LL-L: "Historical linguistics" LOWLANDS-L, 06.AUG.2000 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 06.AUG.2000 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Roger Thijs [roger.thijs at village.uunet.be]
Subject: Language history

Do our language varieties still contain remnants of older languages? Are
these detectable (beyond pure speculation)? May they have influenced the
sound shifts of our dialects? Do isoglosses reveal the extend of
pre-germanic language area's or are they all of more recent origin?

Our (Dutch) koiné is found in written form from the 2d half of the 12th
century on, and to my feeling, it kept sufficient stability since, for the
old texts (with a minimum of preparation) to be still understandable by
20th century readers.

But what happened before?

Leuven University archeologists found some Neanderthaler remains and tools
(including a 2 kg core shopper) in the South East of Belgian Limburg (close

to Maastricht). The stuff is dated:
- at least 130.000 years old
- not older than 300.000 years.
(Het Belang van Limburg, Aug. 3, 2000)

So, when we take the minimum of 130.000 years, we still have "only" 130
times "the 1000 years of a relative stability of the Dutch language".

- 1 - Historical considerations

For the area I'm from, the Tongeren area, the known historical successive
layers were:

- 50 BC: The tribes of the "Eburones" fought with Caeser, later called (or
replaced by) "Tungri", language unknown, but more probably germanic than
celtic
- 27-15 BC Tongeren (Aduatuca Tungrurom) becomes the capital of the Civitas

Tungrorum, part of Germania Secunda (with capital Cologne)

--- period of romanization ---

2d century: start of the first christianization (cf. writings of Ireneus of

Lyon, 177-186)
4th century: capital of the bishopric of the Tungri moved from Tongeren to
Maastricht, later to Liege (most probable after devastation waves of the
towns)

--- Germanic presence (again ?) ---
358: Francs tribes allowed to settle in Tongeren by the Roman emperor
Julianus
406. Germanic tribes: Alanes, Vandals, Sueves devastate the area

around 660: second Christianization
(It is curious the Irish played a major role in the second Christianization

of the area; this does not proof they were helped by remnants of an old
Celtic linguistic substrate)

settlement of the "river Francs" (or Ripuarian Francs). The area is initial

the core area of the Merovingian Francs (Landen, Herstal, Aachen)

804, May 9th, inauguration of new main Our Ladies's church constructed
under supervision of Ogier from Danmark (???). May the 9th remained the
annual "kermis" day for Tongeren for a very long time.
(a stable "Danelag" is only reported though at the coast of the actual
Zeeuws-Vlaanderen,leaving this coastal area undivided for a while between
France and Germany, after Charlemagne's death).
881 Tongeren devastated by the Danes.

11th century: several recordings in East-Low Franconian language (Abbey of
Munsterbilzen, Castle of Alden Biesen, all less than 10 miles from
Tongeren)

18th-19th century: cultural people of the top class and major noble
landowners switch to French
20 th century: by democratic means the area is turned to a Dutch language
administration; this includes a regional split-up of the country

- 2 - Linguistic considerations:

While the romance-diets border is going "horizontally" from West to East in

Belgium, some linguistic phenomena have more North-South isoglosses and
cross the linguistic border.
e.g. some common phonemes between South Limburg and East-Walloon:
- preservation of the initial h (dropped in Brabantish)
- occurrence of initial consonant dzj
- vowel + r becomes often i + vowel in romance as well as in Limburgish
dialects of the area
- singing pattern in both cases.
Could this indicate the presence of an old language substrate square over
the actual language borders?

Or is all stuff of a much more recent origin?
- We only have written records in super-regional koinés, even when
amateurish and contaminated in the beginning, but no tape-recorded spoken
language
- Topographic studies are often confusing: a same root may be forest in
Celtic, river in Romance and valley in Germanic and all three fit to the
area, leaving free room for speculation
- We discussed some topics of Afrikaans before, thought to be of endogenous

African origin, but found to be occurring in (old) Dutch dialects
- Do the different US American Indian languages leave much vocabulary in
standard English, or will they disappear without leaving anything else as
eventually some remnants in deformated topographical names?

Is there a science detecting patterns of disappeared languages in regional
varieties of existing languages?

Regards,
Roger
r.thijs at ieee.org

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