Pennsylvania Dutch

[9] Linguistically it consists of a mix of German dialects which have been significantly influenced by English, primarily in terms of vocabulary.

The main division among Pennsylvania Dutch is that between sectarians (those belonging to the Old Order Mennonite, Amish or related groups) and nonsectarians, sometimes colloquially referred to as ″Church Dutch″ or ″Fancy Dutch″.

[19][20] The migration of the Pennsylvania Dutch to the United States predates the emergence of a distinct German national identity, which did not form until the late 18th century.

[21] The formation of the German Empire in 1871 resulted in a semantic shift, in which deutsch was no longer principally a linguistic and cultural term, but was increasingly used to describe all things related to Germany and its inhabitants.

This development did not go unnoticed among the Pennsylvania Dutch who, in the 19th and early 20th century, referred to themselves as Deitsche, while calling newer German immigrants Deitschlenner lit.

[23][24][25] The Pennsylvania Dutch, primarily German-speaking immigrants from Germany (particularly the Palatinate region), Switzerland, and Alsace, moved to the USA seeking better opportunities and a safer, more tolerant environment.

The availability of fertile land was a significant draw for the immigrants, who were mainly farmers and craftsmen, for whom the chance to own and cultivate their own farms was highly appealing.

Positive reports from early settlers as well as active recruitment by William Penn encouraged friends and family to join them, fostering tightly-knit communities.

[29] Overall, the historian Marianne Wokeck estimates that just under 81,000 German-speakers entered the port of Philadelphia between 1683 and 1775, with two thirds of the immigrants arriving before 1755 of whom the majority (ca.

[33] Heinrich Miller of the Holy Roman Principality of Waldeck (1702-1782), was a journalist and printer based in Philadelphia, and published an early German translation of the Declaration of Independence (1776) in his newspaper Philadelphische Staatsbote.

[35] Frederick Muhlenberg (1750–1801), a Lutheran pastor, became a major patriot and politician, rising to be elected as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

[36] The Pennsylvania Dutch contribution to the war effort was notable: In the marked influence for right and freedom of these early Hollanders and Palatines, in their brave defense of home, did such valiant service in promoting a love of real freedom to the preserving and hence making of our country.In the town halls in Dutch cities liberty bells were hung, and from the "Liberty Bell" placed in Philadelphia by Pennsylvania Dutchmen, on July 4th 1776, freedom was proclaimed "throughout all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof."

These Palatine Dutchmen gave us some of our bravest men in the war of the American Revolution, notably Nicholas Herkimer.

Hessian prisoners were subsequently treated well, with some volunteering for extra work assignments, helping to replace local men serving in the Continental Army.

Due to shared German heritage and abundance of land, many Hessian soldiers stayed and settled in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country after the war's end.

[48][better source needed] Literary German disappeared from Pennsylvania Dutch life little by little, starting with schools, and then to churches and newspapers.

Prior to the wars, Pennsylvania Dutch was an urban language spoken openly in the streets of towns such as Allentown, Reading, Lancaster and York; afterwards, it became relegated only to rural areas.

[51] An early group, mainly from the Roxborough-Germantown area of Pennsylvania, emigrated to then colonial Nova Scotia in 1766 and founded the Township of Monckton, site of present-day Moncton, New Brunswick.

Settlement started in 1800 by Joseph Schoerg and Samuel Betzner, Jr. (brothers-in-law), Mennonites, from Franklin County, Pennsylvania.

William Berczy, a German entrepreneur and artist, had settled in upstate New York and in May 1794, he was able to obtain sixty-four acres in Markham Township, near the current city of Toronto.

[64][65] These classifications highlight differences in religious practices, lifestyle, and degrees of assimilation into broader American society.

These communities typically reside in rural areas, maintaining traditional farming practices and close-knit communal living.

While they may still preserve some Pennsylvania Dutch traditions and language, English is predominantly used in daily life and religious practices.

In time the Fancy Dutch came to control much of the best agricultural lands, ran many newspapers and maintained their German-inspired architecture when founding new towns in Pennsylvania.

[72][73] Over sixty percent of the immigrants who arrived in Pennsylvania from Germany or Switzerland in the 1700s and 1800s were Lutherans and they maintained good relations with those of the German Reformed Church.

Reverend Heinrich Christian Helmuth arrived in 1779 and called for preaching only in German, while seeking government subsidies.

[9] The Pennsylvania Dutch language is based on German dialects which have been significantly influenced by English, primarily in terms of vocabulary.

Although there is a relatively large collection of written texts in the language dating back to the mid-nineteenth century (such as newspaper columns, short stories, poems, plays, and dialogues) their production and reception have been limited to a minority of speakers.

[80] In the 20th century, the linguists Albert F. Buffington and Preston A. Barba developed a system for writing Pennsylvania Dutch that was largely based on contemporary German orthography, however this is not in common use.

No prescribed norms for writing Pennsylvania Dutch exist and in practice most speakers orientate themselves on both German and English spelling systems.