People
Hans C. Boas, Project Director
Erin Covert, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Indranil Dutta, External Research Associate
Guido Halder, Graduate Research Assistant
Lars Hinrichs, External Research Associate
Marc Pierce, Research Associate
Karen Roesch, Graduate Research Assistant
Christopher Schelling, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Louise Swanepoel, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Hunter Weilbacher, Graduate Research Assistant
Former Members
Hans C. Boas, Project Director
Hans is an Associate Professor for Germanic Linguistics at UT Austin. 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.
E-mail: hcb
mail.utexas.eduHome Page: http://hcb.gmc.utexas.edu
Erin Covert, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Erin will be graduating from UT in December 2007 with a German major and art history minor. She is currently working on a departmental honors thesis about the expressionist works of Oskar Kokoschka in the Harry Ransom Center, and she is a DJ on "Es klingt wie Deutsch," the university's weekly German radio program on KVRX. In her spare time, she enjoys basically anything that will make her laugh, such as cooking large hunks of meat for her friends, losing at racquetball, playing hug-o-war and deciphering German dialects.
E-mail: erin.covert gmail.com
Indranil Dutta, External Research Associate
Indranil Dutta has a BA in German Language and Literature, and a PhD in phonetics and linguistic theory. His research focuses on acoustic phonetics, phonology, speech technology and historical linguistics. He is interested in investigating the phonetic basis of substrate effects in Texas German. He also plans to support the audio documentation and creation of a Texas German knowledge and speech base.
E-mail: idutta illinoisalumni.org
Guido Halder, Graduate Research Assistant
Guido Halder is pursuing a doctorate in German Linguistics at UT. His areas of interests are Semantics, Swiss German, Contrastive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. He has a Handelsdiplom from the Handelschule KV Baselland, Switzerland, a Masters of Art in Teaching from Trinity University and a Masters in German from UT. He has taught German, Economics and Government in Texas. His interest in the project lies in language preservation and methodology. On his time off, Guido enjoys playing tennis, SCUBA diving, cooking and traveling.
E-mail: halder mail.utexas.edu
Lars Hinrichs, Research Associate
Lars Hinrichs is an Assistant 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.
E-mail: lars mail.utexas.eduHome Page: www.lars-hinrichs.net
Marc Pierce, Research Associate
Marc is an assistant professor of Germanic linguistics at UT. 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.
E-mail: mpierc mail.utexas.edu
Karen Roesch, Graduate Research Assistant
Karen Roesch is pursuing a doctorate in German Linguistics at UT with special areas of interest in Texas German, Low Alemannic, and foreign language pedagogy. 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.
E-mail: karoesch mail.utexas
Christopher Schelling, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Chris is currently a German major. A native of South Texas, Chris is descended from German immigrants to Texas and has harbored interest in the Texas German dialect. He is also interested in the field of linguistics and wants to learn more languages than necessary, particularly Yiddish and Esperanto. Chris is not sure what he is going to do after college, but knows he wants to visit central Europe in the near future. Chris is glad to be part of the TGDP and hopes to make great contributions to the project.
E-mail: danimoth25 gmail.com
Louise Swanepoel, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Louise Swanepoel is a German and English major, at the moment. She comes from South Africa, and has been living in the US for about ten years, the last four of which have been in Texas. All in all, she enjoys living in Austin, but like the Liberal Arts major she is, wants to go travel the world and probably live in Europe one day. She is interested in all things language-related, and wants to learn far too many new languages - spoken ones and dead ones. Working on the TGDP could not have made any other person happier. In her free time (such as it is, when school's in session), she enjoys reading, writing, being outdoors, seeing good movies and listening to music in languages she doesn't understand.
E-mail: louise42 mail.utexas.edu
Hunter Weilbacher, Graduate Research Assistant
Hunter, a first year graduate student and a New Braunfels High alumnus, first began noticing the difference between Texas German and Deutschland German in German class in high school when great Texas German words such as "geschmauken" were not to be found in the dictionary or written on tests. He went on to learn German as an exchange student in Austria and became even more interested in dialectology based on his experience with Viennese. Hunter hopes to begin researching German Sprachinseln in South America summer 2006 and would like to continue working on language contact situations.
