Colloquium Neerlandicum 1 (1961)

Verslag van het eerste colloquium van hoogleraren en lectoren in de neerlandistiek aan buitenlandse universiteiten

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Magnitude of Desired Programs for the Study of Dutch Language and Culture in the U.S.A.
Prepared for: Special Project on Neglected Languages
The Modern Language Ass'n of America.
door Prof.Dr. W. Lagerwey

Any statement on the magnitude of desired training programs for Dutch language and culture in America will have to take into account the character and scope of Dutch communities as well as the present status of Dutch studies. In the light of such historical and factual information certain recommendations can be made.

Background

As an American ethnic group the Dutch are comparatively small in number. The present Dutch-American segment of the population has its origin in what the historian H.S. Lucas designates as ‘The New Immigration’^* in his monumental study Netherlanders in America. Although the colonial efforts of the Dutch in ‘New Netherlands’ are of historical interest, they do not concern us here since these Dutch lost their language and identity in the melting pot that is America. Our interest is rather with the immigration movement which began in the middle of the 19th century and which is still a small, though vital force in American civilization to-day. During the period between 1847 and 1947 approximately a ¼ million Dutch immigrated to this country. These groups settled primarily in the Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa), although some communities were established in the East(New Jersey, New York) and others developed in the West (South Dakota, Denver, Montana, Washington, California). Many of these Dutch settlements developed into towns and cities which continue to bear a Dutch stamp.

In these Dutch settlements there was a strong and natural desire to maintain the Dutch language which persisted even when the process of Americanization proceeded rapidly. A very large proportion of the l9th century immigrants had come to America to enjoy religious liberty and to develop a way of life based upon religious commitments. The religious life and outlook of the Protestant immigrants (comprising 80% of the total immigration) was oriented to Dutch Reformed theology. Their religious worship services were in the Dutch tongue and only gradually did English supplant Dutch in the first decades of the 20th century.

* De onderstrepingen zijn t.d. door de werkcommissie aangebracht om het artikel overzichtelijker te maken.

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The Protestant communities established private Christian schools in which both English and Dutch were taught. In some communities Dutch was even taught in special summer schools. The reading of Dutch literature was common in these communities and a flourishing publishing business developed in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dutch language newspapers were also established and several (De Hollandsche Amerikaan, Pellas Weekblad, De Standaard) had a long and important history. A church weekly, De Wachter, began publication in 1876 and still appears, though now it must be subsidized.

These Dutch immigrants who clung so tenaciously to the Dutch language, were also encouraged by their leaders to learn English and to become Americans. In many communities there soon developed a mixture of Dutch and English, now known as Yankee-Dutch. We are fortunate enough to possess a few literary documents in this Dutch-American dialect. The best of these is doubtless Dirk Nieland's 'n Fonnie Bisnis which gives a delightfully humorous picture of immigrant life. Yankee-Dutch was but the intermediate step to the full adoption of English as the Dutch immigrants became ever more thoroughly Americanized.

As a reaction to the rapid process of Americanization, and motivated by a desire to promote a more general awareness of Dutch cultural contributions to western civilization and also to American life, there was founded in 1898 a society for the promotion of Dutch: Algemeen Nederlandsch Verbond. This society did much to stimulate interest in the Dutch language and culture. As a result of these activities there were established at the university level several chairs of Dutch. The Queen Wilhelmina Chair of Dutch Language, Literature, and Culture at Columbia University has been occupied by a succession of able scholars: L.C. van Noppen, A.J. Barnouw, and B. Hunningher. A chair of Dutch was also established at the University of Chicago in 1911. Professor T. de Vries taught here until 1914 when the chair was discontinued. Attempts to introduce a chair of Dutch at the University of Michigan in 1916 were unsuccessful. At Calvin College, where Dutch has been taught since 1876, Professor H.J. van Andel taught courses in Dutch language, literature, history and art. When he retired in 1953 he was succeeded by Professor Walter Lagerwey, who now occupies the ‘Queen Juliana Chair of the Language and Culture of the Netherlands’. At Hope College in Holland, Michigan, the Dutch language was taught from 1866 to 1890 and then again from 1903 to 1925. At Central College in Pella, Iowa, Dutch was taught from 1916 to 1938.

America's entry into the first World War had a very detrimental effect

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on these efforts to maintain Dutch in the U.S. Americans confused ‘Dutch’ and ‘Deutsch’ so that antipathy toward the latter included the former: and when demonstrations broke out against the ‘Dutch’ (Deutsch), interest in and appreciation for the Dutch heritage diminished among younger generation Dutch-Americans who felt that their racial origin was a liability and consequently wanted to be known only as Americans.

