LL-L "Syntax" 2003.04.16 (09) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Syntax

Dear Lowlanders,

Today, under "Language varieties," Colin Wilson shared some interesting
information about Gaelic (or other Celtic?) influence on Scots. He provided
a syntactic example in which Scots and Gaelic display similarities:

> The construction used in Scots as an equivalent of English "whose" has
> an exact match in (Scottish) Gaelic, although I'm not 100% sure as to
> who borrowed from whom:
>
> "Those are the people whose house I bought".
> "That's the fowk that A bocht their hoose".
> "Siud na daoine a cheannaich mi an taigh aca."

Aside from the Celtic aspect, this got me wondering if and how Scots and
other Lowlands languages manage to modify such a statement to specify if the
speaker bought the house from the previous owners directly (as opposed to
through an agent, or just leaving the statement ambiguous, as the English
version above is).

Lowlands Saxon (Low German, { } = German-style spelling, [ ] = Dutch-style
spelling):

(1) General (ambiguous):
Dat sünd dey lüyd', dey eer huus ik köft hev.
{Dat sünd de Lüüd', de ähr Huus ik köfft heff.}
[Dat zund dei lu(ud), dei eer hoes ik köft hef.]
("That are the people that their house I bought have.")
'Those are the people whose house I bought.'

(2)Specific:
(A)
Dat sünd dey lüyd', dey eer huus ik afköft hev.
{Dat sünd de Lüüd', de ähr Huus ik afköfft heff.}
[Dat zund dei lu(ud), dei eer hoes ik afköft hef.]
("That are the people that their house I off-bought have.")
(B)
Dat sünd dey lüyd', dey ik eer huus afköft hev.
{Dat sünd de Lüüd', de ik ähr Huus afköfft heff.}
[Dat zund dei lu(ud), dei ik eer hoes afköft hef.]
("That are the people that I their house off-bought have.")
'Those are the people off whom I bought their house.'

In the specific versions it is clear that I bought the house off the
previous owners, by using the modified verb _afköpen_ ("off-buy") and by
using _eer_ 'their'. By using _dat_ 'the' (neuter) instead of _eer_ 'their',
I can reintroduce a measure of ambiguity:

(3) Slightly ambiguous:
Dat sünd dey lüyd', dey ik dat huus afköft hev.
{Dat sünd de Lüüd', de ik dat Huus afköfft heff.}
[Dat zund dei lu(ud), dei ik dat hoes afköft hef.]
("That are the people that I the house off-bought have.")
'Those are the people off whom I bought the house.'

Here we are sure that I bought the house off those people, but we aren't
quite sure if they were the previous owners.

Let's try this in German:
(1) Das sind die Leute, deren Haus ich gekauft habe.
(2) Das sind die Leute, denen ich ihr Haus abgekauft habe.
(3) Das sind the Leute, denen ich das Haus abgekauft habe.

The same results, thus.

[*N.B.: The subordinate clause construction {main-verb}{aux.} (... afköft
hev) is clearly due to German influence; in older, more original modes, as
in Dutch and the Netherlands Saxon, it is {aux.}{main-verb} (... hev
af(ge)köft). This older construction can still be heard and, at least to me,
sounds nice, but it may be perceived as archaic by many.]

How do you do this in other Lowlands languages (especially in the absence of
an equivalent of _afköpen_ and _abkaufen_)? (I believe that Standard Dutch
doesn't have *_afkopen_; at least I can't find such a word.)

I am not sure if my English translation of (2) is truly grammatical. If not,
English would have ambiguity in 'Those are the people off whom I bought the
house' (in that you aren't sure if they were the owners).

So there! Sink your teeth into this morsel!

Cheers!
Reinhard/Ron

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