LL-L 'Phonology' 2006.09.18 (01) [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 * 18 September 2006 * Volume 01
======================================================================

From: Paul Finlow-Bates [wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L 'Phonology' 2006.09.17 (02) [E]

    From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
    Subject: Phonology

    Dear Lowlanders,

    My question may come across as naive to so of you, but I'm going to ask it
    anyway, partly because I would like to know the answer and partly because in my
    experience simple questions are not always asked in expert circles.

    I am wondering about the possible reasons for the Continental Germanic language
    varieties -- the Lowlandic ones included -- have lost their old interdental
    fricatives: /þ/ (as in "THird") and /ð/ (as in "THere").

    Apparently this loss and replacement with /d/ (/t/ and /d/ in Frisian and Nordic)
    occured in all or most Continental varieties from Northern Scandinavia to the
    southern slopes of the Alps,* not in most insular varieties (such as British,
    Faeroese and Icelandic). Furthermore, this loss -- at least in written
    representation -- seems to have occurred roughly with the transition from Old to
    Middle varieties, approximately in the early part of the second millennium C.E.
    In German (i.e., in the south) it happened already at a stage that we now
    consider "Old."

    [* It may be argued that Danish has preserved intervocalic and final /ð/ (written
    _d_) or that intervocalic and final Danish /d/ has the allophone [ð]. Similar
    arguments can be made with regard to _d_ ~ _ð_ in Älvdalsmål of Sweden; e.g.,
    _glyödẽ_ ~ _glyöðę_ ["glj9De~] 'glowed', _guod_ ~ _guoð_ [gwoD] 'good', though
    the fact that Älvdalsmål has preserved numerous ancient features may point toward
    preservation of /ð/.]

    Examples:

    English: þu > thu ~ thou ~ -tu ~ -tou > thou (Scots thoo)
    Frisian: thu > du
    Saxon: thu > du > du
    Norse: þú > du (Icel. þú)
    German: thu ~ du > du > du

    English: þing > thing > thing
    Frisian: thing > ting
    Saxon: thing > ding ~ dinc > ding
    Norse: þing > ting (Icel. þing)
    German: thing ~ ding ~ dinc > ding ~ dinc > Ding

    English: bāðe > bothe ~ beath > both (Scots baith)
    Saxon: bēðia > bēde > beyd(e)
    Norse: báð- > båd- (Icel. báð-)
    German: beide ~ bēde > bēde > beide

    English: þr�­ > threy ~ three > three
    Frisian: thri ~ thre- > tri
    Saxon: thri- ~ thre- > drê > drey
    Norse: þr�­- > tre (Icel. þr�­-)
    German: drî ~ dri- > drî(e) > drei

    What may have provoked this Continental shift, and why did this occur
    Continent-wide and not on the more distant islands? I wonder if it started in
    German and spread from there.

    Regards,
    Reinhard/Ron

There is a curious snippet about this in David Crystal's "Cambridge Encyclopedia
of Language" (Guild Publishing, London 1988). On page 33 he reproduces a couple
of intriguing little maps from a paper by L.F. Brosnahan on the work of
geneticist C.D. Darlington in the 1940s.  One map shows the distribution in
Europe of areas where the dental fricative occurs today, is recorded in the past,
and seems never to have existed.  The second map shows the frequency of the "O"
blood-group gene.  The correlation is remarkable, with areas of less than 60% "O"
never having the sound.  Even more remarkable, these boundaries cutting right
across the main Germanic/Romance linguistic boundaries. 
 
No explanation is attempted, and Crystal comments that this and other
genetic/language links have never been followed up, possibly because it is
"accepted" that laguage is socially controlled.

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