Pennsylvania Dutch is spoken in North America, specifically in Ontario, Canada, and several states in the United States, i.e. Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania or West Virginia. One of the people that supports research on Pennsylvania Dutch at the University of Freiburg is Miriam Neuhausen.

It is spoken by roughly 300,000 people in Canada and the United States. The demographic characteristics of the speakers are unclear, but it seems that Old Order Mennonites and Amish speakers are the only speakers left and people who are leaving the community loses the language.

Language family

Pennsylvania Dutch is an Indo-European language. In the following website you can find its detailed phylogenetic tree.

Some examples of the language

Pennsylvania German has been in intense long-term contact with English, which shows both on the grammar, word, and pronunciation level, e.g.: “Either Weg is alright mit mir!” (Either way is fine by me).

Below you can find an audio recording of spoken Pennsylvania Dutch that includes a passage from the Bible as well as a transcription of what is said. Further information and materials you can find in the following website after the transcription.

 

Spoken Pennsylvania Dutch

 

Transcription of the audio recording:

“Am ohfang hott Gott da himmel un di eaht kshaffa. Nau di eaht voah gans veesht un leah. Es voah dunkel ivvah’s deef vassah, un Gott sei Geisht voah ivvah’s vassah. Un Gott hott ksawt, “Loss di helling gmacht sei,” un’s voah hell. Gott hott ksenna es di helling goot voah, un hott di helling fadayld fumm dunkla. Gott hott di helling “dawk” kaysa, un hott’s dunkla “nacht” kaysa. Un’s voah ohvet un meiya, da eahsht dawk.”