Plautdietsch

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A language of Canada

ISO 639-3
pdt
Alternate Names
Low German, Mennonite German, Mennoniten Platt
Autonym
Plautdietsch
Population

80,000 in Canada (Salminen 2007). Total users in all countries: 447,360.

Location

Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan provinces.

Language Maps
Language Status

8a (Moribund).

Classification
Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Saxon-Low Franconian, Low Saxon
Dialects

50% intelligible of other Low German languages, Standard German [deu], Pennsylvania German [pdc], and Hutterite German [geh]. Plautdietsch has major differences from European Low German dialects still spoken along the North Sea and Baltic Ocean due to the various places where Mennonites lived during the past 150 years (Epp 1993).

Typology

SVO; prepositions; genitives after noun heads; question word initial; 5 prefixes; 2 suffixes; nontonal.

Language Use

Older adults only. All also use English [eng]. Many also use Standard German [deu].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: 95%. Bible: 2003.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Plautdietsch
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Christian.

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