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Peter Ernst: Dialektsoziologische Grenzräume in der Oststeiermark  

“Two-dimensional dialectology”, which was introduced in the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle Rhine (Mittelrheinischer Sprachatlas), has set new standards in the linguistic study of the Germanic languages and especially in the dialectology of German.  Starting from the premise that in eastern Styria there have been fundamental changes in the areas of transition between Central Bavarian in the north-east and Southern Bavarian in the south-west in the course of the past 30 years, the present article describes a pilot project in the framework of which the linguistic usage of three generations in about 30 localities of the area in question has been investigated in accordance with the “two-dimensional” model.  The investigation demonstrates that there has been a definite shift in the boundary areas, probably as a consequence of pragmatic factors.