Editing Texas German language (section)

== 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.