Hello Rita, Gee, my ancestors spoke a Hessian dialect not only in the Swabian Turkey, but also in Slavonia and even when they finally ended in the Black Forest, Germany. What I wanted to say, each of our original settler villages had a different dialect, as they usually settled in groups from a different region: Black Forest, where they speak Allemanisch, Palentine region where they speak Platt Deutsch (if I am correct), from Alsace where the dialect is Alsatian, etc. Least of them were directly from Schwaben! It is only us that call all those dialects 'Schwob', and believe me quiet a few Schwaben are furious with us, as 'our' Schwob dialect has no resemblance to their Schwaben dialect, which they all still speak. Now for High German, or now called 'written German' (Schriftdeutsch) everyone had to learn that language in order to be able to communicate with each other. It is vital to know the difference! And as for what we call our ancestors? "Donauschwaben" is the official name for this youngest Germanic tribe. All the best, Rosina www.hrastovac.net > This is a very good question: what do we call our ancestors? Even just > "German-speaking settlers" could be debated, because they really spoke the > Swabian dialect and had to learn High German. "Germanic settlers?" > > Anway, don't let such quibbles keep you from reading the book. I'll let > you > know when I have a publication date. Thanks for your interest! > > -- Rita