East Frisians ``achter de Penn'': Language and identity in correspondences to a German newspaper in America

This study examines 369 correspondence letters written between 1944 and 1971 to
the Ostfriesen-Zeitung (OZ), a newspaper published in Iowa for a group of Low
German-speaking East Frisian immigrants to the USA. Although readers typically
lived in small, rural Midwestern towns which were geographically dispersed, they
were highly interconnected and honored their shared roots. While the
correspondence letters are predominantly written in High German (HG) and typically report
news of more serious events (e.g., anniversaries, visits, or obituaries), Low German
(LG), which is usually a spoken language, was extended into the written domain by
some authors. Although the amount of LG usage is limited, its pragmatic purposes
are highly predictable. LG is used to refer to cultural concepts, in reported speech,
personal opinions and anecdotes, as well as in humoristic reference to other peo-
ple. Through the OZ and the correspondence letters published in it, an East Frisian-
American identity and a sense of community and belonging was promoted, which
helped to maintain both HG and LG well into the 20th century.