LL-L 'Phonology' 2006.07.07 (06) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 07 July 2006 * Volume 06
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From: 'Marcel Bas' <roepstem at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L 'Phonology' 2006.07.07 (04) [D/E]

Jacqueline:

>Hi Marcel, Wat betreft het "Leidse" dialect. Ik vraag me af of dat niet een
>derivaat is van bekakte studententaal. Jacqueline

Reinhard:

>Hmmm ... This seems typologically so aberrant and geographically so isolated
>that I'm with Jacqueline and wonder if it's a case of affectation that caught on,
>thus a sort of sociolect, be it a student language or whatever.

This Leiden /r/, where neither a trill nor a tap can be heard but where you can
only detect a close approximant, is less isolated in Zuid-Holland than you think.
True, the strong retroflex here is confined to Leiden, but in he old Scheveningen
dialect and in Rotterdam you can hear a sound that is similar. What to think of
'Jottujdam!'? I hope that someone can still recall the Scheveningen dialect, but
there the /r/ sounds more like a /j/, too.

And sociolinguistically I don't think that students will 'descend' to the level
of 'native' Leidenaren to pick up their accent, and vice versa. There is quite a
gap of prestige between the two groups. And overall, the Leiden dialect seems far
from 'geaffecteerd' to me.

Best regards,

Marcel.

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

Marcel,

I did not make my meaning clear enough apparently.

I was not referring to retroflection (which I have heard in other Dutch dialects
as well) or to any other Leiden dialect feature but specifically to aspiration.

As far as I know, aspiration is a totally atypical feature in Franconian,
including all sorts of Rhenish varieties.  When aspiration pops up in a certain
locale and is geographically very limited, i.e., isolated (which I believe is the
case, unlike retroflection), you've got to ask why there is this "aberration." 
Possibilities are (1) substrates and (2) superstrates, something that is specific
to the exact area.  Perhaps at one point in time there was massive influx of
outsiders into that area, and their influence did not reach beyond it.  (This
could be, for instance, immigrants from the east. Is there anything in Leiden's
history about this, perhaps in connection with Leiden's strong defense of
Protestantism?)  It could also be an original affectation (in academia, for
instance) that ended up spreading to other sectors of the population.  Just
because it *began* as an affectation does not necessarily mean that it is an
affectation *now*.

I hope this made it clearer.

Reinhard/Ron

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