People of Faith, Voices of Tradition: Germanic Heritage Languages among Christians and Jews

March 30–April 1, 2017

THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 30 [University Club]

6:00 p.m.         “Languages and Lives” [Moderator: Mark Louden]

A keynote panel discussion in English with native speakers of Germanic heritage languages: Miriam Isaacs (Yiddish), Lynn Marcus Miller (Pennsylvania Dutch), Heinrich Siemens (Mennonite Low German), Tony Waldner (Hutterite German)

7:00 p.m.         Reception

FRIDAY MORNING, March 31 [Pyle Center]

9:00 a.m.         Welcome, Colleges of Letters & Science Associate Dean Susan Zaeske

9:30 – 10:15    “Plautdietsch Past and Present,” Heinrich Siemens, Bonn, Germany

10:30 – 11:15  “Little Differences, Big Stories: What Linguistic Variation Has to Tell Us about

Canadian Plautdietsch,” Christopher Cox, Carleton University

11:30 – 12:15  “Yiddish in the West and Yiddish in the East: A Story of Loss and a Story of

Maintenance,” Jürg Fleischer, Philipp University of Marburg

FRIDAY AFTERNOON, March 31 [Pyle Center]

1:30 – 2:15      “Language Shift and Dialects in Yiddish: A Discussion of Books and Audio Materials

for Hasidic Children,” Miriam Isaacs, National Yiddish Book Center, Amherst, MA

2:30 – 3:15      “Heritage Language Literature and Literacy,” Joshua R. Brown, University of

Wisconsin–Eau Claire

3:30 – 4:15      “The Care and Feeding of German in Amish and Old Order Mennonite

Communities,” Lynn Marcus Miller, Arthur, Illinois

FRIDAY EVENING, March 31 [Pyle Center]

7:00 p.m.         “Mudderschprooch, Muttasproak, Muetersproch, Mameloshn”

Readings of original poetry and prose texts in Germanic heritage languages: Miriam Isaacs (Yiddish), Mark Louden (Pennsylvania Dutch), Henry Sapoznik (Yiddish), Heinrich Siemens (Mennonite Low German), Tony Waldner (Hutterite German), Sunny Yudkoff (Yiddish)

                        [English translations provided]

SATURDAY MORNING, April 1 [Pyle Center]

9:30 – 10:15    “Language Structure as a Mirror of Social Structure? The Case of the Shwitzer

Language of Adams County, Indiana,” Guido Seiler, Ludwig Maximilian

University of Munich [sponsored by the UW–Madison Lectures Committee]

10:30 – 11:15  “Change in Pennsylvania Dutch: With and Without English,” Steven Hartman

Keiser, Marquette University

11:30 – 12:15  “This World is Not My Home: Heritage Language Maintenance in Christian and

Jewish Faith Communities,” Mark L. Louden, University of Wisconsin–Madison

The symposium is cosponsored by the UW–Madison’s Center for German and European Studies, Religious Studies Program, Mosse-Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture, the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic, and by the Friends of the Max Kade Institute. It is made possible through the generous financial support of the UW–Madison Anonymous Fund, the UW–Madison Lectures Committee, and the Max Kade Foundation, New York, as well as significant financial contributions by our cosponsors.