This book is a study of dialect divergence in the North American context, though the dialects in consideration are, obviously, not English. It aims to provide empirical detail on the distribution of key phonological, lexical, and morphological variants in several Pennsylvania German speech communities in the Midwest and to explore the internal linguistic changes, patterns of migration, and language contact that have led to the current geographic and social distribution of these features. The shibboleths dividing Midwestern Pennsylvania German from the Pennsylvania German spoken in Pennsylvania are shown to be similar in number and type to those dividing dialects of English in those regions-and the differences attract similar commentary from speakers, demonstrating that Pennsylvania German is a thoroughly American language. Finally, this book considers the potential for future dialect divergence or convergence as it describes the links between these language varieties and the notions of regional identity and religious ideology in the attitudes of Pennsylvania German speakers in Pennsylvania and in the Midwest toward each other. Book jacket.

Vols. 7-17, 19-21 include the proceedings of the Society's Annual meeting, 1942-1952, 1954-1956.

Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- INTRODUCTION: Pennsylvania German Studies -- PART 1 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY -- 1. The Old World Background -- 2. To the New World: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries -- 3. Communities and Identities: Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries -- PART 2 CULTURE AND SOCIETY -- 4. The Pennsylvania German Language -- 5. Language Use among Anabaptist Groups -- 6. Religion -- 7. The Amish -- 8. Literature -- 9. Agriculture and Industries -- 10. Architecture and Cultural Landscapes -- 11. Furniture and Decorative Arts -- 12. Fraktur and Visual Culture -- 13. Textiles -- 14. Food and Cooking -- 15. Medicine -- 16. Folklore and Folklife -- 17. Education -- 18. Heritage and Tourism -- 19. Popular Culture and Media -- References -- Contributors -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Color plates follow page

"The phonological differences found in the informants' varieties of English are reflected in the differences in the areas of language use and language attitude. In the final chapter, findings gained from the study of the latter two areas are used to suggest an explanation of the "Pennsylvania German paradox." An attempt is made to integrate the phonological findings into a larger theory of language change and to make predictions about future linguistic developments."--BOOK JACKET.

"An authentic history, from original sources, of their suffering during several centuries before and especially during the two centuries following the Protestant Reformation, and of their slow migration, moved by those causes, during the last mentioned two hundred years, westward in quest of religious freedom and their happy relief in the Susquehanna and Schuylkill valleys in the new world; with particular reference to the German-Swiss Mennonites or Anabaptists, the Amish and other non-resistant sects"--Title page.

"Eine Verèoffentlichung in Verbindung mit dem Forschungsinstitut fèur deutsche Sprache 'Deutscher Sprachatlas' der Philipps-Universitèat Marburg/Lahn"--T.p. verso.

The book investigates the diachronic dimension of contact-induced language change based on empirical data from Pennsylvania German (PG), a variety of German in long-term contact with English. Written data published in local print media from Pennsylvania (USA) between 1868 and 1992 are analyzed with respect to semantic changes in the argument structure of verbs, the use of impersonal constructions, word order changes in subordinate clauses and in prepositional phrase constructions. The research objective is to trace language change based on diachronic empirical data, and to assess whether existing models of language contact make provisions to cover the long-term developments found in PG. The focus of the study is thus twofold: first, it provides a detailed analysis of selected semantic and syntactic changes in Pennsylvania German, and second, it links the empirical findings to theoretical approaches to language contact. Previous investigations of PG have drawn a more or less static, rather than dynamic, picture of this contact variety. The present study explores how the dynamics of language contact can bring about language mixing, borrowing, and, eventually, language change, taking into account psycholinguistic processes in (the head of) the bilingual speaker.