Editing Plautdietsch (section)

{{Short description|A daughter language or dialect of Low German}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Low German]] ({{lang|nds|Plattdütsch}} etc.)}}
{{multiple issues|
{{more citations needed|date=December 2007}}
{{Cleanup lang|date=May 2019|iso=pdt}}
{{citation style |reason=article uses full and short citations. Pick one style, and use it consistently |date=December 2024}}
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{{Infobox language
| name=Plautdietsch
| altname=Plautdiitsch; Mennonite Low German
| nativename={{lang|pdt|Plautdietsch}}
|states=[[Vistula Fens|Vistula delta region]], [[Poland]]
| region=Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, United States, Uruguay
| speakers={{Significant figures|447,360|2}}
| date=2007
| ref=<ref>[https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pdt Plautdietsch] ''Ethnologue''. Retrieved August 2016.</ref>
| minority={{flagcountry|Mexico}} (100,000+)<ref name=ABC>{{cite news|last=Cascante|first=Manuel M.|title=Los menonitas dejan México|url=http://www.abc.es/20121007/sociedad/abci-menonitas-mexico-201210071635.html|access-date=19 February 2013|newspaper=ABC|date=8 August 2012|language=es|quote={{lang|es|Los cien mil miembros de esta comunidad anabaptista, establecida en Chihuahua desde 1922, se plantean emigrar a la república rusa de Tartaristán, que se ofrece a acogerlos}} }}</ref>
| familycolor=Indo-European
| fam2=[[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3=[[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4=[[North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5=[[Low German]]
| fam6=[[Northern Low German|Northern]] or [[East Low German|Eastern]]?
| fam7=[[Low Prussian dialect|Low Prussian]]?
| ancestor=[[Old Saxon]]
| ancestor2=[[Middle Low German]]
| ancestor3=[[Low German|Modern Low German]]
| iso3=pdt
| glotto=plau1238
| glottorefname=Plautdietsch
| map = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption = {{center|{{small|Plautdietsch is classified as Definitely Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]'' (2010)}}}}
| notice=IPA
}}

'''Plautdietsch''' ({{IPA|nds|ˈplaʊt.ditʃ|pron}}) or '''Mennonite Low German''' is a [[Low Prussian dialect]] of [[East Low German]] with [[Dutch language|Dutch]] influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the [[Vistula Fens|Vistula delta area]] of [[Royal Prussia]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Die Ostpreussischen Mundarten |last=Ziesemer |first=Walther |year=1970 |pages=101–103}} [notes: 1. W. Ziesemer died 1951, so this must be a reprint or something. 2. Properly, or grammatically and orthographically correct, the title would be ''Die '''o'''stpreu'''ß'''ischen Mundarten'' (as it was in the original edition from 1924).]</ref><ref name="Epp">{{Cite journal |last=Epp |first=Reuben |date=1987 |title=Plautdietsch: Origins, Development and State of the Mennonite Low German Language |journal=Journal of Mennonite Studies |volume=5 |pages=61–72}}</ref> The word ''Plautdietsch'' translates to "flat (or low) German" (referring to the plains of northern Germany or the simplicity of the language).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/plattdeutsch |title=plattdeutsch {{!}} Origin and meaning of plattdeutsch by Online Etymology Dictionary |website=etymonline.com |access-date=1 October 2018}}</ref> In other [[Low German]] dialects, the word for Low German is usually realised as ''Plattdütsch/Plattdüütsch'' {{IPA|nds|ˈplatdyːtʃ|}} or ''Plattdüütsk'' {{IPA|nds|ˈplatdyːtsk|}}, – very often also as ''Plattdeutsch'' – but the spelling ''Plautdietsch'' is used to refer specifically to the Vistula variant of the language.

Plautdietsch was a Low German dialect like others until it was taken by [[Mennonite]] settlers to the southwest of the [[Russian Empire]] starting in 1789.<ref name="Epp" /> From there it evolved and subsequent waves of migration brought it to North America, starting in 1873. In Latin America the first settlement occurred in Argentina in 1877 coming from Russia.

Plautdietsch is spoken by about 400,000 [[Russian Mennonite]]s, most notably in the Latin American countries of Mexico, [[Mennonites in Peru|Peru]], Bolivia, Paraguay, Belize, Brazil,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/language/pdt/view/***EDITION*** |title=Plautdietsch |work=Ethnologue |publisher=ethnologue.com |access-date=2014-09-01}}</ref> Argentina, and [[Mennonites in Uruguay|Uruguay]], along with the United States (notably [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Texas]]) and Canada (notably [[Manitoba]], [[Saskatchewan]], and [[Ontario]]).

Today, Plautdietsch is spoken in two major dialects that trace their division to what is now Ukraine. These two dialects are split between [[Chortitza Colony]] and [[Molotschna]]. Today, many younger Russian Mennonites in Canada and the United States speak only English. For example, [[Homer Groening]]—the father of [[Matt Groening]] (creator of ''[[The Simpsons]]'')—spoke Plautdietsch as a child in a Mennonite community in [[Saskatchewan]] in the 1920s, but Matt never learned the language.

In 2007, Mexican filmmaker [[Carlos Reygadas]] directed the film ''Stellet Licht'' (''[[Silent Light]]''), set in a Mennonite community in [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], Mexico. Most of the film's dialogue is in Plautdietsch, which some of the actors had to learn phonetically. Other parts were played by people of the local community.