page_title: Austrian German
section_title: Standard German in Austria
hierarchical_section_title: Austrian German / Standard German in Austria
caption_attribution_description: English: Austrian school script, 1995 version, cursive. For an earlier version, see Schulschrift 1969. Deutsch: Österreichische Schulschrift seit 1995: Schrägschrift Français&#160;: Écriture scolaire «Schulschrift» autrichienne, 1995&#160;: l'écriture cursive
context_page_description: Austrian German, Austrian Standard German, Standard Austrian German, or Austrian High German, is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria. It has the highest sociolinguistic prestige locally, as it is the variation used in the media and for other formal situations. In less formal situations, Austrians tend to use forms closer to or identical with the Bavarian and Alemannic dialects, traditionally spoken – but rarely written – in Austria.
context_section_description: The official Austrian dictionary, das Österreichische Wörterbuch, prescribes grammatical and spelling rules defining the official language.
  Austrian delegates participated in the international working group that drafted the German spelling reform of 1996—several conferences leading up to the reform were hosted in Vienna at the invitation of the Austrian federal government—and adopted it as a signatory, along with Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, of an international memorandum of understanding (Wiener Absichtserklärung) signed in Vienna in 1996.
  The "sharp s" (ß) is used in Austria, as in Germany.
  Because of the German language's pluricentric nature, German dialects in Austria should not be confused with the variety of Standard German spoken by most Austrians, which is distinct from that of Germany or Switzerland.
  Distinctions in vocabulary persist, for example, in culinary terms, where communication with Germans is frequently difficult, and administrative and legal language, which is due to Austria's exclusion from the development of a German nation-state in the late 19th century and its manifold particular traditions. A comprehensive collection of Austrian-German legal, administrative and economic terms is offered in Markhardt, Heidemarie: Wörterbuch der österreichischen Rechts-, Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungsterminologie (Peter Lang, 2006).
caption: Schulschrift (1995), an Austrian primary-school handwriting style
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