LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 04.JAN.2001 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 04.JAN.2001 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Language varieties

Stefan wrote:

>Frisian didn't begin to be written until the 1200's, so other than proper
place and personal names, we don't have direct evidence for Frisian from the
7th or 8th century: that dating is an estimate, and an inherently and a
difficult one, since even centuries later, Frisian and Middle English
remained quite similar. <

Why were Frisian and Middle English similar? Was there parallel evolution
from Old English and contemporary Old Frisian or was (written) Frisian
influenced by written English?

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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

John wrote above:

> Why were Frisian and Middle English similar? Was there parallel evolution
> from Old English and contemporary Old Frisian or was (written) Frisian
> influenced by written English?

Yes, why, indeed?  Of course, according to the traditional model of thought
(or should we say "assumption"?), Frisian and English are sister languages
coming off the same "Anglo-Frisian" sub-branch of Western Germanic.

The question I need to add to John's is this: Why then did early speakers of
Old English consider themselves ethnically Anglian and Saxon (and establish
Anglian and Saxon kingdoms in Britain) when their language was supposedly so
different (i.e., belonged to another sub-branch) from Anglian and Old Saxon?
What could account for this relatively sudden language switch of people who or
whose recent ancestors had immigrated to the British Isles from an area
situated in today's Southern Denmark and Northern Germany?

Of course, there is this theory floating around (I think mentioned by Robinson
as well) that Anglian and Saxon migrants had mixed with Frisians on their way
to the British Isles, probably after staying in Frisia for a while.  In other
words, this would mean that Frisians participated in the Germanic colonization
of the British Isle but that they have not received sufficient credit, perhaps
because they were mixed in with Anglians and Saxons and did not claim their
own Frisian-dominated territories in Britain.

I do not know how "wild" this theory is still considered at this time.
However, it does not seem implausible to me, especially if we imagine that the
migrating Anglians and Saxons were predominantly male and married Frisian
women who first taught their children Frisian, which would have helped to
speed up the development of an Anglo-Saxo-Frisian creole.  If so, we would not
have an Anglo-Frisian sub-branch but simply a Frisian one.

Is anyone seriously investigating these alternative possibilities, or are we
forever married to the "Anglo-Frisian" theory because it predominates in the
literature and is standard in high school and university courses?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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