LL-L: "Pronunciation" LOWLANDS-L, 18.SEP.2000 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 18.SEP.2000 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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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: Henry Pijffers [hpijffers at home.nl]
Subject: LL-L: "Pronunciation" LOWLANDS-L, 17.SEP.2000 (02) [E]

John Tait wrote:

>If this had been about racial or sexual discrimination it would
>have been dead serious, but it was conducted in an atmosphere of smiles
all
>round, apparently thought to be more of a source of amusement than
>anything.
>
That's usually the case when people have an accent, or really speak
something
other than the standard language. It seems rather amusing to others.
Often when people notice I use Low-Saxon in anything I do on my computer,
their reaction is laughter. Now why is that? It's just part of my everyday
routine,
just as using Dutch for it is part of theirs...

I think maybe there have been too many sketches with Low-Saxon in it.
Often even situated on farms or places like that. So maybe when
non-speakers
see Low-Saxon, they tend to associate it with comedy and farms?

I assume you can replace Low-Saxon by any other minority language/accent.

grooten,
Henry

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

Henry,

You wrote:

> I think maybe there have been too many sketches with Low-Saxon in it.
> Often even situated on farms or places like that. So maybe when
non-speakers
> see Low-Saxon, they tend to associate it with comedy and farms?

Of course!  This is the case on both sides of the border.  For many
decades, the Low Saxon (Low German) diet people have been fed in print and
in the electronic media has consisted of very little besides rustic
comedies and humoristic or sentimental "down-home" anecdotes and poems.  It
is as though the development stopped somewhere in the 19th century.  So
what do you expect this does for the image of the language?  What's more:
many, perhaps most, native speakers have come to believe that publishing
anything outside this narrow genre and topic area is unacceptable, that
"modern" and "Platt" cannot possibly go together.  Official language
recognition has not brought about a drastic change, though lately there
have been more writers who dare go beyond it.  Their number may be greater
than what published material may lead you to suspect.  I have a strong
suspicion that editors' preconceived ("Platt für die Alten") ideas act as a
filter.  For example, a North German annual anthology of short stories,
which shall remain nameless, contains pretty much only the "light
entertainment" sort of material, though I personally know that people have
submitted good stories that go beyond that.  Happily, however, there are
now publishers who are willing to consider Low Saxon (Low German) material
with a greater variety of genres and styles, in Germany for instance works
by Karl Heinz Ebell, Jügen Kropp, Waltrud Bruhn and Aloys Terbille.  And I
know that promising material is now being written and published in the
Netherlands.

Until the media image of the language changes and people make a strong
effort to change it, Low Saxon (Low German) will remain a thing of the past
of of the boondocks in people's heads.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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