[Lowlands-l] Google Translate

Sat Jul 22 01:29:12 UTC 2017

I’ll start with this disclaimer – I’m not a professional linguist, so what follows are just the ideas of opinions of a layman.

That said, I think it’s wise to keep in mind the differences between features of language that are inherited vs. those that are borrowed.  Yes, Old Norse really influenced English in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure, but that seems more in the realm of borrowed features, rather than inherited, and as such, should not factor into classification of a language, or at least not as heavily as inherited features.  Otherwise, we could easily classify English as a Romance language, since its sentence structure very closely resembles that of French.  

Again, I am just a layman, so what do I know?

From: LOWLANDS-L [mailto:lowlands-l-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] On Behalf Of Lowlands Languages & Cultures
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 10:29 PM
To: Lowlands Languages & Cultures <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lowlands-l] Google Translate

I seem to remember that I read in a newspaper article that the old idea of Low German und English being the closest languages has been abandoned. The question was, what about the grammatical dissimilarities, particularly word order? And it turned out that English has been much more shaped and is much closer connected to North Germanic, i.e. Norwegian. 
Mathias 

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--- Original-Nachricht --- 
Von: Lowlands Languages & Cultures 
Betreff: Re: [Lowlands-l] Google Translate 
Datum: 21.07.2017, 5:24 Uhr 
An: 'Lowlands Languages & Cultures' 

I’ve been recently wondering about the ‘Frisian is the closest language to English’ idea.  Since a variety of Saxon forms part of the foundation of English (if I recall right, West Saxon became the standard variety of Old English), it seems to me that Low German would be the closest language to English.  

I think the idea of Frisian as English’s closest relative comes from certain family tree representations of the Germanic family, where English is placed on an “Anglo-Frisian” branch.  I think this kind of representation is being replaced in favor of North Sea Germanic – ie., English, Frisian, and Saxon. 

Steven 

From: LOWLANDS-L [mailto:lowlands-l-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] On Behalf Of Lowlands Languages & Cultures
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 12:52 PM
To: Lowlands Languages & Cultures <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lowlands-l] Google Translate 

Yes. Definitely lively, that's why we should make Google add it. 

I really don't see the point of making West Frisian a seperate language though,  

as it doesn't contain that much of a unique vocabulary, and strongly resembles Dutch.   

בתאריך 20 ביולי 2017 8:24 אחה״צ,‏ "Lowlands Languages & Cultures" < <mailto:lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org> lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org> כתב: 

On 20/07/2017 11:18 AM, Eitan wrote: 

Hi all, 

  I've requested Facebook they should add low german into their language poll since they recently had added West Frisian which isn't much an obvious choice. 

That being the case, to my surprise Google Translate added West Frisian as well. 

I don't consider West frisian the closest language to English language because of certain reasons. Here's what I wrote: 

Low german (of plaudietsch language) is spoken by 450,000 people around the world, which is about on par with Frisian on the total. It has a rich body of literature, including the bible, and many unique expressions and vowel sounds.   

Compared to what is spoken in west friesland, it's a fully-fledged and dynamic language. And while it is true that Frisian is recognised minority language in the Netherlands, Plautdietsch is recognised in belize and has a minority status there. 

Do you agree? 

 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf55TFRG-2w> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf55TFRG-2w
 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lV4S4VLhV0> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lV4S4VLhV0
 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdaLj8jkJfI> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdaLj8jkJfI

Sure doesn't look dead to me.

Ed Alexander 

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