LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.09.18 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * 18.SEP.2004 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
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)
=======================================================================

From: john feather <johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Language politics

Ole wrote concerning the numbers of Danish residents speaking different
languages: "Swedish and Norwegian are not assessable because of their mutual
intelligibility with Danish".

Actually I've just been reading something about this. Different experiments
have given different results but one study carried out by Maurud in 1972 on
army recruits gave ratings (out of 100, calculated in a way not specified in
the paper I read) of 69 for Danes' comprehension of spoken Norwegian and 43
for Danes' comprehension of Swedish. The lowest figure found for these three
languages was 23 for Swedes' understanding of Danish. Other experiments
involving just asking people if they can understand another language "well"
have produced results in the range 40-70% with Swedish <-> again at the low
end. I think these figures are worth noting in relation to claims about the
mutual intelligibility of Lowlands languages.

I'm a bit worried about Ron's Manx person speaking to a Lowland Scot. Is the
implication that s/he is speaking Manx? Seems like a tailless version of
Schroedinger's cat. Is the Manxperson alive or dead?

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

----------

From: john feather <johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Language varieties

Mark: All I can find that you said to Henry is

>Well, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Fries were recruited to man King
Alfred's Navy, since they were, unlike the English of that time, seamen.
They were warriors of note & they spoke a dialect mutually intelligable to
the English. Their only problem was unfamiliarity with keels...<

This goes far beyond saying that Frisians existed, which I have certainly
never wanted to dispute. All I can find in the Chronicle which bears on the
above quotation is that not less than one Frisian died on a particular
occasion. It does not say why he was there. Please give me chapter and verse
for your source, and the precise quotation if it's not too long.

I'm sure that there's lots to be said about keels and leeboards. But unless
it's directly connected with the employment of Frisians by Alfred I'm happy
to ignore it for now.

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

---------

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

John (above):

> I'm a bit worried about Ron's Manx person speaking to a Lowland Scot.
> Is the implication that s/he is speaking Manx? Seems like a tailless
version of
> Schroedinger's cat. Is the Manxperson alive or dead?

The implication (in case I didn't spell it out) was that he/she spoke
English, since we talked about the use of national linguae francae in an
analogy.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

================================END===================================
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
  http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
======================================================================