Re: Creole Romance?

> >But the situation would be no different from that of
> >diglossia, examples being German/Schwyzerdütsch,
> >Classical/Colloquial Arabic.
>
> But German, i.e. Hochdeutsch, is an... artificial
> language. (That's what they'll tell you, esp. those
> whose mother tongue is highly different from the
> dialect on which Hochdeutsch is based.) In this
> respect, Schwyzerdüütsch is a mere dialect family
> (actually it is Alemannisch); to people from neigh-
> boring Baden and Württemberg areas Swiss German
> dialects (?) and/or sub-dialects might be more
> familiar than the "cold", "hieratic" Hochdeutsch
> (a "paper language" <- "papierene Sprache" :-).
>

Good point, but in the end all language is artificial,
if that means 'created by humans, not nature'. But if
you're saying Hochdeutsch is more created from above, then
you agree with me, which of course is nice.

> In spite of that, Swiss German sounds German-like,
> along with South-German and Middle German -- in
> contrast with Niederdeutsch sub-dialects: to a
> southerner as well as to someone who is in command
> of Hochdeutsch as a foreigner, Niederdeutsche
> Mundarten sound rather like Flemish and North
> Germanic languages: "wat is dat? to maken; to huus;
> he sedd" - quit a contrast to this kind of...
> Moderspraak: "was ist das (or wos is'n des); zu
> machen; zu Haus; er sagt". :)
>

Formally Dutch and Flemish (if you want to see them as
different languages) are Low German dialects, thus dialects
within the German continuum, whereas Danish etc etc (no one
will get this point anyway).

> >>I'm sorry too.
> >
> >I'm sorry three.
>
> Pavlov's reflex (-:
>
> Maggie Thatcher & Helmut Kohl drinking beer.
> MT: "To your health." HK: "To your dunkelth."
> (helles Bier (lager) vs dunkles "dark" Bier)
>

Yes it's an old Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl story. I suppose you heard
it before?

Torsten