E-mail: wladiwotz hotmail.com
Former Members
Ulrike Bathe
Ulrike was a graduate student in Germanic Studies. Her academic interests include German-German relations after World War II, art history, film, and youth culture. She is a native of Potsdam, Germany. Her interest in Texas German was sparked after she befriended a Texas German speaker in her neighborhood. Ulrike enjoys traveling, arts & crafts, and exploring museums.
E-mail: ulrike_bathe mail.utexas.edu
Kathryn Carr
Kathryn is pursuing an undergraduate degree in German, and is currently considering a double major including linguistics. Always fascinated and intrigued by the ways in which humans communicate, German became her chosen foreign language in college. Her German family 4 generations back still spoke their native language here in the U.S. Living in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany from 2001-2002, she returned to the states to complete her degree. Interested in translating and teaching German, her other trades and activities include professional massage therapy, yoga, and singing.
Email: katlyncarr yahoo.com
Karen Ewing
Karen is interested in language and identity among the Wends of Texas. The interviews she conducts will become part of the Texas German archives and will also serve as the basis for her dissertation. She thinks this research is very important as it is a way of providing current and future generations with an idea of what life is like for Americans who have experience with a culture other than the dominant one and who grow up speaking languages other than English. If you are a German-speaking Wend in Lee or Fayette County, she would love to interview you!
E-mail: karen.ewing gmail.com
Mohamed Fakhreddine
Mohamed Fakhreddine graduated from UT in December 2004 with a degree in computer science senior at UT. He was born in Lebanon and has survived electrocution, aerial bombardment and a falling satellite dish just to be here. His interests include artificial intelligence and robotics.
Email: lionbarz hotmail.com
Alina Gelhardt
Alina is pursuing her undergraduate degree in Textiles and Apparels. She grew up near Heidelberg, Germany and moved to Austin 3 1/2 years ago. Being a native German she is very interested in the Texas German culture and fascinated by the people’s stories, experiences and use of language. In her free time Alina enjoys movies, good food, good music, dancing, traveling and calling her family and friends in Germany.
E-mail: alinagelhardt gmx.de
Kirkland "Alex" Fulk
Alex graduated from UT in May 2005 with a BA in History and German with an emphasis on post WWII German youth culture. He plans to pursue these studies in graduate school. He has studied German and German culture since high school and has traveled abroad furthering his understanding in this field. Being a native Texan interested in German culture he wishes to preserve this part of the culture so that others will have access to it. His hobbies include playing music and reading.
E-mail: afulk1 sbcglobal.net
Nathan Green
Nathan Green is a freshman in the College of Liberal Arts. After spending one year in Cologne he has returned to Austin and is majoring in German. He also likes playing the electric guitar.
E-mail: nathan_j gmx.de
Jansen Harris
Jansen Harris is a senior in Radio-Television-Film. He plans to move to Germany after graduation and work within the German media. Jansen became interested in Texas German after learning German at UT-Austin and then subsequently working at various English camps for German students in Europe, and experiencing the many different dialects there. Other than school Jansen likes to play guitar, read, and travel as much as possible.
E-mail: jansenharris hotmail.com
Ryan Harty
Ryan is a senior working on a German/Sociology double major and a minor in Anthropology. His interest in the Texas-Germans is rooted in language politics and their implications which, in this case, resulted in the gradual extinction of a vital part of the culture's identity: its language. In addition to his academic pursuits, he also enjoys cooking, rooting succulents, the Recycling Task Force, and painting.
E-mail: rtharty mail.utexas.edu
Alena Horn
Alena is a fifth-year graduate student in the Department of Linguistics. Her academic interests include the phonology of glossolalia as well as the interaction of musical elements and lyrics in country music. She enjoys crafts and polka music. As a fifth-generation Texas-Czech, Alena has a keen awareness of the need to preserve the dialects spoken by Texans in their mother tongues.