Symptomatic of the decline of the influence of Dutch in these immigrant communities is the discontinuance of Dutch language newspaper publication between 1930 and 1940. Professor Lucas observes: ‘With the disappearance of all Dutch language newspapers, the use of the Dutch language was relegated to the home. There also, in the course of a decade or two, it is bound to disappear’. The post-war immigration to the U.S. (in contrast to that in Canada) was minor and hardly revived Dutch as a spoken language. Even in the home, Dutch is now seldom heard, and to the youth of the present generation Dutch has become a foreign tongue. Despite the diminished role of the Dutch language in these communities, many Dutch cultural traditions persist and there is among leaders (also at Calvin College) a genuine desire to stimulate interest in Dutch origins and traditions and in Dutch cultural contributions. Continued offerings in the Dutch language and history at Calvin College, despite limited enrollment, attest to this concern.

Although interest in the Dutch language and culture may be said to be centered in the ‘New Immigration’ communities, there is also interest on a broader, national level. Evidence we find in the existence of various ‘Netherlands Societies’. Membership in such societies is generally restricted to individuals who can trace their ancestry to the earliest Dutch colonists. This kind of exclusivism, a kind of social snobbishness, has little to commend. However, some of these societies also have genuine cultural objectives. Thus the Netherlands Society of New York publishes a magazine De Halve Maen, but more important is its library on the Dutch in America which is perhaps one of the most extensive collections in this country. Another organization, The Netherland-America Foundation, publishes a newsletter, sponsors student-exchanges as well as cultural programs including lectures and concerts. At the university level we find interest in Dutch culture promoted by the Netherlands America University League. Chapters in the East (New York, Boston, Washington) are active and meet regularly for lectures ans discussion. Others, such as those in the Midwest, are little more than social get-togethers. Continued interest in Dutch culture is evidenced also by research activity at the universities. During the past

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decades books, translations, and dissertations on Dutch subjects have appeared, but unfortunately these are not generally known. General ignorance about these scholarly productions indicates the need for a center of Dutch studies which would maintain a file on American research and publication in all areas. This need is met only in part by the English language cultural journal Delta (otherwise excellent) which is published in the Netherlands.

In the post-war period interest in the Dutch language and literature has been in evidence at the Kentucky Language Conference and at special conferences held under auspices of the Modern Language Association. For several years five or six papers on Dutch subjects have been presented at the Kentucky Conference. In the absence of a journal for Dutch studies the results of these research efforts often remain unpublished and unknown. The Dutch conferences of the Modern Language Association have been little more than very informal discussions for the most part (no formal papers may be presented) and unfortunately have done little to stimulate scholarship.

Although the amount of instruction in the Dutch language and culture is minimal (concentrated at Columbia University and Calvin College, though with offerings at Utah University and New York University as well) there is an increasing number of individuals and scholars who have such interests. One need think only of the Fulbright students and scholars whose number increases each year. There are, moreover, scholars in many fields, including Germanic Languages, History, English, Political Science, Philosophy, Music, Library Science, Theology (and many others), many of whome teach at the university level, who have a serious concern with Dutch cultural contributions and scholarship, though sometimes in a subsidiary manner. Finally, we should note that there are excellent facilities and resources for research in all areas of Dutch culture. Excellent Dutch collections are available in the libraries at New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Recommendations

In making recommendations on the magnitude of desired training programs one must take into account the limited scope and potential for Dutch studies in this country. Apart from the chair of Dutch at Columbia University, there is not a single active center of Dutch studies at the graduate level. For almost all scholars Dutch is a subordinate field of study. The most logical place for the expansion of Dutch Studies is at the University level. Not a single university offers a Ph.D. program in Dutch language and literature. Indeed, the Germanic departments of major universities

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do not offer Dutch as a cognate field for the student who majors in German. In very isolated instances have dissertations on the Dutch language been approved and the number of comparative literature studies (German-Dutch or English-Dutch) is extremely limited. Ideally, a chair of Dutch should be established in the department of Germanic languages at one or more universities. A step in this direction would be the introduction of Dutch as a cognate language in the Germanic Department of universities which have scholars interested in Dutch. If Modern Foreign Language Fellowships (National Defense Education Act) were to be made available, with matching grants to the university, one or more universities might initiate programs in Dutch. Thus the University of Michigan, located in the midst of the largest Dutch communities, has several scholars in various fields (German, English, History, Philosophy) who are greatly interested in Dutch language, literature, history. This university has in the past considered establishing a chair of Dutch, and still does, but financial problems prevent expansion in this area. The Michigan Department of Germanic Languages has approved two Dutch-German dissertations in the past few years and one is being written in the English Department at present. The Michigan History Department has approved several dissertations on Dutch subjects (at least one is now in progress). On the West coast the University of California offered courses in Dutch for several years. Although these are presently discontinued, the university, according to information which I have received, continues to develop its library holdings in the Dutch language. On the East Coast Yale University offers a Dutch course in its Summer Institute. New York University offered a Dutch language course in the graduate department of Germanic languages this past year. Such programs must be encouraged if instruction in Dutch language and culture are to continue. They can be encouraged also by inviting Dutch scholars under the Fulbright Exchange Program. This is being done in several disciplines, but it could be developed, and should include scholars in the Dutch language and literature or in comparative literature.

