Puhoi Egerländer Dialect

Meet the informants (speakers)

Ben Straka

The late Ben Straka (pictured with his wife, Isabel) was born in 1907. His grandfather, Paul, came out from Bohemia in 1863. Ben was bilingual. He regularly spoke in dialect with his parents, his brothers and sisters and with the other old Puhoi identities.

We'll let Ben Straka introduce himself: mp3

The recordings of Ben featured on this web site were made between 1978 and 1993.

Fred Rauner

Fred was born in 1928. His grandfather came out from Bohemia in 1863. He played in the well-known Puhoi Band, and, in fact, is the last of the original players. He is bilingual. Fred is now (2019) the last know fluent dialect speaker alive.

We'll let Fred introduce himself: mp3

Maureen Roase

Maureen was born in 1933. She was an author who wrote many books about Puhoi and the surrounding area. And she was also bilingual. Unfortunately she too has since passed away.

Jack Wenzlick

Jack was born in 1899 and was also bilingual.

Ben Straka talking to Jack Wenzlick about timber mp3

They speak about Albert Bayer's dam; about splitting timber shingles (a roof covering) and how sharp the shingles knives were; about cutting a big kauri tree that was so brittle that it split up the middle. I would be grateful if someone could transcribe this, word for word, for me.

Other informants

Other families who spoke in dialect were the Bayers and Tolhopfs, to mention just a few.

If funds and resources permit, I hope to expand this site to include one or two other informants. I expect there will be some variations in pronunciation between families.

Credits

Please credit G. Straka, as originator of the Puhoi Egerländer Dialect website and for all the audio recordings except for Droescher.

Gerard