LL-L: "Standardization" LOWLANDS-L, 02.AUG.2000 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 02.AUG.2000 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Henry Pijffers [hpijffers at home.nl]
Subject: LL-L: "Standardization" LOWLANDS-L, 02.AUG.2000 (04) [E]

Ron hef schreven:
>
> Henry wrote:
>
> > Sorry Ron, but I guess you met one. I actually like English ortography.
>
> Uh-oh!  Rats!  It was bound to happen sooner or later I guess!  Well, it takes
> all sorts.  ;)
>
> All I can say is "Look out, Saxons far and wide! Beware the reign of Henry the
> Standardizer!"  ;)
>
Hahaha! No, I'm not trying to enforce anything on anyone, I just would like to
see something happening for a change... And I surely wouldn't apply English
ortography on Low-Saxon... Would be one ugly creation I think...

> By the way, formal, official language planning committees do tend to be
> composed of appointed linguists, ideally with a sprinkling of writers and
> "ordinary" (or should I say "real"?) people, besides the occasional
> bureaucrat.
>
Yes, but those are appointed by a legislative/political authority. And we
don't have one, so we'll have to appoint something ourselves, which also
means we can skip the bureaucrats ;) I think a mix of linguists and "real"
people, as you call them, would be best.

> Of course, getting support from some institute or other (such as
> the Institut für niederdeutsche Sprache in Bremen
> [http://www.is-bremen.de/ins/]) would help.  However, convincing them may be a
> difficult undertaking, especially considering that many established Low Saxon
> (Low German) specialists in Germany seem to go along with the view or at least
> don't openly oppose the view that the language abruptly ends east of the
> German-Netherlands border and that whatever lives on the other side is some
> other creature of the Hollandoid persuasion.
>
How 'bout doing it the other way, coming up with a really smashing proposal
and presenting it to them? If they're a reasonable institute, they'll at least
engage in dialogue.

> Take a look here:
> http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/low-saxon/plattewelt.htm
> .... and go through the list under "Low Saxon / Low German Language and Culture
> in Europe".
>
Looks to me they're all busy with preservation and putting up pictures of nice
farmhouses, if you know what I mean. Only the INS is serious, but it's rather
passive. I did notice though, that the spelling they use, isn't far from what
we have come up with in the past. Isn't there anything a little more active?
Something that doesn't make it a German thing, but a little more
international.

grooten,
Henry

---------

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

Henry wrote:

> Isn't there anything a little more active? Something that doesn't make it
> a German thing, but a little more international.

'Fraid not -- at least nothing I'm aware of, nothing beyond Lowlands-L and a
few email messages flying around.  International cooperation or at least
dialogue re Low Saxon (Low German) is what I've been preaching from my little
soapbox for quite some time.  There are some who are willing to theorize and
dream along with me.  Lots of words and little action.  Besides that,
reactions vary from polite "Nice idea" (meaning "Dream on, Buddy!") to total
indifference (or are they just blank minds?).  Most people seem to find it
hard to think beyond their own particular dialects.  I tend to lose many of
those who have a sense for the language as a whole as soon as I set foot
across the German-Netherlands border (while those on the Netherlands side tend
to be more receptive).  Most of the rest get lost en route across the
Atlantic.  That the language is used outside Northern Germany is news to many
people there, and some apparently can't deal with it, simply tune it out.
They are so used to being told it's "German," they can't even imagine it could
be anything else.  Perhaps the challenges awareness of Low Saxon as an
"international" language entails seem too upsetting.  The ones that still tag
along after all that are a rag-tag band of would-be go-getters, each dabbling
in their own way, perhaps looking for a leader, perhaps ready to crown Henry
the Standardizer.

Of course, Henry, one possible route to travel is to just start publishing Low
Saxon material in whatever standard you personally envisage, maybe with some
input from friends.  Perhaps that will get the ball rolling.  People may not
want to *start* something, but they are quite ready to *criticize* whatever a
rare doer has done, and this may trigger some sort of dialogue and perhaps
eventually collaboration.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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