LL-L "Phonology" 2010.01.12 (06) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 12 January 2010 - Volume 06
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From: M.-L. Lessing <marless at gmx.de>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2010.01.12 (03) [EN]

 Hello Luc,

do you really mean that in western Brabantish "Maria" is stressed on the
final a? I could imagine stress on the first a, but not on the final a. Or
do you mean it is stressed on the i? I know just one old christmas song,
this one
http://www.herbert-fritz.de/weihnachttext/vom_himmel_hoch_o_englein_kommt.html,
where the melody forces you to stress "Maria" on both a-vowels. This sounds
so strange that if the song is sung at all today, people shift syllables so
as to have the stress on the i.

With this comes another question: How did it come that the stress in "Maria"
shifted at all? I know about a million Mariams, Meryems and Miriams, all
stressed on the first syllable, so I think this is the original form. But in
German, only far in the south the form "Mári" can be heard, otherwise it is
everywhere "María" with stress on the i. -- Is "María" or "Marie" a very
young form? Why do we have it in German, French and English then?

Hartlich!

Marlou


From: Hellinckx Luc <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar"

 In Western Brabantish, "Maria" has stress on the final syllable (like
French), with two clear "a"-s in the word. Same for "Johan". Also gets
stress in the back, with both "o" and "a" still clearly pronounced.
In the North (where difference between stressed and unstressed is bigger),
stressing one syllable tends to weaken the quality of the other vowels much
more than in the South (of Belgium). Listen how "Marie/Mary" sounds in
English. It's either "Murree" or "Mèrry". Unstressed vowels become (halfway)
mute. Check how "Johan" sounds in "De Kempen". It's become "Jehà n",
stressing the final syllable has muffled the "o". In English, the other way
round, "John".

•

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