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