LL-L "Resources" 2010.08.15 (02) [EN]

Sun Aug 15 16:22:31 UTC 2010

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*L O W L A N D S - L - 15 August 2010 - Volume 02
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>

Subject: LL-L Resources

In a newspaper booth I found a special issue of "Les Cahiers - Science &
vie" about the origin of languages: nr 118, August-September 2010, "*Les
origines des langues*", 114 pp on glossy paper,  5.95 euro in France, 6.95
euro in Belgium, 8.95 Can Dlr.

Some comments:

It is written for a large public, it is not a scientific publication.

p. 16-18 Jean-Marie Hombert (director of the CNRS and linked to the
university of Lyon) dates, in an interview, the *origin of modern
languages* (with
a complex syntax) *70.000 to 55.000 years ago*, based on the hypothesis that
for crossing sees and oceans a spohisticated level of language is supposed
to be necessary. Distances over see over 100 km needed a developped form of
communication for preparing food for more than 3 days etc.

p. 13 gives an unsigned short article with the *indo-european tree*:

main branches:

- anatolien

- celto-italo-tonkharien

- balto-slavo-germanique

- aryano-gréco-arménien

the "balto-slavo-germanique" is split in:

- proto-germanique

- balto-slave

the "proto-germanique" branch is split in:

- Germanique occidental

- Germanique du Nord, split in gothique and scandinave, the latter being
split in danois, suédois, islandais, norvégien

The "germanique occidental" branch in split in:

- *flamand*

- anglais

- frison

- haut allemand

- *bas allemand*

The "bas allemand" branch is split in:

- bas allemand

-* néerlandais*

This confirms the French view that their regional Flemish is more distinct
from Dutch than it is from English, and hides that Dutch has virtually
always been used as the written language form in Flanders.

One can understand the tree is not split further in all regional
diversities, I miss though Afrikaans, Faroese and Scots.

For each of the language groups dealt with, some characteristics are
illustrated.

Some examples are interesting, e.g. the order of words in Latin (p. 55):

*Titus rosam Claudiae dat;*    Titus gives the rose to Claudia

*Tito rosa Claudiae datur:*     The rose has been given by Titus to Claudia.

I presume conjugation and decension later became too difficult due to:

- internal variety through dialectal sound shifts

- language interaction

so that (for all indo-european languages???) the syntax of the phrases toke
over, for keeping the phrases unambiguous and understandable.

In the Germanic section p. 64-68 by Marie Valente there are several errors,
some examples:

In a tabel companring vocabulary between English, Danish, German, Dutch,
Swedish and Islandic.

the English "tomorrow" is translated as "morgen" in German but "temorgen" in
Dutch.

I never heard "temorgen" for "tomorrow".

A large subtitle gives "La langue des Pays-Bas est une construction du *xvi*e
siècle",

while we have iterature from the 12th century on.

I think that the lady has been confused by the dates of printing of the
oldest systematic grammars.

It may explain why the Dutch language is considered  500 years younger than
Flemish on their Indo-European language tree.

Dutch needs a printed grammar, Flemish does not.

So I don't think you people miss very much when you do not find your copy
of this magazine.

An other magazine I found is a special issue "*Les Mérovingiens"* of the
magazine "Histoire et images médiévales", mai-juin-juillet 2010, 82 glossy
pages, 6.95 euro, (11.95 CAN DLR).

The article "*Litus*" pages 76-77 deal with the Saxon coast.

It is based on archeological findings of Saxon oblects and it extends from
Normandy till the Boulonnais in the Nord.

The Flemish coastal area is maked up to deep inland as swamp (with no Saxon
findings), since it was not drained (impoldered) yet at the time.

The most Nordic places with a Saxon archeological findings  are arounf the
river "Aa": *Wissant, Fréthun, Saint-Omer, Arques*

(Dutch names: Witzand, ?, Sint Omaars - old name Sithiu, Arken)

An url link they give:

http://musee-itinerant.org/site/spip.php?article21

Regards,

Roger

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