Viennese language

Viennese German ( bar, Weanarisch, Weanerisch, german: Wienerisch) is the city dialect spoken in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and is counted among the Bavarian dialects. It is distinct from written Standard German in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Even in Lower Austria, the state surrounding the city, many of its expressions are not used, while farther to the west they are often not even understood.

Features

Viennese differs from the Austrian form of Standard German, as well as from other dialects spoken in Austria (''see also Austrian German and Bavarian'').

At the beginning of the 20th century, one could differentiate between four Viennese dialects (named after the districts in which they were spoken): ''Favoritnerisch'' (Favoriten, 10th District), ''Meidlingerisch'', (Meidling, 12th District), ''Ottakringerisch'' (Ottakring, 16th District), and ''Floridsdorferisch'' (Floridsdorf, 21st District). Today these labels are no longer applicable, and one speaks of a single Viennese dialect, with its usage varying as one moves further away from the city.

Besides the locational dialects of Old Vienna, there were also class-based dialects. For example, ''Schönbrunnerdeutsch'', or German as spoken by the courtiers and attendants of the Habsburg Imperial Court at Schönbrunn Royal Palace, was a manner of speech with an affected bored inflection combined with overenunciation. The nasal tonality was akin to German spoken with a French accent. While far less used today, educated Viennese are still familiar with this court dialect.

All in all, speaking Viennese masterly by intonating sentences with distinctive ups and downs creates a very warm, melodic sound – particularly in said "Schönbrunn" variant.

Phonology

Features typical of Viennese German include:
* Monophthongization: Compared to Standard German and to other Bavarian dialects, diphthongs are often monophthongized, somewhat as some Southern US accents turn ''oil'' into ''o-ol''.
For example:
** Standard German ''heiß'' – Bavarian ''hoaß'' – Viennese ''haaß''
** Standard German ''weiß'' – Viennese ''wääß''
** Standard German ''Haus'' – Viennese ''Håås''
* It is typical to lengthen vowels somewhat, often at the end of a sentence. For example: ''Heeaasd, i bin do ned bleeed, wooos waaasn ii, wea des woooa'' (Standard German ''Hörst du, ich bin doch nicht blöd, was weiß denn ich, wer das war''): "Listen, I'm not stupid; what do I know, who it was?"
* The "Meidlinger L", i.e. pronounced with velarization found in the working class dialect, which reflects the Czech pronunciation.
* Inserting vowels into consonant clusters ( epenthesis): Likewise depending on the social class, a speaker, every now and then, may insert a vowel between two following consonants. That usually results in an additional syllable, which "intensifies" the word and usually has a negative feeling to it.
Examples:
** Standard German ''Verschwinde!'' – Viennese ''Vaschwind!'' – intensified ''Vaschawind!''
** Standard German ''Verbrecher!'' – Viennese ''Vabrecha!'' – intensified ''Vabarecha!''
** Standard German ''abgebrannt'' – Viennese ''oobrennt'' – intensified ''oobarennt''
** Standard German ''Geradeaus!'' – Viennese ''Groodaus!'' – intensified ''Garoodaus!''

The following Viennese German characteristics are also found in other Bavarian dialects:

* Consonant tenseness: Voiceless fortis consonants become lenis . The , however, usually remains fortis when it follows a vowel.
* Vocalization of within a word after a vowel,
e.g. ''also'' → ''oeso'' , ''Soldat'' → ''Soedot'' , ''fehlen'' → ''föhn'' , ''Kälte'' → ''Köödn''
* Vocalization of at the end of a word, after a vowel,
e.g. ''schnell'' → ''schnöö'' , ''viel'' → ''vüü''
* Unrounding front vowels after coronal consonants,
e.g. ''Glück'' → ''Glick'' , ''schön'' → ''schee''
* Rounding unrounded vowels before (which may have been elided by now),
e.g. ''schneller'' → ''schnöller'' , ''vielleicht'' → ''vülleicht'' , ''wild'' → ''wüüd''

Grammar

There are not many grammatical differences from other Bavarian dialects, but the following are typical:
* The avoidance of the genitive case
* The use of the preposition ''ohne'' (without) with the dative case instead of the accusative case
* The replacement of "ihn" or "ihm" with "eam", for instance: "Hast du ihn gesehen?" ("Have you seen him?") would be "Host eam gsehn?" in Viennese
* The replacement of "wir" with "mia"

Vocabulary

The dialect is distinct mostly in its vocabulary.

