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From 1979 to 2020, Professor William D. Keel and his graduate students at the University of Kansas recorded speakers of German dialects in Kansas and Missouri. This collection contains MP3 excerpts from the recorded interviews, edited to preserve the privacy of participants. The recordings contain data collected from dialect questionnaires developed in Germany and the USA, along with free speech conversation, anecdotes, jokes, songs and recipes.
With just a few exceptions, speakers are identified by a code that begins with KS or MO, depending on the state the speaker represents, Kansas or Missouri.
Questionnaire sets are found in compressed zip file format for easy download of multiple soundfiles.
Refer to the User Guide for more information.
For an introduction to the German dialects in Kansas, read Deitsch, Däätsch, Düütsch and Dietsch: The Varieties of Kansas German Dialects after 150 Years of German Group Settlement in Kansas by William Keel.
For comprehensive statistics on mid-20th century German usage in Kansas counties (along with other languages), read Foreign Language Units of Kansas by J. Neale Carman.
With just a few exceptions, speakers are identified by a code that begins with KS or MO, depending on the state the speaker represents, Kansas or Missouri.
Questionnaire sets are found in compressed zip file format for easy download of multiple soundfiles.
Refer to the User Guide for more information.
For an introduction to the German dialects in Kansas, read Deitsch, Däätsch, Düütsch and Dietsch: The Varieties of Kansas German Dialects after 150 Years of German Group Settlement in Kansas by William Keel.
For comprehensive statistics on mid-20th century German usage in Kansas counties (along with other languages), read Foreign Language Units of Kansas by J. Neale Carman.