LL-L "Orthography" 2008.07.12 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 11 July 2008 - Volume 06
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From: ipm7d at oi.com.br
Subject: Northern Low Saxon/Low German (Lowlands Orthography)

Hallo everybody,

  I've been studying Northern Low Saxon/Low German (Lowlands
Orthography)
and I'd like to know how do they differ: goud (good) from Gold
(gold) (I'm not sure of the spelling of the last one).
How do you spell and pronunce Bouk - Goud and Gold?

  Regards,

  Ívison dos Passos Martins.

----------

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

Hi, Ívison!

I think you are mistaken with *goud* meaning 'gold' on Low Saxon. That's
Dutch.

'Gold' is *gold* or *guld *in Low Saxon, depending on the dialect.

Low Saxon *goud* (in the AS and some orthographies in the Netherlands) means
'good'.

The pronunciation depends on the dialect.

The farwestern dialects pronounce /g/ as a fricative ([ɣ] or [χ])
everywhere. In the other dialects this applies only to the end of a
syllable; elsewhere it is pronounced [g] as in "good".

 What is written as "ou" in the AS orthography ("oo" in the German-based
systems) is pronounced [ɔˑʊ] or [eˑʊ] (as in English "go") and [aˑʊ] (as in
English "cow") -- both of them slightly lengthened.

Before sonororants (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/,  /l/ and /r/, and also before vowels and
glides, thus in diphthongs) vowels are always slightly lengthened. Some
people, especially in the Netherlands, perceive these as truly long and
write them double, e.g. *laand* instead of *land*. This slight lengthening
thus applies to the word for 'gold' as well. Originally, /l/ in a syllable
coda was pronounced "thick" ([ł]) as in English "gold" and "ball" (not quite
as "thick" as in Brazilian Portuguese *Portugal*, though); it still is in
the farwest, but [l] has come in elsewhere under German influence.

So ...

*bouk* (*Book*) [bɔˑʊk] ~ [baˑʊk] 'book'
*goud* (goot) [gɔˑʊt] ~ [gaˑʊt] 'good'
*gold* ~ *guld* (*Gold* ~ *Guld*) [gɔˑłt] ~ [gʊˑłt] 'gold'

Ívison, to answer your question of the other day, there is no standard
dialect and standard spelling for Low Saxon, though there are some
quasi-standard orthographies for some dialect groups, which, however, are
followed mostly incorrectly. People would rather have their language die
than get united and come up with one system. In part this has to do with
ignorance. People mistakenly assume that using one orthographic system for
all dialects is the same as creating one standard dialect. This is result of
centuries of language suppression and oppression as well as insufficient
education. It did not help that in Germany a couple of people created a less
than ideal German-based orthography that most people try to follow
haphazardly. So, sorry you're having to put up with a ness as far as
orthography is concerned.

Furthermore, Ívison, I may be repeating myself, but I really do recommend
that you check out the various Low Saxon translations of the wren story,
most of which come with audio files and in more than one kind of spelling.
Go to the following pages and look for "Low Saxon" or "baixo saxão":

English: http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/contents.php
Portuguese: http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/contents-pt.php

Regards and Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron
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