Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun Mennonite Low German, a variety of Low Prussian East Low German that developed in Royal Prussia and which is now spoken by communities not only in Germany but also in Canada, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Russia and some other countries. (Not to be confused with the High German language Pennsylvania German.)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Plautdietsch. Cognate to Dutch Low Saxon Platduuts and German Low German Plattdüütsch, as well as to High German Plattdeutsch (whence English Plattdeutsch).

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Examples

  • Reygadas 'typically arresting widescreen visuals and the presence of non-pro actors speaking in German-derived Plautdietsch makes for an initially hypnotic combination, but the spell breaks its hold well before the end of pic's inflated running time, signaling an endurance test for all but the most ascetic arthouse auds.

    GreenCine Daily: Cannes. Silent Light. 2007

  • I even find myself regretting that I can't speak Plautdietsch.

    languagehat.com: THE FUTURE OF IRISH. 2004

  • Plautdietsch, a Germanic language or dialect spoken (at least in recent centuries) only by isolated communities of Mennonites.

    Salon 2009

  • I don't know how in the world Reygadas recruited Mennonites from the Mexican state of Chihuahua -- where about 50,000 Plautdietsch-speakers still hang on -- to act in his film.

    Salon 2009

  • One of the year's best films, being shown in Nashville for the first (and probably only) time, the world's first talking picture shot in the medieval German dialect Plautdietsch is a behavioral experiment-set in northern Mexico's Mennonite community and cast almost entirely with Mennonite non-actors.

    NashvilleScene.com 2009

  • Plautdietsch, a German dialect associated with Prussian Mennonites, is spoken throughout the film, and the women are dressed in dresses and headscarves reminiscent of conservative Amish attire.

    Portland Mercury 2009

  • Reygadas 'typically arresting widescreen visuals and the presence of non-pro actors speaking in German-derived Plautdietsch makes for an initially hypnotic combination, but the spell breaks its hold well before the end of pic's inflated running time, signaling an endurance test for all but the most ascetic arthouse auds. "

    GreenCine Daily 2009

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