Smith, Edna, Leecy Bergton Yankey, Delmer Moyer, Jesse Hershberger, Stanley Moyer, Delmer Moyer, interviewed by Kurt Kehr and Sabine Wolters, 1994
- Abstract Or Scope
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Side A: Interview with Edna Smith who is 81 years old. She married into the Smith family and her husband's mother spoke the Virginia German dialect, which they referred to as Dutch. Kehr reads some words in the Virginia German dialect to test her recognition of the words. Kehr also interviews a very old man (Delmer Moyer's father?) about his history in the area and who could or could not speak the Virginia German dialect. They are in Burgton and the man was a farmer for most of his life. This man tells stories from his life and the interview is entirely in English. They also interview 53–year-old Delmer Moyer. His father taught him how to speak the Virginia German dialect. Kehr asks him for the translation for multiple English words of common household items, counting, animals, and other words he remembers from his childhood. They discuss his various family members and which ones spoke the dialect. There is then an interview of 34-year-old Jesse Hershberger. Kehr reads him 40 sentences, which Hershberger then translates into his Virginia German dialect. Then Kehr asks for identification of basic words. Finally they run through his history in the area. For the remainder of the CD he tells a story about his past in the area in his Virginia German dialect. Side B: This contains an interview with 67-year-old Stanley Moyer. Kehr begins by reading English sentences and Moyer translates them to the dialect. Then Kehr lists some words in English and asks Moyer to provide the Virginia German word. This list includes grains, animals, plants, etc. Kehr also asks him to explain in dialect how he would plant and care for certain foods.
- Collection Context