LL-L "Language survival" 2003.01.05 (10) [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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R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language survival

Dear Lowlanders,

Elsewhere moribund or extinct languages are sometimes preserved in enclaves
that consider themselves minorities within minorities for reasons other than
linguistic ones, frequently for religious reasons.  By setting themselves
apart from other speakers and thus by considering themselves different from
their original larger communities (as well as for the majority population)
they tend to preserve their original language and culture more faithfully.
What I have in mind here are not cases in which certain minority language
varieties become moribund or extinct due to influx and influences of
outsiders while language decline is slower or absent where there is less
outside influence.  (An example would be a pattern of Lowlands Saxon [Low
German] language loyalty decline in communities in which the numbers of
postwar German-speaking refugees were large while the language is more
intact where little or no resettlement took place.)  These are cases in
which the speakers have little or no choice.  What I do have in mind are
cases in which the speakers, or at least their ancestors, did have a choice
and chose isolation and preservation.

Two examples come to mind, both in Germany, one non-Lowlandic and the other
Lowlandic.

Upper Sorbian (Upper Lusatian, _Hornjoserbšćina_), a West Slavonic language
unique to Germany, is now moribund in almost all communities of Upper
Lusatia (_Hornjołužica_, German _Oberlausitz_, a tiny fraction of the
original Lusatia [_Łužica_, German _Lausitz_] that used to comprised most of
“Lower Silesia,” namely Eastern Saxony, Southeastern Brandenburg and some
adjacent areas now under Polish rule, its former capital having been
Zhorjelc (German _Görlitz_, Polish _Zgorzelec_).  Language decline is in
large part due to a period of prohibition of public use of Sorbian during
the Nazi era, accelerating German influx, public neglect of language and
culture (despite tokenism for propaganda purposes) under the East German
regime, resettlement of Sorbs due to large-scale coal mining (both before
and after the fall of the Berlin Wall), and economic incentives for younger
Sorbs (all of which are fully proficient in German) for moving away and
becoming fully integrated in the general German population.  Most Upper
Sorbian speakers are now middle-aged and elderly, and Sorbian theater groups
are under threat because they cannot find young actors.  The only
communities in which Upper Sorbian is still used by virtually everyone,
certainly by virtually all ethnic Sorbs, are those in which Roman
Catholicism has been preserved.  When most of Lusatia had turned Protestant,
some communities elected to remain Catholic and virtually cut themselves
off.  As a minority of a minority they set themselves apart and generalized
their conservatism by preserving not only their religious allegiance but
also their customs, language and material culture.

A similar case can be reported with regard to East Frisian.  Eastern
Friesland (in today’s German state of Lower Saxony) underwent a shift from
Frisian to Lowlands Saxon (Low German) centuries ago.  The last East Frisian
speakers within Eastern Friesland (e.g., the Island of Wangerooge) passed
away in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  To most people, “East
Frisian” now denotes Eastern-Friesland-specific Lowlands Saxon dialects.
The only area in which actual East Frisian varieties are still spoken is
Saterland, a tiny area within the region of Cloppenborg/Cloppenburg, outside
(i.e.,
south of) Eastern Friesland.  Again the reason why the language came to be
preserved was basically a religious one: emigration of staunch Roman
Catholics escaping Protestantism that had swept across Eastern Friesland.  A
special feature in this case is that the language was preserved while ethnic
Frisian consciousness was lost, probably because the ancestors of the
Saterlanders had turned their backs on Eastern Friesland and its perceived
“heresy.”  Ethnic consciousness shifted to self-perception as Saterlanders
who speak Saterlandic (_Seeltersk_).

I wonder if some of you can think of similar, Lowlands-related cases, and I
wonder if there is a generally applying pattern.

Furthermore, I wonder if and how the preservation of Mennonite Lowlands
Saxon (_Plautdietsch_) fits in with this.  Most Mennonites are of mixed
Dutch, Frisian and Lowlands Saxon origin.  In their new (temporary) homeland
in the Vistula Delta (in today’s Northern Poland) they adopted West Prussian
Lowlands Saxon, the predominant language of the local Protestant “Germans”,
making it their own, perhaps because the immigrants came with a variety of
native languages (Dutch, Frisian and Northwestern Lowlands Saxon).  After
their emigration to Eastern Europe, their displacement to Siberia and
Central Asia, and their emigration to the Americas and to other overseas
destinations, they retained both their West Prussian _Plautdietsch_ and, as
a type of _loshn koydesh_ (Yiddish for “sacred language” = Hebrew), “High”
German.  Their native language is now the only surviving (group of) West
Prussian Lowlands Saxon dialect(s) by virtue of isolation.  Distinguishing
features in this instance of language preservation are loyalty to their
Mennonite Anabaptist faith and, perhaps not entirely of their own choice,
“German” ethnicity.  Interestingly, Germany now has the largest community of
_Plautdietsch_ speakers, these speakers or their forebears having moved
(under the “Russia German Repatriation Act”) to a country in which their
“sacred” or “formal” language is predominant and ordinary.  However, there
appear to be strong efforts to preserve their _Plautdietsch_ there as well,
if not for reasons of love for the language then as a type of minority
symbol in addition to religion, namely symbols distinguishing a community
that shares the same belief system and/or historical experience.  What is
different in this case is that, in addition to being a symbol, the preserved
language has the potential of serving as a lingua franca among a widely
scattered faith community.  The question is which of the two top contenders
will eventually take that spot: (specific but low-prestige) Plautdietsch or
(non-specific but high-prestige) German?

Any input to this topic area would be appreciated.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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