Cover not available
Part of
Perspectives on Phonological Theory and Development: In honor of Daniel A. Dinnsen
Edited by Ashley W. Farris-Trimble and Jessica A. Barlow
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 56] 2014
► pp. 155–172

German settlement varieties in Kansas

Some unusual phonological and morphological developments with the approach of language death

| University of Kansas
After discussing the unique opportunity for linguistic investigation afforded by so-called “speech-islands,” speech communities embedded in a linguistic/cultural context far removed from the parent linguistic/cultural situation, we examine the appropriateness of the theoretical concept “speech-island,” determining that a vaguer concept of “speech settlement” allows for a more accurate depiction of the linguistic interaction with the surrounding dominant culture. After a sketch of German settlements in Kansas, we conclude that the current status of these settlements is rapidly approaching language death. In this context, a number of unusual developments in the phonology (e.g., velarization of [f]), morphology (emergence of a prepositional case) and lexicon (semantic transfer of English ‘to like’) in Kansas German varieties present linguists with explanatory challenges.
Published online: 29 April 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.56.13kee
References (31)
References
Aitchison, J. 2001. Language Change: Progress or Decay?, 3d edn. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Baerg. M. 1960. Gnadenau Low German: A Dialect of Marion County, Kansas. PhD dissertation, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Bender, J. 1970. Die getrennte Entwicklung gleichen niederdeutschen Sprachgutes in Deutschland und Nebraska. PhD dissertation, University of Nebraska.Google Scholar
Berend, N. 1997. Wolgadeutscher Sprachatlas aufgrund der von Georg Dinges 1925-1929 gesammelten Materials .Tübingen: A. Francke.Google Scholar
Berend, N. & H. Jedig (eds.). 1991. Deutsche Mundarten in der Sowjetunion: Geschichte der Forschung und Bibliographie . Marburg: N. G. Elwert.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, L. 1933. Language . New York NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Campbell, L. 1974. Phonological features: Problems and proposals. Language 50(1): 52–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carman, J. N. 1962. Foreign Language Units of Kansas, I: Historical Atlas and Statistics . Lawrence KS: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Dinnsen, D., et al.. 2011. On the interaction of velar fronting and labial harmony. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 25(3): 231–251. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hickey, R. 1984. On the nature of labial verlar shift. Journal of Phonetics 12: 345–354.Google Scholar
Johnson, D.C. 1994. The Volga German Dialect of Schoenchen, Kansas. PhD dissertation, University of Kansas.Google Scholar
Kaull, P. 1996. Untersuchungen zum Deutsch in Kansas: Migration und Entwicklung des Wolgadeutschen in Ellis und Rush Counties. MA thesis, University of Mannheim.Google Scholar
Keel, W. 1994. Reduction and loss of case marking in the noun phrase in German-American speech islands: Internal development or external influence? In Sprachinselforschung: Eine Gedenkschrift für Hugo Jedig , N. Berend & K. Mattheier (eds), 93–104. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
2004. A grammatical sketch of the Victoria (Herzog) dialect of Kansas Volga German. In The Volga Germans of West Central Kansas: Aspects of Their History, Politics, Culture and Language , W. Keel et al.. (eds), 217–239. Lawrence KS: Max Kade Center for German-American Studies.Google Scholar
Khramova, M. 2011. The Volga German Dialect of Milberger, Kansas. PhD dissertation, University of Kansas.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P. 1975. A Course in Phonetics . New York NY: Harcourt, Brace and World.Google Scholar
Lambert, M.B. 1924. A Dictionary of the Non-English Words of the Pennsylvania-German Dialect . Lancaster PA: Pennsylvania German Society.Google Scholar
Lunte, G. 2007. The Catholic Bohemian German Dialect of Ellis County, Kansas: A Unique Bavarian Dialect . Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Mattheier, K. 2003. Sprachtod: Überlegungen zur Entwicklungsdynamik von Sprachinseln. In German Language Varieties Worldwide. Internal und External Perspectives, W. Keel & K. Mattheier (eds.), 13–31 . Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Meindl, J. 2009. Language Use in an Older Order Amish Community in Kansas. PhD dissertation, University of Kansas.Google Scholar
Post, R. 1990. Pfälzisch: Einführung in eine Sprachlandschaft . Landau: Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt.Google Scholar
Putnam, M. & Weis, B. 2004. Recessive features or phonological nuances? Paper presented at the Annual Symposium of the Society for German-American Studies, New Ulm MN, April 22–25.
Reed, C. 1971. The dialectology of American colonial German. In The German Language in America: A Symposium, G. Gilbert (ed.), 3–13. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Reichmann, F. Francis Lieber. 1945. Pennsylvania German Dialect. The American-German Review 11: 24–27.Google Scholar
Schach. P. 1951. Semantic borrowing in Pennsylvania German. American Speech 26(4): 257–267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schirmunski, V. 1930. Sprachgeschichte und Siedelungsmundarten, I. Germanisch-romanische Monatsschrift 18: 113–122.Google Scholar
1962. Deutsche Mundartkunde: Vergleichende Laut- und Formenlehre der deutschen Mundarten, Wolfgang Fleischer (transl). Berlin: Akademie Verlag.Google Scholar
Seeger, G.S. 2006. Socio-Economic Influence on Low German in North-Central Kansas: From Immigrant Language Lost to Heritage Language Revived. PhD dissertation, University of Kansas.Google Scholar
Shrier, M. 1965. Case systems in German dialects. Language 41(3): 420–438. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wildfeuer, A. 2012. Sprachstand – Sprachenkontakt und Mehrsprachigkeit – Sprachverlust: Deutschböhmische Siedlungen im englischsprachigen Raum. Habilitationsschrift. University of Regensburg.Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. 2007–2011. American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. [URL] (23 February 2013).
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Dux, Ryan
2017. Classifying Language Contact Phenomena: English Verbs in Texas German. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 29:4 ► pp. 379 ff. DOI logo
Dux, Ryan
2018. Texas German and English word order constructions in contact. In Constructions in Contact [Constructional Approaches to Language, 24], ► pp. 211 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.