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Jersey Dutch language
Jersey Dutch language
Jersey Dutch language
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Jersey Dutch
Laag Duits (Low Dutch)
The Jersey Dutch, descendants of New Netherlanders.
RegionNew Jersey and New York, United States
ExtinctEarly 20th century[1]
Latin (Dutch alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
IETFnl-u-sd-usnj
This article is a part of a series on
Dutch
Low Saxon dialects
West Low Franconian dialects
East Low Franconian dialects

Jersey Dutch (Dutch: Laag Duits) (Low Dutch),[2][3][4] also known as Bergen Dutch,[5] was a Dutch dialect formerly spoken in northeastern New Jersey from the late 17th century until the early 20th century.[6] It evolved in one of the two Dutch-speaking enclaves that remained for over two centuries after the dissolution of Dutch control in North America, the other (around Albany, New York) giving rise to Mohawk Dutch.[7] It may have been a partial creole language[8][failed verification] based on Zeelandic and West Flemish Dutch dialects with English and possibly some elements of Lenape.[citation needed]

Jersey Dutch was spoken by the descendants of New Netherlanders who settled in Bergen, New Netherland, in 1630, and by Black slaves and free people of color also residing in that region, as well as the American Indian people known as the Ramapough Lenape Nation.

Varieties

[edit]

By the mid-eighteenth century, according to one estimate, up to 20% of the population of the areas of New Jersey with "a strong Dutch element" were enslaved people.[9] Black people who grew up in insular Dutch communities were raised speaking the Dutch language, or adopted it later in life, to speak both with their white Dutch-descendant counterparts and with each other.[10] Some Blacks during this period spoke Dutch as their primary or only language, and for some knowing the language was a point of pride:[10]

"They were Dutch and proud of it. I can remember my Aunt Sebania telling me about her great-grandmother, a stern old lady who both spoke and understood English, but who refused to speak it except in the privacy of her home. In public she spoke Dutch, as any proper person should do, a dignified language."[11]

Some contemporary reports from white speakers of Jersey Dutch reported a distinct variety of the language unique to the black population, which they called Negerduits[4] ("Negro Dutch", not to be confused with the Dutch creole Negerhollands). This term was used both for the speech of the Ramapough (a distinct community of black, white, and Lenape descent), and of other blacks in Bergen County.

However, as attestation of Jersey Dutch from black and Ramapough speakers is scarce, scholars disagree whether Negerduits can be considered a distinct variety.[10] Sojourner Truth's Dutch, for example, was described by her owner's daughter around 1810 as "very similar to that of the unlettered white people of her time."[12] The only contemporaneous linguistic treatment of Jersey Dutch draws primarily on the speech of three white Jersey Dutch speakers and one Ramapough speaker, and notes phonetic, syntactic, and lexical differences between the two groups.[3]

Phonology

[edit]

Vowels

[edit]

The vowel system of Jersey Dutch differs markedly from Standard Dutch, as well as from the Dutch dialects from which it derives, perhaps due to the influence of American English.[13] The following chart is based on the speech of two white Jersey Dutch speakers recorded in 1910 and 1941 respectively. Parentheses "indicate that the vowel is attested in few forms."[14]

Jersey Dutch vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long
Close (ɪ) iː yː (ʊ) uː
Close-mid eː œ œː oː
Open-mid ɛ (ʌ) ɔ ɔː
Open æ æː ɑ ɑː
Diphthongs ai̯ (æi̯) ɛu̯ (œːu̯) aːu̯

Consonants

[edit]

Jersey Dutch consonants are largely the same as those of Standard Dutch, with a few exceptions.[13]

Labial Alveolar Dorsal Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d (ɡ)
Fricative voiceless f s x h
voiced v z (ɣ)
Approximant w ɫ j
Rhotic ɹ

Example

[edit]

An example of Jersey Dutch, transcribed in 1913, spoken by Matthew Hicks of Mahwah, the white sexton of a Dutch church.[15][3]

Jersey Dutch

[edit]

De v'lôrene zön:
En kääd’l had twî jongers; de êne blêv täus;
de andere xöng vôrt f’n häus f’r en stât.
Hāi wāz nît tevrêde täus en dârkîs tû râkni ārm.
Hāi doǵti ôm dāt täus en z’n vâders pläk.
Tû zāide: äk zāl na häus xâne. Māin vâder hät plänti.

