LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.02.08 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Reuben Epp <repp at silk.net>
Subject:  LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.02.06 (10) [E]

> From: corber <corber at shaw.ca>
> Subject: dialect drift
>
> I have noticed quite a bit of snobbery among LS Plautdietch speakers, and
> wander if that is the case in any other dialects. The people that left the
> Ukraine mennonite villages after the revolution in 1920' spoke with a
> slightly different dialect than my grandparents  who had left there in
1875
> .Those that came to Canada after WW2 spoke a slightly different dialect
> again.,even though they all came from my grandparent's village.. Most
> dialects drift or evolve, effected by their neighbouring language or
dialect
> and it is harder to keep dialects alive.We can thank modern communications
> for the "blending"that we see.  Cor Bergen

Cor Bergen's observations on variations in Plautdietsch are on-the-nose,
as I have also gathered. But, I fail to understand that 'snobbery' is
pertinent to 'dialect drift.' It becomes apparent that Plautdietsch as
spoken
in Mexico differs considerably from that spoken by most 1870 Mennonite
immigrants to the United States and Canada from Russia, and perhaps
even more so from that of Mennonite immigrants in recent decades from
Russia to Germany. Such variations appear to be normal developments
when communities of speakers become isolated from fellow-speakers
for periods of time. Language changes continue, but not necessarily
in the same way in various places.

Among speakers of Plautdietsch, development of speech variations
grew in an atmosphere lacking Plautdietsch literature in standardized
orthographic form. This inadvertently allowed speech variations to
develop in the absence of standardizing literature. Such absence or
scarcity of generally-accepted Plautdietsch literature and orthographic
guidelines exist to this day.

The 'snobbery' aspect that Cor mentions is not ill-taken. During the
period between the early 18th century in Russia and the revolution,
it was commonly accepted among most Mennonites that the
Plautdietsch dialect of the Molotschna Colony was superior to that
of the original Old Colony of Chortitza. It seems that this attitude
stemmed from the fact that the settlers of the earlier Chortitza
Colony consisted mainly of poorer, landless Mennonites of West
Prussia, whereas the later Molotschna colonists were of the
wealthier landowner class of West Prussia. Such differences in
wealth and class inevitably led to some snobbery.

I would rather not discuss relative merits of Old Colony or
Molotschna manners of Plautdietsch speech. I fully understand
and love both as spoken by immigrants to America of the 1870's.

Some of the later developments and variations have me wondering!

Reuben

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