Gary Gates

How to speak Dutchified English gives the flavor of the spoken Dutchy language of three "cawnties" in Pennsyvania: Baerricks (Berks), Lank-is-ter (Lancaster) and Lep-nin (Lebanon). Interestingly, the pronunciation for the English purists of the area for the latter two counties is Lank-ist-er and Leb-non. The author is from Lebanon County as was my father's family, so the pronunciation varies from what is heard in the eastern part of Berks County. The early German settlers to this region came from the Palatinate where a form of low German was spoken. Here in this country, it developed into Pennsylfanishe Deitsch, a language still spoken by the Plain People of Pennsylvania and in the mid-west. From there we get Dutchified English.

The book begins with a phonetic dictionary of some common words. The "w" sound is always pronounced with a "v" as in High German but the "v" is pronounced with a "w" instead of an "f" - wa-nilla instead of vanilla. A hard "g" is a cross between "cr" and "g" while a soft "g" is "tch" - so a crotch is where you park your car. An ending "d" is usually a "t" and when plural "tz" - vootz is a place with trees. There are many more different examples in the book.

There are three things to remember. First, word order is important and follows High German. So you have expressions like: Trow the caw ower the fence some hay! The word throw begins with a sound not exactly a "t" and not exactly a "th" but somewhere in between. Secondly, there are words used in unique way, such as "get awt!" for total amazement. Other examples include "I'm going with" (I'm going along), "The bread is all" (I don't have any), and "The paper wants rain" for a prediction. Then thirdly, there are made up words. "Outen the light" (or "Make awt the light" for Turn off the light) and "Spritz the payment" (water the pavement), "I got spritzed!" (the hose turned on me and I'm wet), and "It's spritzing outside" (a light rain).

If this isn't enough, the author has a section for reading and singing out loud. Remember that most Dutchy folks spoke in Dutchified English but wrote proper English in letters and read English in the newspapers. (You would not see these readings in print.) You can figure out what's going on by referring to the passage in the original English. Then there are the recipes which the author assures us that "dese receipts really make."

In the words of the book's cover: "An "inwaluble" introduction to an "enchoyable" accent of the "Inklish lankwitch."… (mehr)