Northwestern Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 270-284
Author(s):  
Tomas Riad ◽  
Jörg Peters
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Low German ◽  
Northern Group ◽  
Western Group ◽  
Germanic Languages

The Continental Germanic languages fall into a northern group including Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish, and a western group including Dutch, High German, Low German, West Frisian, Afrikaans, and Yiddish. This chapter gives an overview of the lexical tone accent systems that are found in languages of both groups; these appear to be unrelated, in view of the variable conditioning. Central properties of the stress systems are summarized, as are the main features of the intonation systems. In general, it would appear that intonation is more varied in the Continental West Germanic languages and its tonal varieties than in the Continental North Germanic languages.

scholarly journals Nullsubjekte im Mittelniederdeutschen

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Farasyn ◽  
Anne Breitbarth
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
North West ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Low German ◽  
Middle Low German ◽  
Germanic Languages

AbstractIn spite of growing interest in recent years, the syntax of Middle Low German (MLG) remains an extremely underresearched area. In light of recent research showing early North West Germanic languages to be partial null subject languages (Axel 2005; Walkden 2014; Kinn 2016; Volodina/Weiß 2016), the question arises where MLG is positioned in this respect. The present article presents novel data showing that MLG had referential null subjects (RNS) and can be classified as a partial null subject language. Based on a quantitative and qualitative corpus analysis of their syntactic distribution, we argue that two types of RNS must be distinguished in MLG, null topics in SpecCP and null clitics on C.

Null subjects in Middle Low German

2021 ◽  
pp. 84-110
Author(s):  
Melissa Farasyn ◽  
Anne Breitbarth
Keyword(s):  
Current Paper ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
North West ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Low German ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Middle Low German ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Blank Spot

Middle Low German (MLG) syntax is still relatively underresearched. One blank spot on the map is whether MLG allowed null arguments, in particular null subjects, and if so, of what kind. As recent research (Volodina 2009, 2011, Volodina & Weiß 2016, Walkden 2014, Kinn 2015) demonstrates that languages closely related to MLG did have null subjects in a form that no longer exists in Modern Germanic languages (Rosenkvist 2009), the current paper positions MLG in this respect. Updating Farasyn & Breitbarth (2016), we present novel data showing that MLG distinguished two different kinds of referential null subjects (RNS). We argue that MLG, while preserving the null-subject property from Old North-West Germanic to a high degree, was already in the transition to a topic-drop language of the modern V2-Germanic type. This paper provides an analysis of the licensing of RNS in MLG and of the factors influencing their occurrence.

scholarly journals Germanic Preterite-Present Verbs and their Morphological and Semantic Peculiarities

2019 ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
Andriy Botsman ◽  
Olga Dmytruk
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
The West ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Semantic Aspect

The purpose of this article is to give detailed description to all possible semantic and morphological features of Germanic preterite-present verbs. Some research has dealt with the problem of preterite-present present verbs; however, semantic and morphological functions of these verbs were studied only by singling out verb characteristics, peculiarities, potential possibilities in different Germanic languages without any alignment of the obtained results. There is little information available on preterite-present verbs within the west Germanic and North Germanic (Scandinavian) subgroups. Semantic aspect of these verbs was analysed by some scholars, but it is still unknown how these verbs were formed in other Indo-European languages (Baltic, Slavonic, Romantic). The contradicting point of the available research is how those verbs are reflected in Latin and Greek. In spite of the fact that preterite-present verbs were studied in detail in terms of phonological characteristics, their morphological and semantic peculiarities were not taken into account and compared. Special attention should be given to the functioning and correlation of phonological and morphological peculiarities of those verbs. This paper offers the results of a detailed and consistent analysis of phonological and morphological peculiarities of preterite-present verbs. The paper aims at determining the morphological characteristics of preterite-present verbs, which were formed under the influence of phonological processes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the connection of Germanic preterite-present verbs with possible sources in other Indo-European languages. The authors define a set of characteristics peculiar of preterite-present verbs semantics. The functions of these verbs are analysed in detail. The authors attempt to analyse the nature of these verbs. The attention is paid to the functions of preterite- present verbs not only in the Germanic languages, but in other Indo-European languages, too. The comparative historical method is used here as the main one. The authors see this valid way of investigation as reliable and appropriate for the preterite-present verb analysis.

