in fewer than 5% of constructions. This high compatibility stems from shared adherence to verb-second in main clauses and verb-final positioning in subordinates, underscoring that differences arise more from regional spoken influences than codified rules. Morphologically, Austrian German exhibits greater in diminutive formation compared to German German. Standard Austrian texts and speech corpora document frequent application of multiple suffixes—such as the pan-German -chen alongside regionally productive -erl and child-directed -i—across nouns, yielding higher token frequencies per . This enhanced productivity, observed in both written standards and acquisition data, facilitates nuanced expressiveness, particularly for hypocoristics and affectionate derivations, without altering core inflectional paradigms. Syntactic preferences include subtle flexibility in clauses, where adverbials or prepositional phrases may integrate more variably before subjects in spoken-influenced registers, diverging from stricter sequencing in formal German German. Verb form usage favors periphrastic constructions for past tenses (e.g., haben/sein + ) in conversational contexts, a trend amplified by Austro-Bavarian substrate effects but aligned with broader colloquial German practices. These patterns, quantified in genre-specific corpora spanning 1970–2010, confirm rarity of incompatible structures, attributing variations to diachronic shifts in register rather than inherent grammatical divergence.

Dialects and Regional Variation

Austro-Bavarian Group

The Austro-Bavarian group comprises the predominant dialects in central and eastern , extending from westward to the region and southward into and , while maintaining phonological and lexical continuity with Bavarian dialects in adjacent Bavarian territories via shared bundles. Classifications delineate two main subgroups: Central Austro-Bavarian, spoken primarily in , , and , and Southern Austro-Bavarian, prevalent in , , and . These boundaries are mapped through es tracking innovations like the deletion of ge- before plosives in Southern variants and retention of word-final -n in Central ones, underscoring substrate influences on regional vernaculars without implying uniformity. Central Austro-Bavarian features include intervocalic weakening, where obstruents lenite following long vowels, a trait less pronounced in Southern subgroups. Southern Austro-Bavarian, by contrast, preserves stronger consonantal distinctions tied to Alpine substrates, contributing to challenges across the continuum. As the base for Austrian informal speech, these s underpin diglossic patterns, with surveys in border regions showing primary dialect use among 69% of lower-educated speakers, dropping to 55% among those with higher education, indicative of urban and youthful shifts toward standard varieties.

Alemannic Influences in Western Austria

The dialects spoken in , Austria's westernmost province, belong to the Alemannic branch of German, setting them apart from the predominant Austro-Bavarian dialects elsewhere in the country. This linguistic distinction arose historically from the region's proximity to and , where similar Alemannic varieties prevail, rather than the Bavarian influences dominant in eastern and central . dialects exhibit High Alemannic characteristics, including a uvular realization of /r/ as [ʁ] in many contexts, akin to those in , and productive suffixes such as -li or -le, which form nouns like Häusli for "little house." The Alpine geography has contributed to this isolation, limiting phonetic and lexical convergence with neighboring Austro-Bavarian forms and preserving traits like vowel shifts (e.g., monophthongization in words such as Hus for "house") that align more closely with Swiss varieties. Mutual intelligibility between Vorarlberg Alemannic and Austro-Bavarian dialects remains limited, often requiring exposure or context for comprehension, as evidenced by dialect classification studies that highlight phonological and grammatical divergences, such as differing infinitival constructions and lexical inventories. In practice, speakers in maintain a stable diglossic pattern, employing (Österreichisches Hochdeutsch) in formal and public domains while favoring Alemannic dialects in private and informal interactions, with the latter showing greater vitality in rural areas due to intergenerational transmission. Empirical surveys indicate dialect use predominates in familial settings, comprising up to 80% of daily speech in some communities, underscoring the persistence of these features despite national standardization efforts.

Urban vs. Rural Usage Patterns

In rural regions of , traditional Austro-Bavarian and related s exhibit greater persistence and frequency of use in daily interactions, with speakers maintaining closer adherence to local phonological and lexical features compared to urban populations. Surveys indicate that dominates informal communication in these areas, reflecting limited exposure to external linguistic influences and stronger community cohesion. Urban centers, particularly , , and , show a marked shift toward Standard Austrian German or intermediate varieties, where pure is less prevalent and often confined to specific social contexts. In , for instance, "Schönbrunner Deutsch" emerges as a hybrid blending standard structures with dialectal elements, historically linked to working-class and migrant speech patterns, resulting in reduced dialect purity. This pattern correlates with demographic data revealing dialect leveling, driven by rural-to-urban migration that mixes varieties and formal education prioritizing standard proficiency, as evidenced in phonetic studies of urban variation. Among speakers under 30 in cities, proficiency in unadulterated dialects has observably declined, with younger cohorts favoring standard or slang-infused forms amid these pressures.

