Current Members

Margo Blevins, the previous Graduate Research Assistant (i.e., Project Manager) for the Texas German Dialect Project, completed her PhD in August 2022. Her dissertation, titled The language-tagging & orthographic normalization of spoken mixed-language data, with a focus on Texas German, proposes ways to streamline the annotation of Texas German transcripts to make them more usable for researchers. 

Margo was first introduced to the TGDP in 2012 when she took Hans Boas’ course on Texas German at UT Austin and went on a trip to Wall, Texas to conduct interviews. She has been working with the TGDP since 2016, either as the Project Manager, or as more general support. For the next year, she will continue working with the TGDP as a postdoc and she looks forward to making significant headway on several of TGDP projects.

 

Hans is the Raymond Dickson, Alton C. Allen, and Dillon Anderson Centennial Professor for Germanic Linguistics at UT. His areas of interest include documentation and preservation of endangered languages and dialects, computational lexicography, syntax, lexical semantics, and contrastive linguistics. He became interested in Texas German after hearing it spoken for the first time on a trip through Fredericksburg. A native of Göttingen, Germany, Hans enjoys cooking, traveling, playing the piano, hiking, and country western dancing.

hcb@mail.utexas.edu

http://hcb.gmc.utexas.edu

Damir is Associate Professor for Computational Linguistics at Indiana University. His areas of interest include speech and language technologies for documentation and preservation of low-resourced and endangered languages and dialects, deep natural language processing, computational semantics and pragmatics. His interest in Texas German grew over the years while traveling through Texas, visiting the colleagues at UT, and becoming intrigued by the project goals and activities in the TGDP. Damir grew up in Dortmund, Germany, and enjoys Texas BBQ, as well as traveling, meeting people, nature, and music.

dcavar@iu.edu

http://damir.cavar.me

Lyo Coleman is from Austin, Texas and graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in German. He also minored in Physics. Lyo has been taking German since seventh grade, he researched the Texas German Dialect Project in high school, and his thesis centered around the project and the death of minority languages. He participated in a German American exchange program in high school and studied in Berlin for a semester abroad. Lyo loves to learn about languages and cultures and has studied Korean and Mandarin in the past. He hopes to help as much as possible seeing as German and Texas culture are two things very close to his heart.

 

Glenn Gilbert joined the TGDP in 2017 as an advisor to the project. He wrote a pioneering dissertation on Texas German, graduating from Harvard in 1963. He was at UT Austin as an assistant professor from 1963-1970, and then moved to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he worked until his retirement in 2005. Glenn laid the foundation for the study of Texas German, most notably with his well-known Linguistic Atlas of Texas German (UT Press, 1972), as well as numerous other books and papers. After he retired, he moved to Florida. We are incredibly lucky to have Glenn as an advisor to the TGDP.

glenngilbert1869@gmail.com

Riley Greene is a junior at the University of Texas at Austin, pursuing a degree in German and European Studies. Her passion for German language, culture, and history was ignited by a transformative exchange program in Germany and Austria during her high school years. Living with a host family, she immersed herself in the German/Austrian way of life, fostering a deep appreciation for their rich heritage.

With a strong desire to continue her academic journey, Riley aspires to pursue a master’s degree and ultimately embark on a career as a German language instructor. She is eager to gain practical experience working with German speakers through the TGDP and is excited to be expanding her knowledge and skills in the field.

 

Heidi is a senior who is originally from Colorado, but has lived in Texas and Belgium as well. She is majoring in Linguistics and getting a certificate in German as well. Heidi grew up in German and Flemish household due to her dad and his side of the family originally being from Germany. Because of that, Heidi has always had an interest in the Germanic languages, and languages in general. This interest was the deciding factor for Heidi to join the TGDP, because the Texas German dialect is such an interesting piece of Texas and German history for her and she wanted to learn more about it. She plans to participate in the Würzburg Summer Program to get a better grasp of the German language and culture, as well as to make sure she is on a better path to go into the field of translation once she completes her degree through UT.

