Dissertation

227 Pages·2012·0.74 MB·English

The Pennsylvania State University

The Graduate School

Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures
RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE SHIFT AMONG AMISH-
MENNONITES IN KISHACOQUILLAS VALLEY, PENNSYLVANIA
A Dissertation in

German

by

Joshua R. Brown
 2011 Joshua R. Brown
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

August 2011
The dissertation of Joshua R. Brown was reviewed and approved* by the
following:

B. Richard Page
Associate Professor of German and Linguistics
Head of the Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages &
Literatures
Dissertation Advisor
Chair of Committee

Carrie N. Jackson
Associate Professor of German and Linguistics

Michael T. Putnam
Assistant Professor of German and Linguistics

John M. Lipski
Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Spanish and Linguistics

*Signatures are on file in the Graduate School
iii
ABSTRACT
This dissertation provides an analysis of religious identity and language
behavior in an Anabaptist settlement in central Pennsylvania. Kishacoquillas
“Big” Valley, Pennsylvania is home to a variety of Anabaptist congregations
ranging from conservative Old Order Amish to progressive Mennonites.
Uniquely, each of these congregations traces its lineage to a shared Amish
beginning in the late eighteenth century. Due to the geographic location within a
narrow and level valley, congregations began to construct ethnoreligious
identities, which not only defined themselves, but separated them from other
congregations. As a result, differing interpretations of the traditional Anabaptist
tenet of “separation from the world” emerged. Beginning in the second half of
the nineteenth century, a group wishing to pursue more progressive changes
chose to adopt meetinghouses for worship and less conservative hair and dress
styles. They soon adopted a hyphenated religious identity as Amish-Mennonites
– binding them to their Amish roots, but pronouncing their more progressive
Mennonite aspirations. By the 1930s, these congregations ceased using
Pennsylvania Dutch for the in-group and archaic German for worship. Today
they identify only as Mennonites and Pennsylvania Dutch ceases to be a marker
for their new religious – and less exclusive or sectarian – identity.
A second group, similarly arising from Amish origins in 1911, currently
identifies as Amish-Mennonite. This group has adopted similar religious goals as
the first group, especially Sunday school, mission work, and evangelism. They
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are currently undergoing language shift with only a thirty-minute German-
language hymn sing in the more conservative of the two congregations
remaining.
By relying on an oral history interview project, participant observation,
and sociohistorical sources, this dissertation examines the changing
ethnoreligious identities of the two groups. Employing Le Page and Tabouret-
Keller’s (1985) early assertions that language acts are acts of identity, the
language behavior of each group is analyzed as part of their changing expressions
of religious identity. Further, the religious identities of residents of Big Valley are
viewed from a poststructural perspective: their identities are both multiple and
dynamic.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................ vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. viii
Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 1
1.2 Current study ....................................................................................... 1
1.3 Scope .................................................................................................... 8
1.4 Initial considerations ........................................................................... 9
1.5 Overview ............................................................................................... 15
Chapter 2 Language Maintenance and Shift ................................................... 17
2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 17
2.2 Language maintenance and shift as fields of inquiry .......................... 17
2.3 Research traditions ............................................................................... 20
2.3.1 Typological approaches ............................................................... 21
2.3.2 Social network approaches ......................................................... 24
2.3.3 Domain approaches .................................................................... 28
2.3.4 Language attitude approaches .................................................... 32
2.3.5 Ethnolinguistic vitality ................................................................ 37
2.3.6 Verticalization ............................................................................. 40
2.3.7 Core values .................................................................................. 41
2.3.8 Language and identity ................................................................ 42
2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 49
Chapter 3 Pennsylvania Dutch language maintenance and shift .................... 51
3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 51
3.2 Pennsylvania Dutch speech community .............................................. 51
3.3 Anabaptist history ................................................................................ 55
3.4 Pennsylvania Dutch maintenance and shift ........................................ 62
3.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 69
Chapter 4 Methodology .................................................................................... 70
4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 70
4.2 Interviews ............................................................................................. 70
4.3 Participant observation ........................................................................ 74
4.4 Questionnaires ...................................................................................... 77