Sociolinguistic Dynamics

Language Policy and Education

In , serves as the and the primary in schools from primary level onward, mandated by federal to ensure uniform and communication skills across the population. Dialects, particularly Austro-Bavarian variants, are tolerated and often prevalent in kindergartens and informal early education settings, reflecting regional linguistic practices without formal , though this contributes to a dialect-standard continuum that complicates full standardization efforts. adheres to the common as reformed in 1996, obligatory in and , but lacks a distinct official orthography codifying uniquely Austrian spelling norms, relying instead on national dictionaries for variant preferences. Following Austria's accession to the in 1995, alignment with supranational standards emphasizes a neutral form of German for official EU communications, yet Austrian-specific lexical and stylistic variants continue to appear in national documents and legislation, preserving local distinctions amid broader Germanic unity. This persistence highlights inefficiencies in achieving seamless , as regional policies allow dialect-influenced forms in non-formal contexts, potentially hindering consistent application across educational and administrative domains. Austria maintains a high adult literacy rate of approximately 98%, attributable to compulsory schooling and standardized curricula, though competence in dialects exhibits significant regional variation, with rural areas showing higher proficiency in local vernaculars compared to urban centers like Vienna. Such disparities underscore ongoing challenges in balancing standard language proficiency with dialect preservation, as educational policies prioritize the former while regional competence in the latter remains unevenly distributed.

Media Representation and Public Usage

In Austrian broadcast media, the public service broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) maintains standards that prioritize Standard Austrian German for formal content, such as news and informational programs, incorporating vocabulary from the Österreichisches Wörterbuch to reflect national lexical preferences like "Paradeiser" for or "Erdapfel" for . This approach, rooted in post-World War II efforts to assert linguistic distinctiveness, favors Austrian variants over equivalents from northern German standards, though explicit guidelines emerged more prominently in the with dictionary updates rather than the . ORF's regional studios further integrate local dialects in programming to align with audience expectations, achieving daily viewership of approximately 1.36 million for regional television as of recent data. Entertainment formats on ORF and private channels like Puls 4 often employ Austro-Bavarian dialects to enhance relatability and engagement, as evidenced by the sustained popularity of dialect-driven series and shows, which draw higher ratings in rural areas where dialect proficiency exceeds 80% among speakers. Empirical surveys indicate that Austrian audiences perceive Standard Austrian German as more sympathetic and grammatically preferable than northern variants, influencing media producers to balance formal with dialectal elements for broader appeal. In print media, major outlets such as , Austria's highest-circulation daily with over 700,000 readers in 2024, adhere to Austrian orthographic and lexical norms, systematically using regional terms in reporting to resonate with domestic readership. This pragmatic orientation counters notions of linguistic isolation by fostering convergence: widespread access to German television since the satellite era has empirically driven shifts in Austrian German and adoption among younger demographics, as documented in phonetic studies tracking media-induced borrowing. Such influences promote a supranational German alignment in informal speech while preserving codified Austrian distinctions in public-facing media.

