Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language

In this probing study, Mark L. Louden, himself a fluent speaker of Pennsylvania Dutch, provides readers with a close look at the place of the language in the life and culture of two major subgroups of speakers: the "Fancy Dutch," whose ancestors were affiliated mainly with Lutheran and German Reformed churches, and conservative Anabaptist sectarians known as the "Plain people" - the Old Order Amish and Mennonites. Drawing on scholarly literature, three decades of fieldwork, and ample historical documents, this is the first book to offer a comprehensive look at this unlikely linguistic success story. Paperback. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016. 473 pages.