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List of publications on a keyword: «low German dialect»

  • Religious Prigins and Specific Regional Culture of The Mennontes

    Research Article
    Ethnic Culture Volume 8 No 2
    Author:
    Yulia V. Berezina
    Work direction:
    Ethnography, Ethnology and Anthropology
    Abstract:
    This article examines the Crimean Mennonites, a distinct ethnoreligious group of the German people. The study aims to trace the historical and religious evolution of the community and determine the extent of its influence on the ethnicity, linguistic culture, and lifestyle of the group’s members. The empirical basis of the study is the memoirs of the head of the family, whose first language was the Low German dialect in its oral form. The study outlines the history of Mennonitism, identifies the main features of its local existence in Crimea, and notes the adaptation of Anabaptist principles to the natural, economic, and sociocultural conditions of the peninsula. Particular attention is paid to the typology of the group, the systematization of its external and internal names, and the identification of key markers of religious identity and attitudes toward their native language. The study also characterizes the lifestyle of the Mennonite family within the context of the historical community. The study's results demonstrate a profound interconnection between religious affiliation and the ethnocultural characteristics of the group. Historical changes in group identification indicate the preservation of clear community boundaries. Language, however, remains a key marker of cultural continuity. Proficiency in the native Low German dialect serves as an important marker of self-identification even in the absence of a written language. The Low German dialect is currently ceasing to exist as a means of everyday communication, but it persists as an element of cultural memory and a marker of ethnicity.
    Keywords:
    German language, low German dialect, Crimean German Mennonites, ethno-religious community, Mennonitism
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  • The Main Data about the Consonant System of the Low German Dialect of the Mennonite Germans of the Simferopol Region of the Crimean Peninsula

    Research Article
    Ethnic Culture Volume 7 No 3
    Authors:
    Yulia V. Berezina, Viacheslav N. Onoshko, Yulia S. Zhilina, Denis E. Voytov, Olga V. Skurikhina
    Work direction:
    World languages and literature
    Abstract:
    The article describes the consonant system of the Low German dialect of the Mennonite Germans of the Simferopol region of Crimea. Mennonites are followers of the Reformation movement that emerged in the 16th century in the Netherlands. The founder of this religious teaching was former Frisian Catholic priest Menno Simons (1496–1561), who united small, disjointed congregations of Anabaptists based on his doctrine. Since 1789, at the invitation of Catherine II, Mennonites began to migrate to Russia. The study is based on an analysis of the oral speech of representatives of an ethnic religious community who retained their native language in a foreign-speaking environment. The authors identify 25 consonant phonemes and describe in detail their classification according to articulatory and acoustic characteristics, as well as the functional load based on frequency of use. Special attention is paid to the specific features of consonantism, including the preservation of archaic features characteristic of the Low German dialect Plattdeutsch, as well as the influence of Russian and High German dialects. Such phenomena as palatalization before the vowels of the front row, spirantization of the consonants, velarization [l], vocalization [r], the presence of voiced consonants at the absolute end of the word. The analysis shows that the dialect under study retains a significant degree of archaism, while simultaneously being influenced by the contact Russian language. Despite the numerical reduction of native speakers, the consonant system demonstrates stability and internal logic, which makes it an important object for linguistic and ethnolinguistic research.
    Keywords:
    Mennonite Germans, low German dialect, phonological analysis, consonantism, functional load of phonemes
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