LL-L "Grammar" 2009.06.06 (04) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 06 June 2009 - Volume 04
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From: Marcus Buck <list at marcusbuck.org>
Subject: LL-L "Morphology" 2009.06.06 (03) [DE-EN]


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

> Here just an explanatory note from me to say that the suffix /-ing/ our
> /Hinzing/ or /Hanning/ writes about above has nothing to do with the common
> West Germanic suffix /-ing ~ -ung/ but is a diminutive suffix unique to the
> Low Saxon dialects of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania, an area that used
> to be predominantly Slavic speaking.
>
> Many of you will probably remember that I mention it once in a while as a
> most probably Slavic-derived diminutive suffix: /-inka/ > /-ink ~ -ing/.
>
> As you can see in the info Hanne posted, the suffix may be added even to
> words other than nouns, such as to the German loan adjective /blass/ (pale)
> and to the Germanized imperative form of the verb 'to come': /kömming!/
> ("Real", "pure" Low Saxon strictly uses the verb root as the singular
> imperative form, thus /kamen/ 'to come' -> /kaam!/ 'come!', but under German
> influence /kumm!/ and such are used sporadically in the process of
> /Sprachverfall/ "language decay".)
>
Is it a general rule, that the imperative derives from the root? I've seen
many examples of forms both derived from the root and from the 2nd/3rd
person form from all regions and many different times. Until now I wasn't
able to find any system. Sadly none of the Wenker maps contains an
imperative that helps in this question. I suspect that it could be a matter
of dialect (although German influence plays a big role too. But perhaps not
the only role).

But in this case it is not necessary to blame German influence. Some
dialects have lengthened the vowel to 'komen' (and subsequently 'kamen'),
but many others have kept the older unlengthened form 'kommen'. I think,
there's a Wenker map for that, but the DIWA website is inaccessible at the
moment. So 'kömming' could just as well be "real" Low Saxon.

Marcus Buck

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

Thanks, Marcus.

The rule, which is the same as in Dutch and other Low Frankish varieties
(?), seems to be applying to all language varieties that I have been
studying, certainly of the northern range and in what we may want to label
"modern" (going back to the 19th-century Romantic Movement). All of these
have the vowel lengthening you mentioned, a rule that did not affect the
second and third persons singular. (I've always thought of the
non-lengthening varieties as geographically marginal, but I may be wrong
there.)

In the varieties in whose imperative formation I've been assuming German
interference such forms seem to occur sporadically, typically *komm! ~ kumm!
* ~ *kümm!*, such as in Groth's works (in Dithmarschen dialect) and in the
song "Dat du mien Leevsten büst" (*Kumm bi de Nacht ...*)

Anyway, I think it would be really interesting to get to the bottom of this.
I suggest that we are dealing with interference where only a handfull of
verbs have abberrant imperative forms, including vowel shortening in
varieties that did not consistently undergo it.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA.

•

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