LL-L "Language use" 2008.03.18 (03) [E]

Wed Mar 19 00:27:55 UTC 2008

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L O W L A N D S - L - 18 March 2008 - Volume 03
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From: Marcus Buck <list at marcusbuck.org>
Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2008.03.18 (02) [E]

From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL
<mailto:ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL>>
>
> I wonder how that is in Germany, are there still towns to be found where
> most people under 40 years old do speak Low Saxon?
No.
Maybe in some very rural pockets in Eastern Frisia (and less likely
Northern Frisia), but everywhere else Standard German is the majority.
My home area is the Weser Elbe Triangle, and the region is one of those
who better keep up Low Saxon. At least better than all regions south of it.

If I had to rank the regions, the Frisian regions would come first. It's
a irony, that those regions whose native language was once replaced by
Low Saxon keep Low Saxon up best. It's cause they have an own identity.
Saxon Saxons feel German, but Saxon Frisians feel Frisian and take Saxon
as part of their Frisianness. The second group would consist of Holstein
and Northern Lower Saxony with the Elbe Weser Triangle, the Oldenburg
region and the Emsland. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern comes next. Then the
middle regions of Lower Saxony and the Westfalen region. And then
Ostfalen with very few activity and few older speakers left. Well, and
then there's Brandenburg. I have heard of some speakers and of some
activity to keep up the language in the north, near the border to
Mecklenburg, but in most of Brandenburg the language is de facto extinct
or at least the last speakers have completely given up to keep up their
language. They actually didn't shift to Standard German, but to some
kind of the Berlin regiolect version of Standard German. Brandenburg is
lost for Low Saxon forever.

If I look at the generation under the age of 30 in my region I actually
know _nobody_ whose first and preferred language of communication is Low
Saxon. There are some in the 30 to 40 range, but if they are among
themselves (like a school reunion) the common language will be Standard
German. I'd guess, the common language will turn to Low Saxon no earlier
than perhaps a reunion of persons born pre-1950.

If nothing _really big_ will happen, the language will die. It's a long
way til extinction, it'll take a hundred years for the last natives to
die, I guess. And actually the language won't die completely, the age of
language death is gone in Europe. Think of Manx and Cornish. Some fans
will hold it up. So irreversible coma would be the better term than death.

It is my opinion, that the fate of the language is not yet irrevocably
decided, but I actually don't believe, that people will show up, who
could change the course. Cause that would mean to be really engaged and
decisive and to have no fear of adverse winds. The German society is
less tolerant to "eccentric" opinions (or what the public opinion deems
eccentric) than for example the US society. I don't think anybody will
be strong enough to contest the adverse public opinion (I think it is
possible, but you have to addict your life to it and nobody will do that).

Marcus Buck

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

Thanks a lot for asking this question, Ingmar, and thanks also for filling
us in, Marcus.

Marcus, I agree with your conclusion, also with what you said about
"eccentric" opinions.

In my opinion, this is not the whole story. I happen to know that there are
quite a lot of people, younger and older, that want to bring Low Saxon usage
out of the tiny box to which it has been relegated. Potentially at least,
this could lend new impetus to the language and improve its image.

Silke Manshold is a good example: an East Frisian performance artist now in
her 30s and living in England. She uses the language as a special ingredient
of some of her cutting-edge performances (recital and movement). She won the
Freudenthal Prize twice, mostly because there are at least three open-minded
and forward-looking members on the jury, plus the occasional guest member
with a similar bend. I found out that someone I know complained about prizes
being given for "weird stuff that doesn't go with the language."
Unfortunately, there are still many such people around, in addition to
people that firmly believe that the language ought to be treated as a museum
exhibit. These monopolize associations. They convince publishers and
directors that they need to reject works that do not fall into the narrow
field of traditional genres and parochial topics, and fear of losing money
adds to the thickness of the wall that keeps out the energy of fresh, more
creative and more daring blood.

As I see it, some sort of a counter-culture is needed, one that attracts a
substantial following. Some of this is already being done on the Web, but so
far there has not been a concerted, organized effort, alternative
publications and publishers and the like.

However, to get anywhere with this, *unity** *is of utmost, basic import.
After all, fragmentation and disunity spells death, and this is what we've
been seeing more often than not -- quibbling, suspicion, power trips, victim
complexes, self-righteousness, jealousy, pigheadedness and the rest of it.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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