Plautdietsch

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{{language |name=Plautdietsch |states=Germany, Canada, United States, Russia, Ukraine, Paraguay, Mexico, Bolivia |speakers=100,000–150,000 |familycolor=Indo-European |fam2=Germanic |fam3=West Germanic |fam4=Low Germanic |fam5=East Low German |iso2=gem|iso3=pdt}}

Plautdietsch, or Mennonite Low German, is a language spoken by the Mennonites who trace their roots to the Low Countries and north Germany, but who adopted an East Low German dialect while they were refugees in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia (later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), beginning in the early-to-mid 1500s. Beginning in the late 1700s, when the region became part of the Kingdom of Prussia, many Mennonites left and created new colonies north of the Black Sea (present-day Ukraine), in an area that Russia had recently acquired in one of the Russo-Turkish Wars (see Russian Mennonites). Many Mennonites migrated to North America — especially Canada and the United States — and Latin America — especially Paraguay and Mexico, — most of them live as rural settlers and added some Spanish and Portuguese words to their own language.

Today Plautdietsch is spoken in Paraguay, Mexico, Ukraine, Germany, Canada (particularly Manitoba and Saskatchewan), Brazil, Belize, and the United States. There are two major dialects which trace their division to Ukraine. These two dialects are split between the New Colony and Old Colony Mennonites. Many younger Russian Mennonites in Canada and the United States today speak only English. For example, Homer Groening, the father of Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons), spoke Plautdietsch as a child in Saskatchewan in the 1920s, but his son Matt never learned the language.

Certain groups like the Old Colony Mennonites of Mexico have guarded the language better than others. However, as Old Colony Mennonites from Mexico resettle in Canada and the United States, the stability of Plautdietsch in this group may be put to the test in their new homes, especially if the current stigmatisation of Old Colony Mennonites because of their poverty continues, as is the case in some places like Ontario by more prosperous neighbours. This may ultimately lead to an abandonment of the language by even this group in the future.

1 The Lord's Prayer in Plautdietsch
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

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The Lord's Prayer in Plautdietsch

Ons Voda em Himmel,

lot dien Nome jeheilicht woare;

lot dien Ritjdom kome;

lot dien Welle jedone woare,

uck hia oppe Ed, soo aus em Himmel;

jeff ons Dach fe Dach daut Broot, daut ons fehlt;

en vejeff ons onse Schult,

soo aus wie den vejewe, dee sich jeajen ons veschuldicht ha;

en brinj ons nich en Vesetjunk nenn,

oba rad ons von Beeset.

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References

De Bibel, Kindred Productions, 2003. ISBN 1-921788-97-5
Epp, Reuben The Spelling of Low German & Plautdietsch, Reader's Press, 1996. ISBN 9638494-1-7
Epp, Reuben The Story of Low German & Plautdietsch, Reader's Press, 1996. ISBN 0-9638494-0-9
Rempel, Herman Kjenn Jie Noch Plautdietsch? A Mennonite Low German Dictionary, PrairieView Press, 1995. ISBN 1-896199-13-5
Thiessen, Jack Mennonite Low German Dictionary / Mennonitisch-Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, University of Wisconsin, 2003. ISBN 0-924119-09-8