| Austria |
| Language name |
SLOVENIAN |
| Population |
20,000 to 40,000 in Austria (1993 T. Priestly), including at least several thousand Windisch speakers (1995). |
| Alternate names |
SLOVENE |
| Dialects |
WINDISCH. |
| Comments |
Separated by the Karawanken Mts. from the larger group of Slovenes in Slovenia. They and their speech are called 'Windisch', an archaic form of Slovene, heavily influenced by German. The dialects of Slovene, generally, tend to differ from one another very much. No one has made any kind of a measured dialect analysis, so it is not possible at this time (1995) to say how different any of the dialects are from the standard (T. Priestly, U. of Alberta, personal communication 1995). Some speakers speak Standard Slovene well; some use it only in church. Some of the ethnic group are able to speak the dialects, some are losing their command of them. Many speakers go to church, where they hear Standard Slovene. Speakers are bilingual or trilingual in the Slovenian dialect (Windisch), a German regional variety (Kärntnerisch or Steierisch), or Standard German. Most speakers educated since 1945 speak Standard German reasonably well. Most do not consider themselves to be Slovenians, but Carinthians, belonging to the German culture. Investigation needed: intelligibility with Standard Slovenian. Official language. Bible 1584-1996. See main entry under Slovenia. |
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