LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.04.09 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: ian170man at fsmail.net <ian170man at fsmail.net>
Subject: varieties of German in America

Hi, I am a recent subscriber to this fascinating website and am currently
investigating the state of German in America in its current condition and
historically. I am especially interested in how it has been maintained in
certain communities e.g hutterites, mennonites, Amish groups and also in
Pennsylvania. I would welcome any information on what type of German they
use and how the German may have changed over time, especially since the
18th/19th centuries. I am also curious about how German never achieved equal
status with English, even though in 1994, over a quarter of America claimed
German descent, more than those who descended from England!

The fall of German in America and how it occurred is also something I am
studying but I would welcome comment on how it has been maintained and what
variety of German has been maintained in America and why it wasn't
maintained in some states but was in ohters.

Really any help on this issue I would be extremely grateful for and would
particularly like to discover an American perspective on German in America
through time as I have only had research by Trommler, Gilbert, Fishman etc
to go off.

Thanks in advance

Yours Faithfully

Ian Goodwin [University of Birmingham, England]

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Hi, Ian, and welcome to Lowlands-L!  And congratulations on a fascinating
topic!  I hope you will receive the desired responses.

I know that a bunch of Lowlanders are interested in your area of study, and
the Lowlandic angle is only a part of it for them.  However, I want to
remind everyone that our main focus must be on the Lowlands varieties, which
German proper (including Pennsylvanish) is not (versus Lowlands Saxon ["Low
German," including Mennonite "Plautdietsch"], which is a separate Lowlands
entity and is now officially recognized as a regional language in Northern
Germany and the Eastern Netherlands).  It is all right to discuss
non-Lowlandic varieties as long as the main focus remains on the Lowlands.
Should it be necessary for you to veer off into the Highlands, I suggest you
discuss it privately off the List.

Ian, in case you include Lowlands Saxon (which has been used as a minority
language besides German in German communities of the Americas), you might be
interested in the following websites:

http://www.osu-okmulgee.edu/faculty/carsten/3001.htm
http://www.sassisch.net/rhahn/low-saxon/plattewelt.htm
http://www.lowlands-l.net/offline_lsmodern.htm#world

German-specific:
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/dtinusa.htm
http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/adams/chap7.html
http://www.watzmann.net/scg/german-by-one-vote.html
http://raven.umd.edu/~mddlmddl/791/communities/html/germansumm.html
http://www.pgs.org/
http://members.tripod.com/~AndersR/

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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