LL-L "Language history" 2009.08.02 (01) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 02 August 2009 - Volume 01
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language history" 2009.08.01 (03) [EN]

Hi Ron,

The "French Connection" was the explanation I heard in South Africa. Though
the total number of Huguenot refugees was apparently rather small, in the
hundreds.  Presumably a large proportion of them were male, given the high
frequency of French-derived Afrikaans surnames.

Paul
Derby
Engand

From: Paul Finlow-Bates
<wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk<http://uk.mc264.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=wolf_thunder51@yahoo.co.uk>
>
Subject: LL-L "Language history" 2009.07.31 (03) [AF]

On July 31 Mark Dreyer posted an article by Leopold Scholtz on Flemish
influence on Afrikaans.
Â
Thanks for that Mark. I noted one point in particular: I never realised that
the double negative existed in Flemish as well, I'd always assumed it arose
in South Africa.
Â
Paul
Derby
England

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From: R. F. Hahn
<sassisch at yahoo.com<http://uk.mc264.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sassisch@yahoo.com>
>
Subject: Language history

I wonder if the double negative in Flemish was inspired or at least
reinforced by French and/or Walloon influences. In Afrikaans, this
development may have been further reinforced by the large number of
Protestants with roots in France.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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From: R. F. Hahn
<sassisch at yahoo.com<http://uk.mc264.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sassisch@yahoo.com>
>
Subject: Language history

Hi, Paul!

Well, yes, you are talking about Huguenot immigrants to the Cape Colony in
South Africa. Small numbers don't necessarily mean little influence. As far
as I can tell, those people had a lot of influence, possibly because many of
them were well educated, were predominantly male and had already had
experiences relocating before and thus knew their way around such
situations. (Most of them or their forebears had already fled to the Dutch-,
German- and Low-Saxon-speaking regions of Europe.)

But I was talking about Walloon and French contacts with Flemish in *Europe*.
When you look at Middle Flemish texts you will find that double negatives
and French loanwords abound, many of them old loanwords (some of which made
it into general Dutch, such as *peinzen* 'to ponder' < French *penser* 'to
think').

So I consider it entirely possible that a tendency toward using double
negatives arrived in South Africa with speakers of southernmost Dutch and
came to be reinforced with the influx of French speakers.

We ought not forget that tendencies toward using double negatives are widely
spread among the Lowlands languages but tend to be suppressed through the
influence of standard languages or, in the case of Low Saxon and Limburgish,
through the influence of the umbrella standard languages (i.e. Standard
German and Dutch). In Low Saxon you won't find much use of double *nich ~
niet* 'not', but a *nich ~ niet* is often added after another negative; e.g.
*keeneen ... nich* "nobody ... not", *nie nich ~ keenmaal nich ~ nooit
niet*"never not". Double negatives are used in certain English
dialects as well,
in some of them mandatorily, such as in certain varieties of African
American Vernacular.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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