LL-L "Language varieties" 2008.01.02 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  01 January 2008 - Volume 06
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From: Marcus Buck <list at marcusbuck.org>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2008.01.02 (05) [E]

From: Ed Alexander <edsells at cogeco.ca <mailto:edsells at cogeco.ca>>

If the intent of the film is entertainment, they won't use Low Saxon.
Low Saxon is very rarely used in film. Cause films produced in Germany
are created for the German market, the full German market, and Low Saxon
won't work in Bavaria or Swabia. The other way round it works better,
Bavarian for example is used more often in film. Perhaps cause its
better capable of using different registers. It is possible to speak a
sort of Bavarian halfway between real Bavarian and Standard German. This
sort of Bavarian is understandable to all Germans. But Low Saxon has no
intermediate registers like Bavarian and it is harder to create Low
Saxon, that is "understandable" for non-Northerners. Another point is
the public image of the dialects. The public image of Bavarian is that
of a live dialect. People expect to hear Bavarian when they visit a
Bavarian village or watch a film situated in a Bavarian village. The
public image of Low Saxon is another. People don't expect the language
to be used, whn they visit a Northern German village or a film situated
there. This is partly cause the language is not used when foreigners are
present and partly cause the people don't see it in TV (absence from the
TV intensifies the factors, that lead to its absence, a vicious circle).
Entertaining formats won't use Low Saxon, but there are some
documentaries that report about regional stuff, that use Low Saxon
speaking informants and Standard German subtitling for more authenticy
(/e.g. Geschichten vom Eis, //Die Ostfriesland Saga/). Other
documentaries were dubbed from the original Standard German into Low
Saxon (/Billerbook Düütschland)/. This was to create content for the
"Low Saxon Week" event on NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, North German
Broadcast). Some artistic productions do use the language for reasons of
"otherness" too (/Der Wirt, die Kneipe und das Fest /is an artistic
documentary [so would fit in the first category too] about the Wacken
Heavy Metal festival. In this case Low Saxon and rural Beschaulichkeit
are an antithesis for the loudness of the festival). The use of Low
Saxon in the film /Stellet Licht/ by Carlos Reygadas (/Prix du Jury /at
Cannes 2007) has artistic and authenticy reasons too. The documentary
/Op Platt /about Low Saxon enclaves abroad was intentionally bilingual.
 From 1999 to 2007 the Filmemakers from Sulingen created three
/Apparatspott-/movies. These films were the first films ever, that were
real Low Saxon films. The producers are amateurs and the production is
very low budget.
None of the aforementioned productions qualify as mainstream. If we look
at mainstream media (national media), Low Saxon is not existant. Well,
that's not quite true, cause in recent years there were some
productions, that used some Low Saxon. I know of these productions (but
it is very likely there are more): /Großstadtrevier /and/ Da kommt
Kalle/. These are entertainment series for families, situated in
Northern Germany. They are in Standard German, but some characters
occasionally use phrases and short sentences in Low Saxon. For
authenticy reasons, I guess. This use is strictly confined to family
entertainment, I only know it from pre-prime-time family series on ZDF
(Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen). I guess, Low Saxon has the image of
something familial. Another exaple of Low Saxon in mainstream media is
Mr Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants using the words "Mien Jung" to
address Spongebob in the Standard German synchronisation. Here Low Saxon
has the image of "something maritime".

I conclude: Low Saxon is not used in media without the creators having a
special image of the language in mind. The language is not used plainly
as a vehicle for the message, using the language itself is a message.
There are only very few exceptions from this, mostly produced by the NDR
(/Billerbook Düütschland, //Op Platt, //Hallo Niedersachsen op Platt).
/In the Netherlands there are two series that qualify as being Low Saxon
_and_ being mainstream. These are th two soap operas /Van jung Leu en
ole Groond /and /Boven Wotter.//
/
From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com <mailto:sassisch at yahoo.com>>
>
> The merchant marine, too, has been using only German at least since
> the beginning of the 20th century, Low Saxon being confined to private
> spheres. Why, many sailors come from far off the coastal areas, some
> even from Bavaria!
That's true for the big business, but the many Ewers and Kutters were
often fully Low Saxon til the end (oral professional sphere, talking
with Hafenmeisters, Schleusenwärters etc.). There was a rapid decline in
inland trade with for example Ewers since the 1920s which took on even
more speed after WWII. The last Ewers made it in the 1960s. For example,
there were hundreds of fishing boats on the Niederelbe/Nedderelv (last
hundred Kilometers of the river Elbe) at the beginning of the 20th
century, but only three (if that number is still correct) today. So, the
little boats had to give up business before they did give up the language.

Marcus Buck

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

Marcus,

Quite so, daddy-o. And I did mean the merchant marine. Anything else was
"local," so to speak, and this also applied to many fishing trawlers that
went farther afield, at least until large conglomerates put the mom-and-pop
businesses and their local employees out of business.

Until about the early part of the 29th century you could even still hear
trawler and sculler men speak the now extinct East Frisian island varieties;
e.g.

Dialect: East Frisian of the Isle of Wangerooge (Germany, extinct 1950)
Author: (unknown)
Source: Recording of 1927

*Miin Oopel weer 'n fariinsmon, dee wunnet up Wangerooch. Dait weer nuu wail
soo uum 't Jeer achtiinhunnert threttiin, fjirtiin. Wii haiden Kriich mit de
Fransoozen, un de Engelsen weeren up 'e Oostsee. Daa lai eenes Diis miin
Oopel mit siin Schip in de Wiizder far Anker. Dee must hooch Watter auftaiw,
un hii un siin Liuud haiden jam dilleliin too slaipen. *

My translation:
*My granddad was a mariner, and he lived on Wangerooge. It must have been
around the year eighteen hundred and thirteen, fourteen. We were at war with
the French, and the English were on the Baltic Sea. One day my granddad was
lying at anchor on the Weser River. He had to wait for high tide, and he and
his crew had lain down to sleep. *

My translation into Modern Northern Low Saxon:

*Mien Opa (~ Grootvadder) weer (~ was) 'n Fahrensmann, de wahn up
Wangerooch. Dat weer (~ was) nu wull so üm't Jahr achtteihnhunnert-dörteihn,
veerteihn. Wi harrn Krieg (~ Oorloog) mit de Franzosen, un de Engelschen
weern up de Oostsee. Daar leeg' eens Dags mien Opa mit sien Schipp in de
Werser för Anker. De müssen hooch Water uptöven, un he un sien Lüüd' harrn
sik daalleggt to slapen.*

ANS spelling:
*Myn oupa (~ grootvadder) weyr (~ was) 'n varensman, dey waan up Wangeroog'.
Dat weyr (~ was) nu wul so üm 't jaar achttayn hunnerd dörtayn, veyrtayn. Wy
harren kryg (~ oorloog) mit dey Frantsosen, un dey Engelschen weyren up dey
Oostsey. Daar leyg' eyns dags myn oupa mit syn schip in dey Werser vör
anker. Dey müssen hoog water up-toyven, un hey un syn luyd' harren sik daal
legd tou slapen.*

Folks, let me just explain that when Marcus writes "ewer" he does mean a
type of vessel, though not what in English is a "ewer" (['ju@(R)]). An *Ewer
*(Low Saxon ['?E.Iv3`], German ['?e:v@`]) is a seagoing vessel, a type of
boat, namely a lighter or a sculler. Supposedly it's a contracted form of
Dutch *eenvarer *("one-farer").*

*Regards,*
Reinhard/Ron*

P.S.: One of these days we ought to put a comparative nautical vocabulary
list together.
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