Bilingualism and Minority Languages

Approximately 88.6% of 's population reported German as their colloquial in the 2001 census, with the remaining 11.4% speaking other languages as their primary tongue, primarily Turkish (2.3%), Serbian (2.2%), and Croatian (1.6%). More recent estimates indicate that non-German mother tongues constitute around 10-12% of the population, largely due to from , the former , and other regions, though German remains the dominant in , , and media. Bilingualism among these groups often involves German as a , facilitated by mandatory integration courses that emphasize German proficiency for residency and . Autochthonous minority languages, recognized under Austria's State Treaty of 1955, include Slovene in southern , Hungarian and Croatian in , and smaller groups like Czech, Slovak, and Roma across the country. In , Slovene speakers numbered about 12,554 according to the 2001 , concentrated in southern municipalities where bilingual signage and are provided by law, though the community has shrunk from historical highs due to voluntary assimilation and out-migration. Similarly, in , Hungarian speakers total around 6,600, with Croatian speakers at 19,374 in 2001, both declining from earlier peaks as younger generations shift to German in daily use without coercive policies. Recent data show only 24,855 Slovene speakers nationwide in 2024, underscoring high assimilation rates driven by economic integration and intermarriage rather than suppression. Among immigrants, assimilation into German-dominant bilingualism is evident, with surveys indicating that while 45.1% use their origin language at home, many achieve functional bilingualism through schooling and work, contributing to German's role as the unifying . Border regions exhibit residual bilingual practices, such as Slovene-German in and Hungarian-German in , supported by frameworks, but overall, non-German languages are confined to private spheres and specific locales, with public life overwhelmingly German-centric.

Cultural and Political Significance

Role in Austrian Identity Formation

The re-establishment of Austrian sovereignty through the State Treaty signed on May 15, 1955, marked a pivotal moment in forging a post-World War II distinct from , with Austrian German variants serving as a cultural bulwark against pan-German unification narratives. The treaty's provisions, including the recognition of German as the while embedding Austria's commitment to neutrality and , facilitated efforts to emphasize linguistic and cultural separation from the Federal Republic of , which had absorbed many pre-war German nationalist elements. This process involved promoting Austrian Standard German (ASG) and regional dialects as symbols of "Austrianness," countering the dominance of German Standard German (GSG) in and media to cultivate a sense of unique heritage rooted in Habsburg legacies rather than Prussian-influenced standardization. Literary and media representations further entrenched this linguistic role in , portraying ASG and dialects as authentic markers of Austrian distinctiveness amid efforts to resist full assimilation into GSG norms. Post-1945 Austrian often incorporated local phonetic, lexical, and syntactic features to evoke regional pride and "other" GSG as foreign or overly rigid, thereby reinforcing national cohesion during the early decades of the Second . Similarly, popular media such as Austropop music and television series like Ein echter Wiener geht nicht unter (1970s) popularized Viennese and other dialects nationwide, associating them with everyday Austrian life and subtly distinguishing it from German cultural imports. These elements helped solidify as a subtle yet enduring component of identity, though without implying linguistic isolation. Surveys underscore that while Austrian German functions as a perceived distinct marker— with 94% of respondents in a 2025 nationwide poll deeming it more appropriate and "beautiful" for than GSG—pragmatic unity with broader German-speaking norms prevails due to high and shared standard forms in formal contexts. Earlier data reflect evolving attachment: by 1993, 61% of Austrians reported being "very proud" of their , up from lower figures in the 1960s, with language attitudes contributing via preferences for ASG in local usage despite GSG's prevalence in cross-border communication. This balance highlights language's supportive rather than defining role, avoiding overemphasis on separation amid ongoing cultural overlaps.

Comparisons with Bavarian and Swiss German

Austrian dialects, predominantly Austro-Bavarian, share extensive similarities with Bavarian dialects spoken in , forming a across the border with high among speakers. These varieties exhibit comparable phonological features, such as the preservation of diphthongs and similar vowel shifts, alongside overlapping vocabulary and grammatical structures rooted in the branch. Regional variations exist, particularly in peripheral areas like Tyrol, where intelligibility may decrease slightly, but overall, speakers from rural and central can communicate effectively without resorting to . In contrast, Swiss German dialects, mainly Alemannic, diverge more substantially from both Austrian and Bavarian Austro-Bavarian varieties due to distinct subgroup affiliations within . Key differences include phonological contrasts, such as Alemannic's tendency toward suffixes and vowel reductions not typical in Austro-Bavarian, as well as lexical disparities where Swiss forms draw from separate regional substrates. is lower, often requiring to for full comprehension between Alemannic and Austro-Bavarian speakers. Switzerland's diglossic situation—where standard High German dominates written and formal domains while Alemannic dialects prevail orally—has reinforced dialectal divergence from neighboring Austro-Bavarian forms by limiting standardization influences on spoken varieties. In Austria and Bavaria, greater integration of dialectal elements into the regional standard German fosters a smoother transition between spoken dialects and formal speech, underscoring a linguistic proximity that aligns Austrian and Bavarian usage more closely than with Swiss practices. This continuum of variation highlights shared Upper German heritage without implying uniform equivalence across all variants.