New Light on Early Middle English Borrowing from Anglo-Norman: Investigating Kinship Terms in grand‑

2019 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-277
Author(s):  
Philip Durkin
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
Germanic Languages

Abstract It is well known that the set of kinship terms in Middle English showed considerable influence from French. In the case of aunt and uncle, this accompanied major restructuring of the system of kinship terms, as the Old English set of four distinct terms for paternal and maternal uncles and aunts were replaced by just two terms for ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt’, regardless of whether paternal or maternal. In comparison, the words for ‘grandfather’ and ‘grandmother’ have attracted little attention, as their story has appeared simpler: Old English had words for ‘grandfather’ and ‘grandmother’, irrespective of whether paternal or maternal, and so did Middle English. The terms are also similar in structure, with native terms in which words for ‘father’ or ‘mother’ are the head and eald ‘old’ is the modifier (whether in a compound or a phrasal structure) being replaced by borrowed terms (grandsire, granddame) or hybrid terms (grandfather, grandmother) in which French grand ‘big’ is the modifier. This paper shows that behind this apparently simple story there lurk some significant complications which point to considerable disruption and instability in the terms for ‘grandfather’ and ‘grandmother’ in both Middle English and French (with interesting and perhaps significant parallels also in other West Germanic languages). Consideration of these complications also casts new light on early lexical borrowing into Middle English from Anglo-Norman.

1. Primitive Affinity between the Classical and the Low German Languages

1872 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 167-168
Author(s):  
Neaves
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Low German ◽  
Vernacular English ◽  
The Family ◽  
German Dialects ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Comparative Philology

In this paper the author adverted to the limited attention that was paid in this country to comparative philology, and noticed the principles it had developed and the progress it had made elsewhere of late years.In illustration of the results thus attained in the Aryan or Indo-Germanic languages, he took as familiar examples the affinities that could be traced between the Latin and the Old English tongues, viewing the Latin as a type of the earlier branches of the family, including the Greek and Indian; and the English as a type of a later branch, consisting chiefly of the Low German dialects. The affinities referred to were not those which connected Latin with English through the romance languages, but those which subsisted between Latin and vernacular English, and which must have arisen from a prehistoric identity or connection.

Early Latin loan-words in Old English

1993 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Wollman
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Complete List ◽  
The West ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Celtic Languages ◽  
Germanic Languages

It is a well-known fact that Old English is rich in Latin loan-words. Although the precise number is not yet known, it is a fairly safe assumption that there are at least 600 to 700 loan-words in Old English. This compares with 800 Latin loan-words borrowed in different periods in the Brittonic languages (Welsh, Cornish, Breton), and at least 500 early Latin loan-words common to the West Germanic languages. These rather vague overall numbers do not lend themselves, however, to a serious analysis of Latin influence on the Germanic and Celtic languages, because they include different periods of borrowing which are not really comparable to each other. The basis of these estimates, moreover, is often not stated very clearly. Although the establishment of a complete list of Latin loan-words in the various Germanic languages is a desideratum, it can only be achieved in a later stage of our studies.

Lenition in North Sea Germanic

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Goblirsch
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Unique Form ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Low German ◽  
North Frisian

Abstract Lenition, or postvocalic weakening of obstruents, occurred in several languages in North Sea Germanic. Although the main centers of Germanic lenition lie outside this region, in High German and Danish, systemic lenition took place in Low German, North Frisian, and Dutch. Lenition in northern Low German is completely independent of lenition in High German, but the area does, however, border on Danish, which has the most far reaching of the Germanic lenitions. Lenition in mainland North Frisian is also in an area adjacent to Danish, but it displays a modified and rather unique form. In Dutch, there are only two small isolated areas with systemic lenition, one in Groningish and one in East Flemish. In general, lenition is attributed to the establishment of complementary length and the correlation of syllable cut in accented syllables. There are several convincing arguments to support this claim. Lenition is considered a Germanic trend, which is present only in its nascent form in other areas of West Germanic.

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