LL-L "Grammar" 2002.04.03 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 02.APR.2002 (08) * 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: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Grammar

Dear Lowlanders,

After some more deliberation, it looks like I will have to eat some of
my own words ... Oops!

First of all, the type lexicalized adverbial phrase (minus article) we
have been discussing is not quite as rare in Low Saxon (Low German) as I
had you believe at first.  I have come up with a few more such examples
you may hear people, including myself, say.

I had already mentioned _na Huus'_ [nQ hu:.z] (usually written
_nahuus'_) 'home(ward)', and _to Huus'_ [toU hu:.z] (usually written
_tohuus'_) '(at) home', originally and in some dialects still with old
prepositional _-e_ (_na Huse_, _to Huse_).

Similarly, you say _na Bedd_ [nQ bEt], or in some dialects _na Bedde_
[nQ 'bEde], 'to bed'.  (Note English "to bed," and also 'in bed,"
without an article!  Note also the German equivalent of 'to bed': _zu
Bett_ 'to bed' in addition to _ins Bett_ '(in)to bed', the latter,
though being a contraction of it, contrasting with specific _in das
Bett_ 'into the bed'.)

I can also think of "institutional" scenarios without articles in Low
Saxon.  You may hear people say _na School_ [nQ So.Ul] 'to school' (as
opposed to _na de School_ [nQ de(I) So.Ul] 'to the school').  (Again, in
some dialects you will hear _na (de) Schole_.)  Similarly, you will hear
_na Kark_ [nQ ka:k] 'to church' (as opposed to _na de Kark_ [nQ de(I)
ka:k] 'to the church').  However, this seems as far as I can stretch it
at the moment.  For instance, *_na Markt_, *_na Sükenhuus'_ or *_na
Raadhuus'_ sound ungrammatical, while _na (d)'n Markt_ 'to (the)
market', _na (dat ~) 't Sükenhuus_ 'to (the) hospital' and _na (dat ~)
't Raadhuus_ 'to the townhall' are definitely grammatical.  I would not
be surprised to hear or read _na Stadt_ 'to (down)town' in contrast with
_na de Stadt_ 'to the town/city''.

I think in my previous grammar posting I came across as implying that
Afrikaans _NA (die) {noun} TOE_ is unique (e.g., _na die huis toe_ 'to
the house', _na huis to_ 'home(ward)').  If I implied this I was sorely
mistaken and beg your pardon.  This sort of construction also exists in
Low Saxon (Low German).  The "dangling" _to_ usually denotes direction
in such cases, not actual arrival.  Thus, you can say, for example (and
I'm making this up), _Ik güng jüst NA de Kark TO as ik mit eens NA
Oosten TO 'n grote, düüstere Swark rantrecken sehg'_ 'I was just going
IN THE DIRECTION OF the church when suddenly IN AN eastERLY DIRECTION I
saw a large, dark bank of thunderclouds approaching.'

I cannot think of cases with _na ... to_ lacking an article.  However, I
would not be surprised to hear or read for instance *_na Kark to_ or
*_na School to_.  Does anyone else know of such cases?

I can also imagine that Afrikaans _na ... toe_ and Low Saxon _na ... to_
have relatives in Dutch, Zeelandic and/or Limburgish dialects.  What
about Frisian, Scots and Appalachian?

Thanks to all who have given their input so far, and thanks in advance
for all future input.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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