<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================================</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">L O W L A N D S - L - 17 February 2008 - Volume 02</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe"><span class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Elsie Zinsser</span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:ezinsser@icon.co.za">ezinsser@icon.co.za</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe">LL-L "Phonology" 2008.02.15 (03) [E]<br></span><p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span><font color="black" size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">Hi all,</span></font></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><font color="black" size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">Ron, not coincidental at all but features strongly in Dutch
/ Afrikaans comparative studies.</span></font></span></p><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" color="#888888">
<p><span><font color="black" size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">Elsie Zinsser</span></font></span><br></p></font><p style="margin-left: 36pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<font size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I
assume many of you remember the thesis according to which most or all
non-European "Dutch"-based language varieties are primarily based on
Zeelandic (<i><span style="font-style: italic;">Zeêuws</span></i>). This makes
sense historically, considering Zeeland's seafaring traditions. And there
appear to be linguistic indications as well, some of which Marco Evenhuis told
us about two or three years ago.<br>
<br>
I have been listening to the Zeelandic and West Flemish translations of our
wren story, since we are dealing with closely related varieties that ought to
be treated as one group were it not for political distinctions):</span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="DE">·<font size="1"><span>
</span></font></span></font><b><span style="font-weight: bold;" lang="DE">(1) Kwadendamme Zeelandic</span></b><br>
<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/zeeuws.php" target="_blank"><span lang="DE">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/zeeuws.php</span></a></p>
<p style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="DE">·<font size="1"><span>
</span></font></span></font>(2)
Nieuwport West Flemish<br>
<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams2.php" target="_blank"><span lang="DE">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams2.php</span></a></p>
<p style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<font size="1"><span>
</span></font></span></font><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">(3) Roeselare West
Flemish</span></b><br>
<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams.php" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams.php</a></p>
<p style="margin-left: 36pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On that
basis I took another look at the translations without audio files in order to
find orthographic indicators:</span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<font size="1"><span>
</span></font></span></font><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">(4) Oost Souburg
Zeelandic</span></b><br>
<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/zeeuws-oostsouburg.php" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/zeeuws-oostsouburg.php</a></p>
<p style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="DE">·<font size="1"><span>
</span></font></span></font>(5) Ostend
West Flemish<br>
<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams3.php" target="_blank"><span lang="DE">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams3.php</span></a></p>
<p style="margin-left: 36pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I
concentrated on falling diphthongs, namely on those that tend to be spelled <i><span style="font-style: italic;">eê</span></i> and <i><span style="font-style: italic;">oô</span></i>
(~ <i><span style="font-style: italic;">ô</span></i>) and tend to be pronounced
[eˑɛ] ~ [iˑe] (SAMPA [e:\E] ~ [i:\e]) and [oˑɔ] ~ [uˑo] (SAMPA [o:\O] ~ [u:\o])
respectively. These seem to be present in all of the above except in the
Nieuwport dialect. Furthermore, in Western Brabantish (which has Flemish
substrata) I found what I consider a relative set of diphthongs, not in the (6)
Antwerp dialect (<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/brabants-antwerpen.php" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/brabants-antwerpen.php</a>)
but in the <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">(7) Merchtem dialect</span></b> (<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/brabants.php" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/brabants.php</a>):
[iˑə] (SAMPA [i:\@]) and [uˑə] (SAMPA [u:\@]) respectively. These are the
equivalents of what in (8) Standard Dutch are spelled <i><span style="font-style: italic;">ee</span></i> and <i><span style="font-style: italic;">oo</span></i>
respectively, originally indicating long monophthongs: [e:] and [o:]
respectively, though in some dialects the are now pronounced as rising
diphthongs: [eˑɪ] (SAMPA [e:\I]) and [oˑʊ] (SAMPA [o:\U]) respectively.<br>
<br>
This is indeed very similar to, in some cases virtually identical with, <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">(9) Afrikaans</span></b>: <i><span style="font-style: italic;">ee</span></i> [iˑe] and <i><span style="font-style: italic;">oo</span></i>
[uˑo] (SAMPA [i:\e] and [u:\o]); e.g.,</span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<font size="1"><span>
</span></font></span></font><b><i><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">keer</span></i></b><b><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></b>(time, occasion):<br>
(1) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">keêr</span></i><br>
(3) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">keê</span></i><br>
(4) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">keêr</span></i><br>
(7) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">kieë</span></i><br>
(9) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">keer</span></i> [kiˑer]</p>
<p style="margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<font size="1"><span>
</span></font></span></font><b><i><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">groot</span></i></b><b><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></b>(great, large, big):<br>
(1) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">groôt</span></i><br>
(3) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">groôt</span></i><br>
(4) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">groôt</span></i><br>
(7) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">groeët</span></i><br>
(9) <i><span style="font-style: italic;">groot </span></i>[xruˑot]</p>
<div style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" color="black" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Be it related or
coincidental, there appears to be a common phonological feature in
Flemish-Zeelandic and Afrikaans.</span></font><br><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" color="black" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span></font><br><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" color="black" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
Regards,</span></font><br><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" color="black" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
Reinhard/Ron</span></font><br></div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: Language varieties</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Thanks, Elsie, and Ingmar as well.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course I never expected the roots of Afrikaans to be traceable to a single Dutch dialects or dialect group. After all, early emigrants came from many parts of the Netherlands, and I am not aware of any dominant group. Yes, officials, merchants and church people dominated politically, but I rather suspect that they, too, spoke with whatever "accents" were native to them. Most people were most likely not particularly strong in what at the time approached Standard Dutch, and they got by by using their own dialects or dialect-colored approximations and by understanding those of others. Throw into this mix Indonesians and indigenous Africans who approximated whatever forms of Dutch as a second or third language,. And never forget the large number of French-speaking Huguenots ... </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">When you deal with mixes of this sort in conjunction with low literacy rates (not to mention the scarcity of model speakers) you tend to end up with a conglomeration of features from various contributing language varieties. Indonesian slaves approximated whatever speech forms they heard in the households for which they worked. Being linguistically diverse to begin with, they taught each other their "Cape Dutch" approximations, and the nannies among them used them with the European children for which they cared, for whom these were virtually native languages (since nannies tended to spend more time with children than did the children's parents). When people of part-European-part-African descent came to be grouped together they probably began to develop their own varieties on this basis. (This may well be the genesis of Griqua Afrikaans, for instance: <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/griekwa.php.">http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/griekwa.php.</a>)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">In a word, I agree that Zeelandic is not </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">the</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> ancestor of Afrikaans. However, I do believe that the falling diphthong feature is likely to be a contribution, if not of Zeelandic alone, of southwestern Dutch dialects (possibly varieties with Frisian substrata, since they are predominantly coastal dialects).</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">This begs the question if phonological feature selection in hybrids of closely related language varieties depends only on model predominance or also on native limitations and preferences/selection of those that approximate a set of model varieties. In other words, were falling diphthongs perhaps preferable to speakers of Malayic, Khoi-San and Nguni-Bantu languages?<br>
<br>When we discuss such hybridization processes we might also bear in mind that the early development of Old English may well have followed similar patterns. In this case we may want to pay special attention to the possible role of Old Frisian and women, which may explain the Anglo-Frisian branch hypothesis.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Musing,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">