Austman
| Austman | |
|---|---|
| دیچ Dîç | |
| Pronunciation | [/diːt͡ʃ/] |
| Created by | Karous |
| Native speakers | 2,916,000 (2000) |
Standard form | Viennese Language
|
Austman (دیچ [diːt͡ʃ] Dîç) is a West Germanic language belonging to the Upper German group, spoken in the southeast of the Republic of Austria down through the Pannonian Basin following the path of the Danube River through southeast Europe into Hungary and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Since the independence of Austria from the Ottoman Empire in 1881, Austman has been largely rendered under the shadow of Standard German, and until 1922, did not hold any official status in the country. However, unlike other so-called "High German dialects", Austman has maintained a strong speaker base inspite of the social ubiquity of Standard German, remaining the primary language of eastern cities like Graz. This is primarily due to the massive level of divergence coupled with social separation of the Austmans due to their adherence to Islam as opposed to the majority Catholic religion of the Austrian Germans.