Up-to-date, empirical, and sociolinguistically grounded data on multilingualism in Austria is currently lacking. Existing data is fragmentary and stems from official surveys (e.g., only until 2001 censuses, and school statistics). The language questions posed in those contexts are, however, historically charged and, not only therefore, problematic from a sociolinguistic perspective. The project “Aspects of (multi-)lingualism in Austria” addresses that research gap by conducting a (socio)linguistically oriented survey representative for the Austrian electorate population.
This representative survey aims at a multidimensional representation of multilingualism in Austria regarding the parameters competence, usage and attitudes. Therefore, it focuses the following aspects:
The project’s outcome and the results of the survey will provide an important context for the interpretation of sociolinguistic research on (multi-)lingualism in Austria. Moreover, it will have implications for language and education politics in Austria.
The project is led by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alexandra N. Lenz and Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Stefan Michael Newerkla. It is part of the thematic platform “Multilingualism in Science” of the ÖAW. Further team members are Agnes Kim) (ACDH-CH, University of Vienna), Wolfgang Koppensteiner, and Maria Schinko.
1 January 2022 – 31 December 2023
Institut für Germanistik der Universität Wien
DEPARTMENT OF SLAVONIC STUDIES, Universität Wien