LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.01.12 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 12.JAN.2003 (04) * 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: Ian James Parsley <parsleyij at yahoo.com>
Subject:  Language Varieties

Criostoir,

Well yes - it is simply a matter of opinion whether
you consider Afrikaans 'simplified Dutch' (which may
be pejorative) or 'tidied up Dutch' (which may be more
positive).

Of course it may just be 'a form of Dutch made unique
by the African spirit of its speakers' as one book
puts it...

mvg,

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Ian James Parsley
www.ianjamesparsley.net
+44 (0)77 2095 1736
JOY - "Jesus, Others, You"

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

Ian re Afrikaans:

> 'tidied up Dutch' (which may be more
> positive).

How about "streamlined Dutch" then?  ;)

Well, to tell you the truth, I have a strong feeling that the truth lies
somewhere between the two extremes ("simplified Dutch" versus "entirely
different language").  Sure, the vast majority of Afrikaans words has
cognates in Dutch, as well as in Flemish, Zeelandic, Limburgish and Lowlands
Saxon (Low German).  It is also true that mutual intelligibility between the
above-mentioned is more or less easy.  However, in my opinion this alone in
conjunction with "streamlined" morphology does not warrant declaring
Afrikaans a simplified form of Dutch (apart from the fact that it is
probably at least as much based on Zeelandic as on Hollandish and written
Dutch), not to mention noticeable, though admittedly not predominant,
English, French, "German," Malay, Bantu and Khoi-San influences.

When I hear and read Afrikaans, I hear and read *Afrikaans*, not a form of
Dutch, although I know that the two are closely related.  At least, I do not
approach Afrikaans with this assumption or mental picture.  So this may be a
case of attitudinal approach.  To me, hearing and reading the two languages
are rather different experiences, not totally unlike hearing and reading
German and Yiddish, where in the latter there is not only simplification of
German morphology but also a very different, clearly East European "flavor"
(apart from religion-based differences).  In the case of Afrikaans, the
equivalent is what you might want to call "African flavor."  What I feel
Afrikaans and Yiddish have in common beyond this is a sense of "liberation"
from the structural constraints of the respective assumed "mother
languages," a greater degree of inventiveness or liberty to create new terms
and expressions, a sense of liberation I assume was gained by estrangement
from their roots and by adaptation to the new physical and linguistic
environments.  I also have a bit of this sense in the case of English and
Scots vis-Ã -vis their Germanic (including Lowlandic) sister languages, where
"simplification," freedom and inventiveness are due to Norse and very strong
medieval French influences and, in the case of non-British dialects,
adaptations to different, non-European environments.

Groetjes,
Reinhard/Ron

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