 

Tanja Haupt is a German exchange student visiting UT Austin in Fall 2024. She has an undergraduate degree in International Relations and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in political science at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Her main areas of interest include American politics and transatlantic relations, making the Texas German Dialect Project of central interest to her. Coming from the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, she is fluent in German as well as the Badisch dialect spoken in southwestern Germany. She is very interested in learning more about the Texas German dialect and comparing it to today’s German.

 

Lars Hinrichs is an Associate Professor in English Language and Linguistics at UT Austin. His research focuses on issues of language diversity and migration, especially where different varieties of English are involved. Having become interested in speakers of Texas German on a field trip to Doss in 2006, he is now researching the substrate influences on the English of Texas Germans.

https://www.larshinrichs.site/

Ellen Jones is a graduate student in the Department of Germanic Studies at UT Austin. She joined the project in January 2020 as an additional Graduate Research Assistant. Coming to Austin from Vermont, she completed her undergraduate studies in Linguistics and German at the University of Vermont, and was the Outstanding German Senior in 2019. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, dialectology, language teaching pedagogy, and language use in media. She spent a gap year living in Rhauderfehn, Germany through the American Field Service exchange program. While unfamiliar with Texas German, Ellen’s interest in dialects stems from her time in Rhauderfehn living with a family who partially speaks Low German at home. Ellen is looking forward to learning more about the TGDP.

ejones7463@utexas.edu

James Kearney holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Germanic Studies at UT Austin, is a Assistant Professor of Instruction at UT Austin, taught German for many years at Katy High School, and has been a longtime student of the history of the German settlements in Texas.

Dr. Kearney has written several award-winning books and articles about Texas German history and European immigration to Texas in the 19th century. He has also taught several classes at UT Austin, including a class on European immigration (Fall 2013) and the UGS 303 Signature Class “The Texas German Experience” (Fall 2022).

https://jamesckearney.com

james.kearney@austin.utexas.edu

Madelyn McCollough is a graduate student in the Department of Germanic Studies at UT Austin. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied German and Sociology. Though she is not a linguist, she is interested in all things German language and was fascinated to learn about the Texas German community. She is looking forward to learning more about research, translation, and Texas German as part of the Texas German Dialect Project. 

 

Leon came to UT Austin as an exchange student from Würzburg, Germany and is currently majoring in History. In his home country, he is studying to teach English, History, and Social Studies to high school students. As a Fulbright grantee, he is particularly interested in German-American relations. The TGDP combines historical and linguistic elements in a unique way and is predestined to deepen Leon’s knowledge in both subjects.

 

Katherine is from Austin and is a third-year history major with a German certificate. After graduation, Katherine hopes to pursue a PhD with a research concentration on German immigrants in the United States Civil War. She is excited to work with TGDP to help preserve and share Texas German.

 

Marc is an associate professor of Germanic linguistics at UT Austin. His research focuses on historical linguistics, phonology, and the history of linguistics. He first became interested in Texas German during a stint as a visiting assistant professor at UT in 2005-06, and is looking forward to investigating it more intensively. He plans to focus on the history and phonology of Texas German.

Anna Reschke was born in Russia, raised in Germany, and has lived in various countries ever since. She is currently an international student at the University of Texas, where she is studying Political Science and Sociology, with her home university located in Bavaria. Growing up bilingual and learning additional languages over the years, she developed a keen interest in the societal and historical changes within languages. She has always aspired to work on a research project and is excited to contribute to the TGDP team.

 

Karen Roesch is an Assistant Professor of German at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. She is also the Hoyt-Reichmann Scholar of German-American Studies and the Director of the Max Kade German-American Research and Resource Center. Karen received her Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics at UT in 2009 with special areas of interest in Texas German, Low Alemannic, and foreign language pedagogy. Her dissertation on Texas Alsatian served as the basis for her 2012 book with John Benjamins (Language maintenance and language death: The decline of Texas Alsatian). She has a Masters in Curriculum and Teaching from Michigan State University and has taught German, French, English, and Japanese abroad in Australia, Germany, and Japan, as well as in New York and Texas. She is a native Texan and became interested in Texas German several years ago through her High School German teacher from the German community of Doss. In 2000, she moved to Doss and taught German in the Fredericksburg High and Middle Schools before returning to UT. Before starting her job at IUPUI, Karen taught as a lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University in San Marcos.

