LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.05.15 (02) [E]

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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
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From: Lee Goldberg <leybl_goldberg at yahoo.com>
Subject: Yiddish Dialects and Gefilte Fish

On one branch of the 'H-Deletion' thread, someone pointed out that dialect
boundaries in Yiddish corresponded to cultural boundaries involving things
like whether you like your gefilte fish (a popular Jewish dish) sweet or
spicy.  (Sorry for not responding sooner; I deleted the original email.)

This is true, and the historical reason is that both the linguistic and
cultural boundaries correspond to an internal border in the old
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the territory of the Kingdom of
Poland and that of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.  Thus the Yiddish words for
'what' and 'where' are pronounced VOS and VU by speakers from "Lithuania"
(including present-day Belarus), as in the literary language, and VUS and VI
by speakers from Poland (and Ukraine).  And, as you suggested, along with
the dialect difference, there are differences in eating and religious
preferences (Hassidism was vastly more popular in the Southern areas than
among the Northern "Litvak"s).

(I think I've heard a similar story told about the historical borders of
Saxony helping to maintain language boundaries in Germany.  Is that right?)

Lee

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

Hi, Lee!

I'm not totally sure I get what you are asking, but perhaps the following is
something along the same lines.

The eastern part of the Saxon- (and German-) speaking area has a more or
less strong Slavonic substrate, due to that area (eastward from Hamburg,
Lunenburg and Brunswick, including also much of Holstein and thus Luebeck)
having been largely Slavonic-speaking (Polabian, Pomoranian and Sorbian), in
part Baltic- (Prussian-) speaking, before Germanic speakers colonized and
Christianized it.  Some areas remained Slavonic-speaking for centuries
thereafter, and Sorbian-speaking Lusatia is the only remaining enclave.
However, throughout the area, Lowlands Saxon (and German) language and
culture still bears more or less noticeable Slavonic character.  Much of it
is in the area of folklore, dress and food.  Clearly Slavonic features of
the phonology are _j-_ (_y-_) for _g-_ and various permutations of palatals
before front vowels, and unrounding of front rounded vowels.  The latter
feature (ü > i, ö > e, also German oi (<eu>) > ai (<ei>)) is an
"easternization" feature shared with Yiddish; hence Saxon _düytsch_ >
_dietsch_ 'German', German _deutsch_ > _deitsch_ (cf. Yiddish _daytsh_)
'German', _Gemüse_ > _Jemiese_ 'vegetables', Saxon _dööns_ (<Döns>) >
_deens_ (<De(e)ns>) 'parlor' (< Polabian *_dörnice_ < *_dwornica_).  In
addition, the number of Slavonic and Baltic lexical loans gets larger the
farther east you go.

Most of these dialects are now extinct, due to political changes since World
War II (in what are now Northern Poland and Kaliningrad/Königsberg).
Mennonite Lowlands Saxon (Plautdietsch) is the only remaining viable dialect
group, surviving because of earlier relocation to Eastern Europe, Siberia,
Central Asia and the Americas.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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