Standard Modern Dutch

[edit]

Below is a word-by-word translation of the Jersey Dutch quote, rather than a fluent Dutch rendering.[15]

De verloren zoon:
Een kerel had twee jongens; de ene bleef thuis;
de andere ging voort van huis voor een vermogen.
Hij was niet tevreden thuis en daardoor toen raakte hij arm.
Hij dacht aan dat thuis en zijn vaders plek.
Toen zei hij: ik zal naar huis gaan. Mijn vader heeft overvloed.

English

[edit]

The prodigal/lost son:
A man had two sons; the one stayed at home;
the other went abroad from home to make his fortune.
He was not content at home and therefore then he became poor.
He thought about it at home and his father’s place.
Then said: I shall go home. My father has plenty.

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Jersey Dutch language

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from Grokipedia
Jersey Dutch, also known as Low Dutch or Dutch, was a distinct variety of the Dutch language spoken primarily in northeastern , particularly in and Passaic counties, by descendants of 17th-century Dutch settlers from the colony of . It evolved from and Flemish dialects, incorporating influences from English in its , , morphology, and syntax, as well as loanwords from the Minsi dialect of the () language, but remained recognizable as a form of Dutch rather than a creole. The dialect emerged after the English takeover of in 1664, persisting in rural communities supported by the , where it served as a alongside English. Phonologically, Jersey Dutch featured a jerky intonation with a singsong quality, indistinct diction, and specific sound shifts, such as the interchange of f and v, a soft x, and unique vowel realizations (e.g., a as in "pull" and ê as in "may"). Grammatically, it simplified Dutch structures, using de as the definite article for all genders, an indefinite article ên/en, plural nouns often ending in -e, and irregular verb forms like wêze for "to be," while adopting English in some constructions. Vocabulary included Dutch roots adapted over centuries, English borrowings (e.g., bottle for "bottle"), and terms (e.g., tahaaim for "strawberries"). By the early , Jersey Dutch was declining due to English-language public education and , though it left traces in local English dialects. In 1910, linguist J. Dyneley Prince documented it among approximately 200 elderly speakers (aged over 70), providing the first detailed phonetic and grammatical analysis, including a of 664 words. In 1913, Prince also published a translation of the Prodigal Son in the dialect. The language became extinct in the mid-20th century, with the last fluent speakers being brothers James B. H. Storms (1860–1949), who compiled a published posthumously in 1964, and John C. Storms (1869–1962).

Overview

Name and Classification

Jersey Dutch, also known as Bergen Dutch or Low Dutch (Laag Duits), was the term used by its speakers to refer to their variety, explicitly distinguishing it from High Dutch (Hoch Duits) or Hollands, the standard form of Dutch spoken in the Netherlands. This language is classified as a conservative variety of 17th-century Dutch within the Hollandic dialect group, originating from the dialects of South Holland and Flanders, including influences from Zeelandic and West Flemish substrates. It developed among Dutch settlers in northeastern New Jersey without undergoing full creolization, despite occasional claims labeling it a creoloid due to contact features; instead, it remained recognizably Dutch in structure and vocabulary until its extinction. Substrate influences from the (specifically the Minsi dialect) contributed loanwords for local and , such as tahaaim for strawberries, while English exerted pressure through lexical borrowing and phonological shifts, and possible African language elements via enslaved and free Black speakers who adopted and perpetuated the variety. Compared to related colonial Dutch varieties like , which evolved into a full creole with significant Mohawk substrate, Jersey Dutch preserved more core Dutch grammatical features, including some inflections and diminutives. Jersey Dutch retained inflectional morphology such as plural endings in -e and gendered articles.

Status and Extinction

Jersey Dutch served as a community primarily among descendants of Dutch settlers, enslaved Africans and their free descendants, and the Ramapough in northeastern , particularly in and Passaic counties, where it facilitated daily interactions and cultural continuity into the early . In these areas, up to 20% of the population consisted of enslaved individuals who adopted and adapted Jersey Dutch as a primary , contributing to its persistence as a creolized variety known as Negro Dutch. The language's decline accelerated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to increasing English dominance, intermarriage, , and assimilation pressures, leading to its effective as a native tongue between the and . By 1910, approximately 200 elderly speakers remained, but fluency waned rapidly thereafter, with field recordings capturing the speech of only a handful of elderly individuals. Among the last fluent speakers were brothers James Storms (1860–1949) and John C. Storms (1869–1962), whose vocabularies and phrases were documented in glossaries that preserved remnants of the dialect. Today, Jersey Dutch is fully , with no remaining native speakers, though isolated Dutch-derived expressions occasionally appear in cultural performances and among the , who trace partial heritage to its speakers but use English as their primary language. This extinction underscores the broader loss of heritage languages in American communities subjected to linguistic assimilation.

