{"product_id":"pennsylvania-dutch-mark-l-louden-9781421418285","title":"Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe fascinating story of America's oldest thriving heritage language.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinner of the Dale W. Brown Book Award by the Young Center for Anabaptists and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile most world languages spoken by minority populations are in serious danger of becoming extinct, Pennsylvania Dutch is thriving. In fact, the number of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers is growing exponentially, although it is spoken by less than one-tenth of one percent of the United States population and has remained for the most part an oral vernacular without official recognition or support. A true sociolinguistic wonder, Pennsylvania Dutch has been spoken continuously since the late eighteenth century despite having never been \"refreshed\" by later waves of immigration from abroad.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this probing study, Mark L. Louden, himself a fluent speaker of Pennsylvania Dutch, provides readers with a close look at the place of the language in the life and culture of two major subgroups of speakers: the \"Fancy Dutch,\" whose ancestors were affiliated mainly with Lutheran and German Reformed churches, and traditional Anabaptist sectarians known as the \"Plain people\"--the Old Order Amish and Mennonites.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on scholarly literature, three decades of fieldwork, and ample historical documents--most of which have never before been made accessible to English-speaking readers--this is the first book to offer a comprehensive look at this unlikely linguistic success story.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mark L. Louden\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1421418282\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781421418285\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Johns Hopkins University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/15\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 504\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 5.90w x 1.00d","brand":"Mark L. Louden","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44071441531135,"sku":"9781421418285","price":62.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_aa039d4d-2814-4c3c-bd5d-44a7e632ee2b.jpg?v=1685436113","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/pennsylvania-dutch-mark-l-louden-9781421418285","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}