Millersville University News
Pennsylvania Dutch Dictionary for a Vanishing Dialect
MILLERSVILLE, Penn., July 1 PRNewswire — While it has taken over 50 years to complete the "Comprehensive Pennsylvania German Dictionary," retired Millersville University of Pennsylvania professor, C. Richard Beam says it will never be finished. "Despite the help of Millersville graduate and German major Jennifer L. Trout and my wife, Dorothy, and 50 years of interviews and research, the Pennsylvania Dutch language will never have a perfect dictionary. You may think you have all the words, but you're just fooling yourself."
Sadly, the speakers of such a rich and complex language are dwindling in numbers. Richard Beam is the 8th generation of Pennsylvania Dutch, and he sees the language dying in his own family. He says very few people would now talk about the 4th of July being a good time to play der Beesballe (baseball), or a good time to eat es Welschkann (corn).
Growing up, Beam and his brother only spoke Pennsylvania Dutch with their grandparents, never at home. He explains, "My parents talked in Dutch so we couldn't understand. They didn't realize we had learned the language from our grandparents. They were not spoiled by too much formal education and were not ashamed to talk Dutch."
The first German settlers to come to Pennsylvania as a group arrived over 300 years ago and spoke Pennsylvania German, often referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch. Beams says that most of the Pennsylvania Germans are unable to keep the language alive since they aren't taught it. After Beam retired in 1990 from teaching German courses, including a Pennsylvania German culture course, a Spanish teacher replaced him. Beam says the dialect is receding and the main speakers of it now are Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites, "But even with the thinning of the language, parents 'aren't apt to send their children off to college to study Pennsylvania Dutch,'" said Beam.
The recently completed 11-volume "Comprehensive Pennsylvania German Dictionary" records the language spoken during the 20th and 21st centuries. "We really don't have much of a record of the language before that," explained Beam. Beam also does his part to keep the language alive with weekly radio broadcasts and newspaper columns.
The Center for Pennsylvania German Studies is directed by C. Richard Beam and is supported by Millersville University. The Center was established at Millersville University in 1986 as a center for the study of the Pennsylvania German culture in America.
SOURCE The Center for Pennsylvania German Studies
Search Our News Using Google Search
Can't find what you want? Try using Google:
