Editing Texas German language

{{Short description|German dialects of south-central Texas}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name         = Texas German
| nativename   = {{lang|de-US|Texasdeutsch}}
| image        = File:Gruene, TX, Mansion Inn IMG 5521.JPG
| imagecaption = [[Texas Germans|Texas German]] architecture
| states       = [[Texas]]
| region       = [[Texas Hill Country|Texas German Country]]
| ethnicity    = [[Texas Germans]]
| speakers     = 70,000 (1972)
| ref          = <ref>{{cite news |last1=Vince |first1=Katy |title=Auf Wiedersehen to a Dialect |url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/auf-wiedersehen-dialect |access-date=April 7, 2015 |work=[[Texas Monthly]] |date=July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Adam |first1=Thomas |title=Germany and the Americas |date=2005 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=9781851096282 |page=1031 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8uxfTF4Lm-kC&q=texas+german+3000+speakers&pg=PA1031}}</ref>
| familycolor  = Indo-European
| fam2         = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3         = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4         = [[Elbe Germanic]]
| fam5         = [[High German languages|High German]]
| isoexception = dialect
| glotto       = none
| ietf         = de-u-sd-ustx
}}

'''Texas German''' ({{langx|de|Texasdeutsch}}, {{IPA|de|ˈtɛksasˌdɔʏtʃ|pron}}) is a group of [[German dialects|German language dialects]] spoken by descendants of mid-19th century German settlers, [[Texas Germans]]. They settled the '''Texas German Country''', running from [[Houston]] to the [[Texas Hill Country|Hills Region]], and founded the towns of [[Bulverde, Texas|Bulverde]], [[New Braunfels, Texas|New Braunfels]], [[Fredericksburg, Texas|Fredericksburg]], [[Boerne, Texas|Boerne]], [[Pflugerville, Texas|Pflugerville]], [[Walburg, Texas|Walburg]] and [[Comfort, Texas|Comfort]] in the [[Texas Hill Country]]; [[Muenster, Texas|Muenster]] in [[North Texas]]; and [[Schulenburg, Texas|Schulenburg]], [[Brenham, Texas|Brenham]], [[Industry, Texas|Industry]], [[New Ulm, Texas|New Ulm]] and [[Weimar, Texas|Weimar]] in [[East Texas]].<ref name="robbwalsh">{{cite book |title=Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pitmasters|author=Robb Walsh|publisher=Chronicle Books|year=2016|pages=119}}</ref><ref name="germanamericanlife">{{cite book |title=German-American Life: Recipes and Traditions|author=John D. Zug|author2=Karin Gottier|publisher=Penfield Press|year=1991|pages=58}}</ref>

== History and documentation ==
[[File:Badeker Karte des Staates, Texas 1849 UTA.jpg|thumb|201x201px|A Texas German map, ''Karte des Staates Texas'']]
While most heritage languages in the United States die out by the third generation, Texas German is unusual in that most German Texans continued to speak German in their homes and communities for several generations after settling in the state.<ref name="Daily Texan">{{cite news |title=Documentarians fight to preserve dying Texas-German dialect |work=[[The Daily Texan]] |access-date=October 10, 2016 |date=October 5, 2016 |url=http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2016/10/05/documentarians-fight-to-preserve-dying-texas-german-dialect}}</ref> The State of Texas recognized German as having equal status to [[Spanish language|Spanish]] from 1846<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6726/ |title=The Laws of Texas, 1822-1897 |volume=2 |year=1898}}</ref> up until [[World War I]]. Afterwards, Texas schools mandated English-only instruction, and required children to learn English in school regardless of what language they spoke at home. Due to the assimilation of these communities and strong [[anti-German sentiment]] during both [[World War I]] and [[World War II]], Texas German speakers decided to stop transmitting the language to their children, and shifted towards speaking only English.<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Kyrie |title=Texas German dying out: language of settlers aging with its users |work=[[San Antonio Express-News]] |access-date=June 2, 2013 |date=March 10, 2013 |url=http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Texas-German-dying-out-4343915.php}}</ref>

Currently, Dr. Hans Boas at [[University of Texas at Austin|the University of Texas]] is recording and studying the dialect,<ref>{{cite news |title=German dialect in Texas is one of a kind, and dying out |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=June 2, 2013 |date=May 14, 2013 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22490560}}</ref> building on research originally performed by Dr. Glenn Gilbert of [[Southern Illinois University Carbondale]] in the 1960s.