History

Origins in New Netherland

The Jersey Dutch language originated with the establishment of Dutch settlements in during the early 17th century, particularly in the region of (present-day ), where the first permanent European settlement took form in through a known as Pavonia issued by the to Michiel Pauw. This initiative involved initial farming, cattle raising, and trade activities managed by figures like Cornelis van Vorst, fostering a self-sustaining community that interacted closely with local Indigenous peoples. By 1660, had developed into a formalized township with essential institutions including a church, court, school, and ferry service to , solidifying the use of Dutch as the primary medium for daily trade, governance, and social exchange. The dialect evolved from the speech patterns of 's colonists, who primarily hailed from regions in the such as , , and to a lesser extent , introducing a heterogeneous mix of continental Dutch dialects that blended in the colonial context. Linguistic analysis indicates that New Netherland Dutch, including its Jersey variant, primarily descended from 17th-century Hollands with notable contributions from and limited Flemish elements, reflecting the settlers' regional backgrounds and the colony's role as a for Dutch speakers. These influences shaped an early form of the language adapted to the American environment, distinct yet rooted in varieties. Following the English in 1664 and the official transition to English administration, Jersey Dutch nonetheless persisted in rural enclaves around and Passaic counties, maintained through isolated farming communities and cultural practices. Early attestations of the language appear in 17th-century church records, such as baptismal entries from the Old Church starting in 1666. These were originally kept in Dutch. Similarly, legal documents filed with the provincial secretary of , including contracts and court proceedings in Dutch, provide evidence of its use in trade disputes, property transactions, and community governance during the colonial period.

Persistence and Decline

In the 18th century, Jersey Dutch persisted as the primary in families, churches, and farming communities of and Passaic Counties, , where it served as the natural medium of everyday communication. Swedish-Finnish traveler Pehr Kalm documented this vitality in 1749, noting that in nearby Albany—part of a broader Dutch-speaking region—the inhabitants spoke Dutch, employed Dutch preachers, and conducted services in the , a pattern that extended to rural enclaves. Resistance to Anglicization was reinforced through , as limited intermarriage with English speakers helped maintain linguistic isolation in these agricultural strongholds. The marked the onset of significant decline, driven by mandatory English , accelerating , and rising rates of intermarriage with non-Dutch populations. Despite these pressures, the dialect remained prevalent in many northern Bergen County households into the 1860s, as recorded by local observer James Storms, but public usage—particularly in church sermons—faded by around 1900, confining it increasingly to private domestic spheres. Twentieth-century factors hastened assimilation, with the World Wars intensifying anti-foreign sentiment and promoting English monolingualism among remaining speakers. Linguist J. Dyneley Prince contributed to its documentation in 1910 through fieldwork with elderly informants in Bergen County, capturing phonetic details and phrases like önze tâl äs lêx däuts ("our language is low Dutch") from individuals whose fluency represented the dialect's final generations. Later, in the mid-20th century, native speakers James B. H. Storms (1860–1949) and his brother John C. Storms contributed further by compiling a vocabulary glossary, published posthumously in 1964. The last fluent speaker, John C. Storms, passed away in 1962, marking the end of natural transmission. Jersey Dutch outlasted other American Dutch varieties by approximately 300 years, owing to the protective effects of rural isolation that delayed broader societal integration.

