LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.10.09 (11) [E/LS/Middelsprake]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 09.OCT.2004 (11) * 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: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at worldonline.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.10.09 (01) [E/LS]

Hei Jim
Mennig good dat du forsta Middelsprake so good as Platdütisch! Ig löve dat
Platdütisch is (een af) diin modersprake, ne?
Wel, Middelsprake (MS) is en künstlig on nik en wirklig natuurlig sprake,
doch ig ha probered to make dat so dat ene mid en ander germanisch
sprake likas Dütisch, Nedersaksisch oller en skandinavisch sprake kan forsta
on lese dat uter to lerne.
Darfor ig föle mi lükkig mid diin reaktion, fordat det pröve alrede weder
dat dis wirke okso. Ig tanke ju for dat Jim!
Mid de hertlig gröte af Ingmar

> OK, ekj habe irjenwaut  jeütlotet.  Waut's de Unjascheet tweschen
> Nedersasisch/Plautdietsch un Meddelsproakj?  Ekj vestone Meddelsproak
> afents so goot aus Plautdietsch.
>
> Jim Krause

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From: R. F. Hahn <lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net>
Subject: Language varieties

Ingmar,

Jim is one of our valued members of Mennonite background (which we have in
Germany, Canada, USA, Mexico and Russia, possibly elsewhere as well) and
speaks their northeastern (Slavonic-influenced) variety of Lowlands Saxon
(Low German) that originated at the Vistula Delta in Northern Poland. They
call their dialect "Plautdietsch" (< _Plattdüütsch_).  Their ancestors came
from the Netherlands (mostly from Friesland and Groningen, their esteemed
founder Menno Simons having been a Westerlauwer Fries) and Northern Germany
and then migrated from Western Prussia to Ukraine and from there throughout
Eurasia and the Americas.  Since the crumbling of the Iron Curtain, many are
remigrating to Germany now, so that Germany now has the largest population
of them.   And we love them dearly wherever they may be living.

A wonderful worldwide Plautdietsch magazin is being published in Germany by
Peter Wiens (originally from Russia and Estonia, I think), one of the most
fantastic, dearest people you can possibly imagine.  (Talking about "eydel"
...)  This glossy hardcover magazin, _Plautdietsch Friend_, is very well
presented and worth subscribing to.

Lewe Jriesse aun all onse mennische Friend on Verwaundte in de gaunze Walt!
Loot mool wadda waut von Ji here!

Reinhard/Ron

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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.10.09 (01) [E/LS]

Sandy wrote:
> deportation. Another internationally "correct" sign that would, like
> "Germany" worry us if more of us knew what it signified! Actually,
sometimes
> BSLers argue that although the Germans use that sign (the hat with the
> spike - what are these hats actually called?), it wouldn't be politically
> correct for _us_ to use it, and it just occurred to me that the Australian
> sign is a good counterexample for this argument.

Actually, I don't see anything offensive about that sign (the German term
for this kind of helmet is "Pickelhaube"). As far as I know, it is not even
militaristic; this kind of helmet used to be worn by Prussian police
constables; actually, I always wondered whether its purpose was to prevent
criminals from clubbing them over the head. And I shudder to think of all
the injuries of hapless police officers who accidentally sat on their
helmets after taking them off and forgetting where they put them.

Not everything is offensive just because it refers to Germany's past in some
way or other... even if those things happened to be still worn during WWI.
On the whole, I think that, in Germany, they are considered a bit of a
humourous relic, even if the Kaiser wore one, too, on occasion.

Gabriele Kahn

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