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Plautdietsch in Russia
Taken together, these early borrowings suggest that Mennonite interactions with Russian and Ukrainian were of a different character than with Dutch:
- Loan words are largely restricted to the domains of technologies and foods newly encountered in southern Russia - to agriculture and basic commerce
- Little reference in early borrowings from Russian and Ukrainian to home or interpersonal relationships that would suggest close contact
- Suggests limited familiarity among Mennonites with the dominant Slavic languages during this period
Notes:
Supporting evidence found in historical accounts: Mennonite delegates sent to St. Petersburg in 1871 to renegotiate threatened educational freedoms were not able to communicate effectively in Russian, P.M. Friesen reports.