Missouri's German heritage

This study examines the German ethnicity residing in Missouri from different perspectives. As far as the historical background is concerned, it can be maintained that the German exodus form Northern Germany to Missouri, occurred in the 1840s and 1850s, mainly due to economic reasons. The specific intention of this investigation was to examine the German dialect “Low German”, still being spoken in Western Missouri by a restricted number of elderly people. Despite the revitalization efforts, the dialect is nearly extinct. Moreover, German can be regarded as a substrate language in Missouri; and thus, the survey aims at analyzing German loanwords in the state and German ways of saying which have modified the English language in Missouri. Other chapters of this work are dedicated to a short description of a German flair still characterizing Missouri today. German restaurants, German festivities, and German architectural styles are still widespread in the state so that Missouri can be really proud of its German heritage.