LL-L "Language contacts" 2002.10.14 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 14.OCT.2002 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Marco Evenhuis <evenhuis at zeelandnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2002.10.13 (08) [E]

Ron wrote:

> In a couple of _belles-lettres_
> works, I have come across dialogues in which Gentiles would speak in
> Lowlands Saxon and Jews would speak German (with or without Yiddish
> influences).  I assume that that was the typical situation, at least in
the
> cities.
(...)
> Much of this is apparently true of the Lowlands-Saxon-speaking parts of
the
> Netherlands as well, where most resident Jews were descendants of German
> immigrants (including immigrants from the German-speaking parts of
France).

My own grandmother, who now lives in
Hilversum (North Holland), was born
from a jewish father and a christian mother
in the city of Groningen. Both her father
and mother spoke the Low Saxon dialect
of the city of Groningen as their 1st langua-
ge, although her father could also speak
(eastern?) Yiddish, as well as Frisian (he was
a tradesman who did business with shops
and craftsmen throughout the north of the
Netherlands and Germany).
My great grandfather ('Arie' Rose) could
however NOT speak (High) German, or at
least most certainly not fluently.
My grandmother speaks Yiddish too, but I
am under the impession that she is not
fluent in the language and uses it mostly to
confuse their grandchildren ;-)

Something else: I am not too familiar with
the Jewish languages of Europe, but the older
people of the small Jewish community of
Middelburg (capital of Zeeland) say that the
Yiddish that they are familiar with (allthough
they do not speak it themselves anymore; I
think that is due to the small size of their
community), is different from the Yiddish
that they hear in the Jewish quarters of Ant-
werp.

Regards,

Marco

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