Viennese German 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. At the beginning of the 20th century, one could differentiate between four Viennese dialects : Favoritnerisch, Meidlingerisch,, Ottakringerisch, and Floridsdorferisch. Today these labels are no longer applicable, and one speaks of a single Viennese dialect, with its usage varying as one moves further away from the city.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 : "Listen, I'm not stupid; what do I know, who it was?"
Inserting vowels into consonant clusters : 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.
The replacement of "ihn" or "ihm" with "eam", for instance: "Hast du ihn gesehen?" 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:
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. 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 foreigners, particularly from other states, feel is ugly. For example: Waaaßt, wos mir heut in der Schule für än gråååsliches Fläääsch kriegt ham? The monopthongized 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 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 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 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.
