Pennsylvania German language

Pennsylvania German, or Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsilfaanisch-Deitsch, Pennsilfaani-Deitsch), is a High German language spoken by 150,000 to 250,000 people in North America as well as the Amish.

Related Topics:
High German - Language - Amish

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The word "Dutch" here is left over from an archaic sense of the English word, which once referred to the people of Germany as well as to the Netherlands.

Related Topics:
English - Germany - Netherlands

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This archaism may have survived for various reasons; for example, the German word for "German" is "Deutsch", which sounds similar to the English "Dutch".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nonetheless Pennsylvania German is a dialect of German, not Dutch typically in the Amish community.

Related Topics:
German - Dutch - Amish

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Speakers of the language can be found today mainly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in the United States, and Ontario in Canada.

Related Topics:
Pennsylvania - Ohio - Indiana - United States - Ontario - Canada

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The majority of the speakers are either Amish or Old Order Mennonite although this was not the case a few generations ago; see Survival below.

Related Topics:
Amish - Mennonite

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(Note that some other North and South American Mennonites speak Plautdietsch, which is a very different Low Saxon language.)

Related Topics:
Plautdietsch - Low Saxon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~