Minority languages of Austria

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Languages of Austria
A bilingual sign in Ludmannsdorf
Minority

Minority languages are spoken in a number of autochthonous settlements in Austria
. These are:

The

Austrian Federal Constitution calls for the respect and promotion of ethnic groups resident in Austria and a special set of rights for Austrian Croats, Czechs, Hungarians, Romani, Slovaks and Slovenes was established under the terms of the Ethnic Group Act (German: Volksgruppengesetz) 1976.[2] The rights of Croats and Slovenes are also set forth in the Austrian State Treaty.[2] Austria signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on 5 November 1992 and application of the charter became effective under international law on 1 October 2001.[1]

In the view of the representatives of the speakers of minority languages, however, the federal laws concerning regional or minority languages, as well as the Austrian application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, remain too restrictive.[3]

Official Minority Languages

Croatian

Dialects of Burgenland Croats by J. Lisac
Main article: Burgenland Croatian

A group of

Hitler annexed Austria in 1938, this law was abolished. In 1955, the Austrian State Treaty was signed. It gave permission to the Burgenland Croats to use Croatian in education, judiciary, and public administration. With the adoption of the Law on National Minorities in 1976, use of Croatian in public life became limited. After a constitutional complaint was heeded in 1987, parts of the law were changed and Croatian was introduced as an official language in 6 out of 7 districts of Burgenland.[4] As of 2001 there were 19,412 speakers, according to official reports.[5] Due to the ongoing process of urbanization and the poor economic situation in many parts of Burgenland, many speakers of Burgenland Croatian varieties also live in Vienna and Graz
.

Like the

Magyarisation
policies during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Almost all Burgenland Croats are fluent in German.

Slovene

Federal Gymnasium for Slovenes

The

bilingual in German as well, and the local Slovene dialect is not entirely the same as standard Slovene.[6] The Carinthian group of Slovene dialects extends beyond the present borders of Carinthia. Carinthian Slovene dialects are spoken throughout Slovenian Carinthia and extend into the Pohorje Mountains and along the upper Drava Valley in Slovenian Styria. Additionally, a Carinthian Slovene dialect is spoken in the Upper Carniolan locality of Rateče in Slovenia (close to the border with Italy), whereas in the nearby town of Kranjska Gora, a transitional dialect between Carinthian and Upper Carniolan is spoken. The Official Census of 1991 reported 15,500 Slovene speakers in the state of Carinthia, with some estimates going up to 31,000 or 5.7% of the state's population at the time.[6] The Slovenian Gymnasium in Klagenfurt is the central educational institution for the Slovene speaking community of Austria.[7] In 1992 there were 3,000 pupils enrolled in bilingual classes.[7]

During the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia its authorities and authorities of constituent Socialist Republic of Slovenia and Socialist Republic of Croatia were involved in a series of disputes over the treatment of ethnic minorities in Austria.[8] Slovenian dissatisfaction was caused by differences in interpretation of the Austrian State Treaty as well as the decision by Carinthian authorities to end compulsory bilingual schooling in 1958.[8] In April 1971 the Slovene "Contact Committee" expressed their dissatisfaction in a memorandum to the Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky in which they listed requests for specific measures for the protection of the Slovene language.[8] On 11 November 1976 approximately 150,000 people in Ljubljana participated in an officially sponsored protest in solidarity with the Slovene community.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^
    Federal Chancellery of Austria
    . Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  2. ^
    Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs
    . Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  3. ^ "EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES-APPLICATION OF THE CHARTER IN AUSTRIA 3rd monitoring cycle" (PDF). Council of Europe. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  4. ^ "gradišćanski Hrvati | Hrvatska enciklopedija". Enciklopedija.hr. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  5. ^ "Bevölkerung 2001 nach Umgangssprache, Staatsangehörigkeit und Geburtsland" [Population 2001 by colloquial language, nationality and country of birth] (in German). Archived from the original on 6 June 2012.
  6. ^
    S2CID 143561008
    .
  7. ^
    S2CID 189880584
    .
  8. ^
    JSTOR 40867905
    .
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