Wisconsin Pomeranian

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Wisconsin Pomeranian or Wisconsin Platt is an East Low German dialect spoken in the USA , which goes back to emigrants from Pomerania , in particular from West Pomerania , who immigrated to the USA since the early 19th century. He is linguistically close to the East Pomeranian .

Varieties

Different varieties of the Wisconsin Pomeranian sometimes differ significantly from one another, which probably reflects the different origins of different settler groups, illustrated below using three exemplary data sets from Sound Comparisons:

  • Szczecin, Wisconsin
    • Middle Low German ê> long e [e:] ( twee "two", knee "knee", Eeke "oak")
    • mnd. ô > long o [oʊ ~ o:] ( gout "good" Fout "foot," Koh "Cow" Stool "chair")
    • mnd. long ö de-rounded ( green "green", ääve "over", hair "hear")
    • mnd. short ö not rounded ( sess "six")
    • mnd. -ans- > mnd. -ôs- (analogous in umlaut, from it Jääs "geese")
    • initial g- before low vowels [g] ( Goare "Garten"; gout "gut"), before high vowels [j] ( Jääs "Gänse")
  • Maine, Wisconsin
    • mnd. ê > ei (twei "two", knee "knee", eik "oak")
    • mnd. ô > au ( jaut "good", Faut "foot", Kau "cow", Staul "chair")
    • mnd. long ö diphthongized ( greun "green", euve "over") or rounded ( hear "hear")
    • mnd. short ö preserves ( söss "six")
    • mnd. -ans- > mnd. -ôs - (from this snack "goose")
    • initial g- articulated as [j] ( Jaus "Gans", Joare "Garten", jaut "gut")
  • Naugart, Wisconsin
    • Middle Low German ê> ei ( twei "two", Knei "knee", Eik "Eiche")
    • mnd. ô > au ( gaut "good", Faut "foot", Kau "cow", Staul "chair")
    • mnd. long ö de-rounded ( grään "green", äve "over", här "hear")
    • mnd. short ö not rounded ( sess "six")
    • mnd. -ans- > mnd. -âs- ( Gaas "goose")
    • initial g- before low vowels articulated as [g] ( Gaas "Gans", Goare "Garten", gaut "gut")

origin

The different development of -ans- over -âs- or -ôs- already took place in the Middle Ages, the differences therefore probably correspond to different regions of origin of the original boilers and did not first differentiate themselves in America. The final -en appears i. d. R. as -e ( hevve "have", warre "will", goahe "go"), never as -a as in South Pomerania, cf. for the internal division of the East Pomeranian . Middle Low German î and û appear as a long i ( Ies "ice") and u ( Hus "house"), never diphthongized as in Southeast Pomeranian.

The lack of diphthongization of ê and ô in the data from Szczecin corresponds to the Central Pomeranian , otherwise there is a phonetic proximity to the Central or Northeast Pomeranian . The vowel rounding is particularly similar to the Northeast Pomeranian, but can also be due to the English-speaking environment. Note that the city ​​of Stettin , named after the Stettin, WI, the Central Pomeranian, and the city ​​of Naugard , named after the Naugart, WI, belonged to the northeast Pomeranian area.

Speech samples

Example sentences (probably Marathon County, Wisconsin , as published there):

Summer eat a gaude Tied from york. Summer is a good time of year.
Spoad in summer goahe wi tum fair. We go to the market late in the summer.
Soon the Högen wedder will start. Soon the hay making will start again.
Vääl lüüd warre friezed in June. Many people get married in June.
Miine dog is afraid when dat buten dunnerd. My dog ​​is scared when it thunders outside.
Early johr hevve wi noa kark summer shoal hin gahn. We used to go to church summer school.
Ik hass dat unkrut from the goade ut trecken. I hate pulling up the weeds from the garden.
Vääl barn blomen started to bloom now. Many beautiful flowers are now beginning to bloom.
The fishing is good on this day. Fishing is good at this time of year.

Interview (June 18, 1968) with a female speaker, Hamburg, b. 1903, Marathon County, WI:

- Jeef dat Indians at the beginning too? - Yes, but who ma wenich, very wenich. Mej Vatter secht, dat often winter then had to wake up in the bush or winter camp. Un da ​​hadd'er a Körf moakt va Elm, slippery Elm, un da hadd'er his Körf upbrecht un hadde doa Äten veur [= vör] deceives, bread or what weer tum Äten wäst. Awers da hadder often sucking deer meat. Whoever very much Indians are not here, especially here in this town there are uck a poar wäst, whoever a family is even, no, the young is then inne Schaul jaa [= gahn], but even the idiot who was afraid of it dei un hatt everything daa [= doan] what he no künn, so that they do not come into view school.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pommerscher Greif eV: The Pomeranian Associations in the USA. In: Blog Pommerscher Greif eV February 9, 2012, accessed on February 19, 2020 (German).
  2. ^ Wisconsin Platt Today. Central Wisconsin Pomeranian Club, accessed February 19, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Sound Comparisons. Retrieved February 19, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b Sound Comparisons ... Accessed February 19, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b Sound Comparisons ... Accessed February 19, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b Sound Comparisons ... Accessed February 19, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b Platt Tied (Low German Time). Retrieved February 19, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Female speaker, born 1903, Hamburg, Marathon County, WI. Date / Place of Interview: June 18, 1968, Marathon County, WI. Interviewer: Jürgen Eichhoff NAGDA Record Number: EIC 20. Accessed February 26, 2020 (American English).