Alltagswörter

Alltagswörter, literally "everyday words," denotes the portion of the vocabulary that people use in daily life. In linguistics, the term highlights high-frequency, broadly understood lexis that forms the foundation of spoken communication and informal writing. Alltagswörter are typically neutral in register and portable across a wide range of contexts, though regional varieties and dialects may alter specific items.

Scope and features: They include common nouns (Haus, Wasser), everyday verbs (gehen, essen, kommen), adjectives (groß, gut), pronouns (ich, du, man) and common function words (und, der, in). They are comparatively light in specialization and often characterized by relatively short syllables and straightforward pronunciation.

Relation to other registers: Alltagswörter sit between formal Bildungssprache (academic or official language) and casual Umgangssprache. They constitute the core of everyday communication and are frequently emphasized in language-learning curricula because they enable immediate communicative competence.

Variation and evolution: While many Alltagswörter are shared across German-speaking regions, regional variants exist and can differ in frequency or form, especially in Austria and Switzerland. Some items may be replaced by more neutral equivalents in formal writing.

Usage and importance: The concept is used in language teaching, readability research, and corpus studies to distinguish core everyday vocabulary from specialized or rare terms. It also helps in lexical simplification and in assessing language proficiency.

See also: Alltagssprache, Umgangssprache, Fachsprache, Bildungssprache.