Jersey Dutch () (Low Dutch), also known as Bergen Dutch, was a Dutch dialect formerly spoken in northeastern New Jersey from the late 17th century until the early 20th century. It evolved in one of the two Dutch-speaking enclaves that remained for over two centuries after the dissolution of Dutch control in North America, the other (around Albany, New York) giving rise to Mohawk Dutch. It may have been a partial creole language based on Zeelandic and West Flemish Dutch dialects with English and possibly some elements of Lenape.
Jersey Dutch was spoken by the descendants of New Netherlanders who settled in Bergen, New Netherland, in 1630, and by Black slaves and free people of color also residing in that region, including the Ramapough Mountain People.Multiple sources:
Varieties By the mid-eighteenth century, according to one estimate, up to 20% of the population of the areas of New Jersey with "a strong Dutch element" were enslaved people. Black people who grew up in insular Dutch communities were raised speaking the Dutch language, or adopted it later in life, to speak both with their white Dutch-descendant counterparts and with each other. Some Blacks during this period spoke Dutch as their primary or only language, and for some knowing the language was a point of pride:"They were Dutch and proud of it. I can remember my Aunt Sebania telling me about her great-grandmother, a stern old lady who both spoke and understood English, but who refused to speak it except in the privacy of her home. In public she spoke Dutch, as any proper person should do, a dignified language."
Negerduits Some contemporary reports from white speakers of Jersey Dutch reported a distinct variety of the language unique to the black population, which they called ("Negro Dutch", not to be confused with the Dutch creole ). This term was used both for the speech of the Ramapo Mountain People, and of black people in Bergen County.
However, as attestation of Jersey Dutch from black and Ramapough speakers is scarce, scholars disagree whether Negerduits can be considered a distinct variety. Sojourner Truth's Dutch, for example, was described by her owner's daughter around 1810 as "very similar to that of the unlettered white people of her time." The only contemporaneous linguistic treatment of Jersey Dutch draws primarily on the speech of four speakers, three whites and one person from the Ramapo Mountain people. It notes phonetic, syntactic, and lexical differences between the two groups.
Phonology
Vowels The vowel system of Jersey Dutch differs markedly from Standard Dutch, as well as from the Dutch dialects from which it derives, perhaps due to the influence of American English. The following chart is based on the speech of two white Jersey Dutch speakers recorded in 1910 and 1941 respectively. Parentheses "indicate that the vowel is attested in few forms." +Jersey Dutch vowel phonemesFrontCentralBackunroundedroundedshortlongshortlongshortlongClose()()Close-mid Open-mid ()OpenDiphthongs () ()
Consonants Jersey Dutch consonants are largely the same as those of Standard Dutch, with a few exceptions. LabialAlveolarDorsalGlottalNasalPlosivevoicelessvoiced()Fricativevoicelessvoiced()ApproximantRhotic
Example An example of Jersey Dutch, transcribed in 1913, spoken by Matthew Hicks of Mahwah, the white sexton of a Dutch church.
Jersey Dutch
Standard Modern Dutch Below is a word-by-word translation of the Jersey Dutch quote, rather than a fluent Dutch rendering.
English The prodigal/lost son: A man had two sons; the one stayed at home; the other went abroad from home to make his fortune. He was not content at home and therefore then he became poor. He thought about it at home and his father’s place. Then said: I shall go home. My father has plenty.
See also List of Bergen, New Netherland placename etymologies Mohawk Dutch
Notes
References Handboek der Nederlandsche taal: Deel I. De sociologische structuur der Nederlandsche taal I., Jac. van Ginneken and L.C.G. Malmberg, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. 1928. Chapter 10: Het Amerikaansch. [1o. Het oude Amerikaansch-Nederlandsch.] Ik was te bissie...Nederlanders en hun taal in de Verenigde Staten: 2.3 Het taalgebruik van de 17e-eeuwse immigranten en hun nakomelingen, Jo Daan, De Walburg Pers. 2007. (Click on link and then scroll down.) Mencken, H.L. The American Language. 1921. Appendix II - Non-English Dialects in America: Dutch
Further reading Bachman, Van Cleaf. 1982. ‘The story of the Low Dutch language’. De Halve Maen 56: 3, 1–3, 21; 57: 1, 10–13. Bachman, Van Cleaf. 1983. ‘What is Low Dutch?’ De Halve Maen 57: 3, 14–17, 23–24. Buccini, Anthony F. 1995. ‘The Dialectical Origins of New Netherland Dutch’. Dutch Linguistics in a Changing Europe. The Berkeley Conference on Dutch Linguistics 1993. Ed. by Thomas Shannon & Johan P. Snapper. Lanham etc., 211–263. (Publications of the American Association for Netherlandic Studies, 8). Noordegraaf, Jan. 2008. 'Nederlands in Noord-Amerika. Over de studie van het Laag Nederlands (Low Dutch)'. Trefwoord, tijdschrift voor lexicografie, December 2008, 1-29.
Scheltema, Gajus and Westerhuijs, Heleen (eds.),Exploring Historic Dutch New York. Museum of the City of New York/Dover Publications, New York (2011) Storms, James B.H. 1964. A Jersey Dutch vocabulary. Park Ridge, N.J.: Pascack Historical Society