Pennsylvania Dutch: A Dialect of South German With an Infusion of English - Samuel Stehman Haldeman

English F, V, W, receive the worst treatment, and are judged by the eye rather than by speech. German folgen and English follow are turned into 'vollow'; German weil is 'vhile' and 'while.' Other examples are wind and vindow; vhen, vhenefer (turning not only German v, but English v into f), fery for very,—but svitch, ve (we), veight, vink, are proper. The following example is from 'Schnitzerl's Philosopede'—

'Oh vot ish all¹ dis eartly pliss? ¹ ol in folly.

Oh, vot ish⁴ man's soocksess?² ² sooccess.

Oh, vot is various kinds³ of dings? ³ s turns d into t.

Und vot is⁴ hoppiness? ⁴ iss or ish, not both.

Ve find a pank node in de shtreedt,⁵ ⁵ shtreet.

Next[-sht]⁶ dings ⁶ der pank ish ⁷ preak! ⁶ dingss. ⁷ d requires b.

Ve folls¹ und knocks our outsides ⁸ in, ⁸ G. seit, and final s, require t.

Ven ve a ten-shtrike make.'

'Oh vot ish all¹ dis eartly pliss?		¹ ol in folly.
Oh, vot ish⁴ man's soocksess?²		² sooccess.
Oh, vot is various kinds³ of dings?		³ s turns d into t.
Und vot is⁴ hoppiness?		⁴ iss or ish, not both.
Ve find a pank node in de shtreedt,⁵		⁵ shtreet.
Next[-sht]⁶ dings ⁶ der pank ish ⁷ preak!		⁶ dingss. ⁷ d requires b.
Ve folls¹ und knocks our outsides ⁸ in,		⁸ G. seit, and final s, require t.
Ven ve a ten-shtrike make.'

FOOTNOTES:

[88] A boy in the street in Liverpool (1866) said to a companion—"'e told me to 'old up my 'ands an' I 'eld em up." He did not say hup, han' hI, hem.

[89] Compare with a word in the following note sent to a druggist in Harrisburg, Pa. "Plihs leht meh haf Sohm koh kohs Peryhs ohr Sähmting darhts guht vohr Ah lihttel Dahg Gaht lausse vor meh." [Louse for loose is common in the north of England. Thus in Peacock's Lonsdale Glossary (published for the Philological Society, 1869) we find: "Louse, adj. (1) loose. O.N. laus, solutus. (2) Impure, disorderly.—v.t. to loose. "To lowse 'em out on t' common" = To let cattle go upon the common.—To be at a louse-end. To be in an unsettled, dissipated state.—Lous-ith'-heft, n. a disorderly person, a spendthrift."—A. J. Ellis.]

[90] The two shows that this is a plural. When recognised, it will be observed that the law of its formation is legitimate.

[91] For the word 'twenty-five,' the speaking and singing machine of the German Faber said tventy-fife, in imitation of its fabricator, using t and f because they occur in the German word. Similarly, feif for five appears in the following joke from an American German newspaper:—

"Ein Pennſylvaniſch-Deutſcher hatte zwei Pferde verloren und ſchickte folgende Annonce: Ei loſt mein tu Horſes! Der wonne iſt a Sarrelhors, langen Schwanzthäl, ſchort abgekuthet, aber weederum ausgrown; der annerwonn is bläcker, aber mit four weiht Fieht un en weiſzen Strich in his Fähs. Hu will bring mein tu Horſes bäck to mi, will rezief feif Thalers reward."

[92] Hald. Analytic Orthography, § 294.