This is the first Austrian spelling alphabet

From "Aachen" to "Zwickau," the revised German spelling alphabet spans - and in between, German city names dominate. This seems impractical for everyday use in other German-speaking regions, as the list includes virtually unknown places like "Quickborn," requiring a lot of prior knowledge. The new version of the "Austrian Dictionary" now includes an originally local spelling alphabet - for the first time.

The German spelling alphabet was "completely redesigned" in 2022, explained Rudolf Muhr from the "Society for Austrian German" (GSÖD) in an interview with APA. This was a - albeit quite late - "repair measure," after Jewish names were removed from the list at the behest of the Nazis in the 1930s. Even in Austria, the table thus designed was used for decades, according to the scientist from the University of Graz.

Criticism of the Approach

Muhr criticizes the approach in creating the revised German table as a "typical example" of how a dominant nation in a language area tries to create facts or does not consider the application outside its own borders. Research also revealed that there was "actually no official spelling alphabet" for Austria. Ultimately, over the past winter, the newly founded "Austrian Language Commission at the Society for Austrian German," composed of linguists, undertook the revision of the Austrian spelling alphabet, which will now be published in the updated edition of the "Austrian Dictionary" appearing in June.

Of the terms that stood for each of the graphemes on the list, only a few remained unchanged. The basis for the selection of words was the frequency in the first name statistics of Statistics Austria, the insight that substitute words for a grapheme should be short and concise, as well as widely known, familiar, and likely to remain relevant for a long time. If no suitable first name was found, frequently used nouns were used. Geographical names were to be avoided as much as possible, "because they require additional knowledge," according to Muhr.

Primarily, they searched for one- or two-syllable words without consonant clusters at the beginning. These make words difficult to pronounce, as is the case with "Friedrich." Muhr: "One must not forget that there are learners of German who already struggle with such a cluster at the beginning."

Austrian Spelling Table with "David", "Felix" and "Georg"

Many of the words or names that have been used for decades are also "simply outdated," Muhr was convinced. Names like "Dora" (new: "David"), "Friedrich" ("Felix"), "Gustav" ("Georg"), "Ludwig" ("Leo") or "Richard" ("Rosa") are now rarely given and are accordingly less common.

Overall, first names now carry even more weight: for example, "Nora" replaces "Nordpol" or "Zita" replaces the city name "Zürich." Compared to the old list, only "Cäsar", "Ida", "Otto", "Österreich", "Quelle", "Schule", "Xaver", "Ypsilon" and "scharfes-S" remain unchanged as substitutes for their respective initial graphemes. New to the list is "China" for "ch". "Ärger" and "Übel" have become "Ärmel" and "Übung".

During the negotiation process, there was sometimes intense discussion, but now they are waiting with a thorough revision and update. Clearly, the initiators assume that it will take a lot of time "until it sinks in." The first step towards this is anchoring it in the dictionary.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.