About the TGDP

Welcome to the Texas German Dialect Project (TGDP) in the Department of Germanic Studies and the Linguistics Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Besides useful information about Texas German language and culture, this site also contains the user interface and database of the Texas German Dialect Archive (TGDA). The TGDA is an online digital archive of audio and textual materials documenting sociolinguistic interviews with native speakers of Texas German. Click here for a video about the TGDP.

You will have to register and login in order to access any archive resources, but you can browse other parts of this website without registering. To get started, go to the Dialect Archive page.

 For the past four decades, Texas German has not been passed on to younger generations at home, meaning that fewer and fewer young people speak the dialect. Since the number of native Texas German speakers will shrink drastically over the next two decades, the dialect will become extinct by 2040. Therefore, the TGDP was founded in September 2001 with financial help from the Dean of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin to record, archive, distribute, and analyze the remnants of this rapidly eroding dialect as it is spoken at the beginning of the third millennium.

There has long been a need for an accessible archive of audio and video materials of language in use. This need has been felt more and more acutely by linguists and others working with these materials as time has shown the fragility of non-digitized media and the unfortunate frequency with which irreplaceable data is lost due to any of a number of causes. The need for such an archive is also felt because of the difficulty of publishing large corpora, whether in audio or text format.

Until the advent of Internet technology, an internationally-accessible digital audio archive was unfeasible. Now, with recent advances in digital technology and the decreasing costs in implementing this new technology, an archive like the TGDA, long envisioned by scholars and others who value these materials, is a reality.

User Rights and Responsibilities

 “By using the Texas German Dialect Project (TGDP) website and the Texas German Dialect Archive (TGDA) database, I agree to the following conditions:

1. I will not use any resource in the TGDP database for commercial purposes. If any commercial use is planned, then I will need to get written permission from the TGDP.
2. I will provide full and accurate citation in any publication that appears either in print or online for all resources I use from the TGDP database.
3. I will notify TGDP of any significant research and/or findings that result from my use of resources in the TGDP database.
4. I will archive with the TGDP any derivative materials I create from resources of the TGDP including transcriptions, translations, re-analyses, and similar materials.
5. When using the TGDA database and Graded Access System, I will act and interact with the TGDP project group in good faith. If the TGDP group has reason to believe that I am not acting in good faith, the TGDP group retains the right to alter or terminate the relationship between myself and the archive.
6. I will respect the intellectual property rights and copyrights that pertain to the holdings of the TGDP to the fullest extent possible.
7. If I have any concerns or questions regarding my responsibilities as a user of the TGDP website and database, I will contact the TGDP group at: texasgermandialect@gmail.com.

Creating Citations

Disclaimers concerning the TGDP website and TGDA database

• As an integral part of the goals of the TGDP to both preserve and disseminate irreplaceable Texas German language materials, the TGDP will make available to you, the user, as many of its holdings as possible. Access levels for each resource, however, are set by the depositor and the co-creators of that resource, and may change if any of the creators of the resource request it.
• The TGDP group makes every effort to respect the intellectual property rights and copyrights associated with every resource in the TGDP database. If you have any concern regarding the holdings of the TGDP or the policies pertaining to them, please contact the TGDP at texasgermandialect@gmail.com.
• Like any library, the TGDP database is a safe, organized, and maintained repository for materials and functions as a resource for interested persons.
• The opinions, beliefs, or assertions expressed in the content of any resource archived in the TGDP database do not represent the opinions or beliefs of the TGDP group or of the University of Texas at Austin.
• The opinions or beliefs held by any depositor to the TGDP/TGDA database do not represent the opinions or beliefs of the TGDP group or of the University of Texas at Austin.
• The TGDP is not responsible for and does not necessarily endorse the content of any website to which it provides a link, nor does the TGDP necessarily endorse the content of any website which provides a link to the TGDP.
• The TGDP is not affiliated with or sponsored by any religious or missionary organization.
• The TGDP is being developed by faculty, staff and students at the University of Texas at Austin. However, the opinions expressed at the TGDP website do not represent the opinions of the University of Texas. The TGDP group alone is responsible for the text posted at the TGDP website. Any concerns should be directed to: texasgermandialect@gmail.com.

THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY A GRANT FROM HUMANITIES TEXAS, A STATE PARTNER OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES.

The TGDP/TGDA have received financial support to develop this pilot site from the Dean of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas, the Center for Teaching and Learning (formerly known as the Center for Instructional Technologies) at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Center at the University of Texas at Austin. We are deeply grateful for their support.

Furthermore, we thank the North Carolina Language and Life Project for the inspiration to start the Texas German Dialect Project.