E-mail: alena mail.utexas.edu
Kersten Horn
Kersten is a sixth-year graduate student in Germanic Studies. His first encounter with Texas German was at the Vereinskirche museum in Fredricksburg, TX, where his conversation with a local native-speaker of German intrigued him. Kersten's interest in German as a subject of study and intellectual inquiry dates back to his school days in Germany, where he was exposed to a great variety of German literary works. Kersten uses his spare time to socialize with his wife and friends, watch movies, read books and newspapers, and listen to music.
E-mail: khorn mail.utexas.eduHome Page: http://www.kerstenhorn.com/
Eric Hutchins
Eric is a recent graduate at UT. Eric earned his BA in German and completed a Business Foundations Program. He is currently employed by the Hyatt Regency in Austin. He loves fishing, disc golf and other outdoor activities. His all encompassing interest in German stems from his first 3 years of learning the language in High School and his many visits to various German-speaking regions. The preservation of this dialect allows future linguists the opportunity to further research this topic and interested parties the chance to listen to some really cool people. Eric is interested in the many cultural differences between America and Germany.
E-mail: ehutut yahoo.com
Jenny Ljungqvist
Jenny Ljungqvist is a third year French and German double major. She is a foreign language nerd who took Swedish in her first year at UT and wants to learn Italian, Spanish, Finnish, etc. She is thinking about going to graduate school for a master in women's studies. She also enjoys music, movies and playing poker.
E-mail: thespian_chick317 hotmail.com
Kirsty McCarthy
Kirsty spent most of her childhood growing up in Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany) where she became deeply attached to the language and the people. She is a sophomore linguistics major with a minor in German. Her interest in this project is for the preservation of a dying language. Her non-academic hobbies include photography, swimming, and reading.
E-mail: kirstymccarthy1 yahoo.com
Erik McMillan
Until the summer of 2003, Erik was a MIS student in the UT McCombs School of Business. Since he graduated, he founded his own business (see: www.silenttimer.com). In February 2002, he designed and implemented the TGDP pilot website as well as well as its pilot database. Then, he managed the TGDP data architecture in addition to its web site design and interface. Erik's areas of interest include data base structures, data normalization, programming, web design, graphics design, networking, and languages (French & Norwegian). His non-academic interests include playing soccer, writing and recording music and traveling.
E-mail: erik proace.comHome Page: http://www.proace.com
Cheryl L. Moran
Cheryl is double majoring in German and Linguistics at UT Austin. Her areas of interest include phonetics, phonology and language acquisition. As a native Texan whose family immigrated to Texas from Germany and spoke fluent German until two generations ago, she feels strongly about the importance of studying and preserving Texas German. Cheryl plans to pursue linguistics in graduate school. Her outside interests include piano performance, painting, and drawing.
E-mail: chezzalynn10 yahoo.com
Tan Nguyen
Tan Nguyen is a fourth-year linguistics and Japanese double major at the University of Texas at Austin. His main interests are in language pedagogy, dialects, and translations. His post-graduation plans include teaching English in Japan, mastering the Japanese language, and entering a Japanese graduate university for language pedagogy. His current goal in life is to become a teacher of foreign language. Though none of this has much relation to Texas German, Tan is fond of dialects and language preservation in general and is happy to periodically maintain and update the TGDP website.
E-mail: nguyen.hoang.tan gmail.com
Tina Oesterreich
Tina is a Ph.D. Candidate in Germanic Linguistics at UT Austin. She is interested in language acquisition and how multimedia can be used as a tool for scholars and learners. She finds the Texas German project to be important as it will preserve a part of Texas’ history that can be accessed for years to come. Tina spends her spare time observing the bilingual language acquisition of her son and enjoying outdoor activities.
E-mail: toestreich mail.utexas.edu
Jim Rybarski
Jim Rybarski graduated with a major in Linguistics and a minor in German in May 2006. He became interested in learning about Texas German after traveling to Germany for a summer and translating portions of a text on Mennonite migration through Europe. In his free time Jim enjoys mountain unicycling, which is quite possibly the best sport ever. Since July 2006, Jim has been working as a volunteer for the Peace Corps in Benin, Africa, where he is teaching English at a local village.
