Gothic compared to other Germanic languages

[faltin2001]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, David Kiltz <derdron at g...> wrote:
>
> On 17.12.2005, at 02:48, mike r wrote:
> 
> > Someone told me that Gothic is the hardest Germanic
> > language to learn
> 
> Gothic is rich in forms. That means, there is a bit to learn. At 
the  
> same time, the original state of things in Germanic are clearly  
> visible. Declensions and verbal paradigms aren't 'blurred' due to  
> sound change. Also, Gothic has the advantage of being passed down 
in  
> a coherent way (writing, homogenous corpus). Gothic is certainly 
an  
> ideal language to learn, if you wish to familiarize yourself with  
> germanic languages. Is it the most difficult ? Mmmhh... that's not  
> something you can answer in any 'absolute' way, I think. Depends 
on  
> your background. If you've never learned a germanic language but 
e.g.  
> 'classical' languages like Latin and Greek, Gothic may not be that  
> difficult, as it's rather regular etc. However, if you know German 
or  
> English, the older stages of that languages may be easier. Still, 
I  
> think Old HIgh German is rather complex because of its many 
variants  
> and the way it's been transmitted. 




Hi David,

I think this is an interesting point. Old High German is of course 
not a single language as the name might suggest. Instead its an  
umbrella term for a wide variety of West Germanic dialects, which 
were spoken south of the so called Benrath-Line. Hence, Old High 
German are those West Germanic dialects that went through the second 
sound shift, as opposed to the West Germanic dialects north of the 
Benrath line, which were not (or much less) affected. The latter are 
often summaries under the term Old Saxon (but also include Frisian, 
Anglo-Saxon and Old-Low Frankish), while the former, i.e. Old High 
German include very diverse dialects such as Old Frankish, Old 
Bavarian, Old Alamannic, Old Suabian and others. 

Hence, I think it is misleading to compare Gothic with Old High 
German. The former is a fragmentary East Germanic language that is 
transmitted mostly in only one single source, while the latter 
includes several dialects that are transmitted in many different 
texts over a period of some 300 years. 

'Real' Gothic, i.e. East Germanic would likely have been quite 
diverse as well and learning Gothic today is probably comparable to  
learning English from one single 16th century bible translation.

Cheers
Dirk






------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Know an art & music fan? Make a donation in their honor this holiday season!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/.6dcNC/.VHMAA/Zx0JAA/wWMplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>. 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gothic-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    gothic-l-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/