Roma and Romani in Austria

The Austrian Roma and 'Austrian Romani' can be seen as a paradigmatic representation of the social and linguistic situation of Roma in the so-called Western affluent society. Just like in many Central and Western European countries, the Austrian Roma population comprises several groups. These differ both in their socio-political status and in their socio-cultural background, which results in dialectal and sociolinguistic variation. Social heterogeneity and linguistic variation connected with the self-organisation in the course of international developments concerning ethnic minorities have effects on the functionality and the status of Romani; the results of these processes are outlined in exemplary function for the Austrian situation.