LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.08.13 (09) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 13.AUG.2004 (09) * 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: john feather <johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Language varieties

Bill Bryson writes in 'Mother Tongue':

"In .. a small corner of northern Germany, in the spur of land connecting
Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark, you can sometimes hear .. what sounds eerily
like a lost dialect of English. Occasional snatches of it even make sense,
as when they say that the 'veather ist cold' or inquire of the time by
asking, 'What ist de clock?' According to Prof Hubertus Menke, head of the
German Department at Kiel University, the language is 'very close to the way
people spoke in Britain more than 1,000 years ago'."

The examples are not very persuasive. Something like "vether" is common to
most languages in the region (Du has the standard reduction of 'ede' to
'ee'), and "is(t)" and "kold" are also quite usual. "Clock" only goes back
to the 14th century so someone seems to be stretching things a bit. The idea
that there was "a" way in which people in Britain spoke before 1000 CE also
seems odd. I don't think we know very much about their speech anyway.

Can anyone suggest what this language/dialect is? It would appear from its
geography to be a variety of either West or North Frisian or Southern
Jutish, with 'clock' suggesting the latter. Does any variety of Frisian ask
about the
time in this way?

John Feather
johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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