Kansas is a peculiarly favorable field for dialect study. We have here side by side representatives from nearly every state in the Union, and from a dozen foreign countries. The observer has here what elsewhere he must travel over half the world to find. In a district where the people are all natives, the speech is so nearly homogeneous that it is difficult to find any one who recognizes the peculiarities of his own language, but here the contrast of strange tongues strikes us immediately and we become conscious early of the fact that all men do not speak alike.
Study of dialect may be classified under the heads of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Of these the last two are the easiest, and may be carried on by almost any one with pleasure and valuable results. Pronunciation is the most difficult of these matters to study, as competent observation and reports can be made only by one who has made a thorough study of Phonetics. To those who might wish to take up the study of this branch of the subject, Sweet’s Primer of Phonetics, and Grandgent’s “Vowel Measurements” and “German and English Sounds” are recommended.
In the study of dialect vocabularies it may become of the greatest importance to establish the exact locality of a word and the origin of the persons by whom it is used. For instance, in a family of my acquaintance the word ‘slandering’ = sauntering was familiar. It was a great puzzle to me until I learned that some of the children had been in the care of a German maid. The German word ‘schlendern’ suggested the unquestionable source of the peculiar word. As a source of information regarding the origin of the foreign elements of our population when their native speech shall have been forgotten, but when the influence of it will be left in vocabulary and pronunciation I have thought that a [map of the state] with the location of all the foreign settlements of even quite small size would be of interest and in time of great value. In the following pages I transmit the results of my inquiries so far as received. It is my intention to make the report complete and to publish the map, when as complete as it can be made, in colors. Unexpected difficulties have delayed the work and prevented its being complete. I depended for my information upon the County Superintendents of the State, a class of unusually intelligent and well-informed men and women. But in not a few cases there seems to have been a suspicion in the mind of my correspondent that I might be a special officer of the state trying to locate violations of the law requiring district schools to be conducted in English, and hence information regarding schools in foreign tongue was withheld or given but partially. And in some cases my informants were not well posted. A superintendent by the name of Schauermann in a county containing a town called Suabia, tells me that there are no foreigners in his county. In such cases time must be taken to secure a correct result.
The questions asked were: Locate, and give origin, date and approximate numbers of any settlements—six or more families—of foreigners in your county. Do they still use their language to any extent? Do they have church service and schools conducted in their native tongue? In many replies one or more of these points was neglected so that the information is not yet by any means what I desire to make it. However, for the purpose of dialect study approximate correctness in location is of chief importance, and accuracy as to numbers quite secondary.
Through the aid of ministers and others to whom I have been referred by the superintendents I hope to make this report complete in the following respects: The more exact limits of the settlement; the numbers of those foreign-born; the province as well as land from which they came; the number of churches; the number of schools and the length of time the same are conducted. I solicit the co-operation of everyone interested in this work, and also in the whole subject of dialect study. As intimated above, interested observers can without especial training do a service to science and at the same time find a fascinating pastime for themselves by making collections of words and constructions which they believe to be unusual or new. If any such are sent to the writer they will be duly acknowledged. They should in every case be accompanied by a statement of the age, condition and birth-place of the person using them.
I wish here to call attention to the work of the American Dialect Society which exists to promote this study. It desires as wide a membership as possible, and membership is open to all interested in the subject. The publication of the Society, Dialect Notes, contains reports of word-lists and other studies, and will be an aid to any who wish to undertake similar work. Subscriptions and membership fees should be sent to Mr. C. H. Grandgent, Treas., Cambridge, Mass.
REPORTS BY COUNTIES.
Atchison.—Reports no foreigners, by John Klopfenstein, Supt.
Allen.—Swedes and Danes, from 600 to 700, settled from 1873 to 1880. Have church service, and four to five months school in Swedish. Grove and Elsmore townships. Germans in and around Humboldt.
Anderson.—Irish in Reeder township, 1860 and 1874. Germans, 1860 in Putman township, 1880 in Westphalia township. Have both church and schools in German.