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Pennsylvania Dutch English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pennsylvania Dutch English is a dialect of English that has been influenced by Pennsylvania German (Pennsylvania Deitsch). It is largely spoken in the South-Central area of Pennsylvania, both by people who are monolingual (in English) and bilingual (in Pennsylvania German and English). The dialect has been dying out, as non-Amish Generation X and Generation Y Pennsylvania Germans tend to speak modern Middle Atlantic English. Very few non-Amish members of these two generations can speak Pennsylvania Deitsch, although most know some words and phrases. The WWII Generation was the last generation in which Pennsylvania Deitsch was widely spoken among the non-Amish.
Pennsylvania Dutch English differs from standard American English in various ways. Some of its hallmark features include the following:
- Widespread devoicing of obstruents.
- The use of certain vowel variants in specific phonological contexts.
- The use of Pennsylvania German verb and noun stems in word construction.
- Specific intonation patterns for questions.
- Special placement of prepositional phrases in sentences (so that "Throw the horse some hay over the fence" might be rendered "Throw the horse over the fence some hay").
- The use of "ain't" and "not" or "say" as question tags.
- The use of "still" as a habitual verbal marker.
- Use of the word "yet" to mean "still," such as "do you work at the store yet?" to mean "do you still work at the store?"
- Use of terms such as "doncha know" and "so I do" or "so he does" at the end of declaratory sentences.
Other calques and idioms include:
| Pennsylvania Dutch English | Standard English |
|---|---|
| Make wet? | Is it going to rain? |
| Outen the lights. | Turn off the lights. |
| The candy is all. | There is no more candy. |
| Don't eat yourself full. | Don't fill yourself up. |
| There's cake back yet. | There is leftover cake stored. |
| Red up the room. | Clean the room. |
| It wonders me. | It makes me wonder. |
| Hurrieder | Faster |
| Spritzing | Lightly raining |
| Rutsching | Squirming |
| Schushlich | Clumsy |
| Yah, well. | Whatever, or It makes no difference. |
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A730847
- http://www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/culture/index.htm#pdeng