Ilona Elisabeth Fink
University of Vienna

Language loyalty to the Austrian variety of the German language
Conclusions of a research project at Austrian schools

Keywords: Austrian German, variety linguistics, language attitudes, language loyalty

Within the framework of the FWF project „Österreichisches Deutsch als Unterrichts- und Bildungssprache“ (Austrian Standard German as a language of instruction and education), an Austrian-wide questionnaire investigation of 164 teachers and 1264 pupils was carried out. Furthermore, 2 group discussions with teachers and pupils and 21 interviews with teachers were conducted. In addition, curricula, books and teaching materials used for teaching German as a first and second language at school level, and curricula and courses of study at universities and teacher training institutes were analysed. The focus of this report lies on the following questions: To what extent do Austrian German teachers correct exonormatively oriented, as stated in literature (Ammon 1995, Heinrich 2010, Legenstein 2008)? What attitude do Austrian teachers and pupils have towards their own variety – do they consider it to be just as correct as German German? Do the terms „Austrian German“ and „pluricentric concept“ occur in Austrian curricula, books and teaching materials? After a brief description of the project, the results of the study, concerning the above-mentioned questions, will be presented within this report.

Literature:

AMMON, U. (1995): Die deutsche Sprache in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Das Problem der nationalen Varietäten. Berlin u.a.
HEINRICH, Ilona Elisabeth (2010): Österreichisches Deutsch in Lehrbüchern der Sekundarstufe 1 für Deutsch als Muttersprache, Dipl.Univ.Wien.
LEGENSTEIN, Christian (2008): Das Österreichische Deutsch im Deutschunterricht. Eine empirische Untersuchung. Dipl.Arb. Graz.