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In sociolinguistics, an abstand language is a language variety or cluster of varieties with significant linguistic distance from all others, while an ausbau language is a standard variety, possibly with related dependent varieties. Heinz Kloss introduced these terms in 1952 to denote two separate and largely independent sets of criteria for recognizing a "language":
This framework addresses situations in which multiple varieties from a dialect continuum have been standardized, so that they are commonly considered distinct languages even though they may be mutually intelligible. The continental Scandinavian languages offer a commonly cited example of this situation. One of the applications of this theoretical framework is language standardization (examples since the 1960s including Basque language and Romansh language).
An abstand language is a cluster of varieties that is distinctly separate from any other language. European examples include Basque language and Breton language. Kloss also spoke of degrees of abstand between pairs of varieties. He did not specify how the differences between two varieties would be measured, assuming that linguists would apply objective criteria. A standard linguistic criterion is mutual intelligibility, though this does not always produce consistent results, for example when applied to a dialect continuum.
An abstand language does not need to have a standard form. This is often the case with minority languages used within a larger state, where the minority language is used only in private, and all official functions are performed in the majority language.
Languages belonging in this category are recognized as such because of having been shaped or reshaped, molded or remolded—as the case may be—in order to become a standardized tool of literary expression.Kloss identified several stages of this development, beginning with use of the variety for humour or folklore, followed by lyrics and then narrative prose. The next phase, which he considered crucial, was use of the variety for serious non-fiction. From this point, the variety could be further developed for use in technical, scientific or government domains.
A standard variety developed in this way can be mutually intelligible with other standard varieties. A commonly cited example occurs in the Scandinavian dialect continuum spanning Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The three standardized languages Norwegian, Swedish language and Danish language (or four if Norwegian Bokmål and Nynorsk are distinguished) are mutually distinct ausbau languages, even though speakers of the different standards can readily understand one another.
This classification invokes the criterion of social and political functions of language use. The sociolinguist Peter Trudgill has linked Kloss's theoretical framework with Einar Haugen's framework of autonomy and heteronomy, with the statement that a variety is an ausbau language corresponding to the statement that it is used "autonomously" with respect to other related languages. Such a language has an independent cultural status, even though it may be mutually intelligible with other ausbau languages from the same continuum. This typically means that it has its own standardized form independent of neighbouring standard languages, it is typically taught in schools, and it is used as a written language in a wide variety of social and political functions, possibly including that of an official national language. In contrast, varieties that are not ausbau languages are typically only spoken and typically only used in private contexts. Trudgill expands the definition to include related varieties:
An Ausbau language is an autonomous standardized variety together with all the nonstandard dialects from that part of the dialect continuum which are heteronomous with respect to it i.e. dependent on it.
An Ausbau language is defined by social criteria, and hence tend to treat languages as social constructs that can be identified only through its social status and usage. However, the coexistence of abstand and ausbau languages lead to two opposing sets of criteria over the status of nonstandard varieties. For example, various varieties of German and Italian are considered dialects according to Ausbau criteria, although they are linguistically distant from the standard languages. (2025). 9789027260383, John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027260383
Muljačić introduced the term Dachsprache, or "roofing language", for a dialect that serves as a standard language for other dialects. These dialects would usually be in a dialect continuum, but may be so different that mutual intelligibility is not possible between all dialects, particularly those separated by significant geographical distance. The roofing language may also cover linguistic varieties that are not mutually intelligible with the roofing language, such as in the case of Standard German. (2025). 9781800345560, Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9781800345560 In order to resolve the difficulty of partitioning a dialect continuum, Goossens as well as Chambers and Trudgill argue that all nonstandard varieties that are under the roofing language should be considered part of the same language as the roofing language. (2025). 9783110860252, Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110860252 In 1982, "Rumantsch Grischun" was developed by Heinrich Schmid as such a Dachsprache for a number of quite different Romansh language forms spoken in parts of Switzerland. Similarly, Standard Basque and the Southern Quechua literary standard were both developed as standard languages for dialect continua that had historically been thought of as discrete languages with many dialects and no "official" dialect. Standard German and Italian language, to some extent, function in the same way. Perhaps the most widely used Dachsprache is Modern Standard Arabic, which links together the speakers of many different, often mutually unintelligible varieties of Arabic.
The Dachsprache functions together with dialects to form a linguistic diasystem, which consists of different linguistic systems that
coexist and mutually influence. Within the diasystem, the Dachsprache functions as the standard for interdialectal communication, for example, with Standard Chinese assisting communication between different dialects and influencing their vocabulary. (2025). 9789004281523, BRILL. ISBN 9789004281523
When two standards are based on identical or near-identical dialects, he considered them as splits of the same standard into two or more, constituting a pluricentric language. Examples include British and American Standard English, Standard Austrian German and German Standard German, or European and Brazilian variants of Portuguese. High Hindi and Urdu also have a common dialect basis (Hindustani). The same is the case with Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin, which also have the same dialect basis (Shtokavian), and consequently constitute four standard variants of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language.Daniel Blum (2025). 389913253X, Ergon. 389913253X (NSK). (FFZG)
Standards created from different dialects, but with little abstand, would not be considered separate abstand languages, but constitute distinct ausbau languages, as noted above for Danish language, Swedish language and Norwegian. The concept of ausbau is particularly important in cases where the local spoken varieties across a larger region form a dialect continuum. In such cases, the question of where the one language ends and the other starts is often a question more of ausbau than of abstand. In some instances, ausbau languages have been created out of dialects for purposes of nation-building. This applies, for instance, to Luxembourgish vis-a-vis German (the vernaculars in Luxembourg are varieties of Moselle Franconian, which is also spoken in the German sections of the Moselle River valley and neighbouring French département of Moselle). Other examples of groups of vernaculars lacking abstand internally but that have given rise to multiple ausbau languages are: Persian language of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan ( cf. Iranian Persian, Dari, Tajik language); Bulgarian and Macedonian, because they have different dialect bases.
Finally, the ausbau languages may be so different that they also constitute abstand languages. Examples include Dutch language versus German language, Persian language versus Pashto language, and Tamil language versus Telugu language.
In the former two cases, scholars do not always agree on the best classification, as they always partake, inadvertently, in the "language making" and "language unmaking" process. The concept of a One Standard German Axiom in that language is a case in point that illustrates the contested nature of the first two types of ausbau languages and occasionally also the third, varying with the degree with which sociolinguistic processes are assigned relevance in a particular approach.
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