LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.03.25 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 25.MAR.2004 (02) * 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: Georg.Deutsch at esa.int <Georg.Deutsch at esa.int>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.03.23 (01) [E]

Dear LL-readers!

Ron wrote:

QUOTE
....
While I do not doubt that
there are still plenty of Netherlanders that aren't exactly in love with
Germany, I personally have *never* experienced rejection of the idea to
increase Lowlands Saxon contacts and collaboration on the part of Lowlands
Saxon speakers and writers in the Netherlands, and this involves many
people, ages 19 to 84.  I have experienced rejection and other sorts of
kneejerk reaction only from Germans.
....
QUOTE

It is good to read that Ron never experienced such rejections from the
Netherlands.

However, living in Holland, I do encounter regularly a sort of uneasiness
with Dutch once they are confronted with the notion that the border between
The Netherlands and Germany is not a clear cut language border.
The common Lowland heritage of the two countries often are not known, and if
known, often on purpose ignored or even "verdrängt" (repressed), I believe.
This is, to my experience, true for a considerably big part of the
population
here.

I would rather think that this attitude is not so much related to the fact
that "still plenty of Netherlanders that aren't exactly in love with
Germany"
but more generally with the - in my perception remarkably widely spread -
half conscious feeling, that country  (state) and a language area should be
the same.
As I believe, this is leading to the tendency to e.g. expect or even to
"want" that "Austrian" must be a own vernacular and not just "German" and,
even more remarkable, the tendency not to accept "Flemish" as the Dutch in
Belgium, but to inssist that Flemish is a (close, but) distinct language. (I
see also in this context the habit to sub-title in Dutch TV "Flemish"
movies.)

I wonder, if I am the only one who sees this that way.

In any case, for me was the lack of acceptance here of the relation of Dutch
with Low Saxon (as long you don't speak with people with special interest or
training in languages) a reason to look for LL-L.

best reagrds

Georg Deutsch

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