LL-L "Grammar" 2008.09.02 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 02 September 2008 - Volume 02
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From: Henno Brandsma <hennobrandsma at hetnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2008.09.02 (01) [E]

 From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2008.09.01 (05) [E]

from heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk

Henno wrote:

and in "oan it...." constructions (these can be seen as nominalisations, at
some level):

- Hy is oan it rinnen (he is walking (right now)).

Dear Henno

Thank you so much for that ( very clear) explanation. I now have a 2nd
question!

re the above extract  " ..oan it .."  does this have an analysis / origin /
as clear an explanation, please?

This is a common construction in Dutch, Frisian and Low Saxon (at least the
varieties that I'm aware of):

"Hij is aan het lopen" (Dutch), Hie is an't lopen (Low Saxon) etc. I found
it in Afrikaans as well (note that die = de/het in Dutch, a common article):
H*y is aan die* voorberei vir 'n optrede (Dutch: hij is aan het voorbereiden
voor een optreden, He is preparing for a show).

I believe German has "ins" (in das), instead of "*ans": ins Gehen, which to
me sounds like a similar construct. The capitalisation also shows that in
German it is considered a type of nominal use of the verb.



Henno


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

I suspect the earlier Low Saxon construction is like that in Frisian: with *
an* (cognate of "on") and *it* (cognate of "it" but here as neuter article)
or *dat* (cognate of "that" but here as neuter article), usually contracted
to *an't*. So the following word is a verbal noun:

*Hey is an't rönnen,
(He is an't Rönnen.*)
He is (in the process of) running.

*Sey is an't eten-maken.*
(*Se is an't Ätenmaken.*)
She is busy preparing a meal.

*Ik was jüst an't breyven-schryven as hey an-klop.*
(*Ik was jüst an't Brevenschrieven, as he anklopp.*)
I was just in the middle of writing letters when he knocked.

Nowadays (or earlier already), many dialects use [*by tou *{infinitive}]
("by to"), usually if their is no subject:

*Hey is by tou rönnen.
(He is bi to rönnen.*)
He is (in the process of) running.

I guess that's like in German:

*Er war dabei zu rennen.

*It's strange though, because it seems to be restricted to actual processes.

In Northern German, especially in Missingsch, all of the above are possible:

*Er ist am Rennen*
He is (in the process of) running.

*Sie ist am Essenmachen.*
She is busy preparing a meal.

*Ich war grade am Briefeschreiben, als er anklopfte.*
I was just in the middle of writing letters when he knocked.

More standard:

*Er ist dabei zu rennen*
He is (in the process of) running.

(More natural probably: *Er rennt gerade.*)


*Sie ist dabei Essen vorzubereiten.*
She is busy preparing a meal.

*Ich war gerade dabei Briefe zu schreiben, als er anklopfte.*
I was just in the middle of writing letters when he knocked.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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