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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 17 August 2008 - Volume 03<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Sandy Fleming</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:sandy@scotstext.org">sandy@scotstext.org</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Orthography" 2008.08.16 (04) [E]</span><br>
<br>
Lowlanders,<br>
<br>
I've just been swotting up on my grammar again and have been wondering<br>
about inflectional markings in Lowlands languages. How similar are<br>
markings between Lowlands
languages? Sticking to verb and noun markings<br>
to start with...<br>
<br>
In English, Scots and Shetlandic we have plural markings -s/-es [s],<br>
[z], [@z] and more rarely -en/-n. In Dutch we have -en. Do those two<br>
markings cover the plural formation for all Lowlands languages?<br>
<br>
Similarly in these languages only the past tense is marked (-ed and<br>
variants in English, -it, -ed and variants in Scots). Are there<br>
Lowlandic languages that also mark the future?<br>
<br>
A perfect aspect in these "Anglic" languages is marked as -en and<br>
progressive or imperfect as as -ing, if my understanding is right. As I<br>
understand it, the imperfect is more usual in English than in the more<br>
eastern varieties of Lowlandic languages, but even more usual in Scots<br>
than in English.<br>
<br>
In the Border varieties of Scots (eg Hawick), the gerund is still marked<br>
(or at least was, in living memory - ie, my memory!), traditionally<br>
written as -and although the -d wouldn't be pronounced. As far as I've<br>
picked up from the List, gerunds are still normal "on the Continent",<br>
but marked -ing along with the imperfect in English and most dialects of<br>
Scots.<br>
<br>
In English and Scots, the subjunctive mood is still available for use<br>
but going out of fashion. It's marked by a different use of the<br>
available set of inflections.<br>
<br>
The use of -en as a plural marker in Scots comes with only a few words,<br>
the only ones regularly heard being "een" (plural of
"ee"="eye"),<br>
"shuin" (plural of "shae"="shoe") and
"owsen" (not much heard these<br>
days, but it's the plural of "ox"). This has led some to suggest that<br>
this is actually a dual marker in Scots, but I'm inclined to think that<br>
the plural of "hand" being "hands", "lug" being
"lugs" and so on,<br>
probably the idea of a dual in Scots isn't supportable.<br>
<br>
There could be more if we look more closely at dialect varieties.<br>
Southwestern dialects of English, for example, there's a distinction<br>
between, eg "dig" and "diggy":<br>
<br>
"I'm going out to dig the garden."<br>
"I'm going out to diggy."<br>
<br>
also resulting in some back-formations:<br>
<br>
"I have to study."<br>
"I have to stud grammar."<br>
<br>
Here the -y ending is used when the object of the sentence is merely<br>
implied. This usage was recorded by researchers around Yeovil in 1956,<br>
and is seen in older books written in dialect, but I don't know whether<br>
it would still be used anywhere. I wonder if there are other less well<br>
known markings in other dialects?<br>
<br>
So it would seem to me that the grammatically productive inflectional<br>
markings in Anglic languages are limited to -(e)s, -ed, -en and -ing<br>
plus some other rarer uses in some dialects.<br>
<br>
Are other Lowlands
languages much richer in noun and verb markings and<br>
what would we need to describe these for the whole language group?<br>
<span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"><br>
Sandy Fleming<br>
<a href="http://scotstext.org/" target="_blank">http://scotstext.org/</a><br>
<br>
----------<br>
<br>
</span>From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>>
<br>
Subject: Morphology<br>
<br>
Interesting one, Sandy.<br>
<br>
A comparative approach would indeed be interesting. Taking into account what we
know about the earlier stages of the language and historical events, especially
migrations, one might even find connections there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">By the way,
...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 30pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"I'm going out to dig the garden."</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"I'm
going out to diggy."</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">also
resulting in some back-formations:</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"I
have to study."</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"I
have to stud grammar."</span></p>
<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">This
kind of thing is very common in Australian English.<br>
<br>
I wonder if it can be stated that simplification of Anglic morphology (beginning in real earnest in late Middle English)
facilitated the creation of sound-alike deverbal nouns in these languages, "to dig" and "a dig" being one among numerous cases.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron</span></div>
•
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