LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.04.22 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.APR.2004 (08) * 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: Brooks, Mark <mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.04.22 (06) [E]

Thanks, Glenn.  This here article brangs back some fine mem'ries of my
granmaw from Tennessee.

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From: ezinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2004.04.20 (07) [E/A]

Hi all,

Fred and Ron, from my position, the "Oubaas" word is an endearment
and a respectful form for an older person. There are different uses:
1 Some older wives might call their older husbands that.
2 Younger people might refer to a much older man that way.
3 Many black men and women still refer to older white men in the form.

>in the days that I was a Boy Scout, during the 1960's. The adult leader of
our group was the "hopman", the one in charge of him was the oubaas.
I would not be surprised if at least the oubaas reached our Boy
Scout language directly from Afrikaans.

I read the interesting theory that Baden-Powell founded the Scouts hierarchy
on the ranking order amongst Boer fighters. The youngest were 'drawwertjies'
or runners, whilst the older boys were 'penkoppe'.

>Standard Dutch hardly existed in the days of the founding of SA.

That is not disputed. Research has indicated that Low Saxon speaking
sailors,
amongst many other language speakers from the North Sea, influenced
Afrikaans too.

>An explanation for this attitude might be that a large number of Afrikaners
turned away from the government at Cape Town. They called their language
Afrikaans as to express their connection to their (new) country.

Yes, it's been recorded that a certain Bibault (I think) said ' Ik ben een
Africaander'
during a court hearing by the 1800's.

Currently:

>1. quite a few times found it hard to speak Dutch or Afrikaans with
SA-people. English seems to be the lingua franca for anyone not close
enough. People switch to English as soon as they can. Asking for the hotel
room key in Dutch (numbers are identical with Afrikaans) usually resulted in
a response in English, like "here you go sir". They obviously had understood
my request. At the same time staff was speaking Afrikaans among each other.
They seemed to be ashamed of speaking Afrikaans, or wanted to keep it to
themselves.

Fred, keep in mind that Dutch is not that well understood by your average
Afrikaans
speaker, yet a Dutch speaker might like to assume that the Afrikaans speaker
should
understand everything because of the language ties. They might have been
embarrassed
because you assumed that they understood all your Dutch!

As an aside: I've had the interesting experience in 2002 of travelling with
a Plautdietsch speaking Canadian down to the Cape, and perhaps because of
his big Boerish looks, most Afrikaans speakers assumed he was Afrikaans
and merrily chatted along on which he simply nodded and replied: Jo, Jo...
and none were the wiser.

Groete,
Elsie Zinsser

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