LL-L "Morphology" 2005.11.11 (04) [E]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
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   L O W L A N D S - L * 11 November 2005 * Volume 04
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From: Henry Pijffers <henry.pijffers at saxnot.com>
Subject: LL-L "Morphology" 2005.11.11 (02) [E]

Jonny wrote:
 >
> could be I'm on a wear-out tread/path, but I'm still interested in a
> discussion about diminuatives.
>
> I made some thoughts about them, and I couldn't find anything here, 
> neither
> in LS nor in English.
>
In Twente LS we mainly use -ke(n) and sometimes -tje to form diminutives
In English there are diminutives, only not as much as in other
languages. For example: sonny, lassie, doggy, kitty, movies, undies,
etc. Also, English uses -ette, from French. For more, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutive

> But they are very present in Dutch, in EFLS (East Frisian Low Saxon), an 
> in
> the far Eastern varieties (Ostpreussen/East-Prussian)) of LS-relatives. 
> And
> in Standard German, of course.
>
> Obviously (and that's my question and interest) it's a clear matter of
> Frankish influences??
>
I don't think so, but I'm not the expert.

regards,
Henry

----------

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

Tagchen, Jonny!

> Obviously (and that's my question and interest) it's a clear matter of
> Frankish influences??

I've thought a lot about this myself, and I have come to the conclusion that 
it may be impossible to tell, that at best we can speculate.  In any case, I 
hardly think that there is any single cause for this.

You need to take into consideration non-Germanic language contacts as well. 
In the east you have contacts with Slavonic and Baltic.  Both groups abound 
with diminutive forms.  Lithuanian (which belongs to the Baltic group) is 
particularly well known for its love of diminutives, already at the Old 
Lithuanian stage.  It has numerous choices in expressing deminution; e.g. 
brother (brolis) -> brolelis, broliukas, brolytis, brolužis, brolužėlis, 
brolutytis, broliukėlis, brolutaitis, etc.  (Doesn't _brolutaitis_ sound 
like a disease--*_brolutitis_?)  In the Prussian region--that covers most of 
what is now partly in Northern Poland and most of Russian-held 
Kaliningrad--Slavonic and Germanic language varieties have Baltic substrates 
or influences.  So, the great love of diminutive forms in Eastern Prussia's 
Low Saxon and German varieties are more likely than anything to go back to 
Baltic, perhaps in conjunction with Slavonic, given long-standing close 
contacts between speakers of Low Saxon and Kashubian in what is now Northern 
Poland.

At the western end, there are Romance varieties, all of which, too, abound 
with diminutive forms, going all the way back to Latin (both Classical and 
Vulgar) which uses diminution not only impromptu but also very widely in 
creating new lexical items.  Latin and some of its descendants had enormous 
influences on the Germanic varieties west of the Rhine.

The Saxon heartland, like Scandinavia, was never occupied by Romans and in 
the early days were a long way away from direct influences from Latin. 
There were early contacts with Slavonic speakers but never on a massive 
scale until colonization of the east beginning in earnest with the 12th 
century.  Perhaps relative scarsity of diminution in Low Saxon, and also in 
Scandinavian, is due to not having been massively influenced by Romance, 
Slavonic and Baltic.

English and Scots, of course, do use diminutives and, generally speaking, 
more than does Low Saxon.  Diminutives have been involved in lexical 
creation as well (e.g., English "kitten," "kitty" and "panties," Scots 
_mannie_, _wifie_ and _kittlin_).  However, it is true that this is hardly 
anything compared with what's going on in Low Franconian--especially in 
Dutch and, even more so, in Afrikaans.

Tschüßchen!
Reinhard/Ron 

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