LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.08.24 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 24.AUG.2002 (03) * 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: "Stella en Henno" <stellahenno at hetnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.08.22 (02) [E]

> From: "Luc Hellinckx" <luc.hellinckx at pandora.be>
> Subject: Language varieties
>
> Beste leeglanners,
>
> In what follows, I would like to give a few examples of common traits
> between Western Flemish (WF), Saxon and English.
>
I'll add Frisian varieties to your list as well; they are about as
Ingvaeonic as they get...

> 1) "snakken" (to talk) is also used in Western Flemish, but only when
> somebody is snapping, "je moe zo ni snakn tegen mi"...besides, a glottal
> stop is just as popular in Western Flemish as it is in Cockney, so
> "sna'n"
> does more justice to the pronounciation

Eg North Frisian snaake (Wiedingharde, Mooring) = "reden".
One can say eg. ik snaak Frasch..
BTW this seems to common Germanic: Dutch snaak, snakken
(Middle Dutch snacken = kletsen), Related to "snatch" in English,
Old Norse snaka, Eng dialects: to snook (snuffelen).
Old germanic *snôk-, *snak- meant something like Dutch "happen".
The "talking" meaning is found much later.

> 2) the estuary of a river is also called "muide", just like "mouth" in
> English, e.g. "Diksmuide", "de Muide" (north of Ghent), whereas
> Brabantish
> uses "mond(e)"
>
Yes, from *munth- in Germanic, where in Ingvaeonic the n disappeared
and the u was lengthened to û. Occurs in Westerlauwer Frisian as
-mou(we).
In North Frisian "müs" still means mouth.

> 3) "compensatierekking" (stretching of a vowel because of a succeding
> nasal
> sound) has been active in the following examples :
(Note that (2) provides another example)

> "oes" or "uus" (WF), "us" (E) vs. "ons" (B), "uns" (G)
Westerlauwer Frisian ús, North Frisian üs, Seelter Frisian uus.

> "Goesevoorde" (WF place-name denoting a ford for geese), "Goes" (in
> Zeeland)
> vs. "gans" (B)

WF goes, NF goos (WH), göis (Mo), gus (F-A, Hal) etc., SF gous.

> "Ruddervoorde" (WF place-name denoting a ford for cattle ~ rinder(pest),
> just like Oxford was a ford for oxen once upon a time *s*) vs.
> "rèns(biëst)"
> (B), "rund" (D), "rind" (G)
>
WF rier- in rierrefleis (Dutch rundvlees). From *ri:ther, with i from
*ü.

> 4) the old word for a "meadow" (E) used to be "mede" or "meet", like in
> "Meetkerke" (WF) or "Meetjesland", "made" (MLG);

WF miede, Mooring mädj, SF mäid.

> 5) the past/perfect participle was thoroughly reduced in the following
> cases
> "bleven", "komen", "vonden", "kregen" (WF), instead of "gebleven",
> "gekomen", "gevonden", "gekregen"...other verbs were also truncated but
> kept
> an "e" or a "i" at the start : "imaeckt" (old WF), "elaten"
> (French-Flanders)
>
This happens in all Frisian varieties as well.
Eg WF bleaun, kommen, fûn, krige.

> 6) Western Flemish has a tendency to use "-s" for the plural of a noun
> in
> contrast with Brabantish that prefers "-n"
>
Eg earms, ferienings in WF. (Dutch armen, verenigingen)

> 7) palatalisation of k (> ts) used to be quite productive in (WF),
> judging
> toponymic names like "Cimbarsaca" (815) > Semmerzake and "Bucingehem"
> (996,
> ~ Buckingham (E)) > Butsegem.
>
eg WF meitsje,reitsje, tsiis, tsjerke, tsjerne, tsjef...
(Dutch maken, raken, kaas, kerk, karn, kaf)


> 8) words like "pit", "dinne", "brigge" for "pit" (E), "thin" (E),
> "bridge"
> (E) were all once (or still) used in some part(s) of Western Belgium.

WF prefers e mostly (but the same process of unrounding is at work),
but Island North Frisian has i as well (originally).
For WF: pet, tin, brêge (but brigge occurs in some dialects)

> Somewhere I read (but I cannot recall where), that Saxon migration to
> England happened in more than one way; the oldest movement was a wave
> (in 2
> phases), where the Belgian and the French coast first got colonised,
> thereafter crossing the Channel to Southern England, succeded (centuries
> later on) by a series of (one-way *s*) boat-trips from Northern Germany
> straight to Eastern England.
>
> Those who would like to know more about the relation between Ingvaeonic
> (=
> North Sea Germanic) and Frankish could have a look here :
>
> http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/heer023wati01/heer023wati01_001.htm

It is very possible that Ingvaeonic was original in Zealand. The Swin
was
named as
the boundary of the Frisian kingdom in the old law texts, so they were
pretty close already. In North-Holland and to a lesser extend in
South-Holland most of these traits are also found in conservative
dialects.
These areas used to be Frisian or spoke a language quite close to it.
Also
Old Saxon had more of these traits (some versions of the Heliand are
"almost Old Frisian") but these were later replaced by the more
"distinguished/civilised" southern forms...

Henno Brandsma

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