Re: s-stems in Slavic and Germanic

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>
>
> > > They are sisters, and they are both Scottish.
> > > But even some Dutch people think they're Dutch
> >
> > How do you know this? They certainly don't look alike. If they are
> > both Scottish, they have weird Scottish accents, ones that I don't
> > recognize.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/user/mouseinthahouse
> http://www.youtube.com/user/BeppieBlits
> They sound very immersed, if that's right word. Danes who spent a long
> time in a purely English-speaking environment tend to speak a Danish
> that's difficult to place. That kind of immersion does things to your
> mother tongue.

There's nothing at those web addresses that says that they're
Scottish, or even that they're sisters (the "sister" mentioned is
unidentified). They both even claim to live in the Netherlands,
although for the black-haired one and possibly both it seems to be
part of a joke. "Joan" (or "Beppieblits") even looks like the girl
with all the "aaaaaas".

>
>
> > The black-haired one has very good Dutch pronunciation,
> > she must have lived a fairly long time in the Netherlands.
>
> Both do. But
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGzwZH03QLE
> 0:44 'bullshit' is not 'stierenpoep' (literal translation),
> but 'onzin'

The dark-haired girl probably thought her friend (I doubt they're
sisters) wanted a literal translation, which "bullshit" still can mean
in English.

>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZf07Stnh-E
> 0:57 'worden', first syllable too short,
> schwa of the last syllable too long

But "worden" has a short vowel whereas "woorden" has a long vowel.
And she lengthened the schwa of the final syllable only because she is
being theatrical or joky, kind of like how in English one would say
"heeeey!" if you're greeting a friend sort of jokily.

> 1:14 'nagelklippah' should be 'nagelknipper', as someone points out in
> the comments
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceemw1LkCH0
> 0:55 'geeft U me alsJEblieft een euro' mixes 'tu' and 'vous' forms
> as someone points out.
> 1:15 'let's' should be 'laten we', not 'laat we'
> http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/483/
> 1:29 'hoofd' is formal, 'kop' is what most people would say
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_zHHm5T24Q
> 1:16 'ik werkte in een kaaswinkel' should be
> 'ik heb in een kaaswinkel gewerkt';
> people prefer the perfect (like in German and French)
>
>
> Torsten
>

These ones I have no explanation for, but as a native speaker of
English I can almost guarantee you that the dark-haired girl is not a
native speaker of English, Scottish or otherwise, and her accent
sounds Dutch to me, like other Dutch speakers I've heard when they're
speaking English. If they are sisters then they're both Dutch and the
reddish-haired one speaks English much closer to a native speaker (I
would say more Northern England than Scottish except for the lightly
trilled r's).

Andrew