Re: The personal pronouns of PIE (and other families) are loans

>
> And I'd add that <bei d(i)e Fische> and <mit die
> Stiefels> are restricted to certain dialectal and
> sociolectal areas. (As for Ruhrgebiet, I'd be
> cautious, since it is actually a Hochdeutsch "oasis"
> at the "border" between Middle German and Low German
> dialects, being to a lesser degree influenced by
> Low German phonetics. Many of the inhabitants there
> have Polish extraction (their ancestors were colonized
> there only in the 80s-90s of the 19th century). So
> much as far as the Neerlaendisch neighborhood can be
> taken into consideration. For Flemish and Northwest-
> block comparisons, methinks Münsterland-Plattdeutsch
> would suit much better. Unfortunately this kind of
> Low German is unknown to me and seems to be quite
> distant from Cologne Platt (Kölsch) and Letzelburgisch
> German spoken in Luxembourg.)

Cologne was the transit point/Umschlagplatz for Rhine trade from
across the North Sea, I believe. All dative-less areas.

Learning to use a dative is much harder than giving it up, I know
from painful personal experience. I think it's possile that there is
an unbroken tradition in Northern Germany back from Nordwestblock
days of not having learned the dative.


Torsten