230331 Varietäten des Deutschen in den USA: American Low German und Pennsylvania German (S) (WiSe 2007/2008)

In the course of history - particularly in the 19th century roughly six million people left Germany and emigrated to the United States of America. People mainly emigrated for economic reasons, but political and religious motives also caused people to find a new home. These immigrants also imported their language which until the beginning of the 20th century and even later was not Standard German but regional dialects instead. Standard German was almost exclusively used as written language and in the domain of religious instruction. Complete settlements and whole areas were inhabited by German immigrants - which in the 19th century resulted in the development of numerous speech islands of German varieties parts of which can still be found today.

One of the two main topics of the course will be those speech islands that are based upon varieties of Low German which in the course of history have produced new dialects that can be subsumed under the term of American Low German. The other main topic concerns the language of the Amish people, Pennsylvania German, which has Palatine routes and is often referred to by the misleading term of Pennsylvania Dutch.

The course will start with an introduction into the history of emigration to the U.S.A. and will then deal with the German presence in the U.S.A. in general. Then the class will be mainly concerned with language contact phenomena of American Low German and of Pennsylvania German - with English in the first place and with Standard German in the second - as well as linguistic stability, language maintenance, and linguistic decay.

Literature recommended to the participants will be collected in a special ¿Semesterapparat¿.