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Introduction

Wisconsin German refers to dialects of German which are spoken in Wisconsin, U.S.A.

By the mid 19^th century, many immigrants were choosing to move to and settle in Wisconsin. One significant group was German speakers, who by the latter half of the 1800s chose Wisconsin over other American states as their destination .  This was partially due to the state’s rich resources, vast amounts of land, and the entrepreneurship of land agents, but also because these immigrants were seeking new economic opportunities, and religious or political freedom. These German speakers were not from a single region, but from many different regions and states, such as Mecklenburg Schwerin, Pomerania, Posen, Rhine-Westphalia, Switzerland, Bavaria, Luxemburg, Baden, Saxony, Hessian, Württemberg and Austria.

Distribution of Germans in Wisconsin according to US Census 1890.

Each group brought their own dialect with them, which they continued to use in the home, community and even in local Wisconsin businesses. Additionally, a form of Standard German, or Wisconsin High German, was used parallel to the community’s dialect, such as in churches, and elementary and secondary schools; this meant that many Wisconsinites were trilingual, speaking their heritage dialect, Wisconsin High German and English.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Wisconsin_German

History

German Immigration to Wisconsin

Graph charting the Immigration of Germans to Wisconsin. 1820-1918.

Language Maintenance and Community structures

• schools

This book was created for German-speaking children in America. While "Fahne" (flag) is listed in German, the editors chose an American flag as an illustration.

• churches
• stores

• Press

The Acker- and Gartenbau Zeitung was a Milwaukee-based magazine for German speaking farmers in the US. The articles, as seen above, sometimes had their headings in English and content in German.Image provided courtesy of: The Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wisconsin German Varieties and Documentation

• How Wisconsin German (dialects and high German) differs from German;

Documentation:

One of the first recordings of Wisconsin German dialects were made in the 1940s by Lester “Smoky” Seifert, a professor of German-American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Seifert, an East Low German speaker himself, recorded over one hundred written interviews with Wisconsin German speakers, in which he included both linguistic and cultural questions (Eichhoff 55).

Die Deutsche Hausfrau 1905 Milwaukee

Language Shift

Current state of Wisconsin German heritage languages

See also

• “American Languages: One Nation, many Voices. German Dialects”

• Lester "Smoky" Seifert: transcripts and sound files of Wisconsin German interviews; site also includes autobiographical information about Lester “Smoky” Seifert, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor (1940s) and pioneer in conducting fieldwork on Wisconsin German languages.

• Pommerscher Verein: A webpage of a prominent Wisconsin Pomeranian club. Includes brief history of the community and history of Pomeranians in Freistadt, Wisconsin.

• Max Kade Institute Archives: Scans of primary sources, such as German cookbooks, letters, newsletters printed in the US. Includes an interesting article (1891) “Die Schönheit der deutsch-amerikanischen Sprache“. (Beauty of the German-American language)

• Wisconsin Low German: limited information, although includes several audio samples of Pomeranian Low German.

Bibliography

• Eichoff, Jurgen (1971). The German Language in America: A Symposium. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 43–57.
• Everest Levi, Kate (1898). "Geographical Origin of German Immigration to Wisconsin". In Thwaites, Reuben Gold. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin XIV. Madison, WI: Democrat Printing Company. pp. 341–393.
• Lucht, Felecia (2013). "Older Immigrant Languages". In Purnell, Thomas; Raimy, Eric; Salmons, Joseph. Wisconsin Talk: Linguistic Diversity in the Badger State. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 26–36. ISBN 978-0-299-29334-5.
• "Wisconsin High German". American Languages: Our Nations Many Voices Online.