The Volga German Dialect of Milberger, Kansas
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE VOLGA GERMAN DIALECT OF MILBERGER, KANSAS BY Maria Khramova Submitted to the graduate degree program in Germanic Languages and Literatures and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy _________________________________ William D. Keel, Chairperson _________________________________ Leonie Marx, Committee Member _________________________________ Frank Baron, Committee Member _________________________________ Stephen Dickey, Committee Member _________________________________ Marc Greenberg, Committee Member Date defended: February 9, 2011 ii The Dissertation Committee for Maria Khramova certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE VOLGA GERMAN DIALECT OF MILBERGER, KANSAS _________________________________ William D. Keel, Chairperson Date approved: April 20, 2011 iii Abstract The uniqueness of the Volga Germans is in that their language was isolated from the linguistic developments in their German homeland and underwent unique changes, while conserving old features of the native dialect. The research subject for the present study is a Lutheran Volga German community in western Kansas that was founded in 1876 by German immigrants from the Volga region. This study focuses on several major areas while describing this community: First, history of the settlement is examined, including origin of the first settlers in Milberger. Second, the present dissertation provides a description of the phonological and morphological system of the dialect spoken by natives of this community. It also pays particular attention to the comparative analysis of the described dialect with the dialects that were spoken in two mother colonies on the Volga that subjects of this study identified as places of origin for their ancestors. Since some informants who were interviewed for this research were able to share the German origin of their ancestors, and their information was backed by genealogical research that is available online, the Milberger dialect was compared with Zhirmunski‟s description of the Central Franconian koine and the semi-dialect of Darmstadt. The third major area of investigation is the development of the language situation in this community that can be traced back with help of the interviews carried out in 2007-2008 in Russell, Kansas, Neale Carman‟s fieldwork notes, and available newspaper articles. These materials also allowed analyzing reasons for the language loss in this area. Particularly interesting linguistic features discussed in the present dissertation are diglossia and interferences from Russian and English that had an impact on this dialect. The study provides examples on how the “sectarian” diglossia that exists in this community resulted in leveling of some dialectal features towards High German. The present research also addresses in detail the iv list of Russian borrowings that was collected in 1910s in Russell, providing points for discussion, on whether some of these words could, in fact, have been borrowed before settlers arrived in Russia. v To Helen, Arthur, and my Mom vi Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all people who made my work on this study a wonderful experience. First of all, I thank people of the Lutheran Volga German community in Russell, Kansas for their time and willingness to share their knowledge. In particular, I would like to express my appreciation to my dear friend, a member of this community, who let me stay with her during my trips and helped me throughout the whole process during the follow-up calls and interviews - she made this study very personal. I am also grateful to Chris Johnson and Gabi Lunte, who helped me at the very first stages of this research, to Prof. Allard Jongman and Olga Bolotova for their assistance, and to the wonderful staff members of the German Department at KU. Late Montana Huslig was a great professional, all her work is tremendiously appreciated. Cynthia Willingham always walks an extra mile for all students at the department and has always been an extraordinary help for me in resolving all possible issues. I thank the Max Kade Visiting Professor Nina Berend, who taught at the University of Kansas in Spring 2008, for providing me with her advice and setting important guidelines for this research. Her comments and suggestions were immensely helpful. I would like to thank the German Department at KU and the Max Kade Foundation for providing funding for this study. As a part of my graduate experience, I also appreciated the initiative of Max Kade Foundation to provide graduate students of the German Department with the opportunity to take classes taught by distinguished visiting scholars from Europe. It was a unique experience to learn from such prominent professors as Ludwig Eichinger, Per Øhrgaard, and Nina Berend. My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor Professor William Keel. This study would not be possible without his help, support, advice, patience, and knowledge. I thank my friends Olga Kapelnitskaya, Svetlana DePlazes, Margarita Karnysheva, Victoria Zhukova, and Ketino Beim for all their moral support during these years. My special thanks go to my Mom and to the love of my life. vii Table of Content Introduction……………………………………………………………………….............. 