Customer Reviews

Simple Grammar of Pennsylvania Dutch

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J. Frey's "Simple Grammar of Pennsylvania Dutch" is a very useful introduction to the grammar of the South German dialect spoken in the United States that is known as "Pennsylvania Dutch". Useful as it is, however, this grammar, because it is so concise, will be most user-friendly to those who already speak High German. Ideally, a grammar for the general public would introduce a greater variety of vocabulary words, and more gradually.

Another limitation in Frey's work is that it does not, in some respects, reflect Pennsylvania Dutch as it is spoken today. Frey's knowledge of the dialect came from a time when much of the general population of Pennsylvania, both religious and secular, spoke Pennsylvania Dutch as a mother or second tongue. The particular form of Pennsylvania Dutch that he presents is that of York County, Pennsylvania. Today, Pennsylvania Dutch has, for the most part, ceased to be used by all but the religious, "Anabaptist" populations of Pennsylvania and other states of the country (that is, by the Amish and certain conservative Mennonites). In this regard, a modern grammar of Pennsylvania Dutch might instead focus on modern Pennsylvania Dutch of the Lancaster-County Amish, which is slightly more simplified in grammar and more Americanized in pronunciation. (Frey, for example, teaches the use of the dative noun declension; among the Amish, the dative case has disappeared from usage, at least in Lancaster County). However, even if Frey's version of Pennsylvania Dutch is no longer fully current, it is, from a linguistic point of view, more conservative and closer to the original German. Since any scholar of Pennsylvania Dutch will want to be able to read both old texts and new, his conservative approach to grammar is useful. The differences referred to are, in any case, not substantial.

It is doubtful that many other grammars of Pennsylvania Dutch are easily available. Even if they were, however, it is likely that they would not succeed in conveying the basics of the dialect as clearly and concisely as did Frey.

I am updating my original "four-stars" 1997 review of Frey's excellent grammar to reflect my subsequent six years of occasional learning in the topic. I now believe that Frey's concise grammar deserves a five-star review.

All comments made in my earlier review are accurate. What I did not realize at the time is that there exists a large body of written Pennsyvania German or "Pennsylvania Dutch" literature that would be inaccessible to the uninitiated with the existence of books like Frey's that explain the traditional grammatical constructions. (Haag's Pennsylvania German Anthology - available on Amazon and other sites - is a very useful introduction to this largely forgotten written world.) Even those interested in spoken rather than written Pennsylvania Dutch will find it useful to understand how the language traditionally operated, even if the usage has changed somewhat among some present-day Amish speakers.

The only alternative I've found to Frey's concise work is Haag's A Pennsylvania German Reader and Grammar, which requires more time and lacks Frey's polish but seems more orientated to those with no background in German. I would advise any serious student of Pennsylvania German or "Pennsulvania Dutch" to acquire both books.