The so-called neglected languages can also be assisted, I believe, by the Modern Language Association. It could, perhaps, organize a special section for the neglected or minor languages. The rules for holding conferences under M.L.A. auspices are restrictive, especially in that the presentation of formal papers is prohibited. It is my impression that these conferences are not well organized (certainly that is true for Dutch). Conferences ought to be more than mere informal discussion groups. They should be organized with duly elected offices who are responsible for specific tasks

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such as the preparation of an agenda, maintaining a file of papers presented, reporting to the Association on conferences held. Conferences which are formally organized, have the sanction of the Association, and pursue specific objectives, will, I believe, attract scholars, stimulate scholarship, and promote Dutch studies in the U.S.

Finally, consideration must be given to pedagogical problems. The need for a bibliography of sources for the study of Dutch language and culture will be supplied with the completion of a study I am presently preparing for the Office of Education under terms of the National Defense Education Act and which will be entitled: ‘Guide to Dutch Studies’.

Dutch language instruction has long been seriously hampered by a lamentable lack of suitable textual materials. In recent years there has been some improvement in this situation with the publication of such text-books as Introduction to Dutch, a Practical Grammar by W.Z. Shetter (a former Fulbright student), and Dutch Grammar and Reader with Exercises by J. Smit (Lecturer in Dutch at the University of Melbourne). For oral instruction we have Spoken Dutch by L. Bloomfield. The basic difficulty with the text-books of Shetter and Smit is that they are not based upon a frequency list of the Dutch language, they are deficient or lacking in reading materials, and are based exclusively on translation methods. Moreover, graded reading materials and edited texts are non-existent for Dutch language study. If Dutch language instruction at the college or university level is to continue, these deficiencies must be remedied.

For some years there has been in existence a basic frequency list for Dutch (prepared in Indonesia about 1930), a French version of which is available under the title Vocabulaire de base. An English edition of this frequency list should be prepared.

The grammar and reading deficiencies may be corrected in part by an English edition of the excellent text Op Nieuwe Wegen by Vannes and De La Court. This four volume grammar and reader is now only available in a French-Dutch edition which is used in the Belgian secondary schools. The text-book is useful especially for the extensive reading materials, which are carefully arranged according to order of difficulty and are based upon the frequency list. An English language edition of this series would represent a real gain. The publisher, De Sikkel of Antwerp, Belgium, is presently considering publishing an international edition of the reading materials. If this effort succeeds, a separate grammar and exercises would have to be prepared. This is a project which I consider of primary importance for the

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improvement of study materials for Dutch language instruction.

In addition to a grammar, readers and annotated texts on the intermediate and advanced levels should be prepared. My own efforts to supply these needs include the preparation of vocabulary lists for about ten Dutch classics and the gathering of material for an anthology (short stories). It is my hope that projects already undertaken may be completed during a sabbatical leave, providing financial assistance can be secured.

Finally, there is a genuine need for oral language materials beyond the language records now available. Dutch language tapes prepared for the Air Force at Georgetown University are almost completely unknown and are not, to my knowledge, available for distribution. It is to be hoped, that any Dutch language tapes which might be prepared under government auspices (by the Foreign Service Institute, for example) will be made available to colleges, universities and public libraries.

In summary, the study of Dutch language and culture in the U.S. may be stimulated by:

1)	encouraging universities to expand the Department of Germanic Languages to include Dutch as a cognate field of study; establishing one or more chairs of Dutch; sponsoring exchange lecturers in the fields of Dutch language, literature, and history; awarding National Defense Education Act fellowships for Dutch.
2)	organizing a section or sections for neglected or minor languages under the auspices of the Modern Language Association with formal organization of conferences.
3)	developing textual materials to include an English edition of the basic frequency list of Dutch and preparing graded reading materials, edited texts, language tapes.

In conclusion I wish to remark that it is my conviction that the study of Dutch language and culture in the U.S. should be encouraged. It is my hope that some of the suggestions outlined in this paper may contribute toward that end.

1961.