LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.11.23 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.NOV.2003 (05) * 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: Language varieties

Dear Lowlanders,

Recently I shared with you an inquiry from a non-subscriber:

> Folks,
>
> I received the following request, and I am passing it along to you and  am
> responding via this forum, hoping that someone else can help better than I
> can:
>
> <quote>
>
> Mr. Hahn  I have recently found your site.. I have been working on a
> project to preserve my ancestors dialect, I can not find a record of it
> anywhere.
> The people who settled in our area all spoke the same dialect. They came
> from Germany through Poland and ended up in Volhynia. I have made a simple
> web site in hopes of gathering more info on the dialect where I give
> samples. you may see it at...
>
> http://www.geocities.com/thewuschkes/index.html
>
> I would appreciate it is you could check it out and perhaps you may
> recognize it.  WE called it Platt and it contains a lot of Dutch words,
> German and others.  Hope you will rely.  Elvira Howe nee Wuschke
>
> </quote>
>
> Dear Ms. Wuschke,
>
> I had a look at your site and can only give you a fairly vague response
that
> may be no news to you, since you seem to know quite a lot already.
>
> The dialect (as also your surname) is an East Pomeranian or West Prussian
> one from the area that is now Northern Poland, a dialect that these days
is
> seriously moribund, more likely extinct.  It clearly has a strong West
> Slavonic substrate, most likely a Kashubian one.  (Kashubian is by many
> considered East Pomeranian, the surviving part of the Slavonic Pomeranian
> language whose western dialects in what is now Germany are extinct.)  The
> speakers of those "Platt" dialects were mostly of mixed "German" and
> Pomeranian descent, many of them of pure Pomeranian (Kashubian) descent,
> having given up their ancestral language for that of the Saxon colonizers.
> The dialect shares some features with "Plautdietsch" (Mennonite Lowlands
> Saxon), the only surviving dialect (group) of that general area, having
> saved itself by emigrating to Ukraine (and farther on) and by being
confined
> to a close-knit religious community.
>
> Unfortunately, I am not able to completely pinpoint your ancestral
dialect,
> but I hope someone else on Lowlands-L can.

The following day I received a response from Ms. Wuschke thanking me for
attempting to help.  She wrote to me again today to share the results of her
research.  She deserves a huge kudos considering that the vast majority of
people I have helped with their research never bother to get back to me once
they have the information they wanted from me, and Ms. Wuschke did so even
though I was not the one to give her the crucial information she was
seeking.

It so happens that the general area Ms. Wuschke's grandmother was born is
the birthplace of my paternal grandmother also (in what is now in Poland,
pretty much right on the Russian border).  Unfortunately, I did not have
very much contact with that grandmother, and she passed away before my
linguistic prowess had reached the stage of conscious analysis.  I just
remember general things, such as /j/ where other dialects have /g/, but that
is an extremely widespread features among Eastern Lowlands Saxon ("Platt")
and ("High") German dialects.

Please find her report below.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

***

Mr.Hahn, I thought I would let you know that the dialect I sent you has
been identified by some German linguists as  basicaly old Low Prussian from
East Prussia and some High German mix  as well as words from other places,
Dutch ,Swedish etc. It also has a bit of Berlinish dialect in it I am
guessing
thats the Neumark part. It traces back to the 13th century Teutonic Knight
settlers.  I thought you might like to know as you were so kind as to help
me. I had some response from the Lowlands site that was helpful as well,
it identified some Polish. All in all what a mix. I think it comes from the
east west Prussian border under the bay as I have found that is where my
grandmother's origin was. That also explains the similarity to the
Mennonite Platt. Again thanks for your input it helped as well.

Reguards Elvira Wuschke

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