LL-L "Language use" 2003.10.17 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 17.OCT.2003 (08) * 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: Anja Meyfarth <anja-meyfarth at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2003.10.16 (07) [E]


  Moin moin Lowlanders!

  Ben wrote:

  I spoke with a German friend of mine at school the
  other day. She said that when she went down to Munich, she could not
  understand a word that they said. I asked her if they spoke High German
  to her, and she said no.

  Well, they speak Hogh German, or better said a dialect of High German.
While working in a call center I was talking with a bavarian customer I
couldn't understand and begged him to talk more standard German. He was
insulted because he was convinced to speak pure High German.

  >From that, I glean that in the highlands, the
  dialects are more publicly used. Is that correct? If so, how do they
  accept the dialects more than they do in the Lowlands?

  Because there is a continuity from the dialect to the standard language.
And Bavarians are a kind of their own. The same thing I described above
never occured with someone from Baden-Württemberg or Schweiz. It's no
problem to beg a Schweizer to talk standard High German when you're not
understanding him.

  Why are the Lowlands languages relegated to Grandma's secret closet
whereas folk in
  the Highlands speak them readily? Were they spoken more before the
  Germanic tribes came to Christianity?

  Even after having been baptized they used Low Saxon (or better Old saxon).
They stopped slowly using it at the end of the middle ages. It is not quite
sure if it is of economic reasons or because reformation came to Northern
Germany in High German. It might be a combination of both reasons. In Kiel
for example the reason for the vanishing of Low Saxon is the Navy. Most of
the sailors vame from other parts of Germany, especially from the South.
Only a few were of Northern German origin. They were regarded to be a bit
crazy because here the dangers of the sea are known only too well. So
combatting on sea and by this making sailing even more dangerous seems to be
a stupid idea. :) But that happened in the early 20th century (more or
less).
  It is known that rich families used Low Saxon in their homes because it
seemed to be more fitting to them. It was a kind of seperating from others
that haven't been of old hamburgian origin...

  Greetings from Kiel,

  Anja
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