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Working to preserve a historic dialect (Texas German)
Star-Telegram ^ | 8-26-07 | R.A. Dyer

Posted on 08/26/2007 2:04:22 PM PDT by Dysart

AUSTIN --Although stories of der Cowboy and die Stinkkatze mayno longer get told in Texas, Germanic linguistics professor Hans Boas wants to make sure nobody forgets them.

Boas, an assistant professor at the University of Texas, is the founder and manager of the Texas German Preservation Project. Every month or so Boas ventures forth from his campus office in Austin to small towns like Boerne, Fredericksburg and Crawford to conduct interviews with the dwindling number of old-timers who speak the odd mixture of English and 19th-century German.

It's a dialect unique to the Lone Star State, and most of the 8,000 or so remaining speakers are in their 60s, 70s or 80s. Their numbers are expected to dwindle precipitously over the next few years, and Boas says that by 2040, the dialect will probably be gone.

And so die Stinkkatze -- the Texas German word for skunk -- and der Cowboy will become just a memory.

"The Texas German Dialect Project I started right after I got [to the University of Texas] in September 2001," Boas said. "The main reason was because no one else has been interested in Texas German from an academic point of view. But there are fewer and fewer speakers, and in 30 years it will be gone. I thought it would be a good idea to record the remaining speakers who are left."

Boas says he has interviewed more than 200 Texas German speakers and recorded more than 350 hours of the conversations. Interviewers are typically UT students who ask about childhood memories, games, social interactions -- anything, really, that will get Texas German speakers to provide a window into their lives.

'The culture's legacy'

Boas has preserved audio recordings of these interviews on an Internet database, which also includes video recordings and written text. Besides helping to preserve the dialect, the archive will allow further study of the linguistic features and grammar of Texas German. "It also is important to create a popular account of Texas German to share with local schools, preservation societies and museums -- the dialect is part of the culture's legacy, but it is rapidly eroding," Boas said.

Der Cowboy is Texas German for "cowboy" -- it's basically the English word spoken with a German accent. "Die Stinkkatz" literally means "stinky cat"; that is, it's the Texas German word for "skunk." Boas explains that because there were no skunks in their native country, German immigrants invented their own word.

The word "Luftschiff" is also unique to Texas German -- or at least, it's unique the way Texas German speakers use the term. During a vacation some years back in Germany, New Braunfels resident Bill Moltz used "Luftschiff" to describe his long flight across the Atlantic. For speakers of Texas German, "Luftschiff" means airplane.

But in modern German, "Luftschiff" means "airship." Texas Germans have been using the word since before the invention of the airplane and never updated it to reflect a post-Wright Brothers world.

"I remember people looked at us in Germany like we were nuts -- they said you flew here in a dirigible?" recalls Moltz, 68, still laughing about the incident. "But that's what happened. We use those terms."

Although fewer than 10,000 speakers remain, at one time as much as 20 percent of the Texas population may have spoken the language. Moltz said that many German settlers arrived in Galveston and spread out during the mid-1800s, and now a swath of German communities can be found running north and south down the middle of the state.

The immigrants settled in dozens of towns like Fredericksburg, New Braunfels and Boerne. At one time there were more than 150 German-language newspapers in Texas, and in many towns German was spoken almost exclusively.

Wars brought decline

But the dialect began to fade during World War I, Boas said.

"A little before World War I, there was a big nativist movement in the U.S. and [the idea] was that if you're in the United States, then you better speak English -- there just wasn't a lot of tolerance for people who speak differently," Boas explained.

He said there was another steep decline during World War II and that the last of the monolingual Texas German speakers are pretty much gone. Those who are left -- fifth-generation Texans like Moltz -- spoke the dialect as kids, but also speak English.

The Texas German Dialect Project has been funded through grants, although that funding expired at the end of last year, Boas said. He said it costs about $35,000 a year to maintain the program.

It also accepts contributions though a University of Texas endowment.

