Tracing a standard language in Austria using methodological microvariations of Verbal and Matched Guise Technique

Abstract

Based on the key hypothesis, that there are heterogeneous conceptualizations of “standardness” within the German speaking countries, this paper both methodologically and empirically tangles main aspects on “standard in Austria” from the perspective of perceptual variationist linguistics. Two series of comprehensive listener judgment tests based on 536 informants, considering different sociolinguistic parameters and assumptions on model speakers, indicate shiftings away from competing (country-specific) conceptualizations towards heterogeneous dimensions of “standard in Austria” with complex evaluative patterns.