Moritz is a Master’s student in Chemistry from the University of Würzburg, Germany, currently participating in an one-year exchange program at The University of Texas at Austin. He joined the Texas German Dialect Program to deepen his understanding of the unique German-Texan cultural and linguistic heritage. Growing up in Lower Franconia, he was exposed to a blend of regional dialects, including Franconian, Hessian, and Bavarian. Moritz first learned about the TGDP through conversations with exchange students from UT while serving as a tutor in the Würzburg Summer Program.

 

Julia is a current exchange student from Germany and studies Special Education at UT. Aspiring to be a teacher for children with disabilities, she came to the United States to enhance her English skills and immerse herself in American and Texan cultures. Growing up in Bavaria, she was surrounded by various Southern German dialects, and working with the TGDP provides her with a sense of familiarity and connection to her roots.

 

Joren Somers studied English, German, Dutch and Icelandic at Ghent University, the University of Kent and the University of Iceland. After a short career in teaching, he obtained a PhD from Ghent University on alternating Dat-Nom/Nom-Dat verbs in German and Icelandic. As of September 2024, he has been employed as a Francqui Fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation at the University of Texas at Austin. His research is focused on non-canonical subjecthood in German, Icelandic and Dutch.

 

Jan is a transfer student at UT who studies electrical and computer
engineering. He is originally from Bavaria, Germany. In the university
of Würzburg he studies Human Computer Interaction.  He speaks three
languages fluently (German, English and Spanish), as well as two
German dialects (Fränkisch and Bayrisch). Furthermore, he wants to
extend his dialect portfolio an add Texas German to it. Currently he
is working with the TGDP on building a large language model. After
graduation he hopes to continue working on large language models and
to be fluent in Texas German.

 

Caden is a third-year psychology major pursuing a minor in history and a certificate in German. Born and raised in Frisco, he has lived in Texas his whole life and has no plans of leaving. It is because of his interest in German and history alongside his native Texan experience that the Texas German Dialect Program was a great fit.

 

Matthias Warmuth received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2023. He has an interest in linguistics, SLA, and L2 pedagogy. His dissertation focused on how language death and language attrition, i.e., the process of forgetting a native or first language, affect the pronunciation of Texas German.

More specifically, his research addresses a variety of changes in the sound system, contrasting data collected by Glenn Gilbert in the 1960s with more recent data collected by the TGDP. His focus lies on developments that are most likely due to transfer from American English (AE), the dominant language for all current speakers of TxG. Matthias has been working with the TGDP since 2017.

Jana is a historian and DAAD Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.  With a focus on U.S. and transatlantic history, her research interests include 19^th and 20^th century immigration, knowledge, and religious history as well as the history of racism.  Currently, she is working on her second book titled “The Lager Beer Revolution in the United States: The History of Beer and German-Americans as a Reinvention of Ethnicity, Knowledge, and Consumption”. She analyses the technological and cultural transfer of the “German art of brewing” to the United States, covering the beginning of the 19^th century, when German-style, bottom-fermented beers were first introduced until national prohibition in 1920.   

Emma Zimmermann is from Bryan, Texas and is currently a junior at UT studying Political Communication and pursuing a certificate in German. She was introduced to the language as a child because of her father and grandparents that only speak German. She continued learning the language in high school, and hopes to study abroad through one of the UT programs. In an interest to connect German culture with her own experiences, Emma started researching Texas Germans and their influence in Texas for a thesis paper in high school. After completing this thesis, Emma found TGDP at UT and is looking forward to learning more about Texas German culture!