LL-L "Morphology" 2004.01.23 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 23.JAN.2004 (03) * 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: Gaidheal <gaidheal at yahoo.com>
Subject: Not sure how to categorize this

Feasgar math, a Lowlanders;

I just thought of something that I think may be worth investigating. I
noticed that the French
conditional is made by combining the future stem and the imperfect endings.
E.g.: AIMER, to love,
like. AIMER- is the future stem. -AIS, -AIS, -AIT, -IONS, -IEZ, -AIENT are
the imperfective
endings. The former plus the latter forms the conditional.

In English, there is the auxiliary verb WILL. Will, when put into the past
tense, becomes WOULD.
Would is the auxiliary verb for the conditional tense! This means that like
'imperfectizing' the
future in French makes the conditional, in English 'pastizing' the future
auxiliary makes the
conditional auxiliary.

The question before all of you: Is this French influence on English, a
Germanic way of making the
conditional that the Franks adopted into Latin to replace the old imperfect,
or simply a
coincidence?

Magno studio responsiones vestras exspecto!

Beannachdan,
Uilleam Òg mhic Sheumais.

----------

From: R. F. Hahn lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Subject: Morphology

Uilleam,

I don't have the answer for you, but I can tell you that conditional
construction in Lowlands Saxon (Low German) and English (and Northumbrian
and Scots?) are pretty similar, though in the recent past the LS system of
many dialects has been disturbed by German influences, e.g. ...

willen: wil -> wul   (to be willing/keen to: will -> would)
Hey wul dat nich doun.
He did not want to do it/that.
He would not do it/that. (cond.)

könen: kan -> kun   (to be able to: can -> could)
Hey kun dat nich doun.
He could not/was not able to do it/that.
He could not do that. (cond.)

schölen: schal (~ sal) -> schul (~ sul)   (to be required to: schall ->
schuld)
Hey schul dat nich doun.
He was not supposed to do it/that.
He schould not do it/that. (cond.)

mögen: mag -> mug  (to be permitted/able to: may -> was permitted/able to --
to feel like: feel like -> felt like)
Hey mug dat nich doun.
He was not allowed to do it/that.  as well as ...
He did not want to do it/that.  He did not feel like doing it/that.
He would not be allowed do it/that. (cond.)


hebben: het -> (had >) har (to have: has -> had)

Hey het dat nich daan.
He has not done it/that. ~ He did not do it.

Hey har dat nich daan.
He had not done it/that.

Hey har dat nich daan kund.
He could not have done it/that.

By the way, _schölen_ and (if there is no confusion with 'to want') also
_willen_ are the original future tense markers, as in English; e.g., ...

Hey schal dat doun.
He will/shall do it/that.  or ...
(Also: He shall (= must) do it/that.)

He wil dat doun.
He will do it/that.
(also: He wants to to it/that.)

More recently, under German influence, _warden_ (German _werden_) 'to
become' is used in many or most dialects:

Hey wardt dat doun.
(G: Er wird es/das tun.)
He will do it/that.

Hey wöyrd' dat doun.
(G: Er würde es/das tun.)
He would do it/that. (cond.)

Wherever there is no stress on future and there is no danger of confusion,
the future tense is expressed in the same way as the present tense:

Hey dayt dat.
He does it/that.  or ...
He'll do it/that.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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