Pennsylvania Dutch English differs from standard
English in various ways. Some of its hallmark features include: • Widespread
devoicing of
obstruents, such as “round” being pronounced “rount” or “eggs” as “ecks”. • The use of certain vowel variants in specific
phonological contexts. • The use of Pennsylvania German
verb and
noun stems in word construction. • Specific intonation patterns for questions. • Special placement of
prepositional phrases in sentences (so that "Throw some hay over the fence for the horse" might be rendered "Throw the horse over the fence some hay"). • The use of "ain't" and "not" or "say" as
question tags. • The use of "still" as a
habitual verbal marker. • The use of the phrase "what for" to mean "what kind of", as in "What for drink do you have?" (German = "was für") • Use of the word "yet" to mean "still," such as "do you work at the store yet?" to mean "do you still work at the store?" • Use of terms such as "doncha know" and "so I do" or "so he does" at the end of declaratory sentences. • Use of the word "awhile" at the end of sentences proposing simultaneous actions (e.g. "Go get the tea out of the pantry; I'll start boiling the water awhile."). This comes from the semantic calquing of the German word “alleweil,” which means “right now” or “in a little while.” English speakers in contact with Pennsylvanian Dutch speakers adopted the word but phonologically adapted it by replacing “alleweil” for the more familiar, English “awhile.” • Omitting "to be" from the passive construction in an infinitive following "needs" or "wants" (e.g. "the car needs cleaned" instead of "the car needs to be cleaned"). Other
calques include: Other
idioms include "Make wet?" meaning "Is it going to rain?", "hurrieder" meaning "faster", and "dippy eggs/ecks" meaning "over-easy or soft-boiled eggs". ==See also==