Editing Plautdietsch (section)

==Spelling==
The spelling of Plautdietsch has also been controversial. The main criteria for spelling systems have been:
# Spelling should be as phonetic as possible.
# German spelling rules should be applied whenever possible.

One problem has been what letters to use for sounds that do not exist in German, such as the palatal {{IPA|/c/}} and {{IPA|/ʝ/}} sounds, which are both pronounced and spelled differently in various dialects of Plautdietsch. Old Colony speakers pronounce these sounds by striking the middle of the tongue against the palate. Others, especially speakers of the Molotschna dialect, instead strike the tongue against the [[alveolar ridge]] and spell them {{angle bracket|tj}} and {{angle bracket|dj}}. Most Plautdietsch speakers' ears are not accustomed to realize these subtle, if not trivial, differences, and will often confuse one with the other.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}}

Other problematic areas: use or non-use of {{angle bracket|v}} for some words with {{IPA|/f/}} sound, use or non-use of [[Dehnungs-h]], when to double consonants and when not to.

When comparing different writers, one must take into account the dialect of that writer. The most famous Plautdietsch writer, [[Arnold Dyck]], wrote in the Molotschna dialect, though his origins were from the Old Colony. During his life, he made many changes in his spelling system. His developments are a basis for the various spellings used today. In the following table, only his final system is taken into account, as used in his famous Koop enn Bua series, along with Herman Rempel (''Kjenn Jie noch Plautdietsch?''), [[Reuben Epp]] (''Plautdietsche Schreftsteckja''), [[Jack Thiessen]] (''Mennonite Low German Dictionary''), J. J. Neufeld (''Daut niehe Tastament'') and Ed Zacharias (''De Bibel''). The latter two claim to write in the Old Colony dialect, as seen in their verb endings, while the other three use the Plautdietsch as spoken by the descendants of the Bergthal Colony, i. e. the Old Colony dialect with a loss of -n endings.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! A. Dyck
! H. Rempel
! R. Epp
! J. Thiessen
! J. J. Neufeld
! Ed Zacharias
! word meaning
|-
!
! Molotschna
! colspan=3 | Bergthal
! colspan=2 | Old Colony
!
|-
| verb endings
| saje
| saje
| saje
| saje
| sajen
| sajen
| say
|-
| c sound
| Tjoatj
| Kjoakj
| Kjoakj
| Tjoatj
| Kjoakj
| Kjoakj
| church
|-
| Dehnungs-h
| ahm
| am
| ahm
| ahm
| am
| am
| him
|-
| oa diphthong
| Froag
| Froag
| Froag
| Froag
| Fruog
| Froag
| question
|-
| ia/iə diphthong
| Lea, learen, jeleat
| Lea, learen, jeleat
| Lea, learen, jeleat
| Lea, learen, jeleat
| Lea, learen, jeleat
| Lia, lieren, jelieet
| teaching, learn, learned
|-
| u/ü
| du
| dü
| du
| du
| du
| du
| you
|-
| consonant doubling
| rollen, jerollt, Golt
| rollen, jerollt, Golt
| rollen, jerollt, Golt
| rollen, jerollt, Golt
| rollen, jerollt, Gollt
| rollen, jerolt, Golt
| roll, rolled, gold
|-
| ua/ya diphthong
| Wuat, Buak
| Wuat, Büak
| Wuat, Büak
| Wuat, Büak
| Wuut, Buuk
| Wuat, Buak
| word, book
|-
| [s/ts] sound
| Zocka
| Ssocka
| Zocka
| Zocka
| Tsocka
| Zocka
| sugar
|-
| [f] sound
| von
| fonn
| von
| von
| fonn
| von
| from
|}