LL-L "Language varieties" 2006.05.02 (07) [Ap/E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * 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
Commands ("signoff lowlands-l" etc.): listserv at listserv.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 (Zeeuws)
=======================================================================

   L O W L A N D S - L * 02 May 2006 * Volume 07
=======================================================================

From: Arthur Jones <arthurobin2002 at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L"Lexicon" 2006.05.02 [App]


From: Arthur A. Jones
arthurobin2002 at yahoo.com

To: Lowlands-L at lowlands-l.net
"Lexicon"

Haa yall

Ron asked about short familiar names for Mother and Father in Appalachia.
Like so many regions, it surely varies widely by area, by generation, by 
socio-economic and educational level, by (sometimes) ethnic origin, by 
context, and from family to family.

Also, Appalachian has attracted a vast number of "Borscht Circuit" wannabes 
who mimic the dialect badly. Or through a glass darkly. Which is where they 
sometimes wind up brokenly. Hence the worked-out seam of humor about 
Hillbillies. Native Appalachians have sometimes been their own worst enemies 
in this regard, telling jokes about their brethren in order to ingratiate 
themselves with outsiders, thereby reinforcing the stereotypes.

Lemme see: Where I grew up, central West Virginia, children from remote 
hollows most often called their parents "mom" and "dad". There were still 
echos of "ma" and "pa", and I remember several instances of "mammaw" and 
"pappaw", although these were usually descendants of mercenaries from the 
far reaches of European Teutonicity who signed up in Hessen to fight for 
England in the Revolutionary War of 1776, and who spoke, until the coming of 
paved roads and public schooling,  primarily some dialect of German. They 
came equipped with names such as Stalnaker, Schreckengost, Fogelsang, 
Blosser, Stover, Stuber, Staufer (all descended from Frederick Barbarossa) 
or Arbogast. They settled in the mountains after the war, which afforded 
them land and at least six or seven generations of blessed remoteness. When 
I was a teenager in the early sixties, some of them still used German words 
for farm implements without even realizing it. Grandmothers were sometimes 
referred to as "Oma", although they were assimilating into "Ol' ma" and "Ol' 
pa" when the practice all but ceased through the advent of television.

Nobody but city people and those trying to impress 
others --overcompensating, perhaps, for being West Virginians-- called their 
own parents "mother" or "father". It implied, to us, not respect but an 
artificial distancing, as if a more formal lifestyle would elevate them over 
the country hicks in whose midst they were -alas!- forced to live.

All the foregoing processes likely echo those of many of you Lowlanders out 
there.

Incidentally, in my counties (Roane and Clay), the moonshiners, moonrunners 
and bootleggers nearly all had German family names, rather than English or 
Irish. Or maybe they just ran the operations more efficiently and therefore 
survived longer ;-).

The earliest West Virginia glassmakers and glassblowers came from Flanders, 
and still drank bull's blood to enhance their lung power into the 1960s. Two 
family names stand out, namely in their altered form: Vandale and Van 
Benedum.

an' thankee fer ayuskin'.

Arthur 

==============================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.
======================================================================