Austrian German Endures: Study Finds Regional Dialect Stable in Print Media

Concerns about the potential disappearance of Austrian German have been largely overstated, according to a significant study led by Professor Alexandra Lenz. The research focused on Austria's print media landscape and found a surprising degree of stability in the use of regional expressions.

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Our study focused on the print media landscape of Austria – and here we were able to ascertain astonishing stability.

Analyzing the Austrian Media Corpus, which contains over 50 million newspaper articles and approximately ten billion words, Lenz's team observed that the relative proportion of Austrian expressions and their synonyms remained constant between early 2001 and the end of 2023. For instance, the use of the Austrian word for January, 'Jänner,' did not decrease in relative frequency compared to 2001. Lenz attributes this linguistic resilience to the conscious efforts of journalists in maintaining language standards and the resistance of readers to standard German formulations from Germany.

However, the study acknowledges that spoken language usage among the general population might be less consistent. Extensive research, including surveys, examined terms like 'Rauchfangkehrer' (chimney sweep). While 'Rauchfangkehrer' dominated surveys with 70 percent usage, showing a West-East gradient, its prevalence in print media reached 95 percent. This disparity suggests a stronger adherence to Austrianisms in written media than in everyday conversation, particularly among younger demographics who appear to use or recognize fewer regional terms.

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The word 'Jänner' did not occur less frequently in 2023 in proportion than in 2001.

The stability observed in print media, particularly concerning nouns and even adjectives like 'gschmackig' (tasty), was unexpected. While 'lecker' (tasty) is a commonly debated term, its frequency in Austrian print media remained low and stable, with 'köstlich' (delicious) continuing to dominate. The study primarily focused on nouns but also examined one adjective, 'gschmackig,' and its variants 'lecker' and 'köstlich,' finding that 'lecker' had not significantly increased in frequency in print, contrary to some complaints.

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While 'Rauchfangkehrer' was dominant in surveys with 70 percent, it appeared in 95 percent of print media.

Lenz's findings suggest that while the broader population's usage might be evolving, the written press actively preserves Austrian German. This preservation ensures that many regional terms continue to be part of the public discourse, even if their everyday spoken use is diminishing among certain age groups.

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We see that Austriazisms occur significantly more frequently and stably over time in newspaper texts.