The Carinthian dialect is considered the most likeable dialect in Austria, with Tyrol and Upper Austria close behind. The dialect of the southernmost German state is particularly well received by women and people over 50. Overall, it can be seen that the east of the country feels less strongly about its own linguistic world as a marker of identity than the west. The absolute majority of Austrians fully perceive the dialect as an integrative part of their own culture, which should actually be cultivated more. However, one in two also believes that it is an advantage to have some command of High German in addition to one's dialect. A strengthening of the High German polarizes the opinion of the population of the Alpine Republic. In contrast to some intellectuals, almost three-fifths of Austrians do not consider a person who speaks a strong dialect to be funny.
Particularly in the immigration and integration discussion, a central demand of large parts of the population is repeatedly brought into play, namely that learning the German language is a basic prerequisite for integration. Language is thus seen as something that connects and builds bridges to develop social understanding. Like many other languages, the German language has a special characteristic: In addition to the almost uniform written language, there are large differences in emphasis, expression, vocabulary, and so on. Austria in particular is characterized by different dialects. This aroused the demosco-pic curiosity of the IMAS research staff, so that a hit list of likeable dialects was drawn up as part of a multi-topic survey: The Carinthian dialect is considered the most likeable dialect in Austria, closely followed by Tyrol and Upper Austria. The dialect of the southernmost German state is particularly well received by women and people over 50. Overall, it appears that the eastern part of the country feels less strongly about its own linguistic world as a marker of identity than the western part. Lower Austria, Burgenland and Vorarlberg are at the bottom of the list.
The absolute majority of Austrians feel that the dialect is an integrative part of our culture and should be cultivated more. However, every second person is also of the opinion that it is advantageous to have some command of High German in addition to one's dialect. Especially the importance for Austrian culture is emphasized by women and people over 50 years of age. Switching" between the two linguistic worlds of dialect and High German is something that people with a higher education in particular are in favor of.
A stronger use of High German polarizes the opinion of the population of the Alpine Republic. To be precise, it is 48 percent to 52 percent who agree or disagree with this statement.
In contrast to some intellectuals who have caused a stir in recent months by trying to discredit the dialect, almost three-fifths of Austrians do not even consider a person with a really strong dialect to be funny. Only 14 percent would consider an Austrian with a strong dialect to be very strange, another 28 percent at least somewhat so.