Tiroleans

(also Tirolese), Austrians inhabiting the Austrian Land of Tirol and the semiautonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige in Italy. There are 539,000 Tiroleans living in Austrian Tirol (1971 census) and more than 200,000 living in Italian Tirol (1970, estimate). German is the literary language, while Austro-Bavarian and Alamann dialects are used in everyday speech.

The Tiroleans are descended from the Germanic Bainwarii and Alamanni tribes, who intermarried with the local population of romanized Celts, Rhaetians, and Illyrians in the second half of the first millennium A.D. The Tiroleans, who are Catholics, differ from other Austrians in native costume, traditional songs, and folklore.