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From: olivier@austin.ibm.com (Olivier Cremel)
Subject: Re: Dialect non-continua?
Originator: olivier@nice.austin.ibm.com
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Message-ID: <D4BpG4.4LLq@austin.ibm.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 00:02:28 GMT
Reply-To: olivier@glasnost.austin.ibm.com
References:  <3i65fh$1ho@er7.rutgers.edu>
Organization: Bull HN - Austin
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In article<3i65fh$1ho@er7.rutgers.edu>,kakoo@eden.rutgers.edu (Kane Koo) writes:
>
> We've talked a lot about language and dialect recently, often citing the 
> Dutch/German or French/Italian dialect continua that exist. In both cases,
> the two languages in the continuum were "in the same family". But what 
> generally happens when two UNRELATED languages border each other? 
> For example, does the French in Alsace-Lorraine (on border with Germany) take
> on a Germanic character, and vice-versa?

Lorraine is a good case. It is divided in a northen part with a Germanic
dialect (different from the one spoken in Alsace) and a southern part with
a Romance dialect. As could be expected, the Romance Lorrain is quite dead,
having been superseded by standard French, while the Germanic Lorrain is
still spoken.

Being a Romance Lorrain, I can only give example from the influence of the
Germanic dialect on the variety of French I grew up with.

There are of course words like "quiche" (kueche), "choucroute" (sauerkraut),
there are some preposition usage like "attendre sur" (aufwarten) and there
are some syntax constructs like "va chercher du pain pour les enfants manger",
which more often than not leaves my fellow Frenchmen puzzled.

-- 
Olivier.
=============================================================================
		"Tel se cuide chauffer qui s'art"
