Linguistic Peculiarities
Viennese is rather different from the Austrian form of Standard German, as well as other dialects spoken in Austria (see also Austrian German and Bavarian).
At the beginning of the 20th century, one could differentiate between four Viennese dialects (named after the districts in which they were spoken): Favoritnerisch (Favoriten, 10. Bezirk), Meidlingerisch, (Meidling,12. Bezirk), Ottakringerisch (Ottakring, 16. Bezirk), and Floridsdorferisch (Floridsdorf, 21. Bezirk). Today these labels are no longer applicable and one speaks of 'one' Viennese dialect with its usage varying as one moves further away from the city.
Besides the locational dialects of Old Vienna, there were also class-based dialects. For example, Schönbrunnerdeutsch, or German as spoken by the courtiers and attendants of the Habsburg Imperial Court at Schönbrunn Royal Palace, had a manner of speech that had an affected bored inflection combined with overenunciation. The nasal tonality was akin to German spoken with a French accent. While far less used today, educated Viennese are still familiar with this court dialect.
Read more about this topic: Viennese German
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