LL-L "Phonology" 2004.09.10 (03) [A/E]

Fri Sep 10 16:05:43 UTC 2004

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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: jpkrause <jpkrause at weblink2000.net>
Subject: Language Varieties

John Feather wrote
>
> Two thoughts on US English, by which I mean what I hear on TV and in
films.
>
> 1. The "might" forms of the verb "may" have almost disappeared. It's easy
to
> understand how "He said he may come tomorrow" arises though in true
reported
> speech the form should be "might". The same occurs with "can" and "will".
> But one hears sentences where it is hard to sustain a logical argument for
> this choice. I heard "The police had drawn their guns because they thought
> there may be armed criminals inside." So to all intents and purposes
"might"
> is wrong.

Might not the word "could" be substituted in the above quote?
>
 The forms "mir" and "err" for "mirror"
> and "error" spring to mind but are there more examples? "Sqrl" for
> "squirrel" suggests the alternative explanation that the tendency is to
lose
> vowels.

Many accents are used in American film and television broadcasts--some
rather ludicrously satirized, or poorly imitated.  I grew up in the extreme
northwest of the USA and I seem to remember that the local preference was to
insert a schwa for the last vowel thus:
err_r  (sorry, I can't get the schwa symbol)
mirr_r  etc.  Yes, I have heard folk say "mir" for mirror, or even "mirruh."

JIm Krause

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From: Ruth & Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.09 (02) [E]

Dagsê Elsie & Ron,

Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.08 (08) [E]

Help my hier: I'm now thinking of the 'a' - 'e' mutations in Afrikaans.
English borrowed the word 'aardvark', though most Afrikaners these days say
'erdvark'. So also has the 'hart' as in 'Hartenbosch' (English 'hart' or red
deer) & 'hartebeest' (an antelope) mutated to 'hert' (the entrenched forms
in these names, however, do not change). 'Paarl' to 'Pêrel' (peR at l), 'haard'
as in 'huis en haard' (home & hearth) to 'herd'. It is the comparatively
long 'a' (a:) that has mutated to a short 'e' (e). The short 'a' as in
'hart' (English 'heart') has not mutated.
Ek kan nou nie aan skuiwing in die teenoorgestelde rigting in Afrikaans dink
nie.
I can not now think of shifts in the opposite direction in Afrikaans.

> Older forms of this type abound:
> paard -perd/ kaars -kers / aartappel-ertappel

bersten - bars

Elsie, kan hierdie verandering nie deel van 'n vroër, voor-Afrikaanse
verskynsel wees nie?

> Gabriele's question about "varsity" and the responses of John Feather,
David
> Barrow and Elsie Zinsser above prompt me to revisit my perpetual question
> about this /er/ to /ar/ shift.

Ron, it seems to me that in Afrikaans we have an /ar/ to /er/ - (a:) to (e)
shift. Elsie would have to check me on that.
>
> Is this shift a predominent feature of certain English dialects, and, if
so,
> what is their ancestry?  Can we really talk about a relatively recent
shift,
> or might this go back to certain Old or Middle English varieties?
>
> Note that pretty much the same shift occurred in Lowlands Saxon (Low
> German), especially in the North Saxon varieties; e.g.,
>
> OS=Old Sax., LS=Mod.Low.Sax., OE=Old Eng., ME=Mod.Eng., OF=Old Fries.,
> WF=Westerl.Fries., Sc=Scots, D=Dutch, G=German
>
> OS  |  LS  |  OE  |  ME  |  Sc  |  OF  |  WF  |  D  |  G
> werk  | wark | weorc | work | wark | weorc | wurk | werk | Werk
> kirika/kerika | kark | circe | church | kirk |
szereke/szurke/tzierka/tziurk
> | tsjerke | kerk | Kirche
> berg  | barg | beorƽ | barrow | ? | berch | berg | Berg
> herta  | hart | heorte/hearta* | heart | hert* | hert | hart | Herz
> ? | smart | smeart | smart | smert | smairt | smart | Schmerz
>
> * Old Northumbrian _hearta_

One more thing: Am I right in imagining the direction of shift very
important? I note a degree of mixing in your list & Elsie's. 'aartappel' -
'erdappel' / 'bersten' - 'bars' in her case, & OS 'werk' - LS 'wark' / OS
'smart - LS 'smeart' in yours.

