Plautdietsch

Plautdietsch (pronounced [ˈplaʊt.ditʃ]) or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word Plautdietsch translates to "flat (or low) German" (referring to the plains of northern Germany). In other Low German dialects, the word for Low German is usually realised as Plattdütsch/Plattdüütsch [ˈplatdyːtʃ] or Plattdüütsk [ˈplatdyːtsk], – very often also as Plattdeutsch – but the spelling Plautdietsch is used to refer specifically to the Vistula variant of the language. Plautdietsch was a Low German dialect like others until it was taken by Mennonite settlers to the southwest of the Russian Empire starting in 1789. From there it evolved and subsequent waves of migration brought it to North America, starting in 1873. Plautdietsch is spoken by about 400,000 Russian Mennonites, most notably in the Americas: Canada (notably Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario), Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Belize, Brazil, Argentina (notably La Pampa and Santiago del Estero), Peru, Uruguay and the United States (notably Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas). Today, Plautdietsch is spoken in two major dialects that trace their division to what is now Ukraine. These two dialects are split between Chortitza Colony and Molotschna. Today, many younger Russian Mennonites in Canada and the United States speak only English. In 2007, Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas directed the film Stellet Licht (Silent Light), set in a Mennonite community in Chihuahua, Mexico. Most of the film's dialogue is in Plautdietsch, which some of the actors had to learn phonetically. Other parts were played by people of the local community.