Language shift in the concentrated Mennonite district of Kansas

Using statistical data provided largely by J. Neale Carman's Foreign Language Units in a Kansas Historical Atlas and Statistics Vol. 1 (Lawrence: U of Kansas Press, 1962), the relation between several factors contributing to the shift from German to Eng in 34 selected Mennonite church communiti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of the sociology of language 1988, Vol.1988 (69), p.5-18
Main Author: BUCHHEIT, R. H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Kansas
Language Shift
Languages in contact
Linguistic minorities
Linguistics
Mennonites
Sociolinguistics and ethnolinguistics
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Summary:Using statistical data provided largely by J. Neale Carman's Foreign Language Units in a Kansas Historical Atlas and Statistics Vol. 1 (Lawrence: U of Kansas Press, 1962), the relation between several factors contributing to the shift from German to Eng in 34 selected Mennonite church communities of south-central Kan are examined. Correlational analyses are used to characterize the relevance of such factors as congregation location, population density of German speakers, religious conservatism, & the dates of shift for High German & other dialects. It is concluded that (1) there is no connection between conservatism in lang & conservatism in religion, (2) lang shift from High German to Eng is most likely to be explained by location & type of congregation, & (3) variables associated with the % of the German-speaking minority in relation to the total population are of primary importance in understanding the critical year of the dialects. 2 Tables, 1 Appendix, 14 References. P. Farrell
ISSN:0165-2516
1613-3668
DOI:10.1515/ijsl.1988.69.5