Texas German

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Hrhenry
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Texas German

Postby Hrhenry » Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:48 am

These articles on dialects and languages disappearing are somewhat depressing, I suppose, but I ran across this on Vice:

http://www.vice.com/read/the-last-days- ... german-253

I found it interesting, as you never hear any talk of German dialects in the US.

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Re: Texas German

Postby iguanamon » Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:51 pm

Thanks for sharing this, Hrhenry. I read a BBC Article (with video) a couple of years ago about the researcher, Mr. Hans Boas. There is also a website about the documentation of the Texas German Dialect Project. It is sad to see something that has been a part of the culture for so long fading away.
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Re: Texas German

Postby sillygoose1 » Mon Sep 28, 2015 3:31 pm

This reminds me of all of the Italian dialects in North America that have been extinct in Italy for decades and are starting to finally die here. Does anyone know of any conservation projects for dying dialects of Italian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, etc in historically immigrant countries?
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Re: Texas German

Postby Lamonte » Mon Sep 28, 2015 9:42 pm

I have always been intrigued by the history of the Germans who settled in the middle of Texas, called the Hill Country. Many of the towns there have German names. I live a few hours north of there and sometimes drive to/through there for vacation.

It is unfortunate that in the past the push to conform to English has derailed Texas German. This also happened to Native American languages like Cherokee, but in recent decades there has been a more concerted effort to pass the language on to the younger generation.
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Re: Texas German

Postby Montmorency » Mon Oct 12, 2015 11:57 am

There is a similar issue with Welsh in Patagonia.

All Patagonians now speak Spanish, and only learn Welsh (if at all) as a second language. (At least I'm fairly sure that's the case).

There is certainly something still going there, as they still put on Eisteddfods (eisteddfodau) and send representatives to the National Eisteddfod (Eisteddfoad Genedlaethol) in Wales.

One of the things that probably used to keep the language going in Patagonia and in other ex-pat communities was the strict adherence to non-conformist Christianity in their chapels (very strong on choral singing, of course). This has tended to die out in ex-pat communities, just as it has in Wales itself, or is just a shadow of its former self. (There are still a couple of active chapels in London, I believe, but there used to be loads....Huw Thomas (the Welsh speaking BBC news reader) wrote an interesting book about it). And there used to be loads all over England, and most have closed down now. Regardless of one's views on religion, it was a uniting force for the community, and the language, and when it's gone, that will be one more nail in the coffin of the language. (May also be somewhat true of Texas German actually).

I met a Patagonian Welsh speaker in Oxfordshire last year. The interesting thing was that he had no Welsh heritage whatsoever, and had learned Welsh purely out of interest. His Welsh was certainly better than mine (but that's not a very high bar).
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Re: Texas German

Postby cpnlsn88 » Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:42 pm

An interesting resource on Texas Deutsch is the three part series by Thomas Meinecke - Texas Bohemia on Bayern 2 Hoerspiel Pool, free to download:

http://www.br-online.de/podcast/mp3-download/bayern2/mp3-download-podcast-hoerspiel-pool.shtml

These are wonderful recordings about 20 mins each - fluent native German with a Texan accent and it is great that there has been the project of recording Texas Deutsch. I guess this in anticipation that it will die out when the current speakers sadly pass away.

It is fascinating on the other hand to think about how young people might approach language learning i.e. how many go on to learn standard German and whether talking to Texas Deutsch speakers helps or hinders them in that.

It may be too late for Texas Deutsch because it has limited means of recruiting new native speakers so documenting may be all we can do.

For other languages and dialect minorities it is worth doing active things to promote linguistic diversity. The first step is recognising humans can have more than one language! The decline in Texas German started with a 1909 law in Texas stopping use of languages other than English in schools.
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Re: Texas German

Postby IronMike » Sun May 15, 2016 10:26 am

I had a student about 15 years ago who'd written his dissertation on Texas German. Damn I wish I could remember his name. It was a good read.
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Re: Texas German

Postby Tomás » Sun May 15, 2016 7:00 pm

I used to live in that region. I like it a lot, but intellectual curiosity is certainly not a feature of the local culture. I can't imagine that this language could survive much longer. It always did amuse me to hear German spoken in a Texas accent though.
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Re: Texas German

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Thu May 26, 2016 4:18 am

It was very interesting for me to run across this today, because I was thinking about it quite recently. My Granny W (Great Grandmother, my mother's father's mother) spoke "German" (Texas German I believe), which my grandfather forgot because he hated his mother, and my mother can't really remember, but it led her to live in Germany for a year.

I live just outside the Hill Country myself and think it would be just amazing to learn it, but nearly all the speakers are my grandfather's age (82). It's very much dying out. Most of these folks are quite rural and I imagine hard to find. Next time I go out to "that sausage place" (German-Polish family), I'll poke around a bit and report back.
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Re: Texas German

Postby IronMike » Thu May 26, 2016 9:13 am

There's also a heavy Czech population in Texas, in central and south Texas. When I was looking at universities, one of the ones I was considering had a large Czech department (can't remember which one...too many decades ago).

Interesting wiki on "Czech Texans"
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