LL-L: "Language politics" LOWLANDS-L, 25.OCT.1999 (04) [E/L]

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From: Ian James Parsley [parsley at highbury.fsnet.co.uk]
Subject: Ulster-Scots

All,

I asked a couple of weeks back about how best to promote/develop
Ulster-Scots, now that the whole movement has somewhat stalled. The response
I got was that I would know best how to go about it (at least I think that
was it - it was in Low Saxon!).

The issue was that the Ulster-Scots Language Society, which hitherto has
taken on both language promotion and planning, had ceased to be effective.
Its total disorganisation has meant that the whole development has stalled.
This is very bad news in Northern Ireland, where the whole issue has been
seized upon by politicians who, as usual here, have decided to assign the
language a political/religious status. It is now perceived as "Protestant"
and "Unionist", often dismissed as an "Orangeman's Gaelic" or worse. In turn
Irish Gaelic has become "Catholic" and "Nationalist". Such a designation has
no cultural, historical or linguistic grounding for either language, but
such is the society in which I live.

The task at hand is to "raise awareness", which so far has only been done by
translating roadnames, sometimes very badly, into Ulster-Scots and putting
them up in Protestant areas (in much the same way as Gaelic names have gone
up in Catholic areas). This has only served to increase the above notion.

To try to stem the tide, no easy task in Northern Ireland, I have taken the
step of setting up the Ulster-Scots Academy. This had, in theory, existed
since 1994, but had never come to anything. The Academy will initially set
up plans for publishing books and leaflets to promote the language and
enable people, particularly children, to learn it at least to some extent.
In the medium term we will look at setting up language classes on a more
regular basis and making a real assault on the media, hopefully in the form
of regular newspaper articles and local radio programmes. In the long term
we will seek to clarify issues concerning standardisation of the Scots
language in Ulster.

One of the main things we aim to do, however, is create formal links with
similar organisations elsewhere. In the spirit of this idea, I once again
appeal to all Lowlanders to pass on any ideas they may have on minority
language planning/promotion/development and would like to thank you for your
help so far.

I have already set up an Academy website, including essays on the history of
Ulster-Scots and its links with other Germanic languages, at the address
given in my signature below,

Regards,
-------------------------------
Ian James Parsley
http://www.gcty.com/parsleyij/ullans.html
"JOY - Jesus, Others, You"
REPLY NOT WORK? TRY:
parsleyij at hotmail.com

----------

From: Roger P. G. Thijs [roger.thijs at village.uunet.be]
Subject: LL-L: "Limburgish" LOWLANDS-L, 24.OCT.1999 (07) [E]

Ron,
The message I have sent on "Sun, 24 Oct 1999 11:10:23 +0200", with a sample
text in Limburgish was distributed in the list (L O W L A N D S - L *
24.OCT.1999 (07) ) cut-off just below the title of the text referred to, so
missing the real body of the message.
I have sent it a second time, yesterday evening "Sun, 24 Oct 1999 22:59:01
+0200" (preceded by a quote of the little part I received), but it didn't
come through either.
Here it comes for the third time, with some minor additions.
It ends with -*-*- for you to check you get it in completely.
I hope it can be published this time, Thanks
--- --- --- --- --- --- Here it comes:

I was in Sint Truiden this Saturday and I found " 't bukske, nummerou vier"
with texts in the local dialect.
Sint Truiden was an free town around an abbey, that indirectly, via the
bishopric of Liège, belonged to the Westphalian circle of the German Empire
before the French revolution.

Sint Truiden is at the extreme South West of Belgian Limburg, close to the
Gete river, and close to the Brabantish dialect area. In the sample text
below, some of the Brabantish elements are:
- a Dutch-Brabantish vocabulary (one just has to transform the words a
little bit)
- loss of initial "h".

---
Nostàlzjie
---

  zj is used for the French "g" in "gentil"
 dzj is d + the French "g"; this combination occurs also frequently in East
Walloon (Liège)

---
Vàntèèt èb ich zoe e roar gevúl,
't is mar naa èn dàn,
ma... op den dúr
vroog ich mich toch àf;
moe kum da vàn?
---

  Van tijd (tot tijd) heb ik zo een raar (eigenaardig) gevoel
  het is maar nu en dan,
  maar ... op den duur
  vraag ik mij toch af
  waar komt dat van?

