LL-L 'Language varieties' 2006.07.25 (07) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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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 (Zeeuws)
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L O W L A N D S - L * 25 July 2006 * Volume 07
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From: clarkedavid8 at aol.com
Subject: LL-L 'Morphology' 2006.07.25 (01) [E]

"From: 'Ria Noome' <ria.noome at deneloptronics.co.za
Subject: LL-L 'Morphology' 2006.07.24 (06) [A/E]

 I know Afrikaans and the Jewish language sounds the
same for somebody who dont understand the language. They said its the "gh" sound
the sound you hear in the throat. I listen to a Jewish teacher one day and you
can here the "gh" sound much."
 
Why is this, do you think? Are the two peoples related?
 
David Clarke

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

Among the Germanic languages that have the phoneme /x/ (written _ch_ and _g_ in
most of them) most dialects of German, Low Saxon of Germany and also Scots (like
Celtic) assimilate it to preceding front vowels by changing it to the allophone
[C] (IPA [ç], pronounced like _h_ in "human" in many English dialects),
pronouncing it after back vowels as [x] (as in Loch).  This does not apply in
Dutch (and related varieties), Afrikaans and Yiddish, where it is always [x]; e.g.;

G Licht [lICt]
LS licht [lIC(t)]
Sc licht [leCt]
D licht [lIxt]
A lig [lIx]
Y ליכט [lIxt]

G lacht [laxt]
LS lacht [laxt]
Sc laughs, lauchs [lQ:xs] ~ [laxs]
D lacht [laxt]
A lag [lax]
Y לאַכט [laxt]

So this is a phonological similarity between Dutch and Afrikaans on the one hand
and Yiddish on the other hand.  This does not mean that they are more closely
related.  Yiddish is most closely related to German, Old Yiddish having branched
off medieval Rhenish German, which is why it used to be called Judeo-German and
in Yiddish ייִדיש) דײַטש) _(yidiš) daytš_ "(Jewish) German."

Similarities of striking sounds is often taken as indicating close relationships,
but this turns out false in most cases.  Modern Hebrew, Georgian and Modern
Mongolian have the same frequently occurring [x], and they are obviously not
related to either Afrikaans or Yiddish.  Conversely, two languages may sound very
different and yet can be very closely related, examples of this being Swedish
versus Danish, or Standard German versus Swiss German.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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