LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 22.APR.2000 (02) [D/E]

Sat Apr 22 17:46:13 UTC 2000

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 22.APR.2000 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Stefaan Vermeire [stefaan.vermeire at advalvas.be]
Subject: Re: LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 19.APR.2000 (02) [E]

> I wonder if I may come in here and ask, quite simply, how standard
Afrikaans
> came into being. There are some noticeable spelling variations from Dutch

> (most notably the absence of post-vocalic final /n/ is signified in
writing,
> and Dutch initial <z> often goes to <s>), which must, presumably, have
been
> agreed at some stage prior to 1925?

Dear Ian James,

>From 1652 we can say that there has been a sort of harmonious interactif
co-existence between Dutch dialects spoken in Africa and the standard
Dutch.
In fact, we had on the Cape the same situation as we can still found in the

Low Countries: people speak at home one of the many Dutch dialects, but
write and speak with people from other regions the cultural form of the
Dutch language (this is in particular the case in Flanders). We have still
the same relation in for example Suriname where Dutch is still the official

and unquestioned cultural language, although Dutch of Suriname is in many
thing different from that cultural Dutch.

During that time a number of Dutch dialects were spoken in the Cape:
Oostgrens Dutch/Afrikaans, Griekwa Dutch/Afrikaans, Oranjeriver
Dutch/Afrikaans and of course Cape Dutch/Afrikaans. After a new time the
speakers of Oostgrens Afrikaans were the most prominent supporters to use a

phonetic form of their own African Dutch, that became Afrikaans. The
"Genootschap of Regte Afrikaners" ("Society of the True Afrikaners") was
founded in 1875 and their most important goal was the recognition of that
local form of Dutch as the official language. Only in 1925 Afrikaans became

the official state language of the Republic of South-Africa, on the same
level of Dutch and English.

The orthography of Afrikaans is a little bit more simplified, logic and
more
phonetic than the Dutch mother language.
(a) in Afrikaans there is no distinction, based on the different "mainland"

Dutch dialects, in the orthography for au/ou. In several Dutch dialects
there can be a different pronunciation between au/ou, something which isn't

longer the case in standard Dutch. Afrikaans use only "ou". This decision
was also adopted when the Belgian governement decided many years ago to
simplified the orthography of the names of the Flemish towns and villages
(old orthography: Audena(e)rde, now one: Oudenaarde for example).
(b) -n ending is not written in Afrikaans, because, like also in standard
Dutch, the final -n isn't pronounced;
(c) about the s versus z: it seems that Afrikaans has kept the old Dutch
pronunciation or a particular dialectic one. Long time many Dutch words
which are now written with z have had an initial s. Maybe there have been
also an interactif relation between written and spoken language;
(d) the Dutch ij is written always y, like it was the case in the old Dutch

orthography (although not always);
(e) elimination of c and consequence use of k (still a problem in the Dutch

orthography - Flemings are inclinated to write k, Dutch people c);
(f) -tie in Dutch is written -sie in Afrikaans - only a difference in the
written language, in the spoken one this is pronounced in the same way (s);

(g) elimination of y in loan words (from Greek) and replaced by i - a logic

step: in Dutch we find both;
(h) sch- in Dutch becomes sk- in Afrikaans: also in several Dutch dialects
we found that particular pronunciation (Flemish dialects);
(i) -sch in Dutch is -s in Afrikaans: also a consequent decision. In Dutch
we have both in the loan words. There have been plans to change this, but
the responsable political authorities weren't able to bring it to a good
end. That's why we find now in Dutch a mixture of old and new orthography:
old orthography: "Belgisch", "Vlaamsch", etc. - proposed reformation:
"Belgies" and "Vlaams" (this is the case in Afrikaans). But we find in
Dutch
now: "Belgisch" and "Vlaams" although the endings are pronounced in exactly

the same way;
(j) -ch in Dutch is -g in Afrikaans: also a relict of the old Dutch
orthography of the 18th century.
Only a few thoughts in general.
Greetings,
Stefaan R.W. VERMEIRE.

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From: Paul Van Cappellen (iname) [pvcappellen at iname.com]
Subject: German Minorities / Duitse Minderheden

Fabian Bauwens (sspfb at svf.uib.no) zoekt informatie over
Duitstalige/Duitsstammige minderheden in Oost Europa na 1949 (Partijen,
organisaties, cijfers,...)

Fabian Bauwens (sspfb at svf.uib.no) searches information about German
minorities in Eastern Europe from 1949 on (Political parties,
organisations,
statistics,...)

Wie kan helpen?
Who can help ?

Dank u
Thanks

Paul Van Cappellen
eLandnet webmaster
info at eLandnet.org
http://www.eLandnet.org

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Language varietes

Since this is a "Lowlands" list that does not include German as such, any
responses to Paul's request re German minorities in Eastern Europe sent to
the List should focus on Lowlands topics, such as Low-Saxon- (Low-German-)
or Frisian-speaking Germans.  If this is not possible, please send your
responses to Paul and/or Fabian directly (off the List).

Thanks,

Reinhard/Ron

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