Debates on Linguistic Independence

The debate over the linguistic independence of Austrian German, referring to the Austrian variant of Standard German (Österreichisches Standarddeutsch), revolves around whether it qualifies as a distinct national language variety or remains a regional form within the broader Standard German continuum. Advocates for independence highlight post-1945 codification efforts following Austria's restoration as a republic, which promoted lexical and orthographic divergences—such as preferences for terms like Paradeiser over Tomate for tomato—to assert cultural separation from Germany, aligning with national identity formation amid historical Anschluss sensitivities. This perspective, advanced by scholars in pluricentricity frameworks, posits that pragmatic and usage-based norms, including greeting formulas like Grüß Gott, have evolved sufficiently to warrant recognition as a sovereign standard, with empirical support from lexical perception studies showing Austrians rating certain items as more "standard" in their variety than Germans do. Counterarguments from mainstream dialectologists stress the absence of sharp boundaries, citing the dialect continuum that links Austrian regions seamlessly to Bavarian varieties across the border, where phonological and morphological transitions occur gradually without intelligibility breaks in standard registers. tests confirm near-complete comprehension between Austrian and German Standard speakers, with comprehension rates exceeding 95% in controlled comparisons of spoken and written forms, undermining claims of functional separation. Sociolinguistic analyses further attribute pro-independence purism—exemplified by 20th-century movements under figures like Karl Tekusch emphasizing Sprachechtheit (language authenticity)—to ideological drivers rather than causal linguistic divergence, as such efforts often amplify minor variances for political ends while ignoring shared grammatical cores derived from common 19th-century . These positions reflect broader tensions in Germanic , where separatist academics, often institutionally tied to Austrian research bodies, advocate pluricentric models to validate national norms, while unifiers—drawing on cross-border dialectometry—prioritize empirical continuity over state-driven distinctions, cautioning that overemphasizing independence risks politicizing what remains a highly unified supranational standard. Longitudinal folk linguistic surveys reveal shifting public attitudes, with autonomy sentiments peaking in the but stabilizing without altering core structural unity.

Contemporary Challenges

Globalization and English Influence

The influx of English loanwords, or anglicisms, into Austrian German has accelerated since the mid-20th century, driven by globalization and cultural exchanges, with notable increases in sectors like and . For instance, the term "Handy" emerged in the as a denoting a , supplanting earlier German compounds like "Taschentelefon" and becoming ubiquitous across German-speaking regions, including , by the 1990s. Linguistic analyses of contemporary corpora indicate that anglicisms constitute a growing portion of neologisms, with estimates suggesting thousands integrated into everyday , though precise counts for Austrian variants remain limited due to the shared standard with . This hybridization reflects adaptation rather than wholesale replacement, as core German structures persist amid lexical borrowing. Causal factors include heightened tourism, which contributed 5.6% to Austria's GDP in 2015 and fosters code-switching in service industries, particularly in urban centers like Vienna and Salzburg where international visitors predominate. Media exposure exacerbates this, with global streaming and advertising introducing terms like "download" or "update" directly, often bypassing translation in urban youth culture. Rural areas exhibit lower penetration, preserving more traditional lexicon due to reduced contact, though digital access is narrowing this gap. Empirical studies counter alarmist narratives of linguistic "decline," emphasizing that borrowing enriches expressivity without endangering German's viability, as historical precedents like Latin influences demonstrate natural evolution over erosion. Critiques of media-driven panic, such as claims of an "" threatening German identity, highlight ideological overreach, as quantitative media analyses show anglicisms often fill gaps for novel concepts rather than supplanting equivalents unnecessarily. Linguists argue this mirrors broader Germanic patterns, with no evidence of systemic structural decay in Austrian German usage patterns from surveys. Such views underscore that while anglicisms homogenize certain domains, they coexist with robust native innovation, averting any existential threat.

