LL-L: "Semantics" LOWLANDS-L, 22.APR.2001 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 22.APR.2001 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Criostoir O Ciardha [paada_please at yahoo.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Semantics" LOWLANDS-L, 21.APR.2001 (04) [E]

A chairde,

I don't usually get into debates on verbs as I lack
authority and esteem. However, Ron's examples of the
Low Saxon verb "folgen" (to follow), got me thinking
about my own variety of English. Ron wrote:

> (e.g., English _follow_,
> Scots _fallow_ ~ _follae_

In my mother tongue there is no independent verb "to
follow". This seems incongruous, I know, but (and I
lack knowledge of the relevant linguistic terminology)
the verb only exists in relation to the objects and
subjects of the action, e.g., 1) "Am follaeyin yuh"
['aem: fo^l:e:'jin: 'j@] - lit. "I'm following you"
for "I follow you". 2) "Ah wuh folluhrin nim" [ae w@
fo^l:@rin: nim:] - lit. "I were following him" for "I
followed him". (There is also the construction "Ah wuh
follaeyin nim" which has identical meaning and quality
to 2).)

One cannot say "follow" or "follow!" (vocative) - it
is meaningless and *must* be qualified by an agent of
action - object or subject. The forms *folla and
*follae as stand-alones simply do not exist. If
someone said that to me, I would think, "Are they
talking to me or someone else? Who are they
addressing?" There is a strange emphatic "urgent" form
which seems to be a kind of bastardised vocative but
even *that* must be qualified by an agent of action -
e.g. "Follee yim, thenn!" [fol:'i:j 'jim De^n:]
(literally, "follow him, then!") with "thenn" acting
as an imperative, a must, a directive, informing the
meaning of the preceding verb.

This kind of subject/object-absolute verb formation
reminds me of Irish and its personalised verbs, e.g.,
"feic" (vt. "see"), but "feicim" ("I see") and "tá mé
ag feicáil" ("I am seeing"); "feicid" ("you see
[sg.]").

Is this obsession with concreting the verb to a
subject or object of action *in all circumstances* a
common aspect of Lowland languages?

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Críostóir.

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From: Criostoir O Ciardha [paada_please at yahoo.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Semantics" LOWLANDS-L, 21.APR.2001 (04) [E]

A chairde,

Ron wrote:

> (3) Are there any other Lowlands language varieties
> in which 'to follow'
>     or its equivalents are used to mean 'to attend a
> funeral'?
>
> (4) Are there any other examples of verbs undergoing
> similar semantic narrowing?

I think what has occurred in the narrowing of "follow"
is a solemnising of one verb to give it a new social
function, either because a new action entered the
sociolinguistic context for which a verb did not
readily exist, or because there was some confusion
over a presumably weak extant verb that was incapable
or inconsistent of meeting the social needs of its
speakers. The verb "follow" was therefore given an
emotive and social weight to enable to perform the new
function.

"Follow" is an interesting verb sociolinguistically
because I feel it has a subjugatory property to it. To
follow is to give up one's independence, to accept
authority (in the case of a funeral, to accept the
conventions of solemnity associated with the
occasion), to defer, to give up one's right to act
freely. It provokes obediance - and the vocative is
especially declaratory: "Follow!". This is stocked
with subsumed meaning; "you WILL follow me", "I will
LET you trace my footsteps", "I have the
authority/right to tell you how to act and what you
should do" and so on.

In the case of a funeral, the solemnising of the verb
also serves to solemnise the society and provide them
with a new action, new customs of mourning and
community activity. To that extent, we should not
under-estimate the power a change in language has on
the speakers of that language.

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Críostóir.

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