LL-L: "Phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 14.MAR.2000 (05) [E]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 14.MAR.2000 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Stephen Israel [sisrael at imap.pitt.edu]
Subject: LL-L: "Phonology" (was "Poetics") LOWLANDS-L, 14.MAR.2000 (01)
[E/German]

Responding to Ron Hahn about derounding in some varieties of Platt:

> Is it known how this unrounding started?  Was is as the result of some
> sort of affectation in an upper-crust sociolect, or was it derived from a
> certain dialect?
>
> I noticed that some eastern dialects still have extensive unrounding,
> e.g., /e:ver/ vs /ø:ver/.  Might this have been the origin of the
> above-mentioned, or is it the result of it?

To the best of my knowledge, no one has worked through all the dialects and
(to the extent you can document them) sociolects of Platt over time to
demonstrate how derounding started.   In Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen, it
seems to be something the more educated people did, so I suspect it came
about from North German university students imitating trends they heard in
universities etc. in Middle Germany.

The Platt dialects directly bordering Middle German dialects might have
picked up derounding by direct contact.  A good question would be, are
those eastern dialects with /e:ver/ for /ø:ver/ esp. near Berlin, which
introduced a lot of High German features into the local dialects.   Does
anyone have definite knowledge about that?
What about Wilhelm Busch-- his German has derounding; wasn't he from
Ostfalen?   Can anyone recall if any of the Low German he wrote shows
definite derounding?

Stefan Israel

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