LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.08.21 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 21.AUG.2004 (06) * 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: Ruth & Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.08.21 (02) [E]

Dear John Duckworth & Dan Prohuska

Subject: Language Varieties

> This reminds me of a curious thing that people used to say. I think it was
> considered impolite to refer to one's mother or an elderly member of the
> family as 'she' ; if a child did so, they would ask him,' Who's _she_, the
> cat's mother?' I never quite understood what they meant by this, and when
> they said this they would always pronounce _she_ with a long vowel (they
> were obviously referring to a she-cat); I wonder if this might have been
an
> echo of the protests of the older generation when they heard the younger
> ones using the pronoun _she_ instead of the more traditional _oo_ ?

Can this have had a broader use than in these dialects? I ask because it had
hard use in my family too. Even my Irish grandmother used it; however she,
too, was long in this land: "Who's 'She', the cat's mother?" In Afrikaans,
"Wie's 'sy', Kat se ma?"
But in Afrikaans there is an intimate respectful form of language, as
between the young & beloved elders or elder siblings, or sometimes to others
about them, in which one addresses or refers to them by name or honourific,
never the pronoun. Pronouns are for for schoolmates or strangers, &
strangers are accorded the deferential form 'u' like French 'tu' instead of
the familiar form, 'jy' & 'jou', French 'vous'.

For example, "Sal ek Mams se bed opmaak?" - "Shall I make up Mom's bed?"
(addressed to her, herself). So also "Laat ek vir Pa 'n drankie skink!" -
"Let me pour Dad a drink!", "Wil Ouboet nie vir my 'n geldjie vir die
bioskoop leen nie? Soebat, soebat!" - "Will Elder Brother not lend me a coin
for the movies? Plead, plead!"

Yrs,
Mark

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