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The PennsylvaniaGermanLanguage is a MoselleFranconianWestMiddleGermanLanguage of the UnitedStates. SIL code: PDC. ISO 639-2: gem. Population: 85,000 in USA, including 70,000 Old Order Amish, 15,000 Old Order Mennonites, fewer Pennsylvanisch (Lutheran). Population total both countries: 100,000 out of an ethnic population of 200,000 (1978 Kloss and McConnell). Region: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Virginia, West Virginia, and Florida. Also spoken in Canada. Alternate names: PENNSYLVANISH, PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH. Dialects: AMISH PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN (PLAIN PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN), NON-AMISH PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN (PENSYLVANISCH DEITSCH, NON-PLAIN PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN). Comments: Blending of several German dialects, primarily Rhenish Palatinate (Pfalzer) German, with syntactic elements of High German and English. Mostly incomprehensible now to a person from the Palatinate (H. Kloss 1978). Non-plain community: youngest fluent speakers 40 to 50 years old (M. Louden 1987). Plain community not shifting to English, but has stable bilingualism (M. Louden 1987). Separate orthographies for Pennsylvania and Ohio dialects. Christian. NT 1994. Also spoken in: Canada. (Language name: GERMAN, PENNSYLVANIA.) Population: 15,000 in Canada (1995). Alternate names: PENNSYLVANISCH, PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH. Dialects: AMISH PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN, NON-AMISH PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN (PENNSYLVANISCH DEITSCH). Comments: Christian. NT 1994.(extract from http://www.ethnologue.com/)
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