LL-L 'Language maintenance' 2007.01.06 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

======================================================================= |
 L O W L A N D S - L * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226 |
 http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands.list at gmail.com |
 Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/rules.php |
 Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org - lowlands.list at gmail.com |
 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.] |
 Administration: lowlands.list at gmail.com or sassisch at yahoo.com |

 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 - 06 January 2007 - Volume 02
======================================================================

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

The following page has been mentioned a couple of times now:

http://moinmoin.wikiwikiweb.de/MoinMoinEtymology

Incidentally what gets me on that page is the following:

<quote>
Someone from Hamburg said: Hamburgers don't talk platt, they talk
"Missingsch" (I suppose that means something like Falschgold).
</quote>

This shows you what some people know ... or don't know.

Well, it shouldn't be too surprising considering that at least in the city
itself Low Saxon has been leading the life of a closet language for quite
some time.  As I have mentioned before, some people that I knew in Hamburg
most of my life only recently "came out" to me as private users of Low Saxon
(Low German, "Platt").

However, even outside my own circle of relatives I've always known some
people that were not secretive in using it and were not shy of using it in
public, some of them even in an "in your face" way (which has always
impressed and inspired me).  Well, I suppose they were a dying breed, and
these days younger people even in the city itself are under the false
impression that there are no more speakers left, probably especially those
that have "superior" formal education and rarely or never stray into the
"inferior" (working-class and "rag-tag") parts of town and have no social
interactions with people in or from such parts.

Also please bear in mind that Hamburg's industrial areas and their adjacent
working-class neighborhoods were pretty much decimated by Allied carpet
bombing raids with the result that many LS-speaking "local yokels"
(including my maternal grandfather) were killed, and among those that
survived but had become homeless many eventually moved away. This was a
major blow to Hamburg city Low Saxon. The "better" areas of town, however,
were hardly touched by the bombing or got away totally unscathed, and very
few LS speakers lived there.

Another blow to the language came with the so-called post-war "economic
miracle." It drove the language into the underground and caused many parents
and grandparents to address young people only in German, albeit in
Missingsch German in most cases.  The assumption then was that use of the
language would be detrimental to young people's economic success in the
light of all those wonderful new opportunities, that at very least it would
tarnish their social standing.  Many people refer to this as the "dark era"
regarding the language.  I know that it was, for I have lived through it and
witnessed the results, the only difference being that I myself did not buy
the "crap" and instead soaked up whatever I could.

We mustn't forget that Hamburg is not only a city but is also a German state
(Bundesland) that contains rural areas in which the language has faired far
better and is still fairly widely spoken.  Many city people had and have
relatives in those areas, if they didn't even grow up in them themselves.
The same goes for numerous towns and villages not far away across the
borders in Schleswig and in Lower Saxony.  We have relatives there, and this
is where I heard Low Saxon spoken and was spoken to in it on a regular
basis, aside from in-city gatherings of family and friends at which there
were no "yellow" pretences and a bit of booze brought out the old lingo
full-force.  It is true, though, that many of those outlying areas within
commutable distance have now become bedroom communities for people that work
in Hamburg, and the LS-speaking locals have become minorities there.

In a word, please don't go by pronouncements some people spout off for lack
of better knowledge.

Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron

==============================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. |
*********************************************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20070106/bb7c9e26/attachment.htm>