Dialect Preservation Efforts

Efforts to preserve Austrian dialects, which form part of the Austro-Bavarian continuum, include cultural festivals, digital tools, and educational integrations initiated largely since the early 2000s to counteract and trends. Annual events like the mundARTgerecht Dialect Music Festival in Längenfeld, Tyrol, first held in 2012, promote through live performances, workshops, and readings, drawing participants to celebrate regional linguistic variants via music and . Similarly, festivals focused on dialect music and creative language usage, such as those featuring artists like Skero and Minisex, encourage public engagement and transmission across generations. Digital applications have emerged as accessible preservation tools, with the OeDA app, launched in February 2024, offering user-friendly lessons on Austrian , , and usage, marking it as the first such nationwide platform. Complementary resources like the Dialect Academy provide structured online lessons with audio recordings to differentiate features from . In schools, regional cultural initiatives incorporate elements into extracurricular programs, aiming to complement instruction and foster awareness of local linguistic heritage, though these remain supplementary rather than core curriculum components. Assessments of efficacy reveal mixed outcomes, with limited quantitative data on participation but evidence of constrained youth uptake. Festivals and apps sustain interest among adults and rural communities, yet corpus analyses of youth language indicate a shift toward "intended standard" forms, influenced by media and urban mobility, reducing active dialect proficiency among younger speakers. Dialect clubs and associations report anecdotal declines in membership, particularly in cities, where social media exposure to northern German standards erodes local variants. Folk music media plays a key role in sustaining dialects, embedding them in traditional and contemporary expressions like and regional songs, which preserve phonetic and lexical features while appealing broadly. These efforts hold value in maintaining and identity markers, yet they align with natural linguistic evolution rather than reversing broader standardization pressures, as dialects adapt through hybrid forms in .

Standardization Debates in the EU Context

Upon Austria's accession to the European Union on January 1, 1995, the pluricentric nature of German—encompassing distinct national standards in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland—entered EU language policy discussions, prompting debates over harmonization versus preservation of variants like Austrian German. The EU's language regime acknowledges this pluricentricity by permitting member states to employ national terminology in submissions and domestic implementations of EU law, while institutional documents adopt a neutral supranational German to facilitate cross-border comprehension. This neutral variety, sometimes termed "Euro-German," avoids strong regional markers, drawing primarily from common grammatical and lexical cores but incorporating compromises to minimize national biases. Austrian authorities responded to potential assimilation pressures by issuing internal guidelines for EU communications, advocating retention of Austrian-specific terms—such as Paradeiser for instead of the German Tomate—in national contexts to safeguard linguistic distinctiveness. Proponents of greater standardization argue that a unified Euro-German would reduce discrepancies and administrative costs, citing instances where divergent legal terminology between and has complicated EU directive implementations, as documented in comparative analyses of judicial language. However, critics, including Austrian linguists emphasizing pluricentricity, contend that enforced convergence undermines cultural , pointing to persistent use of Austrian variants in over 80% of domestic administrative texts post-accession, per surveys of practices. Empirical evidence from EU translation databases, such as IATE, reveals that while neutral German dominates multilateral drafts, national variants persist without significant erosion of Austrian usage, reflecting the EU's decentralized structure over centralized linguistic uniformity. These dynamics underscore incomplete , where harmonization efforts yield marginal effects amid member states' in internal language application, as evidenced by Austria's ongoing advocacy for variant inclusion in EU updates since 1995.

