LL-L "Language varieties" 2008.02.17 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 17 February 2008 - Volume 02
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From: Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2008.02.15 (03) [E]

Hi all,

Ron, not coincidental at all but features strongly in Dutch / Afrikaans
comparative studies.

Elsie Zinsser

I assume many of you remember the thesis according to which most or all
non-European "Dutch"-based language varieties are primarily based on
Zeelandic (*Zeêuws*). This makes sense historically, considering Zeeland's
seafaring traditions. And there appear to be linguistic indications as well,
some of which Marco Evenhuis told us about two or three years ago.

I have been listening to the Zeelandic and West Flemish translations of our
wren story, since we are dealing with closely related varieties that ought
to be treated as one group were it not for political distinctions):

·         *(1) Kwadendamme Zeelandic*
http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/zeeuws.php

·         (2) Nieuwport West Flemish
http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams2.php

·         *(3) Roeselare West Flemish*
http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams.php

On that basis I took another look at the translations without audio files in
order to find orthographic indicators:

·         *(4) Oost Souburg Zeelandic*
http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/zeeuws-oostsouburg.php

·         (5) Ostend West Flemish
http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/westvlams3.php

I concentrated on falling diphthongs, namely on those that tend to be
spelled *eê* and *oô* (~ *ô*) and tend to be pronounced [eˑɛ] ~ [iˑe] (SAMPA
[e:\E] ~ [i:\e]) and [oˑɔ] ~ [uˑo] (SAMPA [o:\O] ~ [u:\o]) respectively.
These seem to be present in all of the above except in the Nieuwport
dialect. Furthermore, in Western Brabantish (which has Flemish substrata) I
found what I consider a relative set of diphthongs, not in the (6) Antwerp
dialect (http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/brabants-antwerpen.php) but in
the *(7) Merchtem dialect* (http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/brabants.php):
[iˑə] (SAMPA [i:\@]) and [uˑə] (SAMPA [u:\@]) respectively. These are the
equivalents of what in (8) Standard Dutch are spelled *ee* and
*oo*respectively, originally indicating long monophthongs: [e:] and
[o:]
respectively, though in some dialects the are now pronounced as rising
diphthongs: [eˑɪ] (SAMPA [e:\I]) and [oˑʊ] (SAMPA [o:\U]) respectively.

This is indeed very similar to, in some cases virtually identical with, *(9)
Afrikaans*: *ee* [iˑe] and *oo* [uˑo] (SAMPA [i:\e] and [u:\o]); e.g.,

·         *keer** *(time, occasion):
(1) *keêr*
(3) *keê*
(4) *keêr*
(7) *kieë*
(9) *keer* [kiˑer]

·         *groot** *(great, large, big):
(1) *groôt*
(3) *groôt*
(4) *groôt*
(7) *groeët*
(9) *groot *[xruˑot]
Be it related or coincidental, there appears to be a common phonological
feature in Flemish-Zeelandic and Afrikaans.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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

Thanks, Elsie, and Ingmar as well.

Of course I never expected the roots of Afrikaans to be traceable to a
single Dutch dialects or dialect group. After all, early emigrants came from
many parts of the Netherlands, and I am not aware of any dominant group.
Yes, officials, merchants and church people dominated politically, but I
rather suspect that they, too, spoke with whatever "accents" were native to
them. Most people were most likely not particularly strong in what at the
time approached Standard Dutch, and they got by by using their own dialects
or dialect-colored approximations and by understanding those of others.
Throw into this mix Indonesians and indigenous Africans who approximated
whatever forms of Dutch as a second or third language,. And never forget the
large number of French-speaking Huguenots ...

When you deal with mixes of this sort in conjunction with low literacy rates
(not to mention the scarcity of model speakers) you tend to end up with a
conglomeration of features from various contributing language varieties.
Indonesian slaves approximated whatever speech forms they heard in the
households for which they worked. Being linguistically diverse to begin
with, they taught each other their "Cape Dutch" approximations, and the
nannies among them used them with the European children for which they
cared, for whom these were virtually native languages (since nannies tended
to spend more time with children than did the children's parents). When
people of part-European-part-African descent came to be grouped together
they probably began to develop their own varieties on this basis. (This may
well be the genesis of Griqua Afrikaans, for instance:
http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/griekwa.php.)

In a word, I agree that Zeelandic is not *the* ancestor of Afrikaans.
However, I do believe that the falling diphthong feature is likely to be a
contribution, if not of Zeelandic alone, of southwestern Dutch dialects
(possibly varieties with Frisian substrata, since they are predominantly
coastal dialects).

This begs the question if phonological feature selection in hybrids of
closely related language varieties depends only on model predominance or
also on native limitations and preferences/selection of those that
approximate a set of model varieties. In other words, were falling
diphthongs perhaps preferable to speakers of Malayic, Khoi-San and
Nguni-Bantu languages?

When we discuss such hybridization processes we might also bear in mind that
the early development of Old English may well have followed similar
patterns. In this case we may want to pay special attention to the possible
role of Old Frisian and women, which may explain the Anglo-Frisian branch
hypothesis.

Musing,
Reinhard/Ron
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