E-mail: j5g2bvk8hzp gmail.com
Austin Daniel Simmons
Austin is just starting out as a freshman in Linguistics at UT. Hence, he seeks to supplement his high-school-learnt German with college lore. As a native Texan, Austin was born into the state’s cultural legacy; to him, the dialects of German do much to make Texas unique, and we should lose so much to see them go. Managing his time as well he may, Austin delights in languages diverse, and finds the greatest pleasure in historical linguistics. Outside of that, he has recently discovered dance to be both a purpose and a joy, and takes him to flamenco lessons regularly. He also likes to camp, hike, bike, swim, and wave-ride.
E-mail: asimmons mail.utexas.edu
Jarrod Slocum
Jarrod graduated with a double major in German and mathematics from UT in the summer of 2003. He plans to continue studying mathematics in graduate school at some point with the end goal of teaching in some capacity. He is mostly interested in the theoretical side of math, including such topics as algebraic number theory and topology, and tends to shy away from applied math. His hobbies outside of school include playing guitar and biking around Town Lake as much as possible. Jarrod became interested in learning more about Texas German and German communities in Texas after travelling a bit in the spring of 2002 through eastern Europe and visiting the old German colonies of Siebenburgen in what is now Romania.
E-mail: jarrod_slocum hotmail.com
Kathleen M. Smith
Kathleen is a graduate student at the School of Information at UT. She received undergraduate degrees in English Lit and Germanic Studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and spent a year in Regensburg, Bavaria, as an exchange student. Kathleen became interested in this project because it organizes and preserves a valuable record of linguistic history and cultural interaction. Her current hobbies include running, playing the saxophone, and learning Japanese.
Email: Kathleen.smith mail.utexas.edu
John Stewart
John Stewart is a recent Ph.D. graduate from the Department of Germanic Studies at U.T. Austin. His research fields include Germanic linguistics and language acquisition. John's prior experiences with conducting linguistic fieldwork and building a corpus of spoken language data explain his attraction to the Texas German Dialect Project. John worked on the project from Fall 2002 through Summer 2003. At that time he completed his dissertation entitled "The Fundamental Difference between Child and Adult Second Language Acquisition: a Longitudinal, Naturalistic Study of Parameter Resetting in Swedish Interlanguage." He then accepted a position as lecturer at the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
E-mail: John.Stewart iued.uni-heidelberg.de
Jana Thompson
Jana Thompson recieved her MA in Germanic Studies from UT in the spring of 2005. Her master's report, "A Process-Based Approach to the Treatment of English-language Past Participles in Texas German," dealt with English code-switching in Texas German and its possible insights into the morphological and phonological processes of bilingual speakers. For the 2005-06 Academic Year, she will be studying abroad at the Freie Universität Berlin and beginning her PhD research on the narratives of post-World War II refugees from East Prussia.
E-mail: jnthompson mail.utexas.edu
Heiko Wiggers
Heiko, a native of Emlichheim, Germany, is finishing up his PhD in Germanic Linguistics at UT Austin. His areas of interest include Low German, dialectology, Dutch, historical linguistics, and teaching both German and Dutch. He is particularly interested in language preservation as he himself is a speaker of a minority language, Plattdeutsch, which is still spoken in the "Grafschaft Bentheim" in Lower Saxony (northern Germany). Heiko enjoys playing the guitar, reading, swimming, and great home-cooked dinners. Beginning in Fall 2005, he will be a lecturer of German at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
E-mail: hwiggers mail.utexas.edu
John Wiggins
John Wiggins is a recent graduate of UT with a degree in Computer Science. He is working on various programming tasks for TGDP, mostly on the website backend and database. His programming interests include parallel and grid computing in addition to computer graphics. When not sitting in front of a computer, John enjoys riding his bike all over Austin or cooking up some tasty vegetarian food.