Toward an understanding of some subtle stresses on language maintenance among the Old Order Amish of Iowa.

This paper is concerned with adding sociolinguistic detail toward an understanding of the maintenance processes of the German spoken by the Old Order Amish of Kalona, Iowa. Of particular interest are areas which will be referred to as stresses imposed on German language maintenance there. These stresses are conceived of in two ways: those which are obvious, such as English interference in Amish German phonology, morphology, vocabulary, and syntax; and those which are more subtle and which may thus affect Amish German language maintenance in ways which the Amish themselves have not yet perceived, including implications of inadequacy or inappropriateness of Amish German for handling some of the basic communicative and societal needs of the Amish. There are some societal changes among the Old Order Amish which may have an effect on their language choice. Linguistic boundary maintenance is certainly of great significance for all Old Order Amish, but societal boundary control is of even more importance for maintaining their life style. There are two factors that would cause the Amish to make a conscious shift to English. One is that the Amish have always been under stress because of their basic inability to use either standard English or standard German. Second, if the Old Order of Amish see English as a necessity for educating, socializing and thus keeping their children in Amish lifestyle, they will consciously choose English as method of preserving their world.