English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- "Once" as a softener: Mennonites, particularly those with German heritage, often use "once" at the end of requests or suggestions to soften their tone, reflecting values of humility and community. This stems from the similar use of "einmal" in German.
- Not universal or biblical: This linguistic feature is not used by all Mennonites and varies based on factors like location and assimilation. It's a cultural practice, not a direct biblical teaching, though it aligns with values like humility and gentleness found in scripture.
- Evolution over time: The use of "once" was likely more common in early, isolated Mennonite communities in North America. Increased integration into English-speaking society has led to its decline, though some groups maintain it as part of their heritage.
- Misconceptions exist: It's important to avoid overgeneralizing this practice to all Mennonites or viewing it as a sign of lack of education. It reflects a unique cultural and linguistic background, not a deliberate attempt to be different.
Bibliography (Click to show)
Anderson, B. (2014). The complexity of diagnosis for co-occurring minor speech, language and hearing problems: perception of parents.
Biesecker-Mast, G. (1998). Mennonite public discourse and the conflicts over homosexuality.
Burdge, E. (2004). Other Sheep Have I Nineteenth-Century Quaker and Mennonite Intervisitations. Mennonite Quarterly Review, 78, 503–523.
Caon, L. (2019). A Middle English Syntax, Parts of Speech. English Studies, 100, 249–251.
Eicher, J. (2014). Diaspora Hermeneutics: Mennonite Refugee Narratives between the World Wars. 35–47.
Froese, E. (1996). To write or to belong¯: the dilemma of Canadian Mennonite story-tellers.
Guerras, J.-M., Belza, M., Fuster, M., Fuente, L., Olalla, P. G., Palma, D., GarcÃÂa-Pérez, J. N., Hoyos, J., & Group, O. B. O. T. M. P. (2022). Knowledge and Prior Use of HIV Self-Testing in Madrid and Barcelona among Men Who Have Sex with Men More than One Year after Its Legal Authorization in Spain. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19.
Janzen, J. (1999). Form and Meaning in Central Kansas Mennonite Buildings for Worship.
JÃÂlková, L. (2015). Vejdu do pokoje svých synů a ptám se Å¡eptem: „SpÃÂÅ¡?: K možnostem výzkumu Å¡eptánàv běžné komunikaci. Journal for the Theory of Language and Language Cultivation, 76, 39–59.
Kuang, C. (2018). Literary View of Différance Speech Acts.
Küntay, A., & Slobin, D. (2002). Putting interaction back into child language: Examples from Turkish. Psychology of Language and Communication, 6.
Mustapa, M., Ningsih, A. A., & Munir, M. (2021). تطبيق طريقة الاستجابة الجسدية الكاملة ÙÂيتعليم اللغة العربية. Lugawiyyat.
Peters, K. (2018). Incremental Processing in a Non-Speech Domain 1 INCREMENTAL PROCESSING.
Ridden, G. (2017). The Bard’s Speech: Making it Better; Shakespeare and Therapy in Film.
Rivera, T. (2016). The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday by Ju Yon Kim. Contemporary Theatre Review, 26, 376–377.
Rothfield, L. (2016). Antiquities Crime as a Policy Problem. 255–262.
Schroeder-Dorn, J. (2015). Letting a Version of Christianity Grow: The Importance of Musical Thought in the Congolese Mennonite Church. 66, 15.
Spanakis, M. (2020). HOMERIC METAPHOR. The Classical Review, 70, 307–309.
Tripathi, A. (2021). Pondering everyday life: coordination, continuity, and comparison. Leisure Studies, 41, 147–149.
Vinayagam, B. (2020). Creative Music and its Influence on Children’s Education.
Ardianto, A. (2023). ENGLISH NOUN PHRASES OF NARRATIVE TEXT AND NEWS ARTICLE: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS. Leksema: Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra.
Bedore, L., Peña, E., Anaya, J. B., Nieto, R., Lugo-Neris, M. J., & Baron, A. (2018). Understanding Disorder Within Variation: Production of English Grammatical Forms by English Language Learners. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 49 2, 277–291.
Bregolin, J. (2024). Communication Quality and the Cost of Language: Evidence from Stack Overflow. Management Sciences.
Chiu, C., & Qiu, L. (2014). Communication and culture: A complexity theory approach. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 17, 108–111.
Coda, P. (2018). Chiara Lubich: Inaugural Speech of Sophia: Analysis and Interpretation. Claritas: Journal of Dialogue and Culture, 7, 4.
Epp, C. D. (2016). English language learner experiences of formal and informal learning environments. International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge.
Gluck, R. (2019). Chapter IV Literacy by Way of Automatic Speech Recognition.
Le, Q. T., & Polikoff, M. S. (2020). The effects of English language development curriculum materials on students’ English proficiency.
Massmann, N. (2023). Benedict XVI: A communicative style in dialogue with culture. Communication and Culture, 8, 1–5.
Morgan, M. H. (2014). What are speech communities. 1–17.
Pazarkaya, Y., & Askey, D. (1995). The Meaning of Four Books: On the Variability of Culture. World Literature Today, 69, 505.
Pérez, M. J. L., & Carvajal, S. P. A. (2023). BUILDING UP VOCABULARY USING THE ROLE PLAY STRATEGY IN YOUNG ADULT LEARNERS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Investigación & Desarrollo.
Rachmi, S., Yassi, A., & Sukmawaty, S. (2023). The Intervention of Indonesian Students’ Culture in Translating Into English Collocation: A Case Study at Universitas Muhammadiyah Luwuk Banggai. International Journal of Current Science Research and Review.
Rahman, H. (2012). Finnish Pupils’ Communicative Language Use of English in Interviews in Basic Education Grades 1 – 6.
Ramos, M. G., Pérez, D. E. M., & DomÃÂnguez, I. (2009). The use of learning styles and learning strategies in learning english as a foreign language.
Ridden, G. (2017). The Bard’s Speech: Making it Better; Shakespeare and Therapy in Film.
Roen, L. (2015). Twice Challenged: Differentiating Between English Language Acquisition and Learning Disabilities.
Santos, W. B., Martins, R. R., Motta, M. C. C., & Souza, T. M. B. D. (2023). Teaching Natural Sciences and Possible Paths to Strengthen Cultural Capital. Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental.
Serratrice, L., & Cat, C. (2019). Individual differences in the production of referential expressions: The effect of language proficiency, language exposure and executive function in bilingual and monolingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23, 371–386.
Simonova, M. (2020). Micromachism in the modern Spanish language and culture. 17, 89–101.
The Culture Industry¯: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. (2014).
Tober, D. (2020). The Oocyte Economy: The Changing Meaning of Human Eggs. Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 49, 542–544.
ÃÅzüm, M. (2023). Türkçe Dil Bilgisel Kanıtsalların Kurgusal Anlatıda Kullanımı ve Ä°ngilizceye Çev. Uluslararasi Kibris Universitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakultesi.
Velichkovsky, B., & Rumbaugh, D. (1996). Communicating Meaning¯: The Evolution and Development of Language.