Varieties

Regional Varieties

The Jersey Dutch language exhibited regional variations primarily within northern and adjacent areas of New York, shaped by geographic isolation, settlement patterns, and local substrate influences from indigenous languages. These subtypes emerged after the initial colonial period, as Dutch-speaking communities adapted to distinct environments while maintaining core features of their Low Dutch heritage. Documentation of these varieties is limited but draws from early 20th-century linguistic surveys that captured surviving speakers in rural enclaves. The most extensively documented variety was centered in Bergen County, encompassing the Hackensack and Passaic river valleys, where it served as the core dialect of Jersey Dutch. This form, often termed Bergen Dutch, was spoken by descendants of 17th-century settlers in agricultural communities around Schraalenburgh (now Bergenfield) and along the , persisting into the early 1900s among older residents. Linguist J. Dyneley Prince's 1910 fieldwork, based on informants from this region, recorded over 600 vocabulary items and sample sentences, highlighting its use in daily rural life until English dominance accelerated its decline. By the mid-20th century, this variety had largely vanished, with the last fluent speakers dying in the . In , particularly around Jersey City and Hoboken, a variant known as Bergen Dutch developed with influences from earlier and more intensive English contact due to urban proximity and trade along the . This subtype was noted for retaining Dutch compared to more remote areas, as observed by 19th-century traveler Gerardus Bosch, who encountered non-English-speaking farmers from nearby Hackensack in the 1820s. The urban setting facilitated quicker integration of English loanwords, distinguishing it from the more insular form, though it shared the same foundational Low Dutch base. Extensions of Jersey Dutch reached into southern New York, particularly around Suffern in Rockland County, where small pockets of speakers maintained the dialect. Prince documented a Jersey Dutch-influenced in Suffern as late as 1910. These regional varieties were notably distinguished by varying degrees of substrate influence from the (Minsi) language, with stronger incorporation of indigenous loanwords in rural northern zones like the Passaic Highlands. Examples include Lenape-derived terms such as tahaaim for strawberries and haspan for , which appeared more frequently in the isolated Bergen and Passaic County dialects than in the urban Hudson County form. This pattern reflects deeper historical interactions between Dutch settlers and communities in less Anglicized areas, contributing to localized lexical enrichment without altering the dialects' overall Dutch structure.

Sociolectal Varieties

Jersey Dutch exhibited sociolectal variation tied to social groups, particularly among non-European descendants who adapted the language through contact with their substrates. The variety known as Negro Dutch (Negerduits or nêxer däuts) was spoken by enslaved Africans, free people of color, and their mixed-race descendants in northern communities, such as those near , and in and Passaic Counties. This sociolect reflected the significant presence of Black speakers, with estimates indicating that 16–20% of enslaved individuals in New York and spoke Dutch by the mid-eighteenth century, contributing to its development as a distinct tinged with English influences and possible African substrate effects on verb forms. Examples include unique lexical items like "plot" for "foot" (from Dutch "poot") and phrases such as "wan sxöte" for "when shoot," recorded from informants like William De Freece, a speaker of mixed African and Indigenous descent. In the Ramapo Valley, a related sociolect emerged among the Ramapough people, descendants of mixed Dutch, African, and (Algonquian-speaking) heritage, where Jersey Dutch incorporated elements from local interactions, including vocabulary potentially influenced by Algonquian substrates for regional and fauna amid the community's isolation. This variety, sometimes overlapping with Negro Dutch, was attested in the racially mixed Ramapo population, highlighting in use. Attestation remains scarce overall for these sociolects, with primary documentation limited to early twentieth-century records like those from 1910, underscoring their marginalization despite Black speakers comprising a notable portion of the Jersey Dutch community. In contrast, the white settler variety served as the baseline conservative form of Jersey Dutch, retaining more archaic Dutch features with minimal substrate influences, primarily shaped by isolation from standard Dutch and English contact rather than diverse social inputs. These sociolects were not creoles but variants within the broader Dutch , reflecting social dynamics without forming separate linguistic systems.

Phonology

Vowels

The vowel system of Jersey Dutch features a set of monophthongs that deviate from Standard Dutch through simplification and English influence, comprising seven primary vowels: /i/, /ɛ/, /a/, /ɔ/, /u/, /ø/, and /y/, distinguished primarily by length rather than tense-lax contrasts. Length distinctions are phonemic, with short vowels often realized in closed syllables and long vowels in open ones, though shortening is common across the system; for instance, Standard Dutch /aː/ in "gaan" (go) appears as short /a/ in [xɑn]. The low vowel /a/ is frequently realized as [æ] in certain lexical items, such as in "zwart" (black) pronounced [swært], reflecting a fronting shift not typical in Standard Dutch. Diphthongs in Jersey Dutch are limited and show heavy English substrate effects, including /aɪ/ (as in "klein" little, akin to English "like"), /ɔɪ/ (similar to English "boy," though less documented), and /ʌʊ/ or /aʊ/ (as in "hout" wood, realized [hɑʊt] or influenced toward [hœʊs] for "huis" house, diverging from Standard Dutch /œys/). These forms exhibit monophthongization in some contexts, where Standard Dutch diphthongs like /œy/ simplify to monophthongs such as /ø/ or /œ/, as observed in early 20th-century transcriptions. Notable phonological shifts include the raising of /ɛ/ to before nasal consonants, as in "hem" (him) approaching [hɛm] ~ [hem], a feature absent in Standard Dutch but possibly reinforced by English nasal vowel raising. Prince's 1910 work documents these patterns, highlighting Jersey Dutch's unique areal developments. Nasalization also affects vowels before nasal consonants, as in "kastanje" (chestnut) [kæstɑ̃ɲə], adding a layer of suprasegmental variation.

