LL-L "Grammar" 2002.05.31 (01) [E]

Fri May 31 16:41:26 UTC 2002

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 31.MAY.2002 (01) * 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: "Marco Evenhuis" <evenhuis at zeelandnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2002.05.30 (04) [E]

Wim Verdoold wrote:

> About to do:
>
> I think you should ask somebody who speaks Zeeuws about this. They do
> strange things with  do  to.
> It looks very English to me even, but I'm not from Zeeland. I'm from the
> north east.

Indeed we use 'do' a lot in Zeeuws. Some examples:

Je moe de beuter in de kelder doee
(you should put the butter in the cellar)

Wat doet 't weer?
(What's the wheather like?)

Wat doe je?
(How are you?)

Lae me doee
(forget it, leave it as it is)

Een bakje doee
(to have a cup of coffee)

Slaegen doee, uutstuuksels doee
(say funny things, say strange things)

't Is nie om doeen
(there's no way)

Aoltied doende weze
(to be busy all the time)

Me wazze d'r juust over doende
(we were just talking about it)

A: Op maendag doee me aoltied wasse
B: Doen-je?*
(A: On monday, we always do the laundry)
(B: Do you?)

Ik doee zò gaern schrieve
(I like writing)

Me doee zò leêp spele, meuge me nie nog een stuitje buten bluve?
(We enjoy playing so much, can't we stay outside for a while?)

Doe mae wì zò praote; je ei licht lulle at n nie neffen je stae
(Do talk that way again; it's easy to say these things when he's not
standing next to you)

Doe jie mae vuulte kappe, dan ruum ik 't wè op
(If you weed the garden, I'll clean up)

These are used in everyday speech. The last four examples are
particularly
used a lot when speaking to children and children use them among
themselves
all the time as well. People who 'overuse' 'do' in this way, therefore
sound
a bit childish to other speakers of Zeeuws sometimes.

The example marked with * reminds me of another feature of Zeeuws, the
use
of _wou_ ('would') in a very specific way:

A: Jie bin daè nog nooit gewist
B: Wou ik nie!
(A: You have never been there)
(B: Yes, of course I have; litt. 'Wouldn't I!')

A: Is die zaok a afgedae?
B: Wou 't nie!
(A: Has that matter been dealt with?)
(B: Of course it has; litt. 'Wouldn't it! (why do you even ask that?))

Regards,

Marco

----------

From: Alfred Brothers <alfredb at erols.com>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2002.05.30 (01) [E]

Hi, Ron,

I know Yiddish is rather off-topic for LL-L, so feel free not to use
this if you think it is too much so. I know you're interested in
Yiddish, however, so I thought I'd forward it anyway:

I wrote in response to the use of _to do_ as an auxiliary:

>>Another member pointed
>>out that it is also used in Yiddish.
>>
Ron responded:

>That's interesting, because I am not aware of this exact same device in
>Yiddish, only of repetition of the main verb; e.g.,
>
>(1)
>Zey FORN keyn Varshe, nor keyn Vilne FORN zey nit.
>("They TRAVEL to Warsaw, but to Vilnius TRAVEL they not.")
>They will travel to Warsaw, but they won't travel to Vilnius.
>
>(2)
>Keyn Varshe FORN FORN zey, nor keyn Vilne FORN (FORN) zey nit.
>("To Warsaw TRAVEL TRAVEL they, but to Vilnius TRAVEL (TRAVEL) they
>not.")
>They do intend to travel to *Warsaw*, just not to *Vilnius*.
>
Yes, I'm familiar with the convention of repeating the main verb as in
your examples. It's quite common in Yiddish, though I don't think it
occurs in other Germanic languages.

Except for the mention of the Yiddish use of "ton" as an auxiliary in
the archives, I was not aware of it, either. (OR, it was so familiar to
me from High German dialects that I never took notice of it.) I checked
my Yiddish grammar books and found no reference to it in most of them;
however, from W. L. Lockwood's _Lehrbuch der modernen jiddischen
Sprache_ 1995 comes the following quote:

Under the headings:

Zur Syntax
Infinitiv

Umschreibung durch _ton_:

Umschreibung des finiten Verbs durch _ton_ plus Infinitiv ist durchaus
geläufig; dadurch wird die Dauerhaftigkeit der Handlung in den
Vordergrund gerückt: _zi tut bloyz zitsn un veynen._ Die Umschreibung
ist stilistisch neutral: _zey tun mispálel zayn (beten),_ und auch in
gehobener Sprache keine Seltenheit: _mayn nefesh tut derheykhn dem Har_
(meine Seele erhebt den Herrn), _Er hot zikh geton dermonen (gedachte)
zayn baremhartsikeyt._

I also stumbled across another sentence in the same book under an
unrelated topic: _Zint dem tog, vos mir hobn dos gehert, tuen mir nit
oyfhern tsu betn far aykh._

So, apparently, it's not uncommon, and it *is* consistent with the way
it's used in High German dialects, at least in these examples. I don't
know the extent of its use, i.e., could it be used in all the cases
mentioned in LS and HG dialects?

Regards,
Alfred Brothers

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