{{quote|It's an odd mixture of English and 19th-century German," says Boas ... "Hardly any of the Texas Germans speak alike. There's a lot of variation in the dialect. Texas German borrows about 5 to 6 percent of its vocabulary from English.'<ref name="utaustin2010">{{cite web |title=Vanishing Voices: Linguists work with remaining speakers of dying languages to preserve cultural memories |website=[[University of Texas at Austin]] |access-date =June 30, 2019 |date=May 10, 2010 |url=https://lifeandletters.la.utexas.edu/2010/05/vanishing-voices/}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

Boas' book on the language, ''The Life and Death of Texas German'', describes the German dialects which may have been the source of the language spoken in Texas.<ref>{{citation |title=Microsoft Word - Life and Death of Texas German review - Review of Life and Death of Texas German.pdf |access-date=June 2, 2013 |url=https://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~rdenzerk/Review%20of%20Life%20and%20Death%20of%20Texas%20German.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100712235206/http://rci.rutgers.edu/~rdenzerk/Review%20of%20Life%20and%20Death%20of%20Texas%20German.pdf |archive-date=July 12, 2010}}</ref>

A short documentary project named "All Güt Things" was produced about Texas German in 2016.<ref name="Daily Texan"/>

An episode with the title "Texas German" was published on the podcast Yellow of the Egg in 2022, where Dr. Hans C. Boas (Director of the Texas German Dialect Project) was a guest.

== Current distribution and population ==
As of the U.S. 2000 Census, some 1,035 people report speaking German at home in [[Fredericksburg, Texas|Fredericksburg]],<ref>[http://www.mla.org/map_data_results&state_id=48&place_id=27348&cty_id= MLA Language Map Data Center results, Fredericksburg, Texas, all languages]</ref> the town with the largest community of Texas German speakers, representing 12.48% of the total population, 840 in [[New Braunfels, Texas|New Braunfels]],<ref name="mla1">{{cite web |url=http://www.mla.org/cgi-shl/docstudio/docs.pl?map_data_results |title=MLA Language Map Data Center results, Fredericksburg, Texas |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815140430/http://www.mla.org/cgi-shl/docstudio/docs.pl?map_data_results |archive-date=August 15, 2013}}</ref> 150 in [[Schulenburg]],<ref name="mla1" /> 85 in [[Stonewall, Texas|Stonewall]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mla.org/map_data_results&state_id=48&place_id=70460&cty_id= |title=MLA Language Map Data Center results, Stonewall, Texas}}</ref> 70 in [[Boerne]],<ref name="mla1" /> 65 in [[Harper, Texas|Harper]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mla.org/map_data_results&state_id=48&place_id=32456&cty_id= |title=MLA Language Map Data Center results, Harper, Texas}}</ref> 45 in [[Comfort, Texas|Comfort]]<ref>[http://www.mla.org/map_data_results&state_id=48&place_id=16228&cty_id= MLA Language Map Data Center results, Comfort, Texas]</ref> and 19 in [[Weimar, Texas|Weimar]],<ref name="mla1" /> all of which except for Schulenburg and Weimar, lie in the traditional Texas German heartland of the Hill Country. [[Gillespie County]], with the communities of Fredericksburg, [[Harper, Texas|Harper]], [[Stonewall, Texas|Stonewall]], and [[Luckenbach, Texas|Luckenbach]], has a German-speaking population of 2,270, 11.51% of the county's total. In all, 82,100 German-speakers reside in the state of Texas,<ref name="mla1" /> including European German speakers.

== Comparisons with German and English ==
Texas German is adapted to U.S. measurement and legal terminologies. Standard [[American German]] words typically were invented, introduced from other German dialects of the region, or English loanwords were introduced for words not present in 19th-century German. Dialect leveling is also found throughout many of the American German dialects including Texas German.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tgdp.org/ |title=Texas German Dialect Project – Dedicated to the Preservation of Texas German |website=tgdp.org |access-date=April 29, 2019}}</ref> In some cases, these new words also exist in modern Standard German, but with a different meaning. For instance, the word {{lang|de-US|Luftschiff}} (used for "airplane") means [[airship]] in Standard German.

The table below illustrates some examples of differences:
{|class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto;"
! [[English language|American English]] !! Texas German !! Literal translation !! [[German language|Standard German]] !! Literal translation
|-
| '''skunk''' || {{lang|de-US|Stinkkatze}} || stink cat || {{lang|de-DE|Stinktier}} || stink animal
|-
| '''airplane''' || ''Luftschiff'' || airship || ''Flugzeug'' || flight thing
|-
| '''blanket''' || ''Blanket'' || blanket (borrowing) || ''Decke'' || blanket, cover
|-
| '''gone''' || ''all'' || empty; gone || ''leer''; ''alle''|| empty; used up
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Texas|Languages|Germany}}
* [[German Texan]]
* [[New Braunfels, Texas]]
* [[Czech Texan]]
* [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania German]]
* [[Hutterite German]]
* [[Plautdietsch]]
* [[German language in the United States]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book
| publisher = Duke University Press
| last = Boas
| first = Hans C
| title = The Life and Death of Texas German
| series = Publication of the American Dialect Society
| date = 2009
| isbn = 9780822367161
}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/all-gut-things-1 "All Gut Things" crowdsourcing project]
* [http://www.tgdp.org/ Texas German Dialect Project]

{{German language varieties outside Europe}}
{{Languages of Texas}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:German dialects]]
[[Category:New Braunfels, Texas]]
[[Category:German-American culture in Texas]]
[[Category:Endangered diaspora languages]]
[[Category:Texas Hill Country]]
[[Category:German-American history]]
[[Category:Gillespie County, Texas]]
[[Category:German language in the United States]]
[[Category:Languages of Texas]]
[[Category:Diaspora languages]]