LL-L "Language survival" 2002.10.31 (03) [E]

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From: Marco Evenhuis <evenhuis at zeelandnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Language survival" 2002.10.31 (07) [E]

George Gibault wrote:

> Does anyone know where I can get some information on Albany Dutch? One of
> my Loyalist/Tory ancestral lines from New Brunswick (Canada) includes
about
> 40 ancestors from Beverwijk, Albany, and Poughkipsie in colonial New
> Netherlands/New York.

Albany Dutch is one of the probably four
varieties of Dutch spoken in the former Dutch
colony of New Netherland (now northern Jer-
sey and parts of New York ). These varieties
all derived from 17th century Dutch and knew
an independent development from Dutch.
These varieties of Dutch spoken in the New
Netherland area are not described by linguists.
The four varieties are commonly referred to as
Jersey Dutch, which in fact is just the most
important of the four.
There are some relevant sources, like the Jersey
Dutch Vocabulary by James B. H. Storms (Park
Ridge, N.J.: Pascack Historical Society, 1964).
Storms died around 1950, and he is considered
the last speaker of Jersey Dutch in the metropo-
litan area of New York (he's from county Bergen).
There is also an article written by a Columbia
University linguist named John Dyneley Prince,
titled "The Jersey Dutch Dialect," which appeared
in Dialect Notes 3 (1910): pp. 459-84.

The four varieties are:

* Jersey Dutch: spoken as a community language
untill around 1900 with some last speakers into
the 1940s in the NJ counties of Bergen, Passaic,
Morris, Hudson and Essex, the NY counties of
Rockland, Orange and a few parts of Westchester
and untill around 1850 in New York City.
The last speakers were from the hillier parts of the
counties, where the Dutch have only been a small
minority most of the time (since about 1750).
Most Dutch stayed on the more fertile lowlands
near the banks of the Hudson. But the massive
influx of Germans, Irish, Italians and Polish in
the 1840s and onwards, let to a rapid decline of
Jersey Dutch in the 'homeland' of the early Dutch
settlers.
* Albany Dutch: spoken as a community language
untill the 1920s, with apparently still some speakers
left in the 1940s. Thomas Byro said on this list
only a couple of days ago: "I used to own a house
on a mountaintop in the Catskills and several of
my neighbors who were born just before or after
WW II told me that Dutch was spoken in their
homes as a daily language when they were growing
up".
Albany Dutch was spoken along the Hudson river,
upstream from about Newburgh untill the actual
area around Albany (approximately the NY coun-
ties of Orange, Putnam, Ulster, Dutchess, Green,
Columbia, Albany and Rensselaer). So including
the places you mentioned: Poughkeepsie and Bever-
wijk.
In some areas it was the only language of the com-
munity for a long time (well into the 19th century).
In other areas, English became the major language
quite early and Dutch was only used in home.

Very little is known of the last two varieties:
* Mohawk Dutch: upstream the Mohawk River
from around Amsterdam, there were some Dutch
settlements as well. They apparently developed their
own variety of "colonial Dutch".
* Schoharie Dutch: the county of Schoharie apparent-
ly had some linguistic features distinct from Albany
Dutch.

Then finally, in all of these cases (or at least in the
case of Albany and Jersey Dutch), a black Dutch
variety coexisted with the "proper" Dutch variety.
In all cases, it is referred to as 'Neger Duits' (Negroe
Dutch) and it seems to be a somwhat creolized ver-
sion of the Jersey Dutch language varieties. Among
the last speakers, there were the Ramapo Mountain
People or Jackson Whites about whom Thomas
Byro wrote so vividly on this list. The live in the
Ramapo Mountains, around the villages of Ring-
wood, Mahwah and Sloatsburg.
John Prince's informant for Neger Duits for his ar-
ticle about Jersey Dutch, was William DeFreese, one
of the Jackson Whites of Ringwood NY.

In all of the areas that I described above, people of
Dutch descent now account for about 6-12% of the
total population. In Albany, Bergen and Passaic, it's
only about 3%.
Because of Tom Byro's remarks, one might suspect
to find some second language speakers of Albany
Dutch left in the more rural parts of the area. I mean,
if it was the home language for people born in the
1940s, it can hardly be forgotten completely yet.

Regards,

Marco

----------

From: erek gass <egass at caribline.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language survival" 2002.10.31 (07) [E]

For anyone who may not be aware, the Pomeranians have a rather extensive
website.  I will advise you that the last time I was on it expressed much
anger that Prussia (of which Pomerania was part) wasx made to pay a price
for Hitler's actions when Prussia had roundly rejected Hitler all along.

As for the sad future of Frisian in the US, I can only remind of, and
suggest, revisiting Mencken's several volume treatise on the use of
languages other than English many years ago.  Although we see some different
languages spoken brought by a newer wave of immigrants, the languages of
immigrants of that day have largely disappeared as the immigrant populations
were absorbed in the general population.

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