1 Chapter 1. History of the Volga German settlements…………………………….............. 16 1.1 Emigration from Germany to Russia…………………………………............. 16 1.1.1 Villages of Kratzke, Holstein, and Eckheim………………….............. 18 1.1.2 Homogeneity of the settlements. …………..………….....…................ 20 1.1.3 Immigration to the United States. …………..………………............... 21 1.2. Lutheran Volga Germans in Western Kansas…………..……………............. 22 1.2.1. History of settlements…………..…………..………………….......... 23 1.2.2. Milberger and Russell in the 21st century………………………........ 26 1.3 Conclusion……………………………………………………………............. 31 Chapter 2. Linguistic profile of the Milberger dialect……………………………………. 33 2.1 Phonology…………..…………..…………..…………..……………….......... 33 2.1.1 Consonantism…………..…………..…………..………...…............... 33 2.1.1.1 Second Sound Shift…………..…………..…….....…............. 34 2.1.1.2 Lenition…………..…………..………………………............ 35 2.1.1.3 Spirantization of voiced stops…………..……….................... 35 2.1.1.4 Assimilation…………..…………..……………….…............ 36 2.1.2 Vocalism…………..…………..…………..……………...….............. 38 2.2 Morphology 2.2.1 Verb Phrase…………..…………..…………..…………...….............. 41 2.2.1.1 Infinitive…………..…………..…………..…………............. 41 2.2.1.2 Strong Verb…………..…………..…………..…...……......... 43 2.2.1.2.1 Past Participle…………..……………………......... 44 2.2.1.3 Weak Verbs…………..…………..……………….……......... 45 2.2.1.4 Preterito-Presentia…………..…………..………...……......... 46 2.2.1.5 Verbs hun, sein, due…………..…………..……………......... 47 2.2.1.6 Personal Endings –Present Indicative…………………......... 49 viii 2.2.1.7 Tense and Aspect…………..…………..……………….......... 51 2.2.1.7.1 Past Tense…………..…………..……………........ 52 2.2.1.7.2 Mood…………..…………..…………..…….......... 54 2.2.1.7.3 Voice…………..…………..…………………........ 57 2.2.2 Noun Phrase…………..…………..…………..…………..……........... 58 2.2.2.1 Gender, Number…………..…………..………….......... 58 2.2.2.2 Case…………..…………..…………..…………........... 59 2.2.3 Prepositions…………..…………..…………..…………...…….......... 64 2.2.4 Adjectives…………..…………..…………..……………..……......... 64 2.2.5 Pronouns…………..…………..…………..……………..……........... 67 2.3 Origin of the Milberger dialect…………………………………………......... 68 2.3.1 Milberger dialect and dialect of Kratzke and Holstein…………......... 68 2.3.2 Milberger dialect and its origin in Germany……………………......... 78 2.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………............. 83 Chapter 3 Language Contact…………..…………..…………..…………………............ 86 3.1 Language Contact Theory…………..…………..…………..…………........... 86 3.2 Language Loss…………..…………..…………..…………..………….......... 89 3.2.2 Factors leading to language decay and language loss………….......... 91 3.2.3 WWII and its impact…………..…………..……………...……......... 92 3.2.4 Time after the WWII…………..…………..……………...……......... 93 3.2.5 Types of language loss…………..…………..………………….......... 97 3.3 Bilingualism …………….…………..…………..…………..………….......... 97 3.4 Diglossia…………..…………..…………..…………..………………............ 100 3.5 Linguistic Interference…………..…………..…………..……………............ 103 3.5.1 Borrowing and interference…………………………………….......... 107 3.5.2 Lexical borrowing…………..…………..………………...…….......... 108 3.5.3 Code switching…………..…………..…………..………..……......... 111 3.5.4 Integration of the loanword…………..…………………...……......... 112 ix 3.5.5 Reasons for borrowing…………..…………..…………………........... 113 3.5.6 History of borrowing in Germany and on the Volga…….……............ 115 3.5.6.1 Russian influence…………..…………..………….…........... 117 3.5.7 Russian borrowings in the Milberger dialect…………………............ 119 3.5.7.1 History of Research…………..………………….................. 119 3.5.7.2 Russian loanwords in Baltic German………………….......... 129 3.5.7.3 Retained Russian loanwords in the Milberger dialect……… 131 3.5.8 Interference from English...…………..……..…………….…….......... 136 3.5.8.1 Wenker sentences…………..…………..……………............ 137 3.5.8.2 Interference in free speech…………..…………………........ 147 3.5.8.3 Self-Repair…………..…………..…………..…………........ 151 3.5.9 The borrowing scale…………..…………..……………………........... 151 3.6 Conclusion.…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….……………............. 153 4. Final Conclusion..…….……….…….…….…….…….…….…….……………............ 156 References….…….…….…….…….…….…….…...…….………………………............ 160