Our Amish Language
Eythana Miller shares her poignant journey to document and preserve Pennsylvania Dutch, the language of her formerly Amish community in Montana, before it fades amidst modernization. Her oral history project not only captures the linguistic nuances and cultural shifts but also confronts the internalized stigma and mischaracterizations of her mother tongue. This personal and academic endeavor offers a compelling look at how language, identity, and tradition intertwine in a rapidly changing world.
The Lowdown
The author, Eythana Miller, embarks on a deeply personal mission to preserve Pennsylvania Dutch, her native language from a formerly Amish community in Libby, Montana. Driven by a fascination with her community's transition away from traditionalism, she initiated an oral history project during her time at UC Berkeley, interviewing family members on video in Pennsylvania Dutch to create a vital linguistic and cultural repository.
- The Libby community, established in 1992, initially sought spiritual openness but eventually embraced modernization, allowing conveniences like cars and contemporary clothing, leading to increased interaction with "hooche Leit" (non-Amish people).
- Miller, born in 2000, grew up bilingual as English increasingly permeated family and community spaces due to external interactions and intermarriage with non-Pennsylvania Dutch speakers.
- During her studies, she discovered the historical "image problem" of Pennsylvania Dutch, often scorned as a "broken mishmash" or "bastard gibberish" by German speakers and its own community members, fostering an internalized stigma that it's a "wrong German" or mere dialect.
- Linguistically, Pennsylvania Dutch is primarily oral, with a concrete, factual diction that traditionally limits vocabulary for emotional nuance (e.g., no distinct word for "love"). However, linguists suggest that English loanwords can sometimes strengthen and diversify its lexicon.
- Miller's project aims to capture not just words but how they convey trivial details, profound sorrows, and intense joys, highlighting the evolving attitudes of community members towards their Amish heritage and language.
- She grapples with the inherent difficulty of translating the full meaning and nuance of Pennsylvania Dutch into English, acknowledging that words and tone carry layers of cultural understanding that can be lost.
- Through interviews, particularly with her Aunt Leona, Miller uncovers the diverse experiences of modernization and the varying levels of comfort and connection community members maintain with their traditional identity and language.
Ultimately, Miller's oral history project is a profound attempt to honor and document a language and culture in flux. It serves as a testament to the resilience and complexities of identity, challenging the narrow perceptions of Pennsylvania Dutch while providing a rich archive for future generations.