From ethnocultural pride to promoting the Texas Czech vernacular: current maintenance efforts and unexplored possibilities

Abstract

Texas Czech is a product of over a century and a half of contact between Moravian Czech and English in Texas. While Texans of this descent have largely maintained a sense of distinctive ethnic identity and have creatively re-authenticated their ancestors’ traditions into a unique Texas Czech culture, their language is now on the verge of disappearing. Having a healthy counterpart in Europe, Texas Czech may not appear to face as dire a fate as endangered Indigenous languages do. However, when this variety dies, so will a distinct blend of the nineteenth-century Moravian dialects, literary Czech and English spoken in Texas, which bears little resemblance to modern European Czech. This paper analyzes, through the lens of a participant observer trained as an applied linguist, the insiders’ views expressed in attitudinal questionnaires on the importance of the heritage language ability to ethnic self-identification and to maintaining their ethnic culture. It then explores the apparent detachment between one's self-perceived ability in Texas Czech and ethnic self-perception, the current state of teaching of Texas Czech and the ways in which well-established Czech-related organizations could attract more attention to both language documentation and language teaching while the interest and resources still exist.1