LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 13.JUL.2000 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 13.JUL.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
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 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic
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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Language varieties

Stefan: Thanks for the linguistic history. I will ponder it.

I must apologise for my typing error when quoting from the "Oxford Companion
..." The author of course suggested that English might be closer to the
"North Germanic" group. I think he must mean more than that English is
unlike German - rather that it may have acquired enough Norse
characteristics to make it more similar to modern Scandinavian than to the
other Lowlands languages. But how many are "enough"?

Is there any point to this sort of thinking? We know what the modern
languages are and broadly how they got to be where they are. It's not like
finding an ancient inscription in an unknown language and trying to find
points of similarity to fit it into the pattern of known languages. However,
if one wants to play this game one can argue that (maybe stretching things a
bit) modern Scandinavian is closer to MLS than to ON (lots of vocabulary in
common, impossible to say anything without using the MLS-derived verb
"bli").

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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From: Criostoir O Ciardha [paada_please at yahoo.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Language varieties" 09.JUL.2000 (01) [E]

Dear all,

I lag once again, limping along behind debates as they
move forward.

John Feather wrote:

> It seems to me that the idea that a bilingual
> generation grew up in the
> Danelaw actually contradicts the notion of the
> development of an
> English/Norse hybrid.

I can't quite understand the basis for this assertion.
Surely the existence of cognates or synonyms from Old
English and from Old Norse demonstrates that
bilingualism must have been evident? Take for example
the couplets shirt:skirt, dike:ditch, nay:no, etc.
which show clear evidence of bilingual development,
being as two words with the exact same meaning (with
the exception of skirt:shirt which was a modern
development) have survived into modern English.

Similarly there is a clear case for Norman French and
English bilingualism, evidenced in the couplets
beef:cow, pig:pork, sheep:lamb etc. This also allows
us to speculate on the nature of interaction between
the two peoples. Similarly I would point to Irish
where Norman French has had a similar influence;
guna:leine (clothing, from 'gown')and garsun:giolla
(from 'garcon').

Of course in most historical contexts all areas of the
world have been at least bilingual at some time or
other. Indeed, so far as I know, in areas of Brazil
where Native American languages are still spoken as
the everyday speech it is impossible to get by without
knowledge of at least two other local languages, such
is the mosaic-like quality of the area.

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