"Every time we lose a language, we lose a data set -- if researchers have more data, we can create and test theories about how language works more accurately," Boas said.

Texas German Dialect Project: www.tgdp.org

A different dialect

A sampling of unique Texas German words and their translations in European German and English:

Airplane

das Luftschiff -- Texas German

das Flugzeug -- European German

Blouse

die Taille -- Texas German

die Bluse -- European German

Car

die Car (pronounced Kaa) -- Texas German

das Auto (pronounced otto) -- European German

Little town

die kleine Stadt -- Texas German

das Dorf -- European German

Piano

das Piano -- Texas German

das Klavier -- European German

Truck (semi)

der grosse Truck -- Texas German

der Lastwagen -- European German

Skunk

die Stinkkatze -- Texas German

das Stinktier --European German

Squirrel

die Eichkatze --Texas German

das Eichhörnchen -- European German

Socks

die Strumpf --Texas German

die Sökchen -- European German

Source: Texas German Preservation Project


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Germany; Miscellaneous; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: culture; dialect; german; germanamericans; language; linguistics; texas
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To: mikrofon

LOL, sehr gut. Aber,

I think that’s “Ich bin Texikaner, j’alle!”


101 posted on 08/26/2007 7:07:15 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (NYT Headline: Protocols of the Learned Elders of CBS: Fake but Accurate, Experts Say)
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To: goldstategop

Yep. Probably FReepers. :)


102 posted on 08/26/2007 7:08:05 PM PDT by Dysart
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To: rock58seg

Interesting history.


103 posted on 08/26/2007 7:09:42 PM PDT by Dysart
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To: Physicist
There were a number of German settlements started in Texas during the Republic - some have been mentioned here:

The Alsatian settlements in Medina County (Castroville, D’Hanis, Quihi and Vandenberg)

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/uec1.html

Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels’ colony (New Braunfels and the surrounding area)

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/fso3.html

John O. Meusebach’s settlements around present-day Fredericksburg (the treaty he signed with the Comanche was the only one never broken by either side in US history)

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/fme33.html

Although they’re Slavic rather than Germanic, the Wends of modern-day eastern Germany came to Texas in the 1850s - and beerlovers should be grateful (one of them founded Spoetzel Brewery in 1909 - the makers of Shiner Beer)

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/WW/plw1.html

104 posted on 08/26/2007 7:11:32 PM PDT by decal ("The Political Advisor Is IN.")
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To: rock58seg
You have a very cool family history.

I was just tweaking the fans of historical revision around here. No offense meant or taken I hope.

105 posted on 08/26/2007 7:14:53 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (A good marriage is like a casserole, only those responsible for it really know what goes into it.)
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To: Eaker; humblegunner
Eaker

Das Scheisse-Kopf ... Texas German .....:o)

106 posted on 08/26/2007 7:18:06 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: Dysart
“Just don’t tell me Willie Nelson won’t be on his porch strumming his guitar. That would be devastating.”

He probably won’t be, but others will be - Jimmy Jones does a spot-on Willie (puts a clothespin on his nose).

Go by most any weekend - here’s their website:

http://www.luckenbachtexas.com/

The town is named for Albert Luckenbach - and Albert is a few miles east of there (also worth a visit):

http://www.alberttexas.com/home/

107 posted on 08/26/2007 7:24:24 PM PDT by decal ("The Political Advisor Is IN.")
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

None was taken by me, at your comments. Your post was a convenient place to get mine in, without it being a complete Non-Sequiter.

I only threw in the last paragraph to perhaps, enlighten some earlier, speak English, or leave the country, posters.

Put course some of them have a point. When living in NYC, I met a man, who claimed he was dispatched by the “Secret Service?” to New Braunfels. He was sent to close down the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung during WWII. Claimed they had some very curious German Language ads being run.


