Jersey Dutch language

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Template:Dutch dialects Jersey Dutch (Template:Langx) (Low Dutch),<ref name="Prince book">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Prince Notes">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="nicolinevandersijs">Template:Cite book</ref> also known as Bergen Dutch,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was a Dutch dialect formerly spoken in northeastern New Jersey from the late 17th century until the early 20th century.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It evolved in one of the two Dutch-speaking enclaves that remained for over two centuries after the dissolution of Dutch control in North America, the other (around Albany, New York) giving rise to Mohawk Dutch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It may have been a partial creole language<ref name=cre>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Failed verification based on Zeelandic and West Flemish Dutch dialects with English and possibly some elements of Lenape.Template:Citation needed

Jersey Dutch was spoken by the descendants of New Netherlanders who settled in Bergen, New Netherland, in 1630, and by Black slaves and free people of color also residing in that region, as well as the American Indian people known as the Ramapough Lenape Nation.

VarietiesEdit

By the mid-eighteenth century, according to one estimate, up to 20% of the population of the areas of New Jersey with "a strong Dutch element" were enslaved people.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Blacks who grew up in insular Dutch communities were raised speaking the Dutch language, or adopted it later in life, to speak both with their white Dutch-descendant counterparts and with each other.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Some blacks during this period spoke Dutch as their primary or only language, and for some knowing the language was a point of pride:<ref name=":0" />

"They were Dutch and proud of it. I can remember my Aunt Sebania telling me about her great-grandmother, a stern old lady who both spoke and understood English, but who refused to speak it except in the privacy of her home. In public she spoke Dutch, as any proper person should do, a dignified language."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Some contemporary reports from white speakers of Jersey Dutch reported a distinct variety of the language unique to the black population, which they called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref name="nicolinevandersijs" /> ("Negro Dutch", not to be confused with the Dutch creole {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). This term was used both for the speech of the Ramapough (a distinct community of black, white, and Lenape descent), and of other blacks in Bergen County.

However, as attestation of Jersey Dutch from black and Ramapough speakers is scarce, scholars disagree whether Negerduits can be considered a distinct variety.<ref name=":0" /> Sojourner Truth's Dutch, for example, was described by her owner's daughter around 1810 as "very similar to that of the unlettered white people of her time."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The only contemporaneous linguistic treatment of Jersey Dutch draws primarily on the speech of three white Jersey Dutch speakers and one Ramapough speaker, and notes phonetic, syntactic, and lexical differences between the two groups.<ref name="Prince Notes" />

PhonologyEdit

VowelsEdit

The vowel system of Jersey Dutch differs markedly from Standard Dutch, as well as from the Dutch dialects from which it derives, perhaps due to the influence of American English.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> The following chart is based on the speech of two white Jersey Dutch speakers recorded in 1910 and 1941 respectively. Parentheses "indicate that the vowel is attested in few forms."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Jersey Dutch vowel phonemes
	Front				Central	Back
	unrounded		rounded			Back
	short	long	short	long		short	long
Close	(Template:IPA link)	main}}		main}}		(Template:IPA link)	main}}
Close-mid		main}}	Template:IPA link	main}}			main}}
Open-mid	Template:IPA link				(Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link	main}}
Open	Template:IPA link	main}}				Template:IPA link	main}}
Diphthongs	{{#invoke:IPA\|main}} ({{#invoke:IPA\|main}}) {{#invoke:IPA\|main}} ({{#invoke:IPA\|main}}) {{#invoke:IPA\|main}}

ConsonantsEdit

Jersey Dutch consonants are largely the same as those of Standard Dutch, with a few exceptions.<ref name=":1" />

		Labial	Alveolar	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Plosive	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Plosive	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	(Template:IPA link)
Fricative	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	(Template:IPA link)
Approximant		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Rhotic			Template:IPA link

ExampleEdit

An example of Jersey Dutch, transcribed in 1913, spoken by Matthew Hicks of Mahwah, the white sexton of a Dutch church.<ref name="Prince Tijdschrift">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Prince Notes" />

Jersey DutchEdit

Standard Modern DutchEdit

Below is a word-by-word translation of the Jersey Dutch quote, rather than a fluent Dutch rendering.<ref name="Prince Tijdschrift" />{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

EnglishEdit

<poem> The prodigal/lost son: A man had two sons; the one stayed at home; the other went abroad from home to make his fortune. He was not content at home and therefore then he became poor. He thought about it at home and his father’s place. Then said: I shall go home. My father has plenty. </poem>

NotesEdit

Template:Reflist

ReferencesEdit

Template:In lang Handboek der Nederlandsche taal: Deel I. De sociologische structuur der Nederlandsche taal I., Jac. van Ginneken and L.C.G. Malmberg, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. 1928. Chapter 10: Het Amerikaansch. [1o. Het oude Amerikaansch-Nederlandsch. ]
Template:In lang Ik was te bissie...Nederlanders en hun taal in de Verenigde Staten: 2.3 Het taalgebruik van de 17e-eeuwse immigranten en hun nakomelingen, Jo Daan, De Walburg Pers. 2007. [1] (Click on link and then scroll down.)
Mencken, H.L. The American Language. 1921. Appendix II - Non-English Dialects in America: Dutch