LL-L: "Anglo-Frisian" LOWLANDS-L, 18.NOV.2000 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
  L O W L A N D S - L * 18.NOV.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
  Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
  Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
  User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
  Archive: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html>
  =======================================================================
  A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
  LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
  =======================================================================

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Anglo-Frisian

Stefan Israel wrote:

> I recall hearing that in one North Frisian dialect, Germanic þ
> showed up as _s_ after WWII.  The thought was that this
> community had maintained þ through 1945 (unlikely but not
> impossible), but then when German refugees flooded into the
> island (or mainland village?), the closest they could come to þ
> was [s], which replaced þ.   Can anyone comment on if that
> actually happened as I heard it?

And I replied:

> Stefan, might you be thinking of an Insular North Frisian variety, namely

> of Sylt Frisian (Sölring) where there is a phoneme that is written either

> as _ð_ or as a barred _d_ (e.g., _faðer_ 'father', _bröðer_ 'brother')?
> I 'm not sure how it is pronounced in the modern language, but I vaguely
> remember that it was [j] or [z], assumedly derived from interdental [ð].
I
> have never heard about the use of _þ_ in North Frisian.  I'd be very
> interested to find out more in case it is true.

It was neither [j] nor [z], but [r] and [l] besides [ð].  I found the
answer in the doctoral dissertation of a former LL-L subscriber:

Steven T. Lasswell, _An Ecological Reference Grammar of Sölring North
Frisian_, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1998.

Special symbols are represented by my descriptions in curly brackets ({ }).

p. 91
==beginning quote==
Notable historical development is evidenced for /ð/. Möller (1916:20-21)
characterizes initial [ð] as having developed to [d] (and earlier initial
[{theta}] to [t]), and final [ð] as having become "ein reduziertes *r*" (a
reduced *r* -- today [{IPA upside-down a with lower breve}]. Presumably
reflecting his own pronunciation, Jap Peter Hansen in the early 19th
century wrote *bii{barred d}* and *hii{barred d}* for 'both' and 'heather',
respectively, and although the interdental fricative was heard in the
conservative eastern village of Muasem a century later, *hiir* 'hair' and
*hii{barred d}* 'heath' had become virtually homophonous ("so gut wie
gleichlautend") among younger speakers, particularly in the less
conservative village of Kairem. At that time, according to Möller, [ð] was
regularly heard only in medial position, in words like *brö{barred d}er*
'brother', *klua{barred d}er* 'clothes', and *we{barred d}er 'weather'
(spelled *brörer*, *kluarer*, *werer* in Mungard 10=909, however). Today,
the medial consonants in all these words is [l] in the speech of a majority
of Sölring. Willkommen (1991: 41, 221) encountered medial [ð] both
word-internally and in an intervocalic environment resulting from
occurrence of a clitic pronoun (*hi sair* 'he said' as *sair'(e)r 'said he'
['sEAð@A]). In the present database, free variation between [l] and [ð] is
heard in e.g. three realizations of the word *fe{barred d}er* 'feather;
spring' within a short stretch of discource by the same speaker.
==end quote==

Kairem = German Keitum
Muasem = German Morsum
Söl(')ring = Sylt North Frisian

He goes on to explain that a similar shift to [r] occurred in the case of
/d/.  This is also a frequent occurrence in certain Low Saxon (Low German)
dialects; e.g., _Bedden_ ~ _Berr(e)n_ 'beds', _Vadder_ ~ _Varrer_ 'father'.

I wonder if the occurrence of /ð/ and its assumedly recent realization as
[l] in Sylt North Frisian is somehow connected with the intervocalic and
coda realization of what is written as _d_ as a very lax [ð] in Danish and
Southern Jutish, considering that this Frisian variety is the northernmost
of the surviving varieties and has been in contact with Danish and Southern
Jutish.  Note that Germans tend to perceive this lax Danish [ð] as [l] when
they first hear it; e.g., _råd_ [Ro'ð] 'council', 'counsel', 'advice'
sounding to novice German speakers like [Rol], which they would want to
spell _Rol_ or _Rohl_.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

==================================END===================================
  You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
  request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
  as message text from the same account to
  <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
  <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
  =======================================================================
  * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
  * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
  * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
  * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
    to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
    <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
  * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
    type of format, in your submissions
  =====================================================================