LL-L "Morphophonology" 2007.07.25 (12) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  25 July 2007 - Volume 12

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

I wrote about Afrikaans (and Plautdietsch) "n-insertion," and after some
more pondering the penny dropped:
there's a pattern, a general rule, method to the madness:

A verb whose etymological root ends with a vowel takes on -n.

(1) Examples (go, stand, see):

gaan! - staan! - sien!
ek gaan - ek staan - ek sien
jy gaan - jy staan - jy sien
hy gaan - hy staan - hy sien
ons gaan - ons staan - ons sien
ek sal gaan - ek sal staan - ek sal sien

(2) As opposed to (eat, bake, cook):

eet! - bak! - kook!
ek eet - ek bak - ek kook
jy eet - jy bak - jy kook
hy eet - u bak - jy kook
ons eet - ons bak - ons kook
ek sal eet - ek sal bak - ek sal kook

(3) But what about cases like sê (say) and gee (give)? Well, look, Mom! No
-n!

sê! - gee!
ek sê - ek gee
jy sê - jy gee
hy sê - hy gee
ons sê - ons gee
ek sal sê - ek sal gee

What's going on? Here's what I think it is:

While gaan, staan and sien have etymological roots that end with a vowel (
i.e., *ga-, *sta-, *sie-), sê and gee have etymological roots that end with
consonants (i.e., *sêg-, *geev-), and this prevents (or prevented) n
-insertion.

Compare all this with the Dutch forms:

(1)  /gaa-/ - /staa-/ - /zii-/
ga! - sta! - zie!
Ik ga - ik sta - ik zie
jij gaat - jij staat - jij ziet
hij gaat - hij staat - hij ziet
wij gaan - wij staan - wij zien
ik zal gaan - ik zal - staan ik zal zien

(2)  /eet-/ - /bak-/ - /kook-/
eet! - bak! - kook!
ik eet - ik bak - ik kook
jij eet - jij bakt - jij kookt
hij eet - hij bakt - hij kookt
wij eten - wij bakken - wij koken
ik zal eten - ik zal bakken - ik zal koken

(3)  /zeg-/ - /geev-/
zeg! - geef!
ik zeg - ik geef
jij zegt - ujij geeft
hij zegt - hij geeft
wij zeggen - wij geven
ik zal zeggen - ik zal geven

Afrikaans hê 'to have' is irregular: its infinitive form is hê (cf. Dutch
hebben), but its personalized forms are het.

I believe that the Afrikaans processes have old roots, not only within
Southern Africa but going back to Europe.  Furthermore, I believe that the
existence of a similar pattern in Mennonite Low Saxon is no coincidence.
Yes, the earliest ancestors of the Mennonites came from Western Friesland
and various other parts of the Netherlands, and, with North German
admixtures, they eventually settled in what is called Western Prussia by
some, namely in and around the Vistula Delta in what is now Northern Poland.
At that time (before migration to Ukraine and onward) Plautdietsch was not
particularly different from other Low Saxon dialects of Western
Prussia/Eastern Pomerania, except that not all that many details are known
about the others due to extinction caused by the expulsion of "Germans"
(including many Slovincian and some Kashubian speakers) from Poland at the
end of World War II. I understand there are similar (though perhaps less
"extreme") patterns in some Dutch dialects, and these may have been exported
to the Cape as well as to Western Prussia/Eastern Pomerania. In the latter
region, Mennonites were not the only people with "Dutch" roots.  We know
that many people from Dutch-speaking areas settled all over Northern Germany
and particularly in what in now Northern Poland, an area that used to be a
sort of Wild West in people's minds at one point and attracted people from
as far as France and Scotland.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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