Introduction

In the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, cultures of ethnic minorities in the United States were often used for humorous, comic purposes. German dialect, pronunciation and customs were regulary subjects of “public entertainment” in poetry, theater and radio for more than 50 years.[1]

The word ‘Dutch’ had a fuzzy association. It described not only people from the Netherlands but also included Germans in accordance with the phonetic similarity of the German word ‘deutsch’, meaning German. So, the term “Dutchman” also referred to a German person or more precisely to Pennsylvania Germans. [2] The ‘Dutch’ dialect that was frequently used in literature demonstrated a deformed version of speech from a particular German group of immigrants.

The Pennsylvania German voice, or ‘Dutch’ dialect, aims at mimicking the German immigrant’s way of blending words of their native language into English and mispronouncing some English vocabulary. ‘Dutch’ dialect in these literary pieces describes how Germans attempted to overcome their limited means of expression to convey important information in a foreign language. But most of the time it ended up as a hopeless and “hilariously funny” blend of grammar, phonetics, and semantics.[3]  The dialect is  a “linguistic concept called code-mixing” and not a language on its own.[4] The spelling of these texts usually followed the German sound system since that is closer to orthography than English pronunciation.

“Some of the best-selling books employed a mock Pennsylvania German dialect.”[5] The content of these publications was produced by native speakers of English and is far from authentic. The publications were not concerned with correctness and sincerity but rather inventing new rules. That is why German immigrants defended themselves against the stigmatized depiction and argued that no German ever spoke that “Kauderwelsh” used in ‘Dutch’ literature.[6]

Over time, authors had constructed a few profound characters that played the central protagonists in their poems, for instance Leedle Yawcob Strauss by Charles Adams. People could identify with the feelings and emotions expressed by this fictional character. The main themes were home life, children and love for the family. Yawcob Strauss offered a unique perspective on domestic situations to which people could relate while also conveying a moral lesson to the reader. The German immigrant’s voice was perfectly suited for that subject because Germans were widely known as “romantic people with strong family ties”.[7] Moreover, the ethnic group served as a tool to contrast and question the dominant Anglo-American culture. Consequently, the ‘Dutch’ dialect played a significant role in literature, and constituted a new sense of humor, which is “central to our conception of the world”.[8]


[1] Mehring, Frank. "Deutsch, Dutch, Double Dutch: Authentic and Artificial German-American Dialects." Amerikastudien / American Studies 51, no. 1 (2006): 94.

[2] Mehring, Frank. 96.  

[3] Kersten, Holger. "Using the Immigrant's Voice: Humor and Pathos in Nineteenth Century "Dutch" Dialect Texts." MELUS 21, no. 4 (1996): 10. doi:10.2307/467639.

[4] Kersten, Holger. 5.

[5]Mehring, Frank. 94.

[6] Mehring, Frank. 103.

[7] Kersten, Holger. 16.

[8] Lowe, John. "Theories of Ethnic Humor: How to Enter, Laughing." American Quarterly 38, no. 3 (1986): 439. doi:10.2307/2712676.

Introduction