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Contact: Mary Jane Dunlap, University Relations, (785) 864-8853.

KU researchers preserving German dialects in Kansas

LAWRENCE--Two University of Kansas researchers are continuing a project begun nearly 20 years ago by William "Bill" Keel, KU professor of German, to map the locations of German-speaking people in Kansas. They are enlisting German teachers in Kansas to help with this cultural heritage project.

"There is a certain urgency," said Chris Johnson, one of three KU researchers working on a "Linguistic Atlas of Kansas German Dialects." Many of the Kansans who learned German as children from their immigrant parents or grandparents are now in their 60s and 70s.

"Some of the dialects are dying and could be gone in this generation," said Gabriele "Gabi" Lunte, a researcher working with Johnson and Keel. Lunte and Johnson are courtesy assistant professors of German.

Even among the newest German-speaking immigrants to Kansas, there is a rapid assimilation process in which language dialects adapt and change, Johnson said. The most recent German-speaking immigrants to Kansas are from Mexico.

Johnson and Lunte received a Kansas Humanities Council grant to seek out the Mexican Germans as part of the linguistic study. This year they are concentrating on interviewing the new Mexican German immigrants in southwest Kansas.

"These are families who have moved to southwest Kansas from the State of Chihuahua in Mexico," Lunte said. "They are from Old Colony Mennonites who moved to Mexico from Canada early in the 20th century. They have come to Kansas to escape extreme poverty in Mexico and are working as farm laborers."

"What we're seeing is similar to what was happening at the turn of the 19th century in Kansas settlements," Johnson said. Children have little resistance to adopting English. They may still use German, but not as carefully as their parents.

To help them reach more Kansans and because of the urgency in reaching older German speakers for this cultural heritage preservation project, the KU researchers have invited certified German-language teachers in Kansas to join the project.

"Next year we hope that German teachers in Kansas will have some of their students interview relatives or grandparents who may have learned German as children," Lunte said.

"It's not realistic to cover the entire state with two people," Johnson said. The distance of many communities from Lawrence often means far more driving time than interviewing time.

In the past year, Johnson and Lunte have driven 4,000 miles for 12 interviews. A weekend drive from Lawrence to Sublette, for example, is a 900-mile round trip and may allow time for only one or two interviews.

Lunte said, "We find that the 30-minute interviews often extend to an hour or so. It seems when you show an interest in their language and culture, people open up to you. So far all the families have been very welcoming and inviting us actually into their homes and into their hearts."

"We do more interviews in winter months than summer because the families have more work in summer months," Johnson said.

Last summer, Johnson and Lunte traveled to Sublette and Scott City for interviews. They also have traveled to Hays, La Crosse, Marienthal and Quinter in western Kansas; Hesston, Buhler and Inman in central Kansas; Coffeyville in southeast Kansas; and Bremen, Marysville, Ottawa and Topeka in northeast Kansas.

To learn more about the "Linguistic Atlas of Kansas German Dialects," see a sample of interview questions or hear some recorded dialects, visit the project's Web site at www.ku.edu/~german/german_dialects.html