LL-L "Language politics" 2007.06.01 (03) [E]

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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 (Zeeuws)

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  07 June 2007 - Volume 03

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From: Helge Tietz <helgetietz at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2007.06.04 (04) [E]

Leve Lowlanders!

I agree that a little bread is better than no bread and I am actually
surprised that there are now obviously enough people in Slesig-Holsten who
take the language issue serious because I believe we have a distinctive
culture in SH which differs considerable from the rest of Germany. Fact is
that we had originally four ethnic groups in SH: The Saxons, the Frisians,
the Danes and the Slavonic Abotrites. Slavonic has been lost long ago but
survivies in placenames such as Eutin and Luebeck (originaly "Lubice").  For
a long time officials thought it better to surpress anything which might
appear different from the rest of Germany and it to appear as German as
possible. But there are now cracks in the concrete! It started with Low
Saxon and Frisian street names, my relatives in Vollerwiek (Eiderstedt)
battled with that in the local council, the opinion of many was "if the
street names are in Low Saxon or Frisian than the tourists don't understand
them".
Our reply was "The reason why tourist come to Eiderstedt is that it is
different from what they are used to at home in the Ruhr-Valley or Southern
Germany so it would actually increase the touristical attractiveness" but
many councillors couldn't see they point and felt the prolonged existance of
our local language rather as an embarrassment than an asset. Could it be
that this is slowly changing, perhaps because now everyone realizes that our
local languages are close to extinction? But at least, I believe the
appearance of bilingual place-names will do something for the conscience of
our distinctive culture and language, I hope so at least.

groeten, Helge

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

Thanks, Helge.

I'm totally with you and your neighbors in demanding that the state and
federal governments just stay out of this issue.  Why can't they just leave
these things to the local administrations, as long as German (as the
national language) is a part of it?  Things like "tourists would be
confused" falls into the category of lame excuses for over-regulation.  Are
tourists really so dumb that they can't figure out that those names on the
signs are variants, that e.g. the German variant is on top and the other
variant(s) is/are below that, or the German names are in black and the X
names in blue?  Do tourists get lost because signs are in Italian and German
in South Tyrol, or that signs in Ireland are in English and Irish with the
Irish versions in uncials?

If you ask me, this sort of over-regulation has much more to do with a
bureaucratized power issue or territorialism in conjunction with underlying
reluctance to let go of the outmoded European ideal of "one country - one
ethnicity - one language."

Unfortunately, the same mentality still pervades the leadership of some Low
Saxon organizations and institutes in Germany, hence the pretence that Low
Saxon abruptly stops at the German-Dutch and German-Polish borders.  More
territorialism.  More avoidance of dealing with minority issues (including
orthography -- yikes!) across political boundaries, even though those
borders are now supposed to be so open.  It seems that the hardest
boundaries to cross are those of the mind.

Schleswig-Holstein, especially Schleswig, is one of Europe's most diverse
borderlands as well as the turf on which Western Germanic and Northern
Germanic overlap, an area that has seen Danish and German rule come and go.
(Hey! This would be a great topic for our upcoming travel section!)  What
better region to show Germany and the rest of supposedly merging Europe how
things ought to be?  Forge ahead!  Tell them to mind their own business!
And we will back you up.  Yooohoo!

Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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