LL-L "Orthography" 2004.02.23 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 23.FEB.2004 (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) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Peter Snepvangers <snepvangers at optushome.com.au>
Subject: New Question

Hello Ron,
I have noticed that there do not seem to be any words in Limburgs beginning
with the letters Q and Y. Also there seem to be very few words beginning
with X or C. Do you know if this is correct or am I stupid or just plain
unaware. Is this type of thing also the case in Lowlands languages such as
Fries, Saksich, Scots etc. where certain letters are not used for beginning
words? If this is the case, why is it? The only word I can think of that
begins with Q is quatsch because I remember my father used to say it. I am
not sure if that is Dutch, Limburgs or something else. I know there are
words used in Dutch such as quizleider, quota, quiche quadrafonie but these
seem to be borrowings.
Cheers
Peter Snepvangers
snepvangers at optushome.com.au

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

G'day, Pete!

Good to hear from you, as always.

Let's see where this leads us.  For now I've given this tread the heading
"Orthography" because this is where I feel it's headed.  I'm pretty sure
others will have to say a thing or two about it.  For now, let me say a
couple of things.

First of all, you need to bear in mind that the letters <q> and <x> are
really alien graphemes in the Germanic languages, fundamentally speaking
also in Latin (Romance) from which they borrowed them.  As far as I know,
they go back to Semitic and Greek.

<Q> corresponds to Hebrew ק (_qâf_) and Arabic ق (_qâf_), both (originally)
representing the uvular equivalent of the velar stop written <k> (Hebrew כּ
_kāf_, Arabic ك _kāf_).  In Latin it came to be utilized for the phoneme
sequence <QV> (<qu>) /kw/ (which might possibly be argued to have been a
single labialized stop phoneme at some early stage of development).
Germanic literary languages borrowed the letter sequence and pronounced it
[kw] or [kv].  They might as well have written <kw> or <kv> instead, which
is in fact how more recently established or reformed Germanic writing
systems, especially Scandinavian ones, write them.  This would be a native
solution, so to speak.

<X> represents the Greek letter Ξ (_ksi_), used for what in Ancient Greek
may have represented what was perceived as or was in fact a single phoneme
but which to speakers of Germanic languages for all intents and purposes is
a phoneme sequence: /ks/.  Thus, <x> is an alien grapheme in Germanic and
might as well be written <ks> instead, in English <z> when it occurs in the
beginning of a words (e.g., "xylophone").

In other words, we are dealing with alien orthographic representations that
in a number of long established Germanic written languages have been hanging
on as a matter of convention, beginning with Latin dominance on the West
European writing scene.  In more recently established or reformed
orthographies for Germanic varieties they ought to be considered redundant
and ought to be discarded, as they have been in Scandinavian and in some of
the "more sensible" (my bias) orthographic systems for Lowlands languages.
This is why you don't find them in the varieties you mentioned.

Since German uses both <qu> (/kv/) and <x> (/ks/), their used has "spilled
over" into the spelling systems of most German-based orthographies used for
Lowlands Saxon (Low German) varieties of Germany.  However, even in these
German-dependent conventions writing <kw> and <ks> instead has pretty much
always been accepted alternatives; e.g., /kvik/ _quick_ ~ _kwick_ 'lively',
/kvark- at n/ _quarken_ ~ _kwarken_ 'to quack', /niks/ _nix_ ~ _niks_
'nothing'.  (Note: in most North Saxon dialects, the sequence /ks/ can only
occur across a morpheme boundary, thus very rarely, because otherwise it is
changed to /ss/, e.g., (sahsisco ~ sacsisco >) _Sassisch_ 'Saxon' (adj.),
(wahson ~ wakson >) _wassen_ 'to grow'.)

Sensibly (my bias), Dutch and Afrikaans have gotten rid of <qu> and <x>.
Unfortunately (my bias), they still retain them in just a few older
loanwords (and also use them in more recently borrowed words).  Thus, for
Zeelandic, for Limburgish, for Westerlauwer Frisian and for the Lowlands
Saxon dialects of the Netherlands there has been no incentive to use them.

<Y> is a different matter.  It came to be used to represent native phonemes
or phoneme sequences in the languages of Europe, though it is also used as a
superfluous conventional grapheme, such as in English and German.  Its place
is thus more secure.  In some older varieties of Dutch and Lowlands Saxon,
and still in Westerlauwer Frisian and in Afrikaans, it is used within native
contexts, and, based on Middle Saxon models, Kenneth and I use it in our
developing ANS system for LS for /ii/ and in rising diphthongs (e.g., /iiz/
_ys_ 'ice', /miin/ _myn_ 'my', 'mine', /mii/ _my_ 'me', /ein/ _eyn_ 'one',
'a', /kein/ _keyn_ 'no ...', 'none', /drei/ _drey_ 'three').  Strictly speak
ing, <y> is redundant in LS as well (since <ii> and <...i> could be used
instead), but it is used as a compromise graphic device for psychological
reasons, because most speakers find <ii> unacceptable and need to be
"distracted" from _ei_ which in the dominant languages Dutch and German are
pronounced differently.

> The only word I can think of that begins with Q is quatsch because I
> remember my father used to say it.

Possibly from German _Quatsch_ 'nonsense'.  It is related to the Lowlands
Saxon adjective _dwatsch_ 'silly' and _kwaad'_ 'evil', 'bad'.

So much from me for now.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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