LL-L "Language use" 2003.10.18 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 18.OCT.2003 (01) * 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: Holger Weigelt <platt at holger-weigelt.de>
Subject:  "Language use"

> From: Anja Meyfarth <anja-meyfarth at t-online.de>
> Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2003.10.16 (07) [E]
>
>   Moin moin Lowlanders!
>
>   Ben wrote:
>
>   I spoke with a German friend of mine at school the
>   other day. She said that when she went down to Munich, she could not
>   understand a word that they said. I asked her if they spoke High German
>   to her, and she said no.
>
>   Well, they speak Hogh German, or better said a dialect of High German.
> While working in a call center I was talking with a bavarian customer I
> couldn't understand and begged him to talk more standard German. He was
> insulted because he was convinced to speak pure High German.
>
>   >From that, I glean that in the highlands, the
>   dialects are more publicly used. Is that correct? If so, how do they
>   accept the dialects more than they do in the Lowlands?
>
>   Because there is a continuity from the dialect to the standard language.
> And Bavarians are a kind of their own. The same thing I described above
> never occured with someone from Baden-Württemberg or Schweiz. It's no
> problem to beg a Schweizer to talk standard High German when you're not
> understanding him.
>
>   Why are the Lowlands languages relegated to Grandma's secret closet
> whereas folk in
>   the Highlands speak them readily? Were they spoken more before the
>   Germanic tribes came to Christianity?
>
>   Even after having been baptized they used Low Saxon (or better Old
saxon).
> They stopped slowly using it at the end of the middle ages. It is not
quite
> sure if it is of economic reasons or because reformation came to Northern
> Germany in High German. It might be a combination of both reasons. In Kiel
> for example the reason for the vanishing of Low Saxon is the Navy. Most of
> the sailors vame from other parts of Germany, especially from the South.
> Only a few were of Northern German origin. They were regarded to be a bit
> crazy because here the dangers of the sea are known only too well. So
> combatting on sea and by this making sailing even more dangerous seems to
be
> a stupid idea. :) But that happened in the early 20th century (more or
> less).
>   It is known that rich families used Low Saxon in their homes because it
> seemed to be more fitting to them. It was a kind of seperating from others
> that haven't been of old hamburgian origin...
>
>   Greetings from Kiel,
>
>   Anja
>
Hello Anja !
There is a degree from standard language to dialect and separated languages
and very different awareness of these differences within the populations who
use one or more of them.
For several years I lived in Suebia and had contacts to Switzerland too. In
both countries they use more or less related allemanic languages but as I
experienced it is no problem for Swiss people to distinguish between their
language and standard German and switch from one to the other for Suebians
(some exceptions don't alter the general impression) however all they are
talking is German regardless of how far it is from standard.
I don't know how this difference in perception is to be explained but You
can find it elsewhere, too.
LS except for the attempts to make it orthographically look German differs
as much from standard German that people are forced to distinguish and they
continue to do so even where LS is highly contamined or mixed up with
German. This could also be a fact with Suebian for example but possibly the
relationship to German is felt nearer there. But as I told above I can just
state my experiences but have no real idea about these mechanisms.
Kind regard
Holger

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