Pella Dutch, also known as Iowa Dutch, is a dialect of the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

spoken in

Pella, Iowa Pella is a city in Marion County, Iowa, United States, with a population of 10,464 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day use ...

. It is a subdialect of

South Guelderish South Guelderish ( nl, Zuid-Gelders , german: Südgeldersch, ''Kleverländisch'') refers to the easternmost group of Dutch dialects spoken along the lower Rhine (Dutch Nederrijn and German Niederrhein). In its narrower sense, the term refers str ...

. Pella Dutch's origins began with the migration of a group of 800 Dutch settlers under the leadership of Dominee (Reverend) H. P. Scholte in 1847. In 1860, the Pella Weekblad, Pella's first

newspaper, debuted. The paper continued to be published weekly until 1941. Language use was strongly affected by Governor William L. Harding's controversial 1917

Babel Proclamation The Babel Proclamation was issued by Iowa's Governor William L. Harding on May 23, 1918. It forbade the speaking of any language besides English in public. The proclamation was controversial, supported by many established English-speaking Iowan ...

, which banned the speaking of languages other than English in public. Semi-speakers of the dialect have been attested as recently as 2011.

References

Pella, Iowa Dutch-American culture in Iowa Dutch dialects Dutch language in the United States {{Netherlands-stub