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, after its close relatives German and English. '' Afrikaans'' ...

spoken in

Pella, Iowa Pella is a city in Marion County, Iowa, Marion County, Iowa, United States, with a population of 10,464 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. Founded by immigrants from the Netherlands, it is forty miles southeast of Des ...

. 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, 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