LL-L "Language maintenance" 2011.12.15 (02) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 15 December 2011 - Volume 02
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From: Douglas Hinton douglas.hinton at gmail.com
   Subject: LL-L 'Language maintenance' 2010.12.14 (02) [E]

    I would suggest that it's not such a miracle that icelandic and
faeroese has survived more or less intact, because it is, in fact, the
danish language that has been under great pressure and seen massive changes
over the last centuries. First the german influence has made profound
changes in danish. One hundred fifty years ago it was predicted that danish
would disappear and be replaced by german. Today there's similar pressure
from english. In the 40 years that I have lived in Denmark I see more and
more words and phrases from english used in everyday danish, a striking
change in such a short time.
   Further, and not related as far as i know, is that  danish pronunciation
is also changing very quickly.  The older generation, people in their 60's
or older , often can't understand the spoken danish of people in their 30's.
I haven't a problem with movies and radio programs produced in the 1950 &
60's, but can't follow a recently made movie if the actors are under 40
years of age.
   Danish is a language that is dependent very heavily on vowels, the
consonants often disappear or aren't stressed in spoken danish. The younger
danish speakers, though, have begin to change the vowel sounds. An example
was the sermon of a younger pastor who said " Haeren kommer!": The army is
coming!, instead of "Herren kommer!": The lord is coming!
Oddly nothing is being done about this in the schools, or on radio and tv.
I can't imagine this being allowed to happen in France.
Regards, Douglas

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