Pella Dutch dialect explained

Pella Dutch
Nativename:Pella Nederlands
State:Pella, Iowa, United States
Coordinates:41.4°N -147°W
Speakers:?
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Germanic
Fam3:West Germanic
Fam4:Istvaeonic
Fam5:Low Franconian
Fam6:Dutch
Fam7:Brabantic
Map:Marion_County_Iowa_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Pella_Highlighted.svg
Mapcaption:Location of Pella, Iowa
Isoexception:dialect
Glotto:none

Pella Dutch, also known as Iowa Dutch, is a dialect of the Dutch language spoken in Pella, Iowa.

Pella Dutch's origins began with the migration of a group of 800 Dutch settlers under the leadership of Dominee (Reverend) H. P. Scholte in 1847.

In 1860, the Pella Weekblad, Pella's first Dutch language newspaper, debuted. The paper continued to be published weekly until 1941.[1]

Language use was strongly affected by Governor William L. Harding's controversial 1917 Babel Proclamation, which banned the speaking of languages other than English in public.

Semi-speakers of the dialect have been attested as recently as 2011.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Webber. Phillip. October 8–9, 1981. AN ETHNO-SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF PELLA DUTCH. Association for the Advancement of Dutch-American Studies. 2, 5.
  2. Book: Weber, Philip E.. Pella Dutch: Portrait of a Language in an Iowa Community, An Expanded Edition. 2011. University of Iowa Press. 978-1-60938-066-3. Iowa City.