References

  1. https://storylearning.com/learn/german/german-tips/austrian-german
  2. https://coerll.utexas.edu/dib/pho.php?k=9
  3. https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/austrian-vs-german
  4. https://blog.rosettastone.com/austrian-and-german-language/
  5. https://coerll.utexas.edu/dib/pdfs/k_09.pdf
  6. https://www.olesentuition.co.uk/single-post/differences-between-standardised-german-austrian-german-and-swiss-german
  7. https://lptranslations.com/learn/austrian-german/
  8. https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/download/o:1355949
  9. https://www.sprachlog.de/2007/03/17/presseschau-7/
  10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282358972_Standard_usage%27_Towards_a_realistic_conception_of_spoken_standard_German_with_Ralf_Knobl_und_Stefan_Kleiner
  11. https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Austria_2013?lang=en
  12. https://www.austria.org/parliamentary-democracy
  13. https://lanchart.hum.ku.dk/research/slice/publications-and-news-letters/publications/standard_languages/Soukup_and_Moosm_ller_-_Standard_language_in_Austria_-_p_39-46.pdf
  14. https://www.tomedes.com/translator-hub/languages-in-austria
  15. https://www.vienna.at/german-but-please-made-in-austria-why-we-austrians-love-our-standard-german/9628517
  16. https://www.britannica.com/topic/German-language
  17. https://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/german.html
  18. https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/126103/1/10.1515_ling-2021-0105.pdf
  19. https://script.byu.edu/german-handwriting/tools/latin-influence
  20. https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-284
  21. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231880000_Language_and_State_Building_The_Case_of_the_Habsburg_Monarchy
  22. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110547047-002/html
  23. https://books.google.com/books/about/Die_kayserliche_deutsche_Grammatick.html?id=VhpEAQAAMAAJ
  24. https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=gerrus_honors
  25. https://works.swarthmore.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1183&context=fac-history
  26. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-territorial-aggression-the-anschluss
  27. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330360295_Soukup_Barbara_and_Sylvia_Moosmuller_2011_Standard_language_in_Austria_In_Nikolas_Coupland_and_Tore_Kristiansen_eds_Standard_languages_and_language_standards_in_a_changing_Europe_39-46_Oslo_Novus
  28. https://www.oeaw.ac.at/acdh/wboe-project-cluster/history-of-science/project-history
  29. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273851980_Linguistic_Variation_In_The_Austrian_Media_Corpus_Dealing_With_The_Challenges_Of_Large_Amounts_Of_Data
  30. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289565145_The_pragmatics_of_a_pluricentric_language_A_comparison_between_Austrian_German_and_German_German
  31. https://www.oesterreichinstitut.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Andreas_und_Gerlinde_Weiss_Das_oesterr._Deutsch_eu-sr-12.pdf
  32. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=bgsu1300570002&disposition=inline
  33. http://www.kleinberg.net/Dissertation/Kleinberg-Dissertation.pdf
  34. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-germanic-linguistics/article/pluricentricity-of-german-perceptions-of-the-standardness-of-austrian-and-german-lexical-items/BFBA869020BC3B05EDEC659184FAE4C1
  35. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/standard-austrian-german/B647F1ACB3B79B7D80064FC003F2F233
  36. https://www.athensjournals.gr/philology/2016-3-1-1-Sloos.pdf
  37. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Paradeiser
  38. https://www.thelocal.at/20210326/eight-words-with-very-different-names-in-germany-and-austria
  39. https://germanfoods.org/why-germans-love-quark-and-how-to-make-it-at-home/
  40. https://www.berlitz.com/blog/austrian-vs-german-language
  41. https://www.fluentu.com/blog/german/learn-austrian-german/
  42. https://preply.com/en/blog/austrian-vs-german/
  43. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319928171_A_corpus_of_read_and_conversational_Austrian_German
  44. https://methodsxvii.uni-mainz.de/files/2022/06/Special-Session-German-in-Austria.pdf
  45. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300859639_8_Diminutives_and_hypocoristics_in_Austrian_German_AG
  46. https://esslli2009.labri.fr/documents/08-BaderHaeussler.pdf
  47. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0142723704040704
  48. https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/126802/1/Stoeckle_Vergeiner_10.5282_jlvs_7.pdf
  49. https://www.jstor.org/stable/411305
  50. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/213413798.pdf
  51. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/99AB2431C5A0825A66A6BF8AF49981A8/S1470542724000096a.pdf/infinitival-constructions-in-the-german-dialects-of-austria-on-variation-constraints-and-change-of-a-prominent-syntactic-feature.pdf
  52. https://www.britannica.com/place/Vorarlberg
  53. https://www.austrianalpsactive.com.au/vorarlberg-celebrates-100-years-of-independence
  54. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/8866DB54594972BC99340F270753189F/core-reader
  55. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/opli-2020-0168/html
  56. https://theses.fh-hagenberg.at/system/files/pdf/Wagner19.pdf
  57. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/opli-2021-0024/html
  58. https://www.alphatrad.co.uk/news/austria-and-its-dialects
  59. https://www.academia.edu/81164604/Standard_language_and_dialect_in_Austria_1_
  60. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-linguistic-geography/article/phonetic-variation-and-its-spatial-distribution-in-urban-austria-lvocalization-as-a-sociolinguistic-marker/08A402436FF852C34A0274E60126029C
  61. https://www.derstandard.de/story/2000143864787/weniger-dialekt-und-reden-mit-maschinen-neun-thesen-zur-zukunft
  62. https://promova.com/blog/german-vs-austrian-language
  63. https://oesterreichisches-deutsch.bildungssprache.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_oesterr_dt_unterrichtssprache/NEUProject_application_Project_application_OHNE_Literatur.pdf
  64. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.21832/9781853597862-002/html?lang=en
  65. https://books.openedition.org/msha/1903?lang=en
  66. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664208.2023.2296787
  67. https://www.uscareerinstitute.edu/blog/which-countries-have-the-highest-and-lowest-literacy-rates
  68. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/modl.12918
  69. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15475441.2021.1922282
  70. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287122556_Standard_Austrian_German
  71. https://lingo-star.com/austrian-german/
  72. https://cmpf.eui.eu/local-media-for-democracy-research-results/local-media-for-democracy-country-focus-austria/
  73. https://science.orf.at/stories/3231737/
  74. https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1001204/daily-newspaper-consumption-by-brand-in-austria
  75. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233515140_Language_change_via_satellite_The_influence_of_German_television_broadcasting_on_Austrian_German
  76. https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/profiles/Austria/Language
  77. https://www.indexmundi.com/austria/demographics_profile.html
  78. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13670050.2021.1954387
  79. https://minorityrights.org/communities/slovenes-of-carinthia-and-styria/
  80. https://minorityrights.org/communities/burgenland-and-viennese-hungarians/
  81. https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/mrgi/2008/en/65211
  82. https://english.sta.si/681445/minority-languages-in-austria-on-the-decrease
  83. https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/announcement/2025/07/20250716MigrationIntegration2025EN.pdf
  84. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/ungegn/docs/22-GEGN-Docs/wp/gegn22wp24.pdf
  85. https://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/1999/3/2/5c586461-7528-4a74-92c3-d3eba73c2d7d/publishable_en.pdf
  86. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=bgsu1300570002
  87. https://www.thelocal.at/20250826/melts-on-the-tongue-why-austrians-prefer-their-german-to-standard-german
  88. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-germanic-linguistics/article/infinitival-constructions-in-the-german-dialects-of-austria-on-variation-constraints-and-change-of-a-prominent-syntactic-feature/99AB2431C5A0825A66A6BF8AF49981A8
  89. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345884542_The_Upper_German_differential_main_Austrian-Bavarian_vs_High_Alemannic_differences
  90. https://www.verbalplanet.com/learn-german/blog/german-dialects-across-german-speaking-countries.asp
  91. https://abroadlink.com/blog/german-germany-austria-switzerland
  92. https://www.lingoda.com/blog/en/german-dialects-vocabulary-differences/
  93. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333402753_The_Pluricentricity_Debate_On_Austrian_German_and_other_Germanic_Standard_Varieties
  94. https://omp.novus.no/index.php/novus/catalog/download/20/30/1063?inline=1
  95. https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/19508/what-exactly-is-the-german-language
  96. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353932888_Karl_Tekusch_1890-1977_his_concept_of_Sprachechtheit_and_the_purism_movement_in_Austria
  97. https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/hl.00083.pfa
  98. https://www.academia.edu/21694615/Anglicisms_in_German
  99. https://blogs.transparent.com/german/the-curiosity-of-the-word-handy/
  100. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351034920_Outcomes_of_Language_contact_Anglicisms_in_German
  101. https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-1046
  102. https://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/academics/colleges/hclas/geog/geog_gerwens_thesis_final.pdf
  103. https://www.lycoming.edu/humanities-research-center/mid-atlantic-humanities-review/pdfs/vol-2/6-berger-german-is-not-under-attack.pdf
  104. https://www.facebook.com/events/1848127068781372/
  105. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=oeda.app&hl=en_US
  106. https://www.dialect.academy/
  107. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110472226-022/html
  108. https://www.reddit.com/r/Austria/comments/1j2tzdn/das_sterben_der_dialekte_was_da_los/
  109. https://melody-mind.de/en/knowledge/austrian/
  110. https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/10/2/17
  111. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286781618_Differences_in_the_legal_terminology_of_Austria_and_Germany_and_the_consequences_for_German_legal_language_in_the_framework_of_the_European_Union
  112. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/austria/articles/german-in-austria-a-guide-to-the-austrian-language
  113. https://www.routledge.com/The-Pluricentricity-Debate-On-Austrian-German-and-other-Germanic-Standard-Varieties/Dollinger/p/book/9780367728847
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.