4.5 Matched-guise tests .............................................................................. 92
4.6 Additional instruments ........................................................................ 95
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4.7 Research instruments for this study .................................................... 99
4.7.1 Interview ...................................................................................... 100
4.7.2 Participant observation ............................................................... 104
4.7.3 Sociohistorical sources ................................................................ 106
4.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 107
Chapter 5 Maple Grove, Allensville, and Locust Grove Amish-Mennonite
groups ......................................................................................................... 108
5.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 108
5.2 Amish-Mennonite origins .................................................................... 110
5.3 Nonlinguistic changes .......................................................................... 112
5.3.1 Maple Grove Amish-Mennonite .................................................. 113
5.3.2 Allensville Amish-Mennonite ..................................................... 115
5.3.3 Locust Grove Conservative Unaffiliated ..................................... 117
5.4 Language and identity among Amish-Mennonites .............................. 123
5.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 139
Chapter 6 Beachy Amish-Mennonites ............................................................. 141
6.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 141
6.2 Beachy Amish origins ........................................................................... 142
6.3 Big Valley’s Beachy Amish .................................................................... 144
6.3.1 Nonlinguistic changes ................................................................. 145
6.3.2 Language and identity among Beachy Amish-Mennonites ....... 157
6.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 170
Chapter 7 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 171
7.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 171
7.2 Language and the Amish-Mennonites ................................................. 171
7.3 Identity and the Amish-Mennonites .................................................... 177
7.4 Areas of future research ........................................................................ 183
7.5 Role of language in identity .................................................................. 185
Appendix: List of narrators for the Oral History Project ................................. 189
Works Cited ....................................................................................................... 191
Vita….. ............................................................................................................... 217
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2-1: Macro-, interactional-, and micro-levels of abstraction in the
Ethnolinguistic Vitality Model ................................................................... 39
Figure 3-1: Perceived linguistic and non-linguistic boundary continua. ........ 64
Figure 7-1: Degrees of sectarianism in Big Valley. .......................................... 179
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my committee, Richard Page, Carrie Jackson, Mike Putnam,
and John Lipski, for their careful guidance and support at all stages of graduate
school. Richard has been a pillar of support since I started applying to grad
school. He involved me in his own research projects and held strong enthusiasm
for my own. He epitomizes the role of the advisor and mentor, and for this I am
very thankful. Carrie took a keen interest in both my research and teaching. She
offered a critical eye to my work, but never devalued even the roughest of ideas.
Mike lent his expertise with German-American studies and always offered
thoughtful advice. John introduced me to sociolinguistics, planted an early
appreciation for minority language studies, and taught me a great deal about
fieldwork.
Julia Kasdorf in the English Department at Penn State has been a constant
source of inspiration – I will miss our idea-sharing meetings over coffee. Barbara
Bullock and Jacqueline Toribio at the University of Texas-Austin were immensely
supportive during the entire process. Fellow Germanists, Mark Louden and Joe
Salmons at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provided comments and
critiques of my work and were always available to answer my questions. I thank
Jackie Esposito, Penn State University Archivist, who showed a strong interest in
my progress and was always there to offer a hug or laugh. Jackie gave me the
opportunity to work on both the John A. Hostetler and Gertrude E. Huntington
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Papers housed in the Penn State University Archives – it was from Trudy and
John that I learned the most about being a field researcher. Betty Hartzler, Lorne
Yoder, Zelda Yoder, and all of the narrators deserve the greatest credit for this
work. Through their patient guidance, I came to learn about and appreciate the
Big Valley. Richard and Dorothy Beam have been major sources of support since
my freshman year at Millersville. They introduced me to my first Amish and
Mennonite contacts and helped me rediscover a language of my childhood. I
thank all of the “office ladies,” who put up with years of my questions and
problems – they deserve sainthood. And, of course, my cohort in the Burrowes
Building cubes… you all brightened my days and made every moment of this
process enjoyable!
DEDICATION

For my parents, who never questioned the importance of their children’s
education. They gave endless amounts of love and support for which I am
eternally grateful.