LL-L: "Morphophonology" (was "Lowlands in Denmark") LOWLANDS-L, 10.OCT.2000 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 10.OCT.2000 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Carl Johan Petersson [Carl_Johan.Petersson at Nordiska.uu.se]
Subject: LL-L: "Lowlands in Denmark" LOWLANDS-L, 09.OCT.2000 (03)  [E]

Helge Tietz wrote:

>Concerning the English-like pronouciation on the
>West-Coast of Jutland: The dialect of Esbjerg and
>surroundings pronounces words like Danish "Vest"
>("West" in English) more like English "West" with a
>proper English "W" sound nowhere else found in
>Denmark, in fact in Northern Europe, apart from the
>UK. Whether this is due to an Anglo-Saxon-Jutish
>substratum or developed out of business links to
>England over centuries is not clear to me.

To me, this looks more like remnants of a pronunciation that previously
would have existed over a much larger part of the Germanic Language Area.
Although modern English is, to my knowledge, the only present-day standard
language that has preserved the bilabial pronunciation of w, this
pronunciation exists dialectally in other languages as well. In Swedish, it is
preserved in the dialects of Southern Smaland and Halland (rarely heard in
speakers nowadays, but well documented by dialect-researchers of
previous centuries -- typically preserved in consonant clusters such as sw,
kw, tw etc.) and in some conservative dialects of Northern Sweden. I recall
hearing Norwegian examples of it as well, though I don't remember exactly from
what part of the country.

As far as I know, a bilabial w is very typical of Southern Dutch as well,
where it is clearly an archaism that has disappeared from the (Northern
Dutch) standard language. To assume that the Flemish w-pronunciation would
be the result of Anglo-Saxon influence seems far-fetched, to say the least.
Maybe some of the Flemings on this list can tell us more, though.

I would be surprised if it doesn't exist in other Germanic languages as
well, Lowlandic or not.

Regards,

Carl Johan Petersson

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