The Evaluation of Language Varieties in Austria

College-educated residents (total N = 84) of Graz, Vienna, Innsbruck, & Salzburg, Austria, were given samples of speech from each of these cities & asked to evaluate them: regionally, by assessing a given sample as spoken in 1 of the 9 regional capitals of Austria or representative of Standard Austrian German; & socially, by assigning the sample to 8 different occupational categories. It was found that all samples were judged as supraregional & a given city-speech sample was assigned such a status most frequently by nonresidents. Vienna speech samples were most often attributed the status of Standard Austrian German. Vienna & Salzburg samples were associated with occupational categories representing a high social status. 1 Table, 9 Diagrams, 1 Appendix, 24 References. Z. Dubiel