LL-L "Language survival" 2003.04.24 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 24.APR.2003 (05) * 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) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: "Kenneth Rohde Christiansen" <kenneth at gnu.org>
Subject: What to do in order to keep Low Saxon alive

Hello,

Here is an article that I wrote, which I hope you'll all find
interesting and useful. I might do a Dutch translation if you
find that useful.

Feel free to respond to my ideas - in English, Dutch or Low Saxon.

Cheers, Kenneth

---

What to do in order to keep Low Saxon alive
By Kenneth Rohde Christiansen

Low Saxon is dying out and quickly - we have to admit that, and look at
our alternatives. There has been some effort at standardizing the
dialects of Low Saxon in The Netherlands, and creating a writing system
(a different one per region, though). Because of this, we have a lot of
Low Saxon material today; poetry, novels, history books, children's
literature etc. This is great and might help Low Saxon to stay alive.

The problem, though, is that young people don't learn the dialects and
they don't carry on the dialect to future generations. This is due to
many factors, and we have to look at what we can do in order to change
that.

This document represents some of my theories (which might very well be
wrong) and ideas.

Judging from myself, growing up speaking Jutish (a language/dialect
spoken in Denmark), being teased and corrected, I should have pretty
good ideas at what young people need.

Recognition is the keyword, and the question is how to get this. A
standard writing system helps a lot, as has also been shown in other
regions. This is already present in the Netherlands for various Low
Saxon dialects, but as long as there isn't a more broad standard writing
language, some young people will just see this as an attempt to write in
local dialect. Other young people need to accept Low Saxon as a language
before it gets their recognition. A standardized writing system is
crucial for language recognition.

I think it is very important to develop one or two (maximum) standard
writing systems for Low Saxon in the Netherlands (Maybe 'Algemeen
Noord-Oost Nedersaksisch' and 'Algemeen Zuid-Oost Nedersaksisch').
However, this is very hard to do, and won't be something you can do from
one day to another. And there is another problem: many of those who have
started to write Low Saxon want to write as close to their home dialect
as possible, this is pretty understandable.

What can we do then? Well, we could look at the unique language
situation in Norway. In Norway, generally, it is very accepted to speak
dialect. Actually, people dislike when people try to put their dialect
behind them. Part of the reason for this, can be found in the writing
system. The writing system consists of main forms, and alternative
forms.

Ex. [alternative forms]
the bed: sengen, [senga, sjenga]

This is very handy because of the following reasons. First of all, the
main forms together form a language of themselves, a common Norwegian,
which makes it possible for everyone to write books that addresses
everyone in Norway (that could for instance be a math book, or a book on
Norwegian history). However, it is also possible to write a novel or
poetry in your own dialect (or something that resembles it very closely)
by using the alternative forms.

The only downside of this, as I have heard from Norwegians, is that
allowing too many alternative forms can be bad. It makes it hard
correcting essays etc, for instance. Thus, in Norway the minor
alternative forms are not added to their official dictionary.

Right now, the dictionary of Grunnegers (Gronings) follows the Norwegian
example, and consists of alternative spellings as well, but there are no
forms that are marked as main forms. This means that if I wanted to
translate a book to Grunnegers, then I'd first have to decide which
dialect I am going to write; maybe, however, I'd want to address all
people speaking a Grunneger dialect. If some forms would be marked as
main forms (and forming some kind of 'Aalgemeain Grunnegers'), then I
could translate using these forms and address everyone. Maybe not in
their home dialect, but in something which might resemble it pretty
well.

I see this as the first step toward more recognition. This for instance
means that more general material can be produced. This might mean,
though, that Grunnegers will develop more in the way of the defined
"common" (Algemeen) language; but rather that than dying out


This is just a first step, but a very welcome step for Grunnegers,
Drèents, Twents etc. The next step is to see if it is possible to make
these Low Saxon languages a bit more 'general' in writing. I know that
Grunnegers and Drèents are quite different, so it might not be possible
to unite these dialects into one general writing language, but it might
be possible with others.

If we could end up with two common languages of Low Saxon in The
Netherlands that would be great, and it might very well mean a better
chance at survival of Low Saxon. If these two languages then could be
standardized where possible, e.g. use the same vocal combinations for
the same sounds, use either 't or t in both languages etc., then that
might mean that the language will, in time, develop to be more alike
instead of just disappearing.

If a certain kind of writing standardization has been established, it is
time to look at the practical side. In my eyes, an important matter is
spell check dictionaries for the computer. Young people use computers,
so let's help them out, and let's try to make it available for free.

What is needed for a spell check dictionary is basically a simple list
of words. There are dictionaries for Grunnegers and Drèents, so with
these lists of Grunneger and Drèents words it would be possible to
create such spell check dictionaries. This is a limited part of the
original dictionaries (since the mapping to Dutch words isn't needed),
so it would be nice if this could be free for everyone; or at least
released on a license like the GPL (www.gnu.org for information). If it
is licensed under the GPL it means that the list of words is free for
everyone (open source), but it is forbidden to use info from the words
list in anything you earn money from. This means that it would be
impossible to publish the word list in a book, unless I sell the book
for purely the production price.

This is a common license used in Open Source software; and if word lists
are released under this license, it will be possible for me to create
spell check dictionaries for Linux and the free office suite OpenOffice
(www.openoffice.org); and I am very willing to do this. It is probably
also possible to create a spell check dictionary for Word, but I have no
idea how to do this, and it might require using expensive software.
Still it would be very nice if we could ship free redistributable spell
check dictionaries for Word, OpenOffice and Linux; and it might make a
few more young people interested in writing in Grunnegers or one of the
other Low Saxon dialects.

The Internet has become very popular by young people and language
enthusiasts. Advantage should be taken. Drèetse taol already has a nice
web page (www.drentsetaol.nl), and it might be possible to create
something in the same spirit for Low Saxon in Netherlands, and make it a
meeting point for Low Saxon speakers, including younger ones. Maybe the
web page of the federation SONT (www.sont.nl) could fill this need.
Another possibility would be to use the extensive network of language
enthusiast (including Low Saxon) of Lowlands-L (www.lowlands-l.net).
Here it would be possible to announce events, distribute spell checkers,
give small spellings tutorials and tell what is going on in the world of
Low Saxon; and maybe even have a meeting board where people can post
messages. If it could be done in cooperation with the German Low Saxon
speakers it would be even better and maybe help us cooperate further.

Mathieu Van Woerkom has already created a nice page for the different
languages/dialect in the Netherlands (www.streektaal.cjb.net), so he
might be interested in helping running such a site. Such a site would be
a good way of uniting Low Saxon speakers (especially younger ones, but I
hope older ones will join as well) in the Netherlands, Germany, or all
over the world.

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language survival

Hej, Kenneth!  Velkommen til Lowlands-L!

It's great to have you join us from Denmark, and with such a bang too.
And thanks for reopening the old orthography can of worms with such a
flourish!  :)  (Buckle down, and get ready for a bumpy ride, bud!)

An -- speakin aboot spellin -- bide till wir Scots-speakin an -screivin
feres -- Nyod sain thaim! -- git inrowed in the collogue!

I hope you'll throw a bit of Southern Jutish into the mix from time to
time!

'n Gouden wind in Dyn sayls, myn vründ!

Reinhard/Ron

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