Editing Plautdietsch (section)

==Varieties==
Regional differences of the language have developed. This is common in spoken languages that have historically lacked a consistent writing system, and have been carried to territories where other languages prevail. Major differences seem to have originated in the beginning of the 19th century in the two major Mennonite settlements in Ekaterinoslav, also known as [[Novorossiya]], or New Russia, which lies in modern-day Ukraine. The colonies were Chortitza (Old Colony) and Molotschna (New Colony),<ref>Quiring, Jacob. (1928) ''Die Mundart von Chortitza in Süd-Rußland.'' Foreign Dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität zu München</ref>{{sfnp|Burns|2016}}{{page needed|date=July 2023}} as noted above.

There was a third variety{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} spoken by [[Groningen Old Flemish Mennonites]] in Waldheim, {{ill|Bohdanivka, Berdiansk Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast|lt=Gnadenfeld|uk|Богданівка (Бердянський район)}}, and Alexanderwohl, which traced its origin from [[Przechówko|Przechovka]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Przechovka_(Kuyavian-Pomeranian_Voivodeship,_Poland)|title=Przechovka (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland) - GAMEO|website=gameo.org|access-date=March 7, 2022}}</ref> From Przechovka some moved to [[Błotnica, Lubusz Voivodeship|Brenkenhoffswalde]] and [[Głęboczek, Lubusz Voivodeship|Franztal]], in what is today Poland, where they used to live until 1945.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Brenkenhoffswalde_and_Franztal_(Lubusz_Voivodeship,_Poland)|title=Brenkenhoffswalde and Franztal (Lubusz Voivodeship, Poland) - GAMEO|website=gameo.org|access-date=August 4, 2023}}</ref> [[Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church]] is a Low German Mennonite Church, in [[Goessel, Kansas|Goessel]], Kansas, US.

Some of the major differences between the two (major) varieties are:{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Old or Chortitza Colony dialect
! New or Molotschna Colony dialect
! Contemporary other Northern Low German
! Standard High German
! Meaning of word
|-
| verbs and other -en endings
| räden
| räde
| reden
| reden
| to speak, to talk
|-
| oa diphthong
| Froag {{IPA|[freaɣ]}}
| Froag {{IPA|[froaɣ]}}
| Fraag
| Frage
| question
|-
| u/y sound
| Hus/Hüs {{IPA|[hys]}}
| Hus {{IPA|[hus]}}
| Huus
| Haus
| house
|-
| s/ts sound
| Zol (Ssol) {{IPA|[sol]}}
| Zol (Tsol) {{IPA|[tsol]}}
| Tahl/Tall
| Zahl
| number (compare "tale")
|}
A few other differences sometimes related to this issue are the exact pronunciation of the IPA c sound and words as jenau/jeneiw. According to some studies, those might be due to the level of education of the speaker, as well as the influence of Russian and standard German.

The distinctive features of Chortitza-Plautdietsch as opposed to Molotschna-Plautdietsch include:<ref>Roslyn Burns, ''Contrasting Spaces in Plautdietsch: Language Variation and Change'', 2021, p. 3 [https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1178&context=amishstudies], originally in: ''(The) Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies (JAPAS)'' vol. 9 iss. 1, 2021</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Feature
! Chortitza-Plautdietsch
! Molotschna-Plautdietsch
|-
| high rounded vowel - long /u/ realised as
| <ü> [y]
| <nowiki><u></nowiki> [ʉ]
|-
| lexical allophones
| <eiw> [ɛɪv]
| <au> [au]
|-
| low opening diphthong - <oa> diphthong
| [ɛɐ]
| [ɔɐ]
|-
| palatal plosives
| <kj>/<gj>
| <tj>/<dj>
|-
| syllabic nasal - verbal infinitives and plural suffixes ending in
| <–en> [n̩]
| <–e> [ə]
|}

Some Plautdietsch speakers might speak a mixture of both dialects. For instance, those who trace their origin to the [[Bergthal Colony]] in New Russia—a daughter colony of the Old Colony—show all the phonetic distinction of the Old Colony version, but drop the final -n as the Molotschna speakers do.