The Neolithic Hypothesis

[JoatSimeon at aol.com]

>mcv at wxs.nl writes:

>That's indeed all "North-West Germanic" means.  Mutual influence between
North and West Germanic, after the split between North and East Germanic, and
of course long after the split between West and North-East Germanic.

-- given the existance of bridge dialects like Anglian (and Jutish, since the
Jutes came from further north in the Danish peninsula), doesn't the idea of
an old and sharp distinction between North and West Germanic look rather iffy?

After all, if they'd been sharply separated linguistically at this very early
date (500's, the Migration period), they wouldn't share innovations just
because they were geographically close.

It looks as if there was a fairly smooth continuum from pre-Danish through
Jutish to Anglian to Frisian to Saxon.

This isn't surprising, given the small area, the short distances, and the
frequency and ease of travel by sea.