Language Maintenance among the Hutterites

The Hutterites, like the Amish and Mennonites, are an Anabaptist religious group. Although they have existed as a separate group since the sixteenth century, very little work has been done on their linguistic repertoire. This study encourages a 21st century conversation about Hutterite language behavior. The article begins with a brief sociohistorical background, contextualizing the religious traditions of the Hutterites and their European beginnings. The verticalization model adopted for the analysis of Hutterite language maintenance is described in the second section, following a brief review of literature in language maintenance and shift. The current study, presenting the results of a language use questionnaire, is analyzed in section 3. The article ends with a discussion of the results, their implications, and areas for future research.