LL-L: "Zeelandic" LOWLANDS-L, 16.OCT.2000 (03) [D/E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 16.OCT.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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  A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
  LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Marco Evenhuis [evenhuis at zeelandnet.nl]
Subject: LL-L: "Zeelandic" LOWLANDS-L, 14.OCT.2000 (02) [E]

Andy Eagle wrote:

> Do you know of any written sources verifying the above [speakers of
Zeelandic being able to understand the Scots spoken by the liberators in WW

II, ME]? It would be a great
> thing to quote when debating 'language or dialect?'

The only written sources I remember, were two or three newspaper articles
where older people from the countryside (mostly from the isles of Walcheren

and Zuid-Beveland) where qouted, usually in a piece about themayor visiting

them on their 50th wedding aniversary and similar occasions. They told the
newspaper exactly what I mentioned earlier: when they were liberated, they
tried to have conversations with soldiers from the allied forces. Since the

people from Zeeland couldn't speak English, they tried it with hands and
feet and Zeelandic. The latter seemed to work best with Scottish soldiers.
In the 'Zeeuwse Bibliotheek' I found the book 'Alle treinen rijden naar
Zeeland' (by Joris van Hoedekenskerke (ps. Gerard van Loo), Wissenkerke:
Drukkerij Markusse, 1985). On page 36, the author writes: 'Van de oostkust
van Schotland afkomstige soldaten, die Zeeland hielpen bevrijden, deden de
ervaring op dat niet-Engels sprekende Zeeuwen hen zeker voor zeventig
procent verstonden áls zij hun Schotse dialect maar spraken'. ("Scottish
soldiers from the eastcoast of Scotland, who helped liberating Zeeland,
found that people from Zeeland who could not speak English, understood
about
70% of what they said as long as they spoke their Scottish dialect"). The
author then mentions some ingvaeonic examples that appear in both Scots and

Zeelandic (S/Sh - Z - E: rigg - rik - back; lecht - lecht - light; brig -
brig(ge) - bridge).
As a speaker of Zeeuws, I myself found most Scots dialects I was confronted

with during my stay in Dundee in 1993-1994 quite easy to understand, where
other Dutch (and German) students couldn't make much of it. Especially in
eastern Fife, the intonation and articulation sounded very 'Zeeuws' to me.
My Zeelandic accent must have been quite familiar to Scots, since every now

and then I was asked whether I was from 'Glesca'...

There is one place on the internet where some words in Zeelandic can be
heard. At www.ceesmaas.com (bottom left) you can listen to the first part
of
a short story in the dialect of Domburg (Walcheren). The articulation of
this dialect is a lot 'softer', 'smoothier' than most other dialects of
Zeelandic, but it gives a nice idea how Zeeuws/Zeelandic sounds like.

Marco

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