Editing Austrian German (section)

===Special written forms===
For many years, Austria had a special form of the language for official government documents that is known as {{lang|de|Österreichische Kanzleisprache}}, or "[[Austrian chancellery]] language". It is a very traditional form of the language, probably derived from medieval [[deed]]s and documents, and has a very complex structure and vocabulary generally reserved for such documents. For most speakers (even native speakers), this form of the language is generally difficult to understand, as it contains many highly specialised terms for diplomatic, internal, official, and military matters. There are no regional variations because the special written form has been used mainly by a government that has now for centuries been based in Vienna.

{{lang|de|Österreichische Kanzleisprache}} is now used less and less because of various administrative reforms that reduced the number of traditional civil servants ({{lang|de|[[Beamter|Beamte]]}}). As a result, [[Standard Austrian German]] is replacing it in government and administrative texts.