LL-L "Morphology" 2008.06.01 (05) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 01 June 2008 - Volume 05
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From: Ivison dos Passos Martins <ipm7d at OI.COM.BR>
Subject: Definite articles

Hi, you all,

  What's the origin of the Jutlandish definite article Æ æ ?

  Thank you.

    Have a nice week.

----------

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

Hi, Ívison!

After you posted the same question the other day (under "Morphology" -- and
I do change subject lines), I thought I had responded to it. But I can't
find my response in the archive, so I guess I only *intended *to answer your
questions (which happens when you get old and feeble).

To make it (relatively) brief, please take a look at my introduction to
Jutish as a part of our Anniversary presentation:

http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/jysk-info.php

Uniform *æ* is specific to Southern Jutish. Western Jutish has *æ* where
Standard Danish has *-en* (*fælleskøn*), and it has *å* where Standard
Danish has *-et* (*intetkøn*).

Yes, and unlike other Scandinavian (North Germanic) varieties, the Jutish
definite article *precedes* the noun, most probably due to long-standing
overlap with (and bilingualism involving) Low Saxon which resulted in West
Germanic features in Jutish and in North Germanic features in the
northernmost Low Saxon varieties.

English: *the* father | *the* house
Low Saxon: *de vadder* | *dat huus*
South Jutish: *æ far* | *æ** hus*
West Jutish: *æ fær* | *å hus*
Danish: *fa(de)ren* | *huset*
Norwegian: *fa(de)ren* | *huset*
Swedish: *fa(de)ren* | *huset*
Faroese: *faðirin* | *húsið*
Icelandic: *faðirinn* | *húsið*
Old Norse: *faðirinn* | *húsit

*
I believe it's uniformly *æ* for plural 'the'.

The indefinite article, however, is similar in Jutish and the rest of
Scandinavian:

English: *a* father | *a* house
Low Saxon: *een (~ 'n) vadder* | *een (~ 'n) **huus*
South Jutish: *en (~ 'n)** far* | *et (~ 't)** hus*
West Jutish: *én (~ 'n)** fær* | *ét (~ 't)** hus*
Danish: *en fa(de)r* | *et hus
*etc.

To make things a bit more complex, the Jutish definite article *æ** *tends
to be homophonous with *æ *'is', 'am', 'are' (Standard Danish *er*); e.g.
West Jutish *æ** gærdesmutte **æ æ f**ær* 'the wren is the father'.

To get to your actual question, I am pretty convinced that the Jutish
definite articles are derived from the Scandinavian articles (*-en > **æ*, *
-et* > *æ* ~ *å*) but have come to precede the noun under Saxon influence.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
*
*
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