Last Stages of Language Shift: Pennsylvania Dutch as a Heritage Language

As language shift progresses, a heritage language can change its orientation from communicative to symbolic for the heritage language community. The change toward a broadening of the symbolic uses of the language is a hallmark of the post-vernacular stage of language shift. This presentation explores how Pennsylvania Dutch is used among non-sectarians (non-Amish / Mennonites) in southeastern Pennsylvania today. Dr. Brown will share in a virtual lecture how the heritage language is invoked in spoken, discursive, visual, and performative venues and how the heritage language remains an important part of the community’s identity, although it has lost its use as an everyday language of communication for the community.