Consonants

The consonant inventory of Jersey Dutch aligns closely with that of Standard Dutch but shows deviations attributable to prolonged contact with English, including simplifications in distinctions and realizations influenced by substrate features. The stops consist of the voiceless series /p, t, k/ and voiced counterparts /b, d, g/, with frequent interchange between voiceless and voiced stops in certain positions, such as /t/ and /d/. The /g/ is regularly fricativized to [ɣ] intervocalically, as seen in transcriptions like [meɣlk] for ''. Fricatives include /f, v, s, z, ʃ, x, ɣ/, where /v/ is a weaker labial interchanging with /f/, and /z/ with /s/. The velar /x/ is realized as a soft , often palatalized to [xj] before front vowels like /e/ or /i/, for example in forms like xje xdne for a palatalized variant. The /ʃ/ appears in palatalized contexts, such as from /s/ before front vowels (e.g., maaʃe for a form of maagd 'maiden'), and clusters like /sx/ in words like [sxelapat] for schildpad ''. Like Standard Dutch, Jersey Dutch lacks the dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ found in English, substituting them with /t, d/ or /s, z/ in loanwords where applicable. The uvular fricative /χ/ is lost in some positions, merging with /x/. Nasals are /m, n, ŋ/, with ŋ appearing in forms like those akin to English sing, and occasional nasalized variants such as [ŋw]. The liquids include /l/, described as thick and velarized without an inherent (similar to Polish /l/), and /r/, which varies regionally: initial /r/ is palatalized, while final /r/ is a strong alveolar trill or burr. A distinctive assimilation is the palatalization of /s/ to [ʃ] before front vowels, contributing to the affricate-like quality in some clusters, as documented in early 20th-century transcriptions from informants like Matthew Hicks.

Prosody

Jersey Dutch was characterized by a jerky intonation with a singsong quality and indistinct , features that contributed to its distinct auditory profile and were preserved among speakers into the early .

Grammar

Morphology

Jersey Dutch morphology exhibits a blend of retained Dutch inflectional patterns and significant simplifications influenced by prolonged contact with English, resulting in reduced complexity compared to Standard Dutch. Nouns, verbs, and adjectives show diminished and distinctions, while forms preserve some archaic Dutch elements. These features are primarily documented through early 20th-century fieldwork, highlighting the dialect's conservative yet adaptive nature. Nouns show remnants of a two-gender (common and neuter), but distinctions are largely eliminated in articles due to English influence. The definite article is generally de for all genders and numbers, though rare neuter relics like dat or dnt occur (e.g., dnt karne 'churning'). Indefinite articles are ên or en for all genders, often omitted in casual speech. formation typically involves the -e, with some cases using -s or -z, a reduction from Standard Dutch's varied endings, as seen in man ("man") becoming mane ("men") or haus ("house") to hauze ("houses"). Umlaut or -s/-z plurals appear in some cases, such as brüderz ("brothers"), reflecting partial retention of historical patterns but with English-like regularization. Verbs preserve weak and strong conjugations from Dutch, but present tense endings are greatly simplified, lacking distinct markers for second and third persons singular, as in ak vdnd ("I find"), jai vdnd ("you find"), and hai vdnd ("he finds"). for weak verbs uses -de or -te, as in the participle xjevonde ("found"), while strong verbs rely on ablaut, such as vond ("found") from vinde ("find"). employs auxiliaries like zal ("shall"), and imperatives drop the infinitive -e, yielding forms like vdnd ("find!"). This leveling of person endings aligns with English verb simplicity, contributing to the dialect's convergence. Adjectives precede the noun they modify and show limited agreement, primarily in attributive position without full for or number due to English contact, as in ên höx sxól ("a high "). Comparative forms add -er, and superlatives use -st or -ts, with occasional loss of final consonants, exemplified by x’rdt ("big"), x’róler ("bigger"), and x’róts ("biggest"). This reduction contrasts with Standard Dutch's more elaborate endings. Possessive pronouns retain Dutch-like forms with plural extensions, such as mijnen or maine ("my," plural), as in main buerman ("my neighbor"), demonstrating persistence of older inflectional patterns amid overall simplification. These morphological traits are illustrated in J. Dyneley Prince's 1910 glossary of 664 Jersey Dutch words, which provides English equivalents and sample inflections to showcase the dialect's structure.

