LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.05.04 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 04.MAY.2002 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Edwin Alexander <edsells at cogeco.ca>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.05.03 (07) [E]

At 03:48 PM 05/03/02 -0700, erek gass wrote:
>I'd question the "history lesson" -- the war between the British and the
>American Colonists is called the Revolutionary War because it was, well,
>REVOLUTIONARY!  It was certainly not a civil war (which is defined as
>internal war to take control of the existing central government of a
>nation -- the Colonists sought independence from that government [in
>London], not to take it over).

Tell this to the descendants of the 30,000 odd refugees who were loyal
to
what they thought was the legitimately constituted government of the
colonies and who had all of their possessions confiscated by people
whose
goal was to overthrow that government.  The government in the colonies
was
probably not much less representative than that in the mother country,
and
each colony had a form of legislature, etc.  However when the Crown
acted
to prevent the colonists from seizing land which belonged to the native
inhabitants across the mountains, this became one of the prime reasons
for
seeking "independence."

>  Renaming wars is usually not helpful.

 From your point of view, it might not be helpful, as it might reveal
ugly
truth.  However, it would not be the only example of a battle or a war
given different names by the different combatants.  For example, the
battle
of Sharpsburg/Antietam or "The War Between the States", "The War to Free
the Slaves", "The War of Secession", "The War for Southern
Independence",
etc. etc.

>As someone who grew up in the Philadelphia area, and who visited Ontario
>frequently, I never had any difficulty understanding the Canadians.  But
>when I went to the Maritimes, I found the persons in New Brunswick in
>particular to sound quite a bit like New Englanders.  Eastern NY and and
>New England were heavily settled by East Anglians.  This is because they
>were Puritans bent on setting up their own "Commonwealth".  Cities like
>Boston derive their names from places in East Anglia.
>
>That characteristic Anglo-Canadian "eh" doesn't appear to be
>attributable to the Mid-Atlantic speech -- I never heard it around
>Philadelphia, at least from the 1940s onward.

Actually, in Philadelphia, the expression is "eh" expressed quite
nasally,
sounding something like "enh".  A less nasal form is found in southern
New
Jersey.  When I moved to Philadelphia from Vermont, I was quite amazed
at
this form of speech, never having heard it at all having grown up in
dialects descended from East Anglia (Chicago) and going to school in
Vermon.  Mind you, I do agree that most local dialects in North America
seem to be giving way to a more General way of speaking, and the visitor
must go into the small shops or among common workers in any region to
hear
regional dialect anymore.

There is a slight difference between Canadian Maritime speech and that
of
Ontario and westward.  However, it is still definitely in the Mid
Atlantic
group.  My bookkeeper is from New Brunswick and she clips her vowels as
well as the rest of us here, eh?

Ed Alexander
  Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

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