This four-minute BBC video documents a population of ethnic German-Americans. They are the descendants of Germans who immigrated to Texas 150 years ago. Over the generations, the language evolved into a unique dialect. Today linguist Hans Boas is trying to document the dialect before it dies out. While it persisted for a very long time, World War II, and the ensuing stigma against anything German, brought an end to its transmission. Today’s speakers are all 60 or older and will soon be gone.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 18
Marc-André Chénier — June 29, 2013
Video removed :(
Rob — June 29, 2013
You can find the video on BBC's website here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22490560
TlindaT — June 29, 2013
I find the contrast rather interesting, because on this side of the pond in German, Austria etc. many locals are ranting about the refusal of (mainly) Turkish immigrants to adapt to local culture and speak proper German even if they are second or even third generation.
ViktorNN — June 29, 2013
Thank you for this!
As a German-American with children, I've found it so frustrating that German-American historical and educational resources are hard to come by compared to other groups. It's so odd considering that German-Americans are the largest ethnic group in the country - you'd think library bookshelves would be stuffed with German-American histories, but they're not (quite the opposite, sadly). The stigma of the wars is long worn off, so it seems past due for German-American history to get some airplay :)
[links] Link salad performs interpretive dance | jlake.com — June 30, 2013
[...] Texas Germans: WWII and the End of a Dialect — [...]
Charles — June 30, 2013
I'm Hans Boas, and this is Franz Boas, and we're here to [clap] gepumpt you up.
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Texans and Second-Generation Code Switching — July 11, 2013
[...] 7/11/2013: the sociology website The Society Pages included this post abut the archiving of the German Texas accent which is slowly fading [...]
A2Bookmarks Australia — August 15, 2024
The BBC video titled "Texas Germans: WWII and the End of a Dialect" explores the history of a unique ethnic group in Texas whose German dialect has evolved over 150 years. This dialect, spoken by descendants of German immigrants, faced a significant threat during World War II due to the stigma against anything German. Despite its long-standing presence, the dialect is now in danger of disappearing as its speakers age, with most being over 60 years old. Linguist Hans Boas is working to document this dialect before it vanishes completely.
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