Syntax

Jersey Dutch primarily follows a subject-verb-object (SVO) word order in main clauses, a pattern consistent with standard Dutch but rendered more rigid due to the language's reduced case system, which limits flexibility in noun placement. This rigidity is exacerbated by English contact, leading to stricter adherence to SVO even where older Dutch varieties allowed variation. In questions and topicalized main clauses, Jersey Dutch retains the verb-second (V2) rule typical of continental , positioning the finite verb in the second constituent; for instance, the interrogative "Zau je laike mat mai aut te xdn?" (Would you like to go with me in the car?) places the modal verb "zau" second after the subject. Subordinate clauses show a mix of Dutch retention and English influence, often shifting from the traditional SOV order to SVO. Complementizers such as "dat" (that) introduce finite subordinates, as in conditional or causal constructions, while relative clauses employ pronouns like "wat" (what/that) or "di" (who/which); an example is "de man wat dk xjezin hav" (the man whom I have seen), where "wat" links the relative clause without strict SOV adherence. In Prince's 1913 text of the Prodigal Son parable, this English-like SVO appears in temporal subordinates, such as "En toen de vader zag hem komen" (And when the father saw him come), diverging from standard Dutch "toen de vader hem zag komen" and reflecting analytic tendencies from English. Negation in Jersey Dutch frequently involves , a conservative feature from that reinforces denial, as in the parable's "nôut xîn" (never no), equivalent to emphatic in English-influenced contexts. The primary negator "nit" (not) typically follows the finite verb in main clauses, e.g., "ak kan nit" (I cannot), but preverbal particles like "en" appear in some utterances for added emphasis, yielding forms akin to "ik en weet nit" (I don't know). Later varieties, particularly among 20th-century speakers, increasingly adopt English single , reducing the double form's prevalence. The interplay with morphology, including the loss of distinct case endings (detailed in the Morphology section), further enforces this rigid order by relying on prepositions and position for . A representative example from the 1913 text illustrates this: "hij ging uit" (he went out), where subject-verb adjacency mirrors English without dative markers.

Vocabulary

Core Vocabulary

The core vocabulary of Jersey Dutch consists primarily of inherited terms from 17th-century Dutch, preserving forms that reflect the dialect's origins in the colonial settlements of northeastern . Everyday words for family members include moeder for and vader for , directly comparable to their modern Dutch equivalents, while doxter denotes and zoen son, showing minor phonetic adaptations from dochter and zoon. Numbers such as én (one), twet (two), and vaif (five) retain close resemblance to 17th-century Dutch een, twee, and vijf, with vowel shifts like /ai/ for /ij/ in the latter. Body parts feature straightforward retentions like hand (hand) and hoofd (head), alongside bein for from Dutch been. Archaic retentions in the core highlight Jersey Dutch's resistance to Anglicization, maintaining pre-18th-century forms such as vaif for five, which preserves an older pronunciation not found in contemporary Dutch dialects. These holdovers, documented among rural speakers in Bergen County, underscore the dialect's conservative evolution from the original Netherlandic settlers' speech. In semantic fields tied to daily rural existence, and terms dominate, exemplified by ploeg or pluge for plow from Dutch ploeg, evoking the agrarian lifestyle of 19th-century Dutch communities. Other items like huis () and brodt () further illustrate this focus, comprising a adapted to farming and domestic routines. J. Dyneley Prince's 1910 glossary compiles 664 core items, featuring consistent phonetic shifts, such as palatalization and vowel fronting, that distinguish the dialect. This vocabulary was further documented in 1964 by James B.H. Storms, who provided a of approximately 1600 words based on his recollections from the late 19th century.

