LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.09.30 (05) [E/LS]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 30.SEP.2005 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: waki <yasuji at amber.plala.or.jp>
Subject: Anniversary


From: Yasuji Waki yasuji at amber.plala.or.jp
Subject: Anniversary

Dear Ron,
>Ja, schöön hett se 't lest, ne? Dat is mi sülven 'n Pläseer.  Ik heff ehr 
>'t
>al seggt, dat 't nu ook ünner de Lüüd' kamen is.  Se is 'n leve Deern, de
>"Treckfiedelhanne."  Hest ehr Bild sehn?
>(http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=mekelnborgsch)

Through Hebold Hanne became one of my "Plattdeutsch" friends and I have 
already exchanged several E-mails in Platt and High German. Yes, she is a 
nice "Deern".
I have not learned Mecklenburg Low Saxon yet. I wonder if Hannes Low Saxon 
is similar to that of Fritz Reuter.

>Has anyone noticed that in this Mecklenburg Low Saxon dialect (of which my
>maternal grandfather spoke a variety of a little way farther east on the
>Mecklenburg-Pomeranian border) there is a rule of schwa insertion after a
>diphthong and a following /n/; e.g., _daun_ ["daU at n] 'to do', _seihn_
>["zaI at n] 'to see', _ein_ ["aI at n] 'one'; cf. North Saxon _doon_ [doUn] ~
>[deUn] 'to do', _sehn_ [zEIn] 'to see', _een_ [EIn] 'one', in some North
>Saxon dialects _daun_ [daUn] 'to do', _seihn_ [zaIn] 'to see', _ein_ [aIn]
>'one'.  Those are the details you miss if you only go by written material.

>Yasuji, hest ook mien Naroop up Tant Clara lest?  Den findst in dree
>Spraken.
>(http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=clara-en)

>Kumpelmenten,
>Reinhard/Ron

Thank you, Ron san, I will read your "Nachruf" to Frau Clara Freudenthal.

Regards,
Yasuji Waki


----------

From: R. F. Hahn <lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net>
Subject: Language varieties

Hello, Waki-san!

> I have not learned Mecklenburg Low Saxon yet. I wonder if Hannes Low
> Saxon is similar to that of Fritz Reuter.

Yes, somewhat.  To simplify and generalize it, I would describe the 
Mecklenburg dialects, particularly the western ones, as being placed in 
between the West Pomeranian ones and the Lower Elbe North Saxon ones, just 
as the geographical position suggests.

Most (western) Mecklenburg dialects (M) share with their neighbors, the 
Lower Elbe (LE) North Saxon dialects (including Hamburg and Olland) that 
they do not permit a diphthong at the end of a syllable that ends with /r/, 
in which case the monophthongize the diphthong by rule; e.g.,

horse: /peyrd/ -> LE, M Pierd [pi:Vt]
     (elsewhere Peerd [pEIVt], Peird [paIVt])
girl: /deyrn/ -> LE, M Diern [di:Vn]
     (elsewhere Deern [dEIVn], Deirn [daIVn])
hears: /höür-t/ -> LE, M hüürt [hy:Vt]
     (elsewhere höört [hœIVt], heurt [hOIVt])
misfortune: /ma(a)löür/ -> LE, M Malüür [ma"ly:V] ~ [m@"ly:V],
     (elsewhere Malöör [ma"lœIV], Maleur [ma"lOIV])
north: /nourd/ -> LE, M Nuurd [nu:Vt]
     (elsewhere Noord [noUVt], Naurd [naUVt])
word: /vourd/ -> LE, M Wuurd [vu:Vt]
     (elsewhere Woord [voUVt], Waurd [vaUVt])

Since coda /r/ becomes a vowel and thus creates dipthongs with the preceding 
vowels, the above rule seems to indicate that those dialects simply do not 
permit triphthongs, must simplify them to become diphthongs.

This can be regarded as being an areal feature of Western Mecklenburg and 
the Lower Elbe region.

The original diphthongs remain intact in the absence of final /r/.  In those 
cases, the majority of Mecklenburg dialects have the "open" variety, while 
among the North Saxon (NS) dialect this applies in a minority of dialects; 
e.g.,

"closed," "open"

sea: /zei/ -> See [zEI], Sei [zaI]
deal, part: /deil/ -> Deel [dEIl], Deil [daI(@)l]
sweet: /zöüt/ -> sööt [zœIt], seut [zOIt]*
trees: /böüm/ -> Bööm [bœIm], Bäum [bOI(@)m]*
good: /goud/ -> good [goUt], gaud [gaUt]
tree: /boum/ -> Boom [boUm], Baum [baU(@)m]

* In the case of /ou/, the Western Mecklenburg dialects and the Lower Elbe 
North Saxon dialect use the "open" version [OI], as an areal feature.

