LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.02.10 (01) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 10 February 2010 - Volume 01
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From: Cliff Smuts <csmuts at xsinet.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.02.09 (07) [EN]

From: Cliff Smuts csmuts at xsinet.co.za



Hi Heiko



Afrikaans as a language developed in South Africa from appro 1660 onward. It
has (Middle)dutch as base, and was innitially a "kombuistaal" (kitchen
language) spoken mainly by the labourers and domestic workers, and was aka
kitchen Dutch.



These labourers came from South Africa (indigenous people), Africa (slaves),
and Dutch East India (Malaysia etc) and obviously spoke different languages.
Having to speak "Dutch" this resulted in simplified forms (compare
Afro-American English with simplified forms such as "ain't" and even past
tense forms of verbs: bring - brung, etc, also as a result of diffeent
language speakers/ seakers of different langiages having to acquire a common
language to be used in simplifed situations, like on cotton fields, in the
kitchen, etc).



Cliff


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

Hi, thanks, and welcome to the Speakers' Corner, dear Cliff!

That's a nice summary you wrote there.

Groete,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2010.02.09 (07) [EN]

> From: Heiko Evermann <heiko.evermann at gmx.de>
> Subject: LL-L "Literature" 2010.02.09 (03) [AF-EN-NL]

> This reminds me of a question that keeps bothering me for some time:
> Afrikaans has quite a number of simplifications in comparison to
> Dutch. To me one sticks out:
> ek is
> jy is
> hy, sy, dit is
> ons is
> julle is
> hulle is
>
> instead of "ik ben" etc.
>
> We do have some simplifications in German in comparison to older
> speech. Like in the Christmas carol "Ihr Kinderlein kommet" where we
> would have "kommt" today. But the transition from "ik ben" to "ek is"
> is a deep cut into the conjugation pattern of one of the most frequent
> verbs.

I don't know how these things happen but it seems to me that what it has
in its favour is a process of regularisation.

Amongst traditional English dialects in English alone there are some
dialects that have complete regularisation. I think in the east there
are dialects whose case ending have all come to end with "s", and then
again those without the "s" (I say "I think" because I'm not really
familiar with them and haven't seen a complete conjugation) to the
Midlands dialect:

I am
You am (unless there's a singular form I don't know about)
He, she, it am
We am
You am
They am

Also spoken "I'm, You'm," &c.

As you see from my manner, I'm not conversant with these, but the point
is that regularisation seems to be a force.

Perhaps parents and others are less likely to correct things if the
grammar is clear due to being used in other parts of the conjugation,
but an even stronger consideration is that children (at least children
who aren't lonely) don't pick up the bulk of their language from their
parents, they pick it up from other children. Once something is rife
amongst children the parents are going to have a hard time correcting
it.

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/

•

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