LL-L "Morphology" 2008.06.02 (05) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 02 June 2008 - Volume 06
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Morphology

Hi again, Ívison *et al.*!

I've come to demonstrate the eating of both crows and humble pies.

A very kind and discrete private message of one of my favorite Danish
Lowlanders (*og tak ska' Du ha'*) pointed out that my information about the
definite article in Western Jutish was incorrect. My (h)umble apologies! I
went back to my notes, but they are old and I don't remember what I based
them on (if on anything other than occasional fancy flights of my enfeebled
mind). Then I checked other sources and found that what I wrote was indeed
wrong. I hope I got it right now.

Real Western Jutish does not distinguish genders and uses only what in other
varieties is the common gender (*fælleskøn*). So here is a revision:

Definite:

English: *the* father | *the* house
Low Saxon: *de vadder* | *dat huus*
South Jutish: *æ far* | *æ** hus*
West Jutish: *æ fær* | *æ** hus*
Danish: *fa(de)ren* | *huset*
Norwegian: *fa(de)ren* | *huset*
Swedish: *fa(de)ren* | *huset*
Faroese: *faðirin* | *húsið*
Icelandic: *faðirinn* | *húsið*
Old Norse: *faðirinn* | *húsit

*
Indefinite:

English: *a* father | *a* house
Low Saxon: *een (~ 'n) vadder* | *een (~ 'n) **huus*
South Jutish: *en (~ 'n)** far* | *et (~ 't)** hus*
West Jutish: *én (~ 'n)** fær* | *én (~ 'n)** hus*
Danish: *en fa(de)r* | *et hus
*etc.

Good thing I find umble and crow edible, if not delicious.

In Danish, older Scandinavian masculine and feminine have coincided:

Icelandic:
masculine: *
**faðir* 'a father'* - faðir**inn* 'the father'
feminine: *
**klukka* 'a clock'* - klukka**n* 'the clock'
neuter:
*hús* 'a house'* - hús**ið* 'the house'

Danish:
common: *
**en fa(de)r* 'a father'* - **fa(de)r****en* 'the father'
*en **klokke* 'a clock'* - klokke**n* 'the clock'
neuter:
*et hus* 'a house'* - huset*** 'the house'

Southern Jutish:
 common: *
* *en** far* 'a father'* - **æ** far* 'the father'
 *en **klokk'* 'a clock'* - **æ** klokk'* 'the clock'
 neuter:
 *et hus* 'a house'* - **æ** hus* 'the house'

Western Jutish:
 common: *
* *en** f**æ**r* 'a father'* - **æ** f**æ**r* 'the father'
 *en **klokke* 'a clock'* - **æ** klokke* 'the clock'
*en hus* 'a house'* - **æ** hus* 'the house'

Furthermore, as in other Scandinavian varieties (but unlike Old Norse and
conservative Icelandic and Faroese), the indefinite article might be
regarded as having come to occupy the position of a numeral, adjectives,
etc., as in Western Germanic. They seem to be related to the enclitic
definite articles as well as with words for "one," the latter as in Western
Germanic. (Danish for "one" is *en* or *et* according to gender.) I suspect
that these changes occurred under Middle Saxon influence. In Jutish, more
intensive Saxon influences seem to have led to the abandonment of the old
enclitic definite article in favor of *æ* (etc.) preceding a noun the way
Saxon masculine and feminine *de* and neuter *it* ~ *et* ~ *dat* do,
corresponding to English "the".

You might go as far as saying that Jutish and the northernmost Low Saxon
varieties represent a bridge between Northern and Western Germanic, although
the former is clearly still North Germanic and the latter are clearly West
Germanic.

How many crows do I have to eat now?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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