Influences

Vocabulary displays particular characteristics. Viennese retains many Middle High German and sometimes even Old High German roots. Furthermore, it integrated many expressions from other languages, particularly from other parts of the former Habsburg monarchy, as Vienna served as a melting pot for its constituent populations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Because transcription of Viennese has not been standardised, the rendering of pronunciation here is incomplete:

Examples

* from Old High German:
** ''Zähnd'' (Standard German ''Zähne'', English ''teeth'', from ''zand'')
** ''Hemad'' (''Hemd'', = English ''shirt'', from ''hemidi'')
* from Middle High German:
** ''Greißler'' (=''small grocer'', from ''griuzel'' – diminutive of ''Gruz'' =''grain'')
** ''Baaz'' (=''slimy mass'', from ''batzen''=''being sticky'')
** ''si ohgfrettn'' (=''to struggle'', from ''vretten'')
* from Hebrew and Yiddish:
** ''Masl'' (=''luck'', from Ashkenazi Hebrew ''masol'')
** ''Hawara'' (=''friend, companion'', from ''chaver'')
** ''Gannef'' (=''crook'', from Ashkenazi Hebrew ''ganov'')
** ''Beisl'' (=''bar, pub'', from Hebrew ''bajis'' house + Yiddish diminutive suffix ''l'' = ''bajsl'' small house)
* from Czech:
** ''Motschga'' (=''unappetizing mush'', from ''močka''=''residue in a pipe'' or ''a piss'' or from ''omáčka''=''Sauce, Soup'')
** ''Pfrnak'' (=''(big) nose'', from ''frňák'')
** ''Lepschi'' (''Auf Lepschi gehen'' = ''to go out'' or ''to amuse oneself'', from ''lepší''=''better'')
* from Hungarian:
** ''Maschekseitn'' (=''the other side'', from ''a másik'')
** ''Gattihosn'' (=''long underpants'', from ''gatya'' = ''trousers'')
* from Italian:
** ''Gspusi'' (=''girlfriend'', from ''sposa'')
** ''Gstanzl'' (=''Stanza of a humorous song'', from ''stanza'')
** ''Gusta'' (=''appetite for something'', from ''gusto'')
* from French:
** ''Trottoa'' (=''sidewalk'', from ''trottoir'')
** ''Lawua'' (=''washbowl'', from ''lavoir'')
** ''Loschie'' (from ''logis'')
* from Arabic:
** ''Hadscha'' (=''a long path'', from '' Hajj'')

Pragmatics

In Viennese, the following pragmatics peculiarities are found quite often:
* Frequent ironic speech that is marked neither through intonation nor through gestures. In most cases, sarcasm must be identified through its context. Especially for foreigners, it is a source of misunderstandings. Such ironic speech is common in the Viennese sense of humour, which is better known as ''Wiener Schmäh''.
* Understatement uses recognisable diminutive suffixes, such as ''-l'' or ''-erl'', as in ''Kaffeetscherl'' or ''Plauscherl''.

Trends

In more recent times Viennese has moved closer to Standard German; it has developed into a kind of Standard German spoken with a typical Viennese accent (for example, the original Viennese ''Wos host’n fir a Notn gschriebn?'' becomes modern ''Was hast’n für eine Note gschriebn?''). The typical Viennese monophthongization, through which the dialect differentiates itself from the neighboring dialects, remains, but mostly in the form of a developing "Pseudo-Standard German" that many visitors, particularly from other German-speaking areas, feel is ugly.

For example: ''Waaaßt, wos mir heut in der Schule für än gråååsliches Fläääsch kriegt ham?'' (Standard German ''Weißt du, was für ein widerliches Fleisch wir heute in der Schule vorgesetzt bekamen?'') ("Do you know what disgusting meat we were served at school today?") The monophthongized diphthongs, like ''ei'' ~ ''äää'' or ''au'' ~ ''ååå'', are particularly stressed and lengthened.

The reason for the convergence of the typical Viennese dialects is the attitude, strengthened by the media, that ''Urwienerisch'' (old Viennese) is associated with the lower classes. With the rising standard of living, the original Viennese can further converge, as it is considered a sign of low-class origins, while the unique Viennese words (such as ''Zwutschgerl'') (cf Zwetschge/Zwetsche/Pflaume depending on dialect ("plum")) however generally remain in use.

Viennese dialects have always been influenced by foreign languages, particularly due to immigration. In the past 40 years immigrants mostly came from the former Yugoslavia, Turkey and most recently (East) Germany; but modern-day immigration has changed, which in turn has affected and created new varieties of modern-day Viennese. As an ongoing process, particularly in areas with a high percentage of first- and second-generation immigrants, new loanwords find their way into Viennese, and so do changes in pronunciation.

See also

* Austropop

External links

Viennese for Americans – A Phrase Book
(''A humorous guide to speaking Viennese; no translations into High German'')


(''Live broadcasting from Vienna mostly in Viennese dialect'')

{{Authority control

Culture in Vienna
Languages of Austria
Bavarian language
German dialects
City colloquials