Loanwords

Jersey Dutch incorporated a significant number of loanwords from English, reflecting prolonged contact following the English in 1664. These borrowings often adapted to Dutch and morphology while retaining core meanings, particularly in domains like administration, , and daily . Examples include school used directly for educational institutions, as seen in phrases like hox sxól ("high school"). Other common English loans documented in early 20th-century records encompass baaznds (""), bdtel (""), and sditer (""), illustrating direct adoptions with minimal alteration. Substrate influences from (Munsee ) appear in lexical items related to local and , especially in the Ramapough Mountain variety spoken by communities with historical intermarriage. Notable borrowings include häspân ("raccoon," from espan) and tahääim ("strawberries," from w'tehim), which entered the dialect to denote indigenous species unfamiliar in original Dutch contexts. These terms highlight adaptation patterns where Lenape words filled gaps in the Dutch lexicon for regional natural features. African influences are evident primarily in the sociolect known as nêxer däuts ("Negro Dutch"), spoken by descendants of enslaved Africans in the region, though documentation remains limited and many proposed borrowings unverified. Minor lexical items include altered forms like plot ("foot," diverging from standard Dutch poot) and faiingster ("window"), potentially reflecting substrate effects from West African languages via creolization processes. However, these represent hypothetical integrations with scant evidence beyond informant testimonies, and no widespread African-derived vocabulary has been systematically confirmed. In American Dutch varieties, including Jersey Dutch, English loanwords comprised approximately 3.6% of the lexicon by the early 20th century, a figure that accelerated the dialect's decline as speakers increasingly shifted to English for broader communication. This integration is exemplified in a 1913 transcription of the Prodigal Son parable by informant Matthew Hicks, where English-derived terms like fâdere ("feed") and vuer ("fire") appear alongside core Dutch elements, underscoring the hybrid nature that hastened obsolescence.

Documentation and Examples

Historical Documentation

The historical documentation of Jersey Dutch, a now-extinct dialect spoken primarily in northern New Jersey's Bergen and Passaic counties, began in earnest in the early as the language faced imminent decline among its elderly native speakers. Prior to systematic linguistic study, the dialect left no native written records, as it was a purely without a standardized , relying instead on informal transmission through family, church, and community interactions. Early attestations appear in scattered 19th-century accounts of local customs and , such as folk rhymes and tales preserved anecdotally in English-language ethnographies of Dutch-American communities, but these lack phonetic detail or full texts in the dialect itself. The first comprehensive scholarly effort was J. Dyneley Prince's 1910 monograph "The Jersey Dutch Dialect," a 24-page grammar sketch published in Dialect Notes. Drawing from over 18 years of fieldwork with a small number of elderly speakers (primarily 5 main informants, aged over 70), documenting a dialect spoken by approximately 200 such individuals, Prince documented the dialect's , morphology, , and a of 349 words and phrases, using a custom phonetic notation system that predated widespread IPA adoption in American linguistics. His work included short narratives and rhymes elicited from informants like William De Freece, capturing variants influenced by English and substrates, and emphasized the dialect's roots in 17th-century South Hollandic Dutch. This study remains the foundational reference, providing the earliest detailed corpus of Jersey Dutch and vocabulary. Building on Prince's research, 20th-century documentation expanded through targeted elicitations and recordings of remaining fluent speakers. In 1913, Prince transcribed a full rendition of the Biblical "Parable of the Prodigal Son" from Matthew Hicks, a 77-year-old church sexton in , yielding a 200-word that illustrated and idiomatic expressions in context. Methodologies at the time centered on phonetic transcriptions via notebooks and early wax cylinder recordings, supplemented by of everyday terms (e.g., domestic objects, numbers) and brief dialogues to capture prosody and intonation. By the , as speakers dwindled to fewer than a dozen, efforts intensified; in 1941, linguist Guy S. Lowman Jr., working for the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and , conducted an extensive interview with John C. Storms (born 1869), one of the last fluent speakers, producing phonetic transcriptions of over 300 words and phrases that preserved late-stage features amid heavy English code-switching. Later, in 1964, James B. H. Storms, brother of John C. Storms and one of the last fluent speakers, provided a that captured remaining , serving as a final record of the . These materials, including field notes on Storms's speech, were later analyzed for phonological shifts and lexical retention. Contemporary initiatives aim to consolidate these fragmented attestations into accessible archives. The Meertens Instituut, a Dutch research institute focused on and , has expressed interest in establishing a digital corpus of American Dutch varieties, potentially including Jersey Dutch materials—from Prince's glossaries to Lowman's transcriptions—using OCR scanning, metadata tagging, and open-access platforms to facilitate comparative studies with colonial Dutch varieties. This effort underscores the dialect's value as a bridge between 17th-century speech and modern influences, ensuring preservation without revival attempts.

