Comparison To Standard German
Pennsylvania German reflects the origins of the early speakers from the regions along the Upper Rhine River in the Rhineland, Württemberg, Baden, Switzerland and the Elsass/Alsace. Pennsylvania German sounds much like the Swabian and Alemannic dialects of these regions. Alemannic (German Alemannisch) is very much alive in the Swiss form of German.
Much of Pennsylvania German's differences with Standard German can be summarized as consisting of a simplified grammatical structure, several vowel and consonant shifts that occur with a fair degree of regularity, as well as a variety of lexical differences. The influence of American English upon grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation is also significant.
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