LL-L "Idiomatica" 2008.04.15 (03) [D/E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 15 April 2008 - Volume 03
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From: burgdal32admin <burgdal32 at telenet.be>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2008.04.14 (04) [E]

Dag iedereen,Inderdaad, het woordje 'maar' speelt een grote rol in het
antwoorden met 'neen'
-Ei gie moa enen auto ? Nink
 (Hebt u maar één auto? Neen (ik).)
En nu mag je als Nederlandstalige niet verward worden en vragen
-Hoeveel auto's hebt u dan?
Want de West-Vlaming heeft heel duidelijk gezegd dat hij juist één auto
bezit.

Ook met een volgende zin wordt  een negatief antwoord gegeven om te
bevestigen.
Zie'j gie nie ziek dè? Nink.
(Bent u niet ziek? Neen)
Die persoon is dus niet ziek.
Hier speelt het woord 'dè' de rol van 'maar'  (dè =  ± niet waar?)

Groetjes
Luc Vanbrabant
Oekene West-Vlaanderen

From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica"

Beste Ron, Roland and others,

Ron wrote:

*En hé je gie mo twi oogn? Nin'k!*
"And do you have [but/just] two eyes. No I!"

 *En hét hen hie mo tien joengers. Nainhen! Twi knéchtjoengers én acht
méjsjoengers!*
"And does he have [but/just] ten children. No-they! Two boys and eight
girls!"

 *En zie je giender mo gister gewist? Nainme!*
"And were you over there [but/just] yesterday? No-we!"

 The answer to all of these would be "yes" in our terms.

Crucial here seems to be the use of *mo*, the seeming equivalent of Standard
Dutch *maar*, Afrikaans *maar*, Low Saxon *maor*, *maar*, *man*, etc.
(cognate of English "mere," I believe), which can serves as "but", "just",
"only" etc. The replies sound as though they negate the *mo* aspect. I can't
profess to grasp this entirely yet.

Just a guess. The "mo" in the question wants to minimize, to depreciate a
situation:

"mo twi oogn" = hardly two eyes
"mo tien joengers" = hardly ten kids
"mo gister gewist" = been there only yesterday

The respondent then wants to counter this attempt to belittle his situation
and does this through denial; he's actually making an exact statement in
order to enhance the accuracy, replying:

No, I do not have hardly two eyes, I have exactly two eyes.
No, I do not have hardly ten kids, more precisely, I have two boys and eight
girls.
No, I didn't go there only yesterday (as if I couldn't go any earlier), I
deliberately went there yesterday (on purpose and not any other day).

In short, the "no" wants to counter/negate the minimizing aspect of the
"mo".

Psychologically speaking, this feature of Western Flemish doesn't really
surprise me, it sort of reflects the very high sensitivity for being
addressed in a disparaging way.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx
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