TY - JOUR
KW - Cultural identity
KW - Language maintenance
KW - German
KW - Amish
KW - Mennonites (Old Order)
AU - Karen Johnson-Weiner
AB - Draws on archival research & on fieldwork conducted since 1984 in Swartzentruber Amish communities in New York, & in Old Order Amish & Mennonite communities in New York, along the Michigan-Indiana border, Pennsylvania, & Ontario, to explore patterns of language maintenance & shift among historical German-speaking North American Amish & Mennonite communities. Findings reveal how these groups have utilized language to encode & mediate group identity. The Old Order Amish & the Old Order Mennonites have maintained German to resist secular authority, remain separate from the dominant society, preserve the traditions of their forefathers, &, above all, mark themselves as Old Order. More liberal groups have shifted to English to demonstrate a commitment to evangelism & a rejection of Old Order practice. Analysis supports the view that individual communities may actively direct language change. Guided by an ideology that invests particular patterns of language use with religious significance, each Amish & Mennonite community determines its own linguistic fate. 77 References. Adapted from the source document
BT - Journal of Sociolinguistics
C7 - English(30)
CY - United Kingdom
DB - Journal Article (aja)
DP - CSA Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
ID - 3088
IS - 3
LA - English
M1 - Journal Article
M3 - Print(0)
PP - United Kingdom
PY - 1998
SN - 1360-6441
SP - 375
EP - 394
EP - 
T1 - Community Identity and Language Change in North American Anabaptist Communities
T2 - Journal of Sociolinguistics
VL - 2
ER -