From Vorarlberg to Vienna: Austrian dialect explained

Historically, Viennese is the dialect that perhaps has changed the most – just like the city itself. As Vienna is located directly on the Danube, the city became an important trading centre several centuries ago, where people from different regions speaking different languages came together. To this day, the influences of these cultures can still be heard in the Viennese language. The Franks, for example, brought with them a special feature of Viennese – the so-called monophthongisation. This means that certain double sounds are merged into one. One example is the word “Haus”, where the pronunciation of /hɑɔs/ becomes [hɒːs]. These monophthongs are also clearly elongated, which is often perceived by outsiders as “grunting” or whining. This characteristic stretching of the vowels can be found, for example, in words such as “Stàà” instead of “Stein” and “I wààß” instead of “Ich weiß”.Many micro-geographical differences, such as the “Meidlinger L“, which originated within the working classes of Vienna’s twelfth district, can now be found throughout the whole city. If you’d like to speak genuine Viennese, then these terms are a good place to start:

In Lower Austria, the country’s largest federal state, there are small regional linguistic differences. For example, even though the two towns are actually only 90 minutes apart, people speak differently in Melk than in Mistelbach.

The dialect in the Waldviertel sounds harsher, with clear Bohemian-Slavic influences. The Mostviertel, on the other hand, is known for its “oa”-sounds, where “heisst” becomes “hoast” and “kannst” becomes “kaunst”. In the Weinviertel, the so-called “Ui dialect” was spoken until around 50 years ago, where “Da Bui huit de Kui” is said instead of “Der Bub holt die Kuh” (English: “The boy is getting the cow”). In the industrial district, the dialect has flattened considerably due to industrialisation, as well as the proximity to Vienna – which can be distinctly heard in the pronunciation.

If you’re looking to strike up a conversation in Lower Austria, the following words are a great starting point:

The regional languages of Upper Austria can be divided into three sublanguages:  Innviertlerisch, Mühlviertlerisch and Traunviertlerisch – that is, the dialect spoken in the Innviertel, Mühlviertel and Traunviertel respectively. Depending on the region, a single word can sound completely different – the word “spielen” (English: play), for example, can be pronounced either as “šbün”, “šbuin” or “šbin”.

What unites the Upper Austrians, however, is the rounding of suffixes containing an I. For example, Nebel (“fog”) becomes “Nöwö”, Himmel (“sky”) “Hümmö”.

This is how they speak in Upper Austria:

Hianzisch, also known as “Ui”-dialect, is a dialect that was largely spoken in Burgenland, but also common in the Weinviertel region of Lower Austria. The dialect is so closely associated with Burgenland that at officials were even considering calling it “Heinzenland” when it was declared an official region in 1921.

Until around the 1970s, the “Ui”-dialect was the actual native language of the people in Burgenland, but was progressively replaced by the Middle Bavarian pronunciation due to job opportunities in larger cities. An example to illustrate this: “Mutter” (English: mother) changed from “Muida” to “Muada”. Hianzisch is still spoken occasionally today, but is nowhere near as widespread as it was a few decades ago.

Many sounds in the “Ui”-dialect are, as the name suggests, replaced with a “ui” sound. “Junge” or “Bub” (English: boy) becomes “Bui”, “tun” (English: do) becomes “tui”, and “genug” (English: enough) becomes “gmui”.

Some frequently used local words that can be found in Burgenland are:

Often the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the Styrian dialect is the characteristic barking – or “Bölln”. Good examples of this peculiarity are the words “Öupfl” and “Söumml”: “Apfel” (apple) and “Semmel” (bread roll) in High Austrian German. Diphtongs – individual sounds that merge into a single syllable – can be found all over Austria, but no-one can even remotely compare to the Styrians. If you want to “bark” like a real Styrian, you should naturally use only authentic terms like these:

Carinthian can generally be divided into Upper, Middle and Lower Carinthian, although the regional boundaries are considerably blurred, particularly in border regions.

The proximity to the Slovenian border, for example, gave rise to the notorious “Carinthian stretch” – words such as “Wissen” (“knowledge”) and “Wiesen” (“pastures”)or “Ofen” (oven) and “offen” (open) are pronounced essentially the same. And of course there are many more linguistic peculiarities that characterise Austria’s southernmost province:

• The sounds “h” and “ch” are often interchanged – thus “sicherlich” (certainly) becomes [sihàlich], and “Mädchen” (girl) becomes [met-hen].
• Diphthongs such as “ei” or “au” are often pronounced like an “a”: instead of “Seife” (soap), “kaufen” (to buy) and “laufen” (to run), Carinthians say “Safn”, “kafn” and “lafn”. 
• Carinthians also pronounce the I differently to the rest of Austria: “Geld” (money) becomes “Gölt”, “viel” (a lot) becomes “vül” and “schälen” (peel) becomes “schöln”. 

Here are some words that are typically Carinthian:

From a linguistic point of view, the dialects in Salzburg are not a separate linguistic category, but a geographical one. They are complex mixtures of Middle Bavarian with influences from Tyrol, Carinthia, Bavaria and Vienna. As in the other federal states, they sound slightly different depending on the region.

A general characteristic of these dialects is that sounds such as p, t and k are weakened and become the sounds b, d and g. Examples include Bèch (Pech), Dåg (Tag) and Gnechd (Knecht) – or in English: “bad luck”, “day” and “servant”. However, if the K comes before a vowel, it stays a K. And if there’s an N at the end of a word, it is nasalised. As such, “kann” (“I can”) becomes “kôô” and “Mann” (“man”) becomes “Môô”.

Next time you’re in Salzburg, you can give these words a try:

Tyrol, like most of Austria, is part of the Bavarian dialect group and also has some Alemannic influences, especially in the west. Due to the dialectal origins, there are differences in the sounds, grammar and vocabulary. One example of different phonetics is the development of the word “mein” (“mein”), which was preserved in Alemannic as “mîn”.

The Tyrolean dialect is characterised by a high degree of linguistic diversity with strong regional characteristics, which, among other things, can be attributed to the remote location of the mountain villages. It has also been strongly influenced by migration, most notably by the Rhaeto-Romanic language group, Italian and, just like in Carinthia, Slavic languages.

Tyrol is particularly known for an “Sch” instead of a simple “S” and a hard “K”, which is pronounced more like a “kch” deep in the larynx. These peculiarities can easily be heard in the name of the capital, when the locals call it “Inschbrukch” rather than Innsbruck.

To speak like a real Tyrolean, these words will come in handy:

Vorarlberg is linguistically unique. Unlike the rest of Austria, the language is not a Bavarian dialect, but an Alemannic one, and therefore more closely related to Swiss German. A special feature is the frequent omission of the double sounds “au”, “eu” and “ei”. Thus, people in Vorarlberg say “Hus” instead of “Haus” (house), “Krüz” instead of “Kreuz” (gross) and “si” instead of “sein” (to be). Another difference compared to the other federal states is the absence of the word “war” (English: “was”). Instead, “gsi” (=”been”, Middle High German: “gesein”) is used – which is why the people of Vorarlberg are often called affectionately by their nickname “Gsi-Berger”. Despite all the similarities, there is no generally defined dialect Austria’s smallest federal state, but rather strongly regionally influenced dialect variations. The most striking can be found in Lustenau, in the deepest Bregenzerwald, as well as the Rhaeto-Romanic Montafon, while you’ll be able to catch traces of Swabian in Bregenz.

So if you want to make yourself understood in Vorarlberg, you can start with these words:

• Uf Wiederluaga: Goodbye
• gigagampfa: children’s seesaw at the playground

There are also words in Alemannic that sound outdated to the rest of Austria: