The languages of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

include German, the official language and ''

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

'';

Austro-Bavarian Bavarian (; ), alternately Austro-Bavarian, is a group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south-east of the German language area, including the German state of Bavaria, most of Austria, and South Tyrol in Italy. Prior to 1945, Bavaria ...

, the main dialect outside

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

; Alemannic, the main dialect in Vorarlberg; and several minority languages.

Standard German

German is the national official language and constitutes a ''

'' and '' de facto'' first language: most Austrians other than (mostly rural) seniors are able to speak it. It is the language used in media, in schools, and formal announcements. The variety of German used,

Austrian German Austrian German (), Austrian Standard German (ASG), Standard Austrian German (), Austrian High German (), or simply just Austrian (), is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria and South Tyrol. It has the highest prestige ( ...

, is partially influenced by Austro-Bavarian.

Alemannic

Alemannic, i.e., Swiss German, is spoken by about 300,000 people, mostly in

. Vorarlberg uses a

High Alemannic High Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German spoken in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg and in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Intelligibility of these dialects to non-Alemannic speakers tends to be limited. Language area The High ...

, the same dialect group as that spoken in Northern Switzerland (outside Basel) and parts of southern Alsace, France. To most German-speakers, it is very difficult to understand.

Austro-Bavarian

The main native language of Austria outside Vorarlberg is Austro-Bavarian. It has approximately 8.3 million speakers in Austria. The north-eastern parts of Austria (with the capital

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) speak Central Austro-Bavarian dialects and the southern parts Southern Austro-Bavarian dialects. Austro-Bavarian differs greatly from Standard German, making it very difficult for German speakers of different regions to understand the native population. Austro-Bavarian has no official orthography, but there are literary efforts ( :de:Dialektliteratur), especially in poems, to depict the sound of the pronunciation in the spelling. Other words can only be heard while visiting particular regions of Austria and Bavaria; such words/phrases are only rarely used in Standard German. These include ''Griaß God'' (literally: 'greet God' = 'may God greet you'), and ''Servus/Servas'' 'at your service' as greeting phrases. Other terms are strictly dialectal, like ''Pfiat di / Pfiat eich (euch)'' (literally: 'watch over you od = 'may God watch over you'), meaning 'goodbye'.

Minority languages

A number of minority languages are spoken in Austria, some of which have official status. According to the European Commission, Austria's "recognized minority languages are Hungarian, Slovenian, Burgenland-Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Romany and sign language. In the mixed-language districts of Carinthia, Slovene is also considered an official language. In some districts of Burgenland, Hungarian and Croatian have equal status to German as an official language." About 250 languages are spoken throughout Austria, though many have very small populations of speakers. Only about 20 languages (apart from official languages of Austria) have more than 10,000 speakers.

Serbo-Croatian

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

is the largest minority language in Austria, spoken by more than 4% of the population.

Turkish

Turkish is the second largest minority language, in a situation almost mirroring that of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, spoken by 2.3% of the population.

Romanian

In 2021, Ethnologue reports there were an estimated 18,800 Romanian speakers in Austria.

Burgenland Croatian

Burgenland Croatian, an official language in Austrian Burgenland, is spoken by 2.5% of Austrians, and

Burgenland Croats Burgenland Croats (, , , ) are ethnic Croats in the Austrian state of Burgenland, along with Croats in neighboring Hungary and Slovakia. Around 320,000 residents of Austria identify as of Croat heritage; 56,785 have, as sole or multiple natio ...

are recognized as a minority and have enjoyed special rights following the Austrian State Treaty (''Staatsvertrag'') of 1955.

Hungarian

While little spoken today, Hungarian has traditionally held an important position in Austria due to the historical ties between the two countries. Today, Hungarian is spoken by around 1,000 people in Burgenland.

Slovene

Slovene is an official language in Austrian

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

. Slovene is used by 12,686 Austrians as vernacular, and it is reported that Slovene can be spoken by 0.3% of Austrians. Carinthian Slovenes are recognized as a minority and have enjoyed special rights and affirmative action following the Austrian State Treaty (''Staatsvertrag'') of 1955.

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

Austria ratified the

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, t ...

on 28 June 2001 for the following languages in respect of specific Länder: * Croatian of Burgenland * Slovene (in

and

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

) * Hungarian (in Burgenland and

) * Czech (in Vienna) * Slovak (in Vienna) * Romani (in Burgenland)

References

External links

Official Language
{{Languages of Europe