Re: American Dutch dialects, re-correction

--- On Sat, 2/28/09, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:

> From: Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...>
> Subject: [tied] Re: American Dutch dialects, re-correction
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 10:52 AM
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen"
> <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Okay. Now you just have to find a way to make this
> English dialect
> > import this feature into the main dialect of American
> English.
> >
> >
> > Torsten
> >
>
> I've never actually read anything on the topic, but
> I'm sure rhotic
> dialects were probably more widespread in England during
> the settling
> of the U.S, since the loss of /r/ happened over the course
> of time and
> therefore was probably not as widely dispersed at that time
> as now.
> But after reading what Rick wrote, I now believe that
> American rhotic
> pronunciation was more likely due to Irish and Scotch
> pronunciation
> patterns, since as he said these were the primary
> components of
> Midwest population.

Of the first wave, but in the 1840s, the Germans came in and took over the place. In popular lore in the Midwest, most of the German settlers were Rhinelanders but there were a lot of Bavarians and later on, Russian Germans (in the Dakotas). My German ancestors were all from the Rhine valley or nearby, although many were actually Huguenots. There was also a large German component in Pennsylvania, starting in 1683 and a smaller component in western Virginia c. 1720. Given that areas of German settlement and Scots-Irish settlement generally overlapped, German settlers adoptions of an acrolect form of local Scots-Irish influenced English would have ensured that /r/ was maintained.
On the Atlantic Coast, there are only 2 rhotic dialects: Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Philadelphia was first settled by the Welsh and West country English, then by Germans and Scots-Irish.
Maryland was originally a Catholic colony with a lot of Irish.

In NYC, I believe most of the English speakers moved in from New England, although there were Scots settlements in northern NJ

> But it must be noted that these were
> native
> speakers of English, not of a foreign language like Dutch.
>
> Andrew