Texas German

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Texas German is still spoken in Gillespie County today.

Texas German is a variety of the German language spoken by the descendants of the German-Americans who came to Texas , which was then independent from the mid-1850s, mostly through the emigration society “ Mainzer Adelsverein ” . Among them were the Germans who founded the city of Fredericksburg in 1846 under the leadership of the aristocratic association chairman Prince Carl zu Solms-Braunfels . The cities of New Braunfels , Boerne , Schulenburg , Weimar and Comfort were also founded by these Germans. During the heyday of Texas German, which lasted from around 1880 until World War I , more than a hundred thousand people spoke it in the Texas Hill Country, a region in central Texas .

history

German immigrants came to Texas over a long period of time, which became a US state in 1845 after ten years of independence. The Fredericksburg settlers isolated themselves from the other Texans by their refusal to learn English and formed a language island in the Hill Country around Fredericksburg . That period of isolation ended when the Gillespie County Fair moved to Fredericksburg in 1889. The community began employing English teachers in public schools after 1900, and German teaching was banned altogether during World War I. The hostility towards Germany, even during World War II , finally sealed the downfall of the Texas German. Today it is only spoken of by the elderly.

language

Texas German has no genitive and no coincidence of dative and accusative. Incidentally, in the course of the 20th century it became more and more a German-English mixed language and is therefore often subject to rules that depend on the respective social contact situation. At the University of Texas in Austin , the Germanist Hans Christian Boas devotes himself to Texas German.

Texas-Alsatian (Texas Alsatian), a dying variety of Alsatian that is still spoken by a few people in Medina County , must be distinguished from Texas German, which is close to Standard German .

Comparison with German and English

Texas German Standard German English
Stink cat skunk skunk
Airship plane airplane
county district county
Blanket ceiling blanket
Alles all / empty gone

See also

literature

  • Hans C. Boas: The Life and Death of Texas German. Duke University Press, Durham 2009 (Publications of the American Dialect Society 95).
  • Glenn G. Gilbert: The German Dialect of Kendall and Gillepsie Counties, Texas. In: Zeitschrift für Mundartforschung 31 (1964), pp. 138–172.
  • Marcus Nicolini: German in Texas. Lit-Verlag, Münster 2004. ISBN 3-8258-7541-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karen A. Roesch: Language Maintenance and Language Death. The decline of Texas Alsatian . John Benjamin, Amsterdam / Philadelphia 2012, ISBN 978-90-272-0288-8 , pp. 1-2 .

Web links