LL-L "Phonology" 2005.12.03 (03) [E]

Sun Dec 4 01:48:53 UTC 2005

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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 (Zeeuws)
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   L O W L A N D S - L * 03 December 2005 * Volume 02
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From: Roger Hondshoven <roger.hondshoven at telenet.be>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2005.11.30 (14) [D/E]

Hello Paul, Jo and Ron,

Thanks for enlightening me on the matter of sentence intonation in various
types of English. You were dead right, Ron, when you pointed out that we
must distinguish between tonality and intonation. What is clearly heard in
Limburgish dialects is a tonal shift ("sleeptoon")  in some syllables.
In your last paragraph, Ron, I assume you gave examples of Cockney English.
I suppose the ' stands for a glottal stop. It might interest you to learn
that they use the same glottal stop in the town of Tessenderlo and some
neighbouring villages. There is, however,  one difference: the glottal stop
has taken the place of a k (instead of a t). A word like menneke
("mannetje") sounds like menne'.

Regards,

Roger Hondshoven

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Phonology

Hello, dear Roger, and thanks for your interesting message!

> What is clearly heard in
> Limburgish dialects is a tonal shift ("sleeptoon")  in some syllables.

I am not sure if you and others are aware of this happening also in many Low
Saxon ("Low German") varieties, specifically in those that "dropped" final
_-e_.  "Loss" of _-e_ results in as "drawl tone" (German _Schleifton_),
namely the previous and now final syllable receives a falling tone with
extra length (superlength, German _Überlänge_) and, probably due to rule
sequence, an intervening voiced stop or continuant does not undergo
otherwise generally applying final devoicing; e.g.,

hase ["hQ:ze] > haas' [hQ::\z] (not *[hQ:s]) 'hare'
moege ["m9:Ge] > moeg' [m9::\G] (not *[m9:C]) 'preference'
luy(d)e ["ly:(d)e] > luyd' [ly::\(d)] (not *[ly:t]) 'people'
loywe ["l9:\Ive] > loyv' [l9:Iv] (not *[l9:\If]) 'lion'
deyve ["dE:\Ive]~["dE:\Ibe] > deyv' [dE:Iv]~[dE:Ib] (not *[dE:\If])
'thieves'
dame ["dQ:me] > daam' [dQ::\m] (not *[dQ:m]) 'lady'
dage ["dQ:Ge] > daag' [dQ::\G] (not *[dQ:x]) 'days'
ba(d)e ["bQ:(d)e] > baad' [bQ::\(d)] (not *[bQ:t]) 'messenger'
bruy(d)e ["bry:(d)e] > bruy(d)' [bry::\(d)] (not *[bry:t]) 'brides'
lyse ["li:ze] > lys' [li::\z] (not *[li:s]) 'quite'
boyse ["b9:\Ize] > boys' [b9:Iz] (not *[b9:\s]) 'angry'
weyge ["vE:\IGe] > weyg' [vE:IG] (not *[vE:\IC]) 'cradle'
wege ["vE:Ge] > weeg' [vE::\G] (not *[vE:C]) 'ways'

I believe that what is happening here is that both the length ("beat") and
the tone of the "lost" syllable remain and are allocated to the previous,
now final syllable:

VVCV > VVVC
(daage > daaag)

_ _
      $_$

becomes
_
  \_$

or

\
  \ _$

Thanks for your information about the Tessenderlo dialects.  Very
interesting!

If you look around among the languages throughout the world you find that
*any* stop consonant can end up becoming a glottal stop ([?]), oftentimes
via /k/.

Final /p/, /t/ and /k/ (which are and possibly have always been unreleased
throughout Eastern Asia) all dissapeared from most Mandarin Chinese
dialects, but in some dialects all of them have left a single trace of their
earlier existence: a glottal stop; e.g.,

十 shi ~ s(h)i? 'ten' (Cantonese: sap)
八 ba ~ ba? 'eight' (Cantonese: baat)
德 de ~ de? 'virtue' (Cantonese: dak)

Comparative Polynesian, too, reveals very interesting developments,
especially when it comes to stop consonants in Hawaiian where /k/ has become
a glottal stop ([?]) and /t/ and /s/ have become [k] (!); e.g. (M=Maori,
R=Rapa Nui [Easter Islands language], S=Samoan, Ta=Tahitian, To=Tongan --  
*=my Proto-Polynesian reconstructions),

(*taw?a >) koa (M, S _toa_, R taû'a) 'warrior'
(*matu?a>) makua (M,S matua, R matu'a, Ta=metua) 'parent'
(*tane >) kane 'man' (M tane 'bridegroom', S,Ta tane 'man')
(*Hawaiki >) Hawai'i [ha"va?i] (M Hawaiki) 'Hawaii'
(*Tahiti >) Kahiki (Ta Tahiti) 'Tahiti'
(*kāinka >) 'āina (Ta 'āi'a, R kaiga, M kāinga) '(home)land', 'island'
(*matanki >) makani (Ta mata'i, R matagi, M matangi) 'wind'
(*kakara >) 'a'ala 'fragrant' (M kakara 'fragrance', R kakara 'fragrant')
(*katakata >) 'aka'aka (S 'ata'ata, M,R katakata) 'to laugh'

[English > Hawaiian]:

August > 'Aukake (M Ākuhata, S Aokuso, To 'Akosi)
September > Kepakemapa (M Hepetema, S Setema, To Sepitema)
December >  Kēkēmapa (M Tīhema, S Tesema, To Tisema)
Christmas >  Kalikimaka (M Kirihimete, S Kerisimasi)
dollar > kālā (M tāra, S tala)

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron 

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