LL-L "Morphology" 2003.01.09 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
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From: luc.hellinckx at pandora.be <luc.hellinckx at pandora.be>
Subject: Morphology

Beste liëglanners,

Just a word or two about diminutives. We're actually using them all the time
in Brabantish. Also adverbial ones like :

1) efkes ~ eventjes : Wacht efkes ! (Wait a little)
2) rezzekes ~ res (meaning "slightly") : 't Was ter rezzekes tegen ! (said
when you hit something very lightly)
3) treigskes ~ traag (slow)
4) loechtekes ~ licht (light)
5) stillekens ~ stil : Ge moogt da stillekens beginne vergete ze. (said when
it's time that somebody should start to forget something)
...
Right now I start to think that these adverbial forms only exist with words
that already denote something small, something "in minor" *s*. It's
impossible for example to say "zwaarekes" or something similar.
So the only function that the diminutive has, is to stress the already
inherent meaning. Just like a double negative is only used to exagerrate the
previous negative.
Ron asked whether diminutives can also be used in verbs. The closest that we
get to this is the frequent use of frequentative (pun intended *s*) verbs.
Examples :
1) scheddeln ~ scherden, schrijden (~Schritt in German) : to walk quickly,
using however small strides
2) verwezzeln ~ wars doen liggen, verwarren : zen aar was grat verwezzeld
(maybe this is even a double frequentative within one verb...wer, war >
wersen > werselen)
3) vergezzeln ~ griezelen, gersen, gresen : to shiver
4) joengern ~ jongen : to give birth...joengern is the normal (and only)
word (for animals). Independent on the number of "cubs"
5) teffern, kleffern, schoechern, koefeln, daggern, kjoemmern...
...
Frequentative verbs are so common that the original idea (iteration) is
somewhat worn-out.
The frequent use of diminutives is not the only reason by the way that
Brabantish often reminds me more of some southern Germanic
languages...rather than northern ones (in contrast with Flemish). Put
simply, I have the impression the vocabulary has southern characteristics
(especially when I compare mittelniederdeutsche with mittelhochdeutsche
dictionaries) but the phonology definitely has northern features.
Greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Morphology

Thanks for all the information above, Luc.

Frenquentative forms also run rampant in Lowlands Saxon (Low German), very
much like the forms you listed; e.g., _warken_ 'to work' > _warkeln_ 'to do
lots of little jobs', 'to potter around with some (hobby) project', etc.
(e.g., _Vadder warkelt maal wedder an sien Buddelschipp (rüm)_ 'Dad is busy
working on his bottle ship').  I do not see them as a type of diminutive,
though, except that the frequent actions tend to be "small."

> 5) stillekens ~ stil : Ge moogt da stillekens beginne vergete ze. (said
when
> it's time that somebody should start to forget something)

Even though I cannot think of an exact LS equivalent, it strikes me that to
express this sort of thing we would use _bi lütten_ ("by/with little") in
this case; e.g., _De Saak schu(ll)st (du) bi lütten vergäten hebben_ 'By now
you ought to have forgotten about the matter', 'It's about time you forgot
about the matter.'  I suppose the origin is similar to that of English
"little by little."

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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