Varieties of Pennsylvania Dutch: Postvernacular or Not so Simple?

Some language communities continue identifying with their heritage language even after a shift to the majority language has occurred. In this paper I use a comparative approach to investigate the extent to which this postvernacular phase can be found among the broad spectrum of Pennsylvania Dutch-affiliated groups in North America. The results of a sociolinguistic survey presented here reveal that vastly different relationships to and experiences with the language and its affiliated cultures exist under the Pennsylvania Dutch umbrella. The postvernacular framework effectively describes the sta... Mehr ...