108 posted on 08/26/2007 7:31:13 PM PDT by rock58seg (Change Homeland Security to U. S. Security. It's time they remember what country to protect.)
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To: rock58seg

Put course = But of course


109 posted on 08/26/2007 7:33:31 PM PDT by rock58seg (Change Homeland Security to U. S. Security. It's time they remember what country to protect.)
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To: decal
He probably won’t be, but others will be - Jimmy Jones does a spot-on Willie (puts a clothespin on his nose).

LOL Genius!!

Tanks for the intriguing links. Luckenbach is in play again...

110 posted on 08/26/2007 7:34:04 PM PDT by Dysart
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To: Dysart

Like ..Ihr-all come back now?


111 posted on 08/26/2007 7:36:28 PM PDT by Rembrandt (We would have won Viet Nam w/o Dim interference.)
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To: Aruchu

Well, until 1803, it was “Reich” In English, The Empire. In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, the king of Prussia assumed the title Kaiser and it is the Empire of the Germans. So we have a second Reich. There was another Reich, of course, that of the Austrians. Hitler aimed at unification of the German lands. a restoration of the First Reich, a Third Reich. One reason why the Western Powers were so willing to let Hitler have the Sudetenland was that it, like Austria, was German.


112 posted on 08/26/2007 7:46:09 PM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: blam

“I’ve read that during WW1 and again in WW2 many Germans named Mueller changed their names to Miller due to harassment of Germans.”

There is a major league baseball pitcher (retired now) who was born Sanford Braun. He went into the BB Hall of Fame after a brilliant career with the Dodgers.

You know him as Sandy Koufax.


113 posted on 08/26/2007 7:47:13 PM PDT by Rembrandt (We would have won Viet Nam w/o Dim interference.)
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To: Dysart

“Smelly cat, smelly cat,
What are they feeding you?
Smelly cat, smelly cat,
It’s not your fault.”

One of the few funny moments from that idiotic show...


114 posted on 08/26/2007 8:15:42 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: Rembrandt

Then of course there are the “British” royals. Saxe-Coburg-Hesse or whatever it was, became Windsor. Battenberg became Mountbatten. Victoria and her precious “Bertie” Prince Albert I have been told, spoke German when at home.

Many such changes were made Because of WWI.


115 posted on 08/26/2007 8:21:23 PM PDT by rock58seg (Change Homeland Security to U. S. Security. It's time they remember what country to protect.)
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To: Rte66

Man, I love spätzle cooked with bacon. With a Warsteiner Dunkels.... mmmmmmmmmmmm....


116 posted on 08/26/2007 8:35:45 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: Rte66
I make spaetzle rather often. LOVE IT. And, yes, I add a touch of nutmeg. Toss it all in butter when it's done and serve it with any meat dish.

I used to have an actual spaetzle maker, but now I am a colander user. (Stir! STIR! Quick! QUICK!)

= )

117 posted on 08/26/2007 9:24:19 PM PDT by AnnaZ (I keep 2 magnums in my desk.One's a gun and I keep it loaded.Other's a bottle and it keeps me loaded)
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To: rock58seg

Windsor = Saxe-Coburg-Gotha


118 posted on 08/26/2007 10:17:27 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: Dysart

Hi
Texas born Freeper living in Ozarks of Missouri here. I am a seventh generation Texan on my English side, fourth generation on the German side. My ancestor,Fredrich Wilhelm Keng, came from Westphalia in Germany(Prussia) in 1848. They came into Galveston and traveled to Giddings, TX. They owned a mill in Germany and Friedrich’s father fought against Napoleon. I’m glad to hear there is someone interested in preserving the language.


119 posted on 08/26/2007 10:50:19 PM PDT by TXLady
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To: blam
I’ve read that during WW1 and again in WW2 many Germans named Mueller changed their names to Miller due to harassment of Germans.

We went from von Bauer to Bowers in my family.

120 posted on 08/26/2007 10:56:17 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (“Jesus Saves. Moses Delivers. Cthulu Reposesses...”)
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