In another generation the unique language once spoken by the so-called Hutterian "prairie people" will probably be entirely lost. The assimilation into the predominant English culture has already produced a new generation which can no longer speak the language. Many of the younger ones have heard it used by their parents, but very few of them have ever spoken it themselves. In many cases the parents have not used the language since childhood. It has become just another quaint relic of the pioneer days.

        We are perfectly aware, of course, that this rich language is alive and well in hundreds of Hutterite colonies in western Canada and in the northwestern United States. There it is used in daily conversation, and from all appearances will continue to be used for generations to come.

        In this preliminary work we have decided to concentrate on the vocabulary and speech patterns of the homesteaders at Langham just after the turn of the century. Others are welcome to build upon this foundation, and to expand upon the various transmutations of the language which have occurred among the three communal groups in North America. But before a more comprehensive work can be attempted, a viable standard of spelling has to be established in order to reduce the language to writing with an alphabet that conveys all of its distinctive sounds.

        There have been several previous attempts to write a few curious words and even little rhymes. But it seems to me that they were not very successful because they were based upon modern High German orthography. This just doesn't work. It will not do to write a word using the modern German alphabet, and then have to respell the word in international phonetic symbols so that the reader will have at least some idea of how it sounds when a Hutterite pronounces it.

        Before we can write a language, we have to invent an alphabet for it, or adapt some existing alphabet whose letters have all the requisite sounds. As Hutterian has many words which are cognates of similar High German words, there is a strong temptation simply to adopt the modern German alphabet with its combinations of consonants, and with its umlauts and diphthongs.

        We have resisted that course for two reasons. First of all, very few of the young descendants of the "prairie people" have any formal German training. They would have to learn a new alphabet, only to find that it doesn't represent the sounds of the Hutterian language in any event! That brings us to the second reason, which is if anything more compelling. The vowels and diphthongs of modern German are far from the vocalization of Hutterian words, and even some consonants differ.

        In the attempt to spell teutonic words as they are pronounced in the Tyrolese and Carinthian dialects which form the basis of the Hutterian language, we have taken some hints from Yiddish (which Hutterian resembles somewhat in intonation) as it is spelled when using Latin letters. We have also given a good deal of thought to the exceptional insights of Victor Peters, who created an alphabet perfectly suitable for conveying the seemingly even more difficult sounds of Low German; that is, the form of Dutch spoken by those Mennonites in North America who originally came from Holland in the sixteenth century, and have retained their language until this day.

        The sounds of the vowels and diphthongs of the Hutterian language are, in fact, much closer to those of modern English. It has seemed advisable, therefore, to use an English-based orthography, or a Latin-based one, if you go back to the original sources. Modern English is also based on the Latin alphabet, the old Anglo-Saxon sounds, and in most cases the letters which represented them, having disappeared. A further advantage of this approach is that the English reader will not have to learn any new letters, although he will indeed have to learn some new sounds. The only difficulty for an anglophone may be getting used to the idea that the same letter will have the same sound at all times, and that any given sound will be represented by the same vowel or diphthong at all times.

        In spite of the initial difficulties, we are reasonably satisfied that the five vowels and seven diphthongs that we have chosen adequately convey all of the unique and distinctive sounds of the Hutterian languages. As for the consonants, we have used only those English consonants (and one Scottish combination) which are needed to transmit all the necessary sounds. The fact that a final "n" in Hutterian words is to be pronounced as in French merely adds to the cosmopolitan flavor of this tongue.

        Finally, for people who speak English, it is high time that this language acquired a settled name. It is commonly called "Hutterite," but surely that word should be reserved as the designation for a set of beliefs and practices; or even, if you will, and as is often done, for a person of a certain nationality! Jacob Hutter himself would no doubt be quite surprised to find that his mother tongue, which was spoken long before he was born, came in time to be called by his name.

        It has been called both "Carinthian" and "Tyrolese" by language experts, but the people who actually speak it have for generations called it hutrish in their own tongue; and sometimes, with some embarrassment, "hutterish" when they converse in English. Perhaps the best we can do is anglicize that last word to "Hutterian," and let the matter of the name of the language rest at that.