What is it?

Texas German is a German language dialect spoken by descendants of German immigrants who settled in Texas in the mid-19th century.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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, the State of Texas recognized German as having equal status to Spanish from 1846 up until World War I, when Texas education rules were established mandating English-only instruction, requiring children to learn English in school regardless of what was spoken outside it. Due to the assimilation of these communities and public hostility towards the German language during both World War I and World War II, Texas German speakers drifted towards English and few ed the language to their descendants. By 1950, the number of new speakers of the language was virtually zero.

The dialect is near extinction as it is only spoken by a few elderly Texans.