LL-L: "Morphophonology" LOWLANDS-L, 12.OCT.2000 (03) [E/Danish]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 12.OCT.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Lone Elisabeth Olesen [baxichedda at yahoo.com]
Subject: "Morphophonology"

david strommen [si00924 at navix.net] wrote:

>>When Lone discusses the "ae hus" and then refers to
"huset"  as the norm.. Is that to say that in
this western dialect they do not have the definite
article following the substantive, or is "ae hus" the
same as "et hus" and in the definite
form it is "huse" or "husæ" as opposed to "huset"
officially. If it were "ae hus" "the house", I guess I
never experienced that phenomenon in  Jutland.
If it is "huse" that is common in Norwegian where we
spell it "huset" but
pronounce
"huse".<<

According to the Danish dialect anthology I have been
using, there was a "border" dividing Jutland into a
western and an eastern part. In the west part, the use
of "ae" (or "æ", I am not sure wether every computer
can dechifer this sign) as a definite article can be
observed. So "æ hus" would be "huset", because the
definite form is marked by an article instead of the
"-et" in the rest of Denmark, including most parts of
eastern and northern Jutland.
I have not lived in Jutland myself, so I have to
"rely" on the information I get almost every day
during my work, where I talk to people from all over
Denmark.
I have heard several examples, where there was no
doubt that "æ" is still used as a definite article in
some parts of Jutland today, eg.:
"Æ hund står å ve' uj" (the dog wants to be let out)
"Han er u'e i æ hawe" (he is outside in the garden)
"Æ EDB-anlæj" (the computer)
Not to mention the "joke" about how a person from
Jutland can say a phrase with no consonants at all:
"A u' 'å æ ø u' i æ å" (I'm out on the island in the
stream) Here you can find "æ ø" (the island, da. øen),
"æ å" (the stream, da. åen)

I would like to mention that there has just been
"opened" a new on-line dictionary on Jutlandish by the
University of Aarhus. So far, they have only A-F, but
they encourage people to write with questions about
other words. The web adress is:
http://www.jyskordbog.dk

Greetings, Lone Olesen

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

David, Lowlanders,

West-Germanic-type preposed _æ_ or _e_ (as opposed to the usual postposing of
definite articles in North Germanic) is indeed the definite article in many
Southwestern Jutish dialects.  This clearly corresponds to _de_ in Low Saxon
(Low German) and various correspondences in North Frisian varieties.
Interestingly, the same _æ_ or _e_ seems to be used to correspond to Danish
_-et_ and _-en_!

I recommend visiting the terrific Danish dialect website "Danske dialekter"
which comes with text samples and audio files:
http://www.sb.aau.dk/dlh/dialekt/dialekt.html

For example, in the Southwest Jutish Højer Landsogn dialect from west of
Tønder/Tondern you find ...

Æ AMT
(Standard Danish _amtet_)
'the administrative office'

Det lecher synjen få Æ GRÆNJS idaw'
(SD _Det ligger syd for GRÆNSEN i dag_)
'It's situated south of THE BORDER nowadays'

så ha:j vi æn læ:fer æ så ku vi læf de a' å Æ I'S,
(SD _så havde vi en "løber" ... så kunne vi "løbe" det af på ISEN_)
'then we had a "runner" (sled), so we could "run" it on THE ICE'

But in the same dialog:

da ku vi kom öw'wer GRÆNJSEN (not *_Æ GRÆNJS_!)
(SD _da kunne vi komme over GRÆNSEN_)
'then we could come across THE BORDER'

The predominant indefinite article tends to be _æn_ or _en_, often also where
Danish has _et_ and not _en_.

This is what the Institut for Jysk Sprog- og Kulturforskning quotes on one of
its web pages (http://www.hum.au.dk/jysk/samlinger/enkeltdialekter.htm):

--begin quote--
Den ældste (og summariske) filologiske beskrivelse af en jysk enkeltdialekt er
J. Victor Bloch: Nogle grammaticalske Bemærkninger om den vesterjydske Dialect
(1837). Her fremhæves fx både den karakteristiske nørrejyske diftongering e· >
ie (bien = ben), o· > ue (gued = god) og særegne vestjyske træk som
foranstillet kendeord (e Mand= manden) og dominant fælleskøn (en Ywwer = et
yver).
--end quote--

So what is mentioned there, among other things, is that certain long or
half-long vowels changed into diphthongs: e· > ie (_bien_ = Dan. _ben_ 'leg')
and o· > ue (_gued_ = Dan. _god_).  I wonder if these are due to an old North
Frisian substrate.  Bear in mind that diphthongization tends to be strong in
Frisian, as can still be seen particularly in Westerlauwer ("West") and Sater
Frisian.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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