Dialects and languages dying in Texas

[Barrister]

That was normal throughout the rural US well into the 20th Century - My maternal Grandfather first heard English as a 5 year old, even though he was born in Minnesota.  His family was Norwegian, and the neighboring farms were Swedish and German.  He said he just thought that they spoke weird Norwegian.

Canada too.  Lots of small rural towns were the old folk (very few of the younger generation however) speak French, German and Ukrainian in particular as first languages.  My wife's grandmother speaks polish for example (not sure if it was her first language though). 

[AnchorClanker]

That's how it rolls.  It wasn't that long ago that you could call Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee "German" towns, etc.
It's a fun and interesting part of history - the waves of immigrants, where they settled, assimilation issues, usw.

[Admiral Yi]

That's how it rolls.  It wasn't that long ago that you could call Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee "German" towns, etc.
It's a fun and interesting part of history - the waves of immigrants, where they settled, assimilation issues, usw.

Hey Spanky, I mentioned it the other day when you weren't around.  Do you know how the locals pronounce Milwaukee?

[AnchorClanker]

I sure don't.  The only relatives I have in Wisconsin are in LaCrosse.

[Barrister]

I sure don't.  The only relatives I have in Wisconsin are in LaCrosse.

I quite liked LaCrosse Wisconsin.   

[dps]

Who'd have thought there's such a thing: awesome!

In Texas Europeans would immigrate here and set up their own autonomous communities where English speaking was virtually unheard of for generations.  It gets weirder because most of these communities were set up after revolutions in the 1830s and 1840s (particularly 1848 obviously) and stayed in a kind of cultural and linguistic limbo cut off from the rest of the world for 80 years or so.

That was normal throughout the rural US well into the 20th Century - My maternal Grandfather first heard English as a 5 year old, even though he was born in Minnesota.  His family was Norwegian, and the neighboring farms were Swedish and German.  He said he just thought that they spoke weird Norwegian.

Robert MacNeil was on a radio talkshow a few years ago promoting a book he had written on language in America, and a listener called in and was talking about how in his hometown in Minnesota in his father's time instruction in the local primary schools was in Norwegian.  He didn't say when his father was in primary school, but the caller didn't sound particularly old, and I got the impression that it was in the 1920's or maybe even later.

[Caliga]

Hey Spanky, I mentioned it the other day when you weren't around.  Do you know how the locals pronounce Milwaukee?

I've been to Milwaukee, and a former admin of mine was from Milwaukee.  In both cases the pronunciation was the same as everyone not from there seems to say it (mill-WAW-kee).

[Caliga]

Robert MacNeil was on a radio talkshow a few years ago promoting a book he had written on language in America, and a listener called in and was talking about how in his hometown in Minnesota in his father's time instruction in the local primary schools was in Norwegian.  He didn't say when his father was in primary school, but the caller didn't sound particularly old, and I got the impression that it was in the 1920's or maybe even later.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this on Languish before, but my dad's generation was the first one where the primary spoken language at home was English instead of German.

[Admiral Yi]

I've been to Milwaukee, and a former admin of mine was from Milwaukee.  In both cases the pronunciation was the same as everyone not from there seems to say it (mill-WAW-kee).

I heard a little old lady at a Hampton Inn in Illinois pronounce it Mwakee. 

That's good enough for me.

[Caliga]

So like all slurred together, you mean?  The admin was black and otherwise spoke fluent Ebonics, so one would think she'd be into the slurring bit too if it was part of the local dialect.

Oh, before she moved down here she worked with Jeffrey Dahmer.  True story.  He used to bum cigarettes off her all the time.

[jimmy olsen]

I know about 1,200-1,500 words of English.

I never knew you were so humble

[Duque de Bragança]

I highly doubt there are 200K fluent Breton speakers. 200K that can utter at least a few words, fine (I know about 20 words in Breton :p), but the vast majority of those 200K would be people who can say hello, goodbye and thank you

Kevin

200 K of (old? and Diwan schoolers) people clinging to Breton does not seem far fetched. I didn't say they were fluent

[Brazen]

In my experience, British dialects only exist to insult the English, and therefore should be barred.

[KRonn]

I read an interesting article recently about what they called "Globish" - a dumbed-down version of English. Most non-native speakers only know about 1500-2000 words, don't understand idioms etc. That's actually a big problem for the British diplomats at the EU apparently. Everybody there speaks English and understands each other just fine - until the British appear and speak in their much more complicated English that no one gets.

They shouldn't feel bad.  I can't understand the British either.

The British speak English??   

[jimmy olsen]

The last Wichita speaker has passed.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/10/06/doris-mclemore-last-fluent-wichita-speaker-walks-165974