Morphological Dynamics of German Adjective Gradation in Rural Regions of Austria

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of different socio-demographic, regional and linguistic variables on autochthonous rural Austrian speakers’ productions of comparatives and superlatives in two experimental settings (aiming at standard versus nonstandard registers of individual speech repertoires). Effects of setting, of the distance from the city of Vienna as well as of various linguistic variables were found. Age group turned out to be the most important socio-demographic variable.