  - accents are needed to variation of the differend sounds,
    the table at the end of the booklet ends with 55 combined characters.
    (It is the "official" STAS table, Sint Truiden Aangepaste Spelling,
    used by " 't Neigenmènneke, Sint Truidense kring voor dialect en
volksleven")
 - ich mich: we are clearly below the ik-ich isogloss,
   that the Germans use for separating low from middle German
 - "moe":where     Dutch "waar", German "wo".
    It has a lot of variations in West-Limurgian:
   Sint Truiden: "moe", Vliermaal "bouw", Tongeren "boo"
- final t's are often lost

---
Dàn vúl ich mich zoe...
dzje weit wol... da 't nè gie,
nè tristig zur... nee da né,
ma mieër zoewiet gelèk.... nostàlzjie
---

  Dan voel ik mij zo...
  je weet wel..; dat het niet gaat
  niet triest, hoor wel... neen dat niet,
  maar meer zoiets als ... nostalgie

  "dzje" is used for you in the West of Belgian Limburg,
   in the East one uses "dich", also in the nominativ form
  "zur" is used in West-Limburgian for stressing a sentence.
  "gelèk": Dutch "gelijk, als.
   In the Center of Belgian Limburg we would use "wai" (cf. German "wie")

---
Wablief... nostàlzjie?
zèg ich da wol goet,
zou da naa ècht zén
of zit da meschin én 't bloet?
---

  Wablieft.... nostalgie?
  zeg ik dat wel goed?
  zou dat nu echt zijn
  of zit dat misschien in het bloed?

---
Vàntèèt krèèg ich et wèrrem, zèllefs ieët,
èn kot ternoo wir kààt,
vúl ich mich neigetieën
èn ùp... opins wir ààt
---

  Van tijd (tot tijd) kreeg ik het warm, zelfs heet,
  en kort daarna weer koud,
  voel ik mij negentien
  en hop... opeens weer oud.

---
Ich weit et né, 't is persies en ploog
doo lup iet mis
ma wa? ... dat is de vroog,
as ich da mar wis.
---

  Ik weet het niet, het is precies een plaag
  daar loopt iets mis
  maar wat? ... Dat is de vraag,
  als ik dat maar wist.

  - percies: inversion "re" to "er", this occures frequently, in my dialect
version:
    "persèsse" voor "processie"
    "perzong" for the French "prison" (Dutch: "gevangenis")

---
Men vrou, sè ... dèè verstie zoewiet op slag.
Nostàlgie! zei se
Nee, ménne màn...
da 's den aa'n dag!!!
---
  Mijn vrouw, zij ... die verstaat zoiets onmiddellijk
  Nostalgie! zegt ze
  Neen, mijn man
  dat is de oude dag!!!

  Flexion of "mijn":        mènne (masc.),   men (fem.),   mee (neuter)
    not only for persons, also for objects.

  Men vrou, sè ...:
     I hear often the subject repeated by a personal pronoun in Belgian
Limburg.
  Sound shift; "sè" to "se" when the pronoun follows the verb.
    this change of the personal pronoun, when used enclitically, is typical
for Limburgish:
    In my variants:
     Dzji-e zit zik.   Zie zik? (Zie is equivalent to "zit dzji-e?"    "are
you?"
     Hi-e ees zik.   Eest er zik? (the "hi-e" becomes "er"; curiously the
final t of the verb survives here)
   In Brabantish one uses an enclitical "em" (hem?) for the "er".

was signed Arthur Jacobs and printed on page 61 of " 't bukske, nummerou
vier, nòòjoor 1998"

Regards,
Roger

Flete canes, si flere vacat, si flere valetis
Flete canes: Catulus mortuus est Pitulus

(Honden huilt! Huilt als jullie tijd hebben, en als jullie kunnen huilen!
 Honden huilt: mijn hondje Pitulus is dood)
Uiitreksel uit een lijkdicht van 72 versregels van abt Diederik van Sint
Truiden (geboren in 1040), gewijd aan de dood van zijn dierbaar hondjr
Pitulus. Ik denk dat we "Pitulus" best met "Pietje" vertalen.

-*-*-

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