LL-L "Language use" 2003.07.16 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 16.JUL.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: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2003.07.16 (02) [E]

Thomas wondered:
>What was the language of instruction in lowlands schools before German
>unification?

My uncles moved from Berlin to Neustrelitz in Mecklenburg in the early
1920s. Two of them were 7 and 9 years old then, and they had a very hard
time in school at first, since everybody, teachers and pupils alike, spoke
nothing but Lower Saxon, which they had not been previously exposed to. They
adapted fast; however, once they entered the Gymnasium in 5th grade, only
High German was spoken.

Regards,
Gabriele Kahn

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

The situation Gabriele describes above may be more of an exception.  In most
schools, Lowlands Saxon (Low German) was at best tolerated outside formal
instruction and tokenism such as teaching LS songs and rhymes.

Educational matters are up to state policy, with only general directives
coming from the central government.  This is why there is much variation in
this regard.  As I mentioned on earlier occasions, German was and is the
predominant language in German state schools.  In the late fifties or early
sixties, Hamburg schools, which had a relatively larger budget, included the
teaching of LS songs and verses within the framework of _Heimatkunde_ (ca.
local history).  This was the first subject to be dropped when there was a
budget crunch.

You need to bear in mind that with the end of World War II a very large
number of people from all the regions ceded to Poland and the Soviet Union
had to be accommodated in the area of what is now Germany, and the majority
of them settled in Western Germany.  Many of those that settled in the north
were speakers of German.  Those that spoke LS tended to speak the
far-eastern dialects of Western and Eastern Prussia, and they tended to
perceive the northwestern dialects as foreign --  _Nu wardt hier al Enjelsch
jereedt!_ 'Now they've started talking English here!', as a much-quoted
reaction goes, because the North Saxon dialects, spoken in the British
occupation sector, tend to sound "English" to speakers of German and of
other dialects, problably because of "English-like" diphthongs such as [eoU]
and [e.I] and a larger number of obvious cognates of English words.   This
influx (including intermarriage) was the death-knell to many of the
northwestern varieties as well as far-eastern ones, because it caused a
sudden community-wide switch to German, reinforced by German dominance in
rapidly developing and standardized education and the media.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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