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From: uc407@ciao.trail.bc.ca (TOM FRY)
Subject: Re: Lowlands language list
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Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 00:04:03 GMT
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R. F. Hahn (rhahn@u.washington.edu) wrote:

: Again, the topic of Low Saxon/Low German does not really enter the
: discussion of Luther's use of dialectal material, simply because Low Saxon
: is a separate language, although it used to be the general propaganda line
: that it is a dialect group within ("High-")German.  Unless they have been
: sufficiently exposed to it, German speakers cannot understand Low
: Saxon/Low German in it's "pure" form.  Various types of German-Low Saxon
: creoles (Missingsch) and Low-Saxon-sounding forms German (Patentplatt)
: have often been presented as Low Saxon/Low German, and this fed the
: wishful-thinking-based propaganda that Low Saxon/Low German is not a
: legitimate language but a form of German.  Using Low Saxon/Low German on
: LOWLANDS-L, I am well understood by speakers of Dutch and Afrikaans, and I
: understand their languages, while only those German speakers understand me
: who have acquired some Low Saxon/Low German reading proficiency. 

Ron may have identified the primary problem with a lot of language
research - the tongues tend to "blend" whenever an opportunity presents
itself. Consequently, the casual observer can not tell that he is hearing
one of the "blended" dialects and assumes, therefore, that the "other" 
language is fairly similar to his own. 

Amusingly, this can sometimes occur with radically-different languages;
some casual observers of Scottish culture have come to the conclusion that
some of the various dialects of (almost) English spoken in Scotland are
actually *Gaelic*.  Exposure to the real thing usually sets them straight
;)

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Fry                 uc407@ciao.trail.bc.ca
3798 Woodland Drive     voice: (604) 368-9315
Trail, BC               data:  (604) 368-9341
