LL-L "Grammar" 2007.08.28 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  28 August 2007 - Volume 02
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Grammar

Another interesting tidbit could be picked up in Roland's response to Theo's
inquiry, namely West Flemish forms like the following:

ik horn ik 'I listen', 'I'm listening'
je hort gie ~ j' hort gie 'you listen', 'you're listening'
hj' hort hie 'he listens', 'he's listening'
ze hort zie 'she listens', 'she's listening'

ik hoorn ik 'I hear', 'I'm hearing'
je hoort gie ~ j' hoort gie 'you hear', 'you're hearing'
hj' hoord hie 'he hears', 'he's hearing'
z' hoort zie 'she hears', she's hearing'

What we got here is a repetition of the personal pronoun in each case (where
je and gie coincide for 'you'); thus, "I hear I," "you hear you," etc., as
opposed to Standard Dutch:

ik luister I listen', 'I'm listening'
je luistert 'you listen', 'you're listening'
he luistert 'he listens', 'he's listening'
ze luistert 'she listens', 'she's listening'

ik hoor 'I hear', 'I'm hearing'
je hoort 'you hear', 'you're hearing'
he hoort 'he hears', 'he's hearing'
ze hoort 'she hears', she's hearing'

Looking at languages worldwide, we find find the Ostend West Flemish
construction as one of the permissible constructions among the Eastern
Turkic languages (which belong to the Altaic family).  In Uyghur, the main
Turkic language of Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang, now under Chinese
administration) permissible structure in rendering the above are as follows:

(män) tiŋšiwatimän 'I listen', 'I'm listening'
(sän) tiŋšiwatisän 'thou listenst', 'thou art listening' (fam.)
(siz) tiŋšiwatisiz  'you listen', 'you're listening' (pol.)

(män) aŋliwatimän 'I hear', 'I'm hearing'
(sän) aŋliwatisän 'thou hear'est, 'thou art hearing' (fam.)
(siz) aŋliwatisiz 'you hear', 'you're hearing' (pol.)

In all of the above constructions, the first occurrence of the personal
pronoun is optional and is often used emphatically, while the second
occurrence is mandatory.  As is suggested by the spelled forms, the second
occurrence is enclitic.  This means that the pronoun has been fused with the
preceding verbs construction to some degree, not to the degree of a suffix
(which in Uyghur is fully integrated into the word's phonology: stress
assignment and vowel harmony).  In some other Turkic languages, full
suffixization of these former personal pronouns has indeed taken place.  In
theory at least, this could happen in Ostend Western Flemish if it were left
to its own devices, i.e., came to be isolated from related language
varieties.  Just for the "fun" of it, let me show you what this would most
likely look like (hypothetically, mind you):

(ik) hornik 'I listen', 'I'm listening'
(je) hordgie ~ (je) hortchie 'you listen', 'you're listening'
(hj' )hortie 'he listens', 'he's listening'
(ze) hordzie ~ (ze) hortsie 'she listens', 'she's listening'

 (ik) hoornik 'I hear', 'I'm hearing'
(je) hoordgie ~ (j') hoortchie 'you hear', 'you're hearing'
(hj' hoordie 'he hears', 'he's hearing'
(z') hoordzie ~ (z') hoortsie 'she hears', she's hearing'

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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