ABSTRACT
In this introductory chapter, Stefan Dollinger identifies the terminological confusion that underpins recent developments in German dialectology, which has developed conceptual and terminology incompatibility with international terms. Beyond the terminological confusion, which rests in the rejection of the concept of pluricentricity that is the base for English (e.g. World Englishes), Northern Germanic (Scandinavian), Dutch and Luxembourgish, among many other languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese or Arabic, the German practice proves to be science–theoretically questionable. The case of Austrian German is central in this debate. It is argued that if not resolved, the issue over how international borders should be sociolinguistically modelled threatens the unity of the fields of dialectology and border studies and sets a questionable precedent.
