LL-L "Language varieties" 2000.10.22. (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.OCT.2001 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian 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: Felix Hülsey <felix.huelsey at gmx.de>
Subject: Language Varieties

Dear Criostoir and dear all,

on 21-10-01 you asked:

| Therefore, I ask: a) What are the main differences between Dutch and
| Afrikaans? and b) What influence has Malay (or other Austronesian
| languages) and Khoisan or Bantu languages had on Afrikaans?

Well, whole books have been written on question a). I remember one in
Dutch with the title "Bobbejane of Bavianen? Afrikaans versus
Nederlands", but I cannot come up with the complete reference right now.

By and large, you could say that Afrikaans has become "grammatically
simpler" than Dutch; or:
"Afrikaans ist auf dem Wege zu einer isolierenden Sprache am weitesten
von allen germanischen (und indogermanischen) Sprachen fortgeschritten"
(Heinz F. Wendt: Fischer Lexikon Sprachen, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p.
121)

Here are some main features of Afrikaans grammar as opposed to Dutch:

1. No noun gender is left, as opposed to a common/neuter-distinction in
Dutch. Therefore, Afrikaans has only one definite article, _die_ for
singular and plural, and one indefinite article _'n_ (singular only),
pronounced as a shwa.

2. Of course, no case distinction, just as in Dutch. Afrikaans has one
more way of expressing the genitive case: _die huis van die man_ (cf
Dutch) can also be rendered as _die man se huis_ (this is in fact more
common). Unlike in Dutch, the indirect object is often marked by the
preposition _vir_ (cf German _für_):
_Ek gee die boek vir die kind_. In Dutch, various prepositions are used
here, or none at all.

3. Pronoun system as in Dutch, here the gender distinction is fully
maintained (for animate nouns).
Impersonal pronoun _men_ has not survived: you use _'n mens_, which
requires object and possessive pronouns from the 2nd person, i.e. _jou_.
Predicative possessive pronouns exist: _Die boek is myne_ (The book is
mine). This might be a German influence; in Dutch, you would use _van
mij_.
Demonstrative pronouns _hierdie_ and _daardie_ - newer forms, because
_deze_ en _die_ have not survived.
Relative pronoun: only one form for all genders and numbers and for
subject and object: _wat_.

4. Verbal inflection has been reduced:
E.g. from _om te lees_ (to read):
present tense: _lees_ for all persons and numbers
past tense: _het gelees_ for all persons and numbers (i.e. the auxiliary
"to have" + _ge_ + the present form)
future: with the auxiliary _sal_
conditional: with _sou_, the irregular past (s. below) of _sal_

It is striking that all strong verbs have disappeared: The past form is
always het+stem, no matter if the verb is strong or weak in the other
Germanic languages.
As there is only one past tense, further modifications are made with
adverbs.

There are only a few verbs - mostly auxiliaries and modals - that differ
from this pattern:

e.g. "to be":
infinitive: _om te wees_
present: _is_ (this sounds especially strange for Dutch, English or
German speakers: ek is, jy is, hy is, ons is, julle is, hulle is!)
past: _was_ (old Dutch preterite; no _het ge-_, but _gewees_  may be
added for emphasis)

Passive as in Dutch, with _word_ and _is_

Imperative: interesting negative form; this is formed with _moenie_ (=
moet+nie): _Moenie hier staan nie!_ (Don't stand here); just using the
imperative plus _nie_ would be wrong.

5. The double negation: First _nie_ where _niet_ would stand in Dutch;
second _nie_ mostly at the end of a sentence or clause.
Other negatives, like _nooit_, _niemand_ etc. replace the first _nie_,
but require a second _nie_.

There are, I think, only two features that remain about as irregular as
in Dutch:

1. The plural of nouns may be in -e or in -s, the right ending is more
or less unpredictable. Some nouns have other plurals.

2. The declination of adjectives has become more complicated; in Dutch,
adjectives add -e in attributive position, except if the noun is neuter
and indefinite and in the singular.
In Afrikaans, normally one-syllable-adjectives don't take -e whereas
longer ones do; but there are almost more irregular adjectives than
regular ones and the situation seems to be in flux. Often, an -e is put
on an adjective in figurative sense and is omitted in concrete sense. -e
often triggers change in stem final, e.g. _goed_ -> _goeie_, _sleg_ ->
_slegte_.

There has been much discussion in the last century about whether
Afrikaans is a product of creolization or not. Some of the
"simplifications" point that way, but many of them can be explained from
Dutch dialects.

Afrikaans words are sometimes "shorter" than the corresponding Dutch
ones; especially a final -t is dropped, but reappears when a plural -e
or an attributive -e is added.

E.g.:
Dutch _nacht_ -> Afrikaans _nag_, plural _nagte_
Dutch _vast_ -> Afrikaans _vas_, attributive _vaste_

I want to be shorter about your question b), perhaps the Afrikaans
native speakers can tell us more on this one.
I think Malay, Khoisan and Bantu languages have only had some influence
on the lexicon; here are some examples:

1. Malay:
piesang: banana
piering: saucer
baie (from banyak): much, many; very
nooi (from nonya): bride, girlfriend, young woman (somewhat
old-fashioned)

Malay words can be found in almost all semantic fields; many of these
words are very common.

2. Khoisan:
kierie: stick
Some exlamations:
eina: ouch!
aitsa: look!
etc.
In local variants (Namakwaland), some Khoisan words are used for
indigenous plants. Here, sometimes even the clicks are pronounced.

3. Bantu:
indaba: discussion
indoena: advisor
(those two words can be quite ironical)

You might want to check the entry about Afrikaans in this great book:
George L. Campbell: Concise Compendium of the World's Languages.
London/New York: Routledge, 1995.

Two good Afrikaans courses are:
Bruce Donaldson: Colloquial Afrikaans. London/New York: Routledge, 2000.
Helena van Schalkwyk: Teach Yourself Afrikaans. Sevenoaks (Kent): Hodder
and Stoughton, 1993.

I hope this was of some help; I am looking forward to corrections and
additions by the Afrikaans native speakers on this list.

Groete uit Keulen,
Felix Hülsey.

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From: Holger Weigelt <platt at HOLGER-WEIGELT.DE>
Subject: East Frisian Platt in the US

Hi, all together !
Can You tell me: Is there (or has been) any research about use and
developement of East Frisian Platt among descendants of immigrants in the
US?
In the web I found some hints about Low-Saxon in general but none about the
East Frisian variant in special.
For my own research on the subject (see: http://www.holger-weigelt.de) I'm
interested in facts about the developement of this language under English
dominance instead of German and about the different state of conservation
of elder vocabulary, grammatical and phonetical structures compared with
East Frisian Platt in Germany.
Thanks for help.
kumpelment (greetings; best wishes)
Holger

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