Texas German (German: Texasdeutsch) is a dialect of the German language that is spoken by descendants of German immigrants who settled in the Texas Hill Country region in the mid-19th century. These immigrants founded the towns of New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, Schulenburg, Weimar, Walburg, and Comfort. Most German Texans continued to speak German in their homes and communities, but were required to learn English when Texas education rules mandated English-only instruction during and after World War I. Due to the growth of these communities and cultural bias during World War I and World War II, Texas German speakers drifted towards English, and few passed the language to their descendants.
The dialect is near extinction, as it is now spoken almost exclusively by a few elderly German Texans. Currently, Dr. Hans Boas at the University of Texas is recording and studying the dialect, building on research originally performed by Dr. Glenn Gilbert, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, in the 1960s.
[edit] Current distribution and population
Some 1,035 people report speaking German at home in Fredericksburg,[1] the town with the largest community of Texas German speakers, where they constitute 12.48% of the total population, 840 in New Braunfels,[2] 150 in Schulenburg,[2] 85 in Stonewall[3] 70 in Boerne,[2] 65 in Harper,[4] 45 in Comfort[5] and 19 in Weimar,[2] all of which except Weimar lie in the traditional Texas German heartland of the Hill Country. Gillespie County, with the communities of Fredericksburg, Harper, Stonewall and Luckenbach, has a German-speaking population of 2,270, 11.51% of the county's total population. 82,100 German-speakers reside in the state of Texas,[2] but most of those are probably not Texas German speakers.
[edit] Comparisons with German and English
Texas German is intelligible to anyone with an understanding of continental German, though it adapted to U.S. measurement and legal terminologies. German words were invented or English was "Germanicized" for words not present in 19th century German. In some cases, these new words also exist in modern Standard German, but with a different meaning. The word Luftschiff (see below), for instance, means airship in Standard German.
Refer to the table below for some examples of differences:
| Texas German |
Literal translation |
Standard German |
English |
| Stinkkatze |
Stinkcat |
Stinktier |
skunk |
| Luftschiff |
Airship |
Flugzeug |
airplane |
| County |
County |
Kreis |
county |
| Blanket |
Blanket |
Decke |
blanket |
| all |
empty/gone |
leer/alle |
gone |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Varieties of German spoken outside Europe |
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