LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 03.DEC.1999 (02) [E/LS]

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From: Henno Brandsma [Henno.Brandsma at phil.uu.nl]
Subject:  LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 03.DEC.1999 (01) [E/LS]

> > Secondly: Ron, you transcribed "wij" above as "we" in your German
> > based orthography. I'm not sure that's right, I think that they mean
> > the sound normally written _wi'j_ in dialects from the area I think
> > this is from. It's sort of a long [i] slightly diphthongised, it only
> > occurs wordfinally.
>
> Thanks.  Yes, I was wondering about that.  I am familiar with the spelling
> _i'j_, for instance in Stellingwarf/Stellingwerf Low Saxon (phonetically
> something like [I.j] I guess).  I just went by what I saw, _ij_ as in Dutch
> and transliterated it as _we_ for [vEI].  Thanks for clearing this up.
>
> I'm also wondering if _a(a)_ (waar, later) and _ao_ (naober) represent
> different phonemes.  I will assume so for now and show _ao_ as _å_, as is
done

In this central area, as you call it, most dialects have these as
different phonemes. Old long a is then ao [another clue: this is a
spelling that is very common in Drenthe and Overijssel, most other
dialects use oa instead.], and lenghthened a is aa. Although, _waar_
is strange here, and might indicate merger. Eg Stellingwerfs has
_laete_ and _schaop_ (if I quote correctly). This is similar to
Westphalian, I think.
Here, I'm not so sure, it doesn't _seem_ as yet to be very sytematic.

Henno

----------

From: R. F Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject:  Language varieties

Dear Henno, Lowlanders,

Thanks for the clarification re _ao_ vs _aa_, Henno.  You wrote:

> In this central area, as you call it, most dialects have these as
> different phonemes. Old long a is then ao [another clue: this is a
> spelling that is very common in Drenthe and Overijssel, most other
> dialects use oa instead.], and lenghthened a is aa.

What kind of lengthening would there be in _later_?  I assume you are
referring to a productive phonological rule.  In the dialects east of the
border, long /aa/ is pronounced as a somewhat to fully rounded low back vowel,
while short /a/ lengthened by a directly following liquid or nasal consonant
is only half or fully lengthened without changing other features (e.g., _al_
[?a.L], _wardt_ [va:t] -- usually with a considerable degree of nasalization
before nasals, hence _an_ [?ã.n], _Damp_ [dã.mp]; cf. German _an_ [?an],
_Dampf_ [dampf]), in most dialects also by a glide (e.g., /ai/ _Ei_ [?a.I],
_blau_ [bla.U]; cf. German _Ei_ [?aI], _blau_ [blaU]), thus sounding rather
similar to long /aa/ in Standard Netherlands Dutch.  The difference in
articulation between underlyingly long /aa/ and lengthened short /a/ is great
in Low Saxon.  In the spelling of the Low Saxon dialects of the Netherlands
this lengthening tends to be represented orthographically (e.g., _laand_,
_gaank_), while in Germany this tends not to be done (e.g., _Land_ [lã.nt],
_Gang_ [gã.Nk]).

Best regards,

Reinhard/Ron

P.S.: Happy Hanukkah to all Lowlanders who begin to celebrate it tonight!

Yiddish:

khánuke, oy khánuke,
a yóntev, a shéyner,
a lústiker, a fréylikher,
nitó nokh azójner.
ale tog in dreydl shpiln mir,
háyse, gúte látkes esn mir.
geshvínder tsindt, kínder,
di khánuke-líkhtlekh on!
tsum yóntev, dem shéynem,
zingn un tantsn in kon!

Low Saxon (Low German), R. F. Hahn:

Chanukka, och, Chanukka!
'n Fier, schöön un riek,
'n lustige, pläseerliche;
keen anner is er liek.
Mit'n Krüsel speelt wie jümmerto.
Tüffelpannkoken gifft 't ook daarto.
Maakt swinner nu, Kinner,
de Chanukka-Lichten an!
To d' Fier, de schöne,
singt un dansst wie Allemann.

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