LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.05.09 (07) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

The previous one got away too soon.  RFH
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L O W L A N D S - L * 09.JUN.2005 (07) * 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: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.05.09 (05) [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Language varieties
>
> I found that a bit surprising at first thought.  I should think that
> Afrikaners, because of their lifelong exposure to Afrikaans and English,
> would find all those "superfluous" suffixes and morphological distinctions
> in Dutch confusing, and that the "scaled-down" structure of Afrikaans
> ought
> to be easier for Netherlanders to understand.  I wonder if the reason is
> that Afrikaners are more exposed to Dutch than Netherlanders are to
> Afrikaans.

I don't know fot now, but in the past South-Afrikaners avoided to take over
English __vocabulary__ for new concepts and new techno-objects. Often the
Dutch term was lend.

When the Dutch term was "not Dutch enough" though, an ad hoc word was
created eventually: metro --> moltrein.

Regards,
Roger

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From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.05.09 (05) [E]

Our Mark wrote:
"There are of course linguistically agile people, like Our Ron & Criostoir
(& most Nederlanders), & others that are less so."

You flatter me! All I can do is try and shift out of the way and pass all
the praise on to Ron, who is, quite simply, a linguistic athlete the like of
which is awesome to behold. We have yet to find a language he can't chat
away in.

Go raibh maith agat,

Criostóir.

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

Críostóir (above):

> You flatter me! All I can do is try and shift out of the way and pass all
> the praise on to Ron, who is, quite simply, a linguistic athlete the like
> of
> which is awesome to behold. We have yet to find a language he can't chat
> away in.

A don't be too modest, Críostóir.  And that's the first time anyone has
referred to me as an athlete in any type of context.  But even within this
context there may be _mehr Schein als Sein_.

And, talking about linguistic agility, don't for a second forget our Mike
Szelog, and there are lots of others on this list that belong to the flock
of parrot heads.

(Talking about such, nobody guessed who(m) Mike sounds like in the
anniversary recording of the New Hampshire transdlation.  It's Jimmy
Stewart.  Duh!)

And as for this supposed athleticism, I firmly believe that most people
could attain it under the following conditions:

(1) appreciation
(2) interest/passion (obsession?)
(3) removal of fears and inhibitions
(4) confidence ("If they could, I can, too.")
(5) adequate exposure
(6) at least some theoretical studies (for the sake of quick analysis)

Recently I watched another TV report about the British autistic savant I
told you about recently (the one who learned Icelandic within one week).  He
used to be big-time autistic but for some reason has largely snapped out of
it, now gives excellent, intelligent interviews but does not seem to have
lost most of his savant abilities.  He is attracting much attention because
he can be seen as a sort of traveler that has returned from the (isolated)
land of autism and can describe it.  If what he said is correct, I have to
retract my statements that most of us could attain many of those things with
the right technique and attitude.  Apparently, his "technique" is not
analytical in the usual sense.  He sees numbers and words as features of
mental landscapes, each one with unique color and shape and special
relationships with other features.  Genuine savants typically only memorize
and retrieve vast amounts of details; they cannot analyze, solve problems
and be creative with the information in the ordinary sense.  However,
apparently a growing number of specialists now believe that each one of us
has a savant living inside, that autistic people only access theirs as some
sort of refuge.  If so, I wonder if, besides the conditions I listed above,
we also need to subconsciously touch base with our resident savants.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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