LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.04.12 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 12.APR.2003 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
 S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Thomas Byro <thbyro at earthlink.net>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.04.09 (06) [E]

To Ian Goodwin

It is my impression that World War Two marked a major turning point in the
survival of many large islands of German speakers here in the USA.  Last
year I was eating breakfast at  Haags Hotel in Shartlesville, PA.  This is
deep in Pennsylvania Dutch country.  A number of books in and about the
Pennsylvania Dutch language were on sale, one of them a cookbook comprised
of local recipes that one of the area women had collected.  She explained in
the preface that this was her attempt to save something of the Pennsylvania
German culture before it dissappears altogether.  She said that until WWII,
most people in the area grew up speaking only German and had to learn
English as a second language in school.  PA Dutch in the long term is
probably fated to die out except among the Amish and Mennonites.  However,
it is a slow death.  In the bar at Haags hotel, it is not uncommon to hear
people conversing in PA Dutch.

In the Catskill mountains in New York (where I once owned a house), the
majority of the population is of German decent (along with considerable
numbers who are of Dutch decent.  A neighbor informed me that a German
newspaper was published in the area from early in the 19th century until the
1960's.  There too I was told that German (and to some extent, Dutch) were
the first languages of people in the area until World War II.

The oldest continously published newspaper in New York City is the German
language Staatszeitung-Herold.  It seems to get thinner every year though.

I just read an article in the local newspaper about a Muslim community in
Iowa.  The first member of the community who moved there in the 1880's
worked hard to learn the local language.  It was only after living there for
two years that he learned that the language that he had learned was not
English but German.

Not just German but Yiddish and other minority languages have been decimated
over the last few decades.  The Jewish Daily Forward is no longer a daily
and it is now published in English.

A Mennonite acquintaince showed me a Bible published recently in
Pennsylvania Dutch.  It is interesting in that it also includes a
pronounciation guide.  If you are interested, I will obtain the address of
the publisher for you.

Tom Byro

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