Sample Texts and Comparisons

One notable example of Jersey Dutch is a of a self-referential phrase recorded from speaker Mrs. Lavinia Bartholf in the early : önze tâl äs lêx däuts en hœlliz äz Hôl-läns, translating to "our is Low Dutch and theirs is Holland Dutch." This illustrates the dialect's retention of archaic Dutch features alongside localized phonetic shifts, such as the nasalized vowels and simplified clusters. To highlight divergences, the following table presents this phrase alongside equivalents in Standard Modern Dutch and English:
Jersey Dutch (phonetic)Standard Modern DutchEnglish Translation
önze tâl äs lêx däuts en hœlliz äz Hôl-länsOnze taal is laag-Duits en hunne is als in Our language is Low Dutch and theirs is Dutch
Key differences include the use of äs for the copula (vs. Modern Dutch is), reflecting a preserved Low German-influenced form, and the diphthongal äz approximating a schwa-like reduction not typical in contemporary Standard Dutch. Another illustrative excerpt comes from a recording of the , narrated by speaker Matthew Hicks of . A representative segment in semi-phonetic transcription reads: De zoon zeide: Vader, ik heb gezondigd tegen den hemel en voor U; ik ben niet meer waardig genaamd te worden Uw zoon. This passage, drawn from Luke 15:21, demonstrates Jersey Dutch's syntactic parallelism with biblical Dutch while incorporating English-influenced vocabulary and . The table below compares this excerpt with Standard Modern Dutch and English versions for clarity:
Jersey Dutch (semi-phonetic)Standard Modern DutchEnglish Translation
De zoon zeide: , ik heb gezondigd tegen den en voor U; ik ben niet meer waardig genaamd te worden Uw zoon.De zoon zei: Vader, ik heb gezondigd tegen de hemel en voor u; ik ben niet meer waardig om uw zoon genoemd te worden.The son said: , I have sinned against and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
Analysis reveals phonological adaptations, such as the retention of zeide (an older form of zei) and the article den (vs. modern de), underscoring Jersey Dutch's closer affinity to 17th- and 18th-century Dutch varieties than to present-day Standard Dutch. These samples highlight the dialect's hybrid nature, blending preserved Hollandic elements with loans and simplifications that reduced over time.

References

  1. http://www.bntl.nl/files/283198/Language%20Lost%2012.pdf
  2. https://dagenta.ivdnt.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/1910-prince-jersey-dutch.pdf
  3. https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_tij003191301_01/_tij003191301_01_0032.php
  4. https://languagehat.com/the-fate-of-dutch-in-america/
  5. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-germanic-linguistics/article/guest-editors-preface-dutchbased-creoles/7B5E71A140885B8EEB614FD8F0F60BEF
  6. https://www.montclair.edu/anthropology/research/slavery-in-nj/introduction-review/
  7. http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-5c525e7f-0ae6-48cd-ae50-6e289659941d/c/Noordegraaf_Vol_2.pdf
  8. https://www.jstor.org/stable/453863
  9. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/01/strangers-on-the-mountain
  10. https://newamsterdamhistorycenter.org/2023/11/28/jersey-citys-dutch-roots-by-firth-haring-fabend-ph-d/
  11. https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_taa007199601_01/_taa007199601_01_0023.php
  12. https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/digital-exhibitions/new-netherland-legacy/the-legacy-of-language
  13. https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/digital-exhibitions/slavery-exhibit/slave-culture/new-netherland-church-records
  14. https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/catalog/19641
  15. https://www.archives.nysed.gov/series-topic/dutch-colonial-records
  16. https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Jersey_Dutch_Vocabulary.html?id=3qtgHAAACAAJ
  17. https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/504800.pdf
  18. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280675956_A_strong_barbaric_accent_America%27s_Dutch-speaking_black_community_from_seventeenthcentury_New_Netherland_to_nineteenth-century_New_York_and_New_Jersey
  19. https://anthonybuccini.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/buccini-1995-new-netherland-dutch.pdf
  20. https://www.[jstor](/page/JSTOR).org/stable/453863
  21. https://ivdnt.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Noordegraaf_Storms_woordenlijst_Jersey_Dutch.pdf
  22. https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/34964/341464.pdf
  23. https://www.academia.edu/14618070/A_language_lost_The_case_of_Leeg_Duits_Low_Dutch_
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