LL-L "Phonology" 2008.06.13 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 13 June 2008 - Volume 05
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From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2008.06.13 (03) [E]

That's hard to tell because there isn't very much written in Older Dutch,
but Western Dutch has the Frisian way, with EE from Old Germanic long ae
(as in English) and a darker lengthened A from Old Germanic short A in
open syllable, whereas the East has dark AO from O G long ae and a lighter
lengthened A, both in (most) Low Saxon and Low Franconian such as Brabant
and Limburg dialects.

My theory:
It's quite possible that in the beginning there was only a slight
difference between the A sounds, e.g. one region had [a:] and the other
[A:]. But Western [A:] had a tendency to become more palatal, into [{:],
especially with the rise of a new [A:] from lengthened short [A].
And [{:] can easily become [E:], [E:] to [e:], and [e:] to [I:] and in
Frisian (and English) even [i:].
North Holland leite = to let, sleipe = to sleep, deer = there, Zeeland
laete(n), slaepe(n), daer.

A whole chain reaction.
The Eastern [a:] had a tendency to become darker into [Q:], when short [a]
was lengthened to [a:]. And from [Q:] to [O:] is but a small step.
Maone ["mO:n@] = moon, daor [do:@] = there, slaopen ["slO:p-m] = to sleep
In English words like moon and spoon this development went even further.

There are still regions in the Netherlands where short A is pronounced
differently than in Standard Dutch. The city of Utrecht, which is
Standard Dutch speaking, is famous for its [A] instead of [a], so is the
Brabant city of Tilburg (which also has long ae [{:]) and the Brabant city
of Antwerp in Dutch (Flemish) speaking Belgium. To Standard Dutch ears,
this is the same prono as Standard English short A in cat.

Ingmar

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

Ingmar, have you ever researched if there are any early differentiations
between what in modern varieties is the separation of [a:] and [ɒ:]? It
might be worth our while to look at ancient forms in comparison with a
short list of examples.

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

Thanks, Ingmar.

But many of the words *are* known in Old Low Franconian. Besides, you don't
need to rely on Dutch sources alone. You can go back farther and see if the
relevant cognates in West Germanic, Germanic or actual related languages
show anything telling. Besides, you said that there are such differences in
certain Low Saxon varieties of the Netherlands as well. So a look at Old
Saxon is warranted, as well as at Old Frisian and Old English.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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