Groete,
Mark

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From: Gary Taylor <gary_taylor_98 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Hi Ron and all

you wrote, Ron

"Gabriele's question about "varsity" and the responses of John Feather,
David Barrow and Elsie Zinsser above prompt me to revisit my perpetual
question about this /er/ to /ar/ shift.

Is this shift a predominent feature of certain English dialects, and, if so,
what is their ancestry?  Can we really talk about a relatively recent shift,
or might this go back to certain Old or Middle English varieties?"

Not sure about in which dialects this predominates, but the change of /er/
to /ar/ must have occurred before the change of /er~ir~ur/ to /3(:)r/ and
thus to /3:/ (at least in non-rhotic varieties). If this were not the
ordering then the -ir and -ur words would also have undergone the change,
which doesn't ever seem to be the case.

In 'Accents of English' by JCWells (Cambridge 1998) pp199-200 he says that
the merger of these "seems to have started in northern and eastern dialects
of English in the fifteenth century; by the sixteenth it had spread to
popular London speech, and by the seventeenth to the precursor of RP" - thus
setting the timescale, and also implying that the change happened away from
this area - possibly in the south west??

Now the sciency bit, so skip the next couple of  paragraphs if you're not
interested. The lowering of a vowel before /r/ is common, (compare also
modern High German -er at the end of words pronounced /6/, or Scandinavian
lowered pronunciation of -e- before r to /{/). The middle of the tongue is
lowered in the pronunciation of /r/ - whether due to the back of the tongue
being used as in uvular 'r's causing flattening of the rest of the tongue,
or the tip of the tongue being used in rolled 'r's, retroflex 'r's and
approximant 'r's raising the tip of the tongue and lowering the rest of the
tongue. When the tongue prepares itself for this following -r the preceding
vowel is also affected by this lowering of the tongue.

There are some interesting results of this such as in Newcastle where the
usual English /3:/ is realised as /O:/ due to the previous Northumbrian burr
(uvular thus back) 'r' which has since disappeared pulling the previous
vowel backwards.

Also North German pronunciations of High German in words such as 'durch'
/dURC/ where the changing of 'r' to /6/ would cause the following /C/ to be
pronounced /x/ but to maintain the /C/ pronunciation the 'r' is pronounced
/I/ which allows for a /C/ pronunciation, so /dUIC/. (Not entirely what
we're talking about here but interesting nevertheless).

Hope this has helped, sorry I can't be any more help with the dialects where
this predominates, but I too would be interested to find them out

Gary

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

Thanks a lot for the responses, folks!

Gary:

> Hope this has helped, sorry I can't be any more help with the dialects
> where this predominates, but I too would be interested to find them out

But it *was* useful!  Thanks.

> Also North German pronunciations of High German in words such as
> 'durch' /dURC/ where the changing of 'r' to /6/ would cause the following
> /C/ to be pronounced /x/ but to maintain the /C/ pronunciation the 'r' is
> pronounced /I/ which allows for a /C/ pronunciation, so /dUIC/. (Not
> entirely what we're talking about here but interesting nevertheless).

This is true.  It seems to apply before liquids in general, such as in North
German _Milch_ [mI.C] 'milk'.

Mark:

>  I note a degree of mixing in your list & Elsie's. 'aartappel' -
> 'erdappel'

The word for "earth" is interesting in that it varies between short and long
vowel.

For instance, the Standard "High" German pronunciation of _Erde_ is
['?e:`d@] (with a long or lengthened vowel), but it is or used to be
pronounced ['?E(.)de] with a short(er) vowel in North German dialects.  This
seems to apply to the sequence /er/ in general.

Also, Modern Lowlands Saxon (Low German) dialects have a diphthong in the
word for "earth": _eyrd'_ (<Eerd'> ~ <Eer> [?E.I3`] ~ [?i:3`]), sounding
much like "Ayer" (or "ear") in certain English dialects of Southern England,
New England and the southeastern United States.

Old Saxon: ertha (> eyrde > eyrd')
Old Frisian: erthe (> WF ierde ~ ierdzje)
Old English: eorþe (> earth)
Old Low Franconian: eartha ~ ero >
Middle Dutch: aerde ~ erde (> aarde, Afrikaans aarde)
Old German: erda ~ ero (> Erde, Yiddish ערד erd)
Old Norse: iǫrð (> jörð, jord > Scots yird?)
Gothic: airþa

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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