Pennsylvania Dutch English

Information about Pennsylvania Dutch English

Counties of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, where Pennsylvania German and Pennsylvania Dutch English have traditionally been spoken.

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.

Features of Pennsylvania German Influence

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 overeat; save room.
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.

References

• • [ e] Dialects of English
Europe	British Received Pronunciation Cockney (London) East Anglian English English Estuary Guernsey English Hiberno-English (Ireland) Manx Mid Ulster East Midlands West Midlands Northern Scouse (Liverpool) Geordie (Tyneside) Scottish (Glaswegian Highland) Welsh West Country Mackem (Sunderland).
North America	United States African American Vernacular Appalachian Baltimorese Boston Buffalonian California Chicano Cajun Maine Maine-New Hampshire New Jersey New York City North American North Central American Inland Northern American Pacific Northwest Pennsylvania Dutch English Philadelphia Pittsburgh Southern American Tidewater Utah Yat Yooper Canadian Maritimer Newfoundland Quebec West/Central Canadian
West Indies	Bermudian Bahamian Caribbean Jamaican
Oceania	Australian Australian Aboriginal Torres Strait New Zealand
Asia	Burmese Hong Kong Indian Malaysian Philippine Sri Lankan
Africa	Liberian Malawian South African
Miscellaneous	Basic International Mid-Atlantic Plain Simplified Special Standard British/American differences E Prime

English}}}
Writing system: Latin (English variant)
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng
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Pennsylvania German/Dutch}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: gem
ISO 639-3: pdc

Pennsylvania German, or more commonly Pennsylvania Dutch, (Deitsch, Pennsylvania Deutsch,
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Pennsylvania Dutch (perhaps more strictly Pennsylvania Deitsch or Pennsylvania Germans or Pennsylvania Deutsch) are the descendants of German immigrants who came to Pennsylvania prior to 1800.
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