LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.06.18 (03) [A/E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 18.JUN.2005 (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: Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Anniversary" 2005.06.17 (10) [E]

Hi all,

Ron, I ran the Orange River (or Gariep) Afrikaans rendition by my father who
comes from that region, and he theorized that the -r ending in "maanhaar"
(lion) or in a name, for example Saar (Sara), would not be dropped because
of its functionality.

However, the -r ending is superfluous in:
maar - maa
klaar - klaa
vaar - vaa
dis haar man - dis haa se man

Griekwa Afrikaans has many jewels. Here is Hans du Plessis' translation of
John 3:16:
"So lief het die Jirre die mense gehet, lat Hy nou Hy se Kjent gekom gestier
het, lat dies wat in Hom glo en vi hom bit, vi ewig in die jimmel kan ga
sit."

gehet - gehad
lat -  dat
gestier - gestuur
dies - die
kan ga - gaan

I suspect in the last example, the n -endings would both be dropped and
replaced by nasalized long aa's, i.e. ka~ga~

Groete,
Elsie Zinsser
 (http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/) with a second Afrikaans
translation (under "Language Samples"): Garib Afrikaans, also known as
Orange River Afrikaans or Griqua Afrikaans.  ...Note also that rounded high
front vowels have become unrounded (e.g., _trug_= _trig_ 'back(ward)',
_hulle_ = _hille_ 'their').  Note also the "non-rhotic" phonology (i.e.,
syllable-final /r/ is "dropped"), at least after /a/.  (Should _maanhaar_
then not be *_maanhaa_?)

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

Thanks, Elsie.  This is really interesting.

I noticed the use of _gekom_ and _ga_ as what appear to be auxiliary or
modal verbs (rather reminiscent of Turkic languages, some of which, like
Uyghur, have a vast and complex array of those).  It looks to me like, at
least in part, they are tense indicators: _gekom_ past perfect, _ga_ future.

Lowlanders, talking about Afrikaans in general and its phonology
specifically, most of you may be aware that Afrikaans has some falling
diphthongs that are not indicated in the spelling, such as <oo> [Uo] ~ [uo].

I just added our Luc's (excellent) Western Flemish sound file to his
translation
(http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=westvlams), and I
noticed [Uo] for phonemic long "o" right away, as in _zo_ [zUo], _groôt_
[h\rUot].  As in Afrikaans, this applies to the unrounded equivalent as
well, as in _kleên_ [kIIe~], _beêste_ ["bIest@].  Also please note extensive
nasalization in both Western Flemish and Afrikaans.

All right, so this may be coincidental, and these features may be more
widespread within "Dutch" than just affecting Western Flemish and Zeelandic.
However, it is certainly very interesting to observe such similarities and
to consider the posibility of inherited features in Afrikaans, possibly
southern features.  This is the beauty of adding sound files to texts,
because such features are not or just insufficiently represented in
spelling.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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