LL-L "Phonology" 2003.08.03 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 03.AUG.2003 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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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: Phonology

Topics:
(1) Dutch /r/
(2) Scots <wh>

Dear Lowlanders,

(1) Dutch /r/

The last few days there has been talk about the realization of /r/ in Dutch,
the upshot being that the uvular fricative [R] (similar to the predominant
realization of /r/ in French, German, Danish, Scanian, Bergen Norwegian, and
<rr> and <r-> in Iberian Portuguese) is predominant in the Netherlands’
Randstad but that the apical trill [r] is acceptable to most people and is
not normally considered low-prestige.  Also, there was talk about the apical
trill in Flemish.  May I take it this applies to Zeelandic also?  I noticed
that native Dutch speakers Brussels tend to use a strong, French-like [R].
Their dialect(s) can be classified as Brabantish, can't it?
   I can pronounce both (or all) of the aforementioned types of /r/.  I use
[R] (and its variants) in German, Danish, French, etc., and [r] in Lowlands
Saxon (Low German), Yiddish, Afrikaans (which I am learning), Spanish,
Turkic, etc. (and Scots, which I am learning).  In the case of Dutch (which
I am also learning) I am undecided.  Approaching it from the Lowlands angle
(as a close relative of Afrikaans and Lowlands Saxon) I tend to want to
pronounce it with apical [r].  However, once in a while I try to pronounce
it with [R], which also works very well for me, except after <sch>, as in
<schrijven>.  I find it almost impossible to separate the <ch> [x] from the
<r> [R].  My main question in this section: *Are* the two truly separate
when they are adjacent to each other, and if so, how?

(2) Scots <wh>

We have discussed Scots <wh> here before.  Apparently it is a voiceless
version of [w] in many dialects, not easy to pronounce for an adult learner.
It tends to sound like [f] to many (and apparently developed into an [f] in
some Scots dialects, if my memory serves me correctly).
   Yesterday I was reminded of this when I heard Maori spoken again after
quite a few years.  (I watched the movie “Whale Rider,” a New Zealand -
German co-production, which I recommend: http://www.whaleriderthemovie.com/)
This made me realize that the Maori “mystery sound” <wh> appears to be
identical to Scots <wh>.  One of my questions in this connection is if those
who devised Maori spelling in the 18th (?) century were aware of this, if
they chose the digraph <wh> for it on the basis of Scots.  I suspect this to
be the case, because those English dialects that pronounce /w/ other than as
[w] tend to pronounce it as something like [hw] or [xw] or some sort of
“aspirated /w/” (if there is such a thing).
   Outside the Lowlands area, what I find fascinating about Maori <wh> is
that it appears to represent an archaism (i.e., an older realization) within
the context of comparative Polynesian:
   Maori - Hawai'ian - Rapanui - Samoan
   wai - wai - vai - vai 'water'
   waka - wa'a - vaka - va'a 'boat'
   whare - hale - hare - fale 'house'
   whata - haka - (*haka) - (*fa'a) ' (food) platform’
   wheke - he'e - heke - fe'e 'squid, octopus'
   whenua - honua - henua - fanua 'land, country'
   whetu - hoku - hetu'u - fetu 'star'
   wha - ha - ha - fa 'four'
   aroha - aloha - aroha - alofa 'love'
      (Hawai'ian <w> = [v]; Rapanui = Eastern Islands)
As you can see, Maori <wh> corresponds to <h> in some languages and to <f>
in other languages.  I think it is fairly safe to assume that <h> and <f>
represent later developments, because <wh> is more specialized/rare and is
not likely to have developed from either /f/ or /h/, certainly not after
unrounded vowels, and Hawai'ian <h> seems to come from two original
phonemes: <wh> and <h>.  Also, please bear in mind that according to their
own oral history and to most anthropological theories the Maori people
arrived in Aotearoa (New Zealand) from Hawai'i (which they still pronounce
as the original <Hawaiki>).  Clearly, Maori is the most conservative of the
Polynesian languages mentioned, having preserved older phonemic distinctions
in isolation, while its relatives changed and simplified their systems
(Hawai'ian /k/ > /?/, /t/ > /k/, Rapanui /k/ > /k/, /t/ > /k/, Samoan /k/ >
/?/, /t/ > /t/; note also /h/ <> /f/).
   I think that all of this goes to show that a relatively rare sound may
occur sporadically, irrespective of genealogy, sometimes uniquely or rarely
within their respective language families, in this instance in Germanic/West
Germanic/Indo-European and Polynesian/Malayo-Polynesian/Austronesian
respectively.  It also seems to show that such rarely occurring sounds do
not have a lot of staying power, tend to develop into more frequently
occurring phonemes (here <wh> > <h> ~ <f>), sometimes perhaps in the course
of foreign influx.
   Of course, the origin of <wh> appears to be different in Scots and Maori.
Scots <wh> goes back to Old English <hw>, Proto-Germanic *hv and
Indo-European *qw.  Maori <wh> may well go back to something like *b- ~ *p-
or *bw- ~ *pw- in Malayo-Polynesian (a language family that appears to have
originated in Taiwan), considering Malayic data:
   Tagalog - Malay - Malagasy
   bangka - --- - --- 'boat'
   balay - --- - 'house'
   bansa -  --- - --- 'land, country'
   bituin - bintang - --- 'star'
   apat - empat - efatra 'four'
But of course, if you want to go a couple of steps farther in the direction
of world language reconstruction, you might go as far as suspecting the
Malayo-Polynesian words for 'four' (*p(w)atr- ?) to be related to
Indo-European *quetwôr- (> Germanic *petwor-, Latin _quattuor_, Spanish
_quatro_, Romanian _patru_) ... But that is a different matter.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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