Modelling the Dynamics of Intergenerational Assimilation to a Dominant Contact Language (American English) in German Linguistic Enclaves on the Great Plains

Abstract

Within the course of one or two future generations, the numerous linguistic varieties of German transplanted to the New World from Europe over the course of several centuries will be passing from existence. The only exception to this rule will be the varieties of German spoken in isolated rural Anabaptist settlements (e.g. Old Order Amish). In this essay, we compare the transition of five distinct speech communities of transplanted German varieties in Missouri and Kansas to American English. Factors which contributed to the assimilation of the German variety to American English appear to be largely social change affecting the entire society, including out-migration as well as enhanced mobility with the introduction of automobiles and improved roadways. Equally significant in the transition was the language of instruction in schools for the younger generations. For many of these communities, public schools with instruction in English, especially for those continuing beyond the eighth grade, led to more and more of the younger members using English among themselves. This in turn impacted the language used for worship services in the churches. Church elders faced with younger members who no longer felt comfortable in German worship services began introducing English prior to the First World War. In general, the generation born after the Second World War has only a fragmentary knowledge of their parents’ German variety.