Monophthongs tend to be open and thus more distinct from diphthongs; e.g.,

to live: NS leben ["le:b=m] ~ leven ["le:v=m], M läben ["lE:b=m] ~ ["læb=m]
to hope: NS höpen, hœpen ["hø:p=m], M hoepen, hœpen ["hœ:p=m]

Like Lower Elbe dialects, Mecklenburg dialects have [b] where other dialects 
have [v] between vowels; e.g.,

to live: NS leven ["le:v=m], LE leben ["le:b=m], M läben ["lE:b=m] ~ 
["læ:b=m]
to give: NS geven ["ge:v=m], LE geben ["ge:b=m], M gäben ["gE:b=m] ~ 
["gæ:b=m]
over, across: NS över, œver ["ø:vV], LS öber ["ø:bV], M oeber, œber ["œ:bV]
above: NS baven ["bQ:v=m], LE boben ["bo:b=m], M baben ["bQ:b=m]

A peculiarity of Mecklenburg and other northeastern dialects is that they 
tend to round and front /aa/ in many cases especially before labial 
consonants; e.g.,

but, however: NS aver(s) ["Q:vV(s)], LE over(s) ["o:bV(s)], M oeber, œber(s) 
["œ:bV(s)]

At one time this used to be a fashion that spread westward, can also be seen 
in Klaus Groth's Dithmarschen (Holstein) dialect, but in most western 
dialects it has disappeared in the meantime.

There are some lexical differences between Mecklenburg and Pomeranian 
dialects on the one hand and North Saxon dialects on the other hand.  Many 
of these pertain to the naming of traditional material culture, topography, 
flora and fauna, and many of these words are now disappearing with knowledge 
about old-time rural life.  In quite a few cases, these eastern lexical 
features are due to Slavonic substrates.  In other cases, Mecklenburg and 
other eastern dialects retain older, more basic words that in the west have 
been replaced by what appear to have been "fashion" or "slang" words at one 
time.  One example is _reden_ [rE:d=n] ~ [ræ:d=n], which in North Saxon 
tends to be _snacken_ ["snak=N], in the northwest _praten_ ["prQ:t=n] ~ 
_proten_ ["pro:t=n], and in Westphalian and some Eastphalian dialects 
_küren_ ["ky:Vn], _kuiren_ ["kuIVn], etc.

A peculiarity of Mecklenburgish and Pomeranian dialects is the diminutive 
suffix _ink_ ~ _ing_.  I assume that this is Slavonic-derived (_-inka_ > 
_-inke_ > _-ink_ > _-ing_).  E.g.,

Vaddink ["fQ:dINk] ~ Vadding ["fQ:dIN] 'daddy' (< Vater)
Muddink ["mUdINk] ~ Mudding ["mUdIN] 'mommy' (< Mudder)
Kinnink ["kInINk] ~ Kinning ["kInIN] 'kiddie', 'kiddo' (< Kind)
Kinninks ["kInINks] ~ Kinnings ["kInINs] 'kiddies', 'kids', 'guys' (< 
Kinner)
Hunnink ["hUnINk] ~ Hunning ["hUnIN] 'doggie' (< Hund)
Hüsink ["hy:zINk] ~ Hüsing ["hy:zIN] 'little house'
Seutink ["sOItINk] ~ Seuting ["sOItIN] 'sweety pie', 'little kiss' (< seut 
'sweet')

This is also used, as a "friendly touch," in some greetings; e.g.,

Dachink ["daxINk] ~ Daching ["daxIN] 'Good day!', 'Hi!' (< Dag [dax] 'day')*
Tschüßink [tSy:sINk] ~ Tschüßing [tSy:sIN] 'Buh-bye!', 'Tara!' (tschüüß < 
adjüüß 'adieu')

Theoretically, this should be *_Dagink_ ~ *_Daging_, because the underlying 
form has /g/ (as in _Dage_ ["dQ:ge] ~ *_Daag'_ [dQ:G] 'days').  The 
appearance of [x] here seems to indicate that the diminutive suffix is added 
*after* the fricativizations and devoicing rules have applied:

/dag/ ->
fricativization: daG
devoicing: dax
diminution: dax-in(k)

Generally speaking, differences between Mecklenburg dialects and North Saxon 
dialects are minor.  Mutual comprehension between them is anywhere between 
very high and excellent.  In part this is because many speakers are aware of 
the main peculiarities of the other group.  I have spoken Low Saxon with a 
couple of people in Schwerin and Wismar, and it was almost as though we were 
speaking the same dialect.  Well, it's only one to two hours eastward from 
Hamburg.  It is also gratifying to realize that the long separation during 
the Cold War hasn't really changed anything.

As you go farther east, especially once you advance into the Central 
Pomeranian dialect area (straddling today's German-Polish border), the 
frontal rounded vowels "disappear," i.e., change to their unrounded 
equivalents: /üü/ > _ie_, /ü/ > _i_, /öö/ > _ee_, /ö/ > _e_, which is what 
we can observe in the Mennonite dialects (Plautdietsch).  Also, it is 
farther eastward that you encounter more and more Slavonic (Pomoranian) 
loans and also some Baltic (mostly Old Prussian) loans.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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