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Read Ebook: Pennsylvania Dutch: A Dialect of South German With an Infusion of English by Haldeman Samuel Stehman Ellis Alexander John Editor
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Ebook has 206 lines and 39548 words, and 5 pages
CHAPTER.
? 1. Use of the Alphabet, p. 7.
? 2. Vowels, p. 8.
? 3. Dipthongs, p. 9.
? 4. Nasal Vowels and Dipthongs, p. 10.
? 5. Consonants, p. 11.
? 6. Stein or Schtein? p. 12.
? 7. Vowel changes, p. 13.
? 8. Dipthong changes, p. 14.
? 9. Words lengthened, p. 15.
? 10. Words shortened, p. 15.
? 1. Gender of English Words in Pennsylvania German, p. 24.
? 2. The German Genders, p. 26.
? 2. Newspapers, p. 29.
? 1. PG. not Swiss, p. 41. PG. Poem, p. 42.
? 2. PG. not Bavarian. Specimen, with PG. translation, p. 43.
? 3. PG. not Suabian, p. 44. Curious colloquy, p. 44.
? 4. PG. not Alsatian, p. 45. German-French example, p. 46.
? 5. PG. is akin to several South German Dialects, p. 46. Examples, p. 47.
? 1. Wiider aa?geschmiirt! , p. 49.
? 2. Wii kummt s? , p. 52.
? 3. Will widd'r Biiw?li sei? , p. 55.
? 4. Anglicised German , p. 56.
? 1. German words introduced, p. 57.
? 2. Family names modified, p. 60.
? 1. Broken English, p. 64.
? 2. The Breitmann Ballads, p. 66.
PENNSYLVANISCH DEITSCH.
PEOPLE--HISTORY--LOCATION--CONDITION.
The reciprocal influence of languages affords an interesting subject of investigation, and it is the object of this essay to present an outline of a dialect which has been formed within a century, and which continues to be spoken, subject to the influences which developed it. Of such languages, English, Wallachian, and Hind?st?n?, are familiar examples.
Pennsylvania German does not occur in the counties along the northern border of the state, but it has extended into Maryland, Western Virginia, Ohio, and farther west; and it has some representatives in western New York, and even in Canada. In many of the cities of the United States, such as Pittsburg, Chica'go, Cincinn?t'?, and Saint Louis, recent large accessions from Germany have brought in true German, and to such an extent that the German population of the city of New York is said to exceed that of every European city except Berlin and Vienna. The newer teutonic population differs from the older in living to a great extent in the towns, where they are consumers of beer and tobacco--luxuries to which the older stock and their descendants were and are but little addicted. The numerous allusions to the 'Fatherland' to be met with, belong to the foreign Germans--the natives caring no more for Germany than for other parts of Europe, for they are completely naturalised, notwithstanding their language.
Several thousand Germans had entered Pennsylvania before the year 1689, when a steady stream of emigration set in, and it is stated that their number was 100,000 in 1742, and 280,000 in 1763. They occupied a region which has located the Pennsylvania dialect chiefly to the south-east of the Alleghenies, excluding several counties near Philadelphia. Germantown, six miles from Philadelphia, although settled by Germans, seems to have lost its German character. The language under the name of 'Pennsylvania Dutch' is used by a large part of the country population, and may be constantly heard in the county towns of Easton on the Delaware, Reading on the Schuylkill, Allentown on the Lehigh, Harrisburg on the Susquehanna, Lebanon, Lancaster, and York.
The convenient quarto German almanacs , were preferred to the duodecimo English almanacs, even among the non-Germans, until the appearance of English almanacs in the German format about the year 1825.
A German botanist gave 'Gandoge' as the locality of an American plant; a package sent by express to 'Sevaber' , and a letter posted to the town of 'Scur E Quss, Nu Yourck,' arrived safely; and I have seen a handboard directing the traveller to the English-named town of 'Bintgrof.' As these present no special difficulty, they are not explained.
FOOTNOTES:
Un-ab-h?ng-ig, un-off-hang-ing, in-de-pend-ent, Polish nie-za-wis-ty.
Words in single quotations are Pennsylvania German. The system of spelling is described in the next chapter. High German words are commonly in italics, or marked G.
PHONOLOGY OF PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH.
"Wie soothing vocal music is! Wie herrlich un wie schoe!"
?i, which Mr. Ellis gives as the power of English 'ai' in London, occurs in the PG. exclamation 'h?i,' used in driving cows, and naturalised in the vicinal English. Slavonic has huj, and Hungarian h?, used in driving swine. Compare Schmidt, Westerw?ld. Idiot., p. 276.
G. Ich stehe auf dem stein.--PG. ich schtee uf m schtee?.
The following words afford examples:--
The obscurity arising from a neglect of the nasal vowels appears in the following lines--
As the reader of English who speaks PG. can learn the German alphabetic powers in half an hour, PG. should be written on a German basis, and not according to the vagaries of English spelling, with its uncertainty and reckless sacrifice of analogy. In print, PG. should appear in the ordinary roman type, in which so many German books are now published.
PG. G. E.
PG. G. E. PG. G. E.
FOOTNOTES:
These two powers are not quite the same.
Swiss forms.
VOCABULARY.
"Doch guckt 's ah recht huebsch un' Doch gukt 's aa recht hipsch un nice 'neis' Wann all die Baehm sin so foll ice--" Wan al dii beem sin so f?l eis--
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