Re: s-stems in Slavic and Germanic

OK Torsten et al.

I submitted the Youtube clips of the supposedly Scottish sisters to a
native Dutch speaker, Ingmar Roerdinkholder with whom I correspond
about Germanic-based constructed languages
("chamavian" <roerd096@...>), and he had this to say:

I'd say they're sisters, too, and they're definitely Dutch.
At least, they have no foreign accent, Scottish nor whatever,
and they look Dutch enough to me.

Lesson III "Street Language" = Slang, is particularly funny.
Almost all the words are from Sranan Tongo = Surinamese creole.
Since that is an English based creole originally, you might some of
the examples the girls use, e.g. feti ("fittie") = fight; fatu
("fatoe") = cool (compare Dutch "vet" = lit. "fat" = cool) etc.; and
also from American slang, "chille", "chickies" etc. or from Dutch
such as mati ("mattie") = pal from NL maat = mate, duku ("doekoe") =
money, from NL doek = cloth. Dushi = babe, honey is from Papiamento,
the Portuguese-Spanish based creole spoken at the Dutch Antilles
(Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire).

Why did your Danish colleague think they'd be Scottish? Maybe because
one of them coloured her hair red?


--- In Middelsprake@ yahoogroups. com, "Andrew Jarrette"
<anjarrette@ ...> wrote:

>
> --- In Middelsprake@ yahoogroups. com, "chamavian" <roerd096@> wrote:
> >
> > Andrew, here you can read and listen to that same Wren story in
> > Ontario Canadian English
> >
> > http://www.lowlands -l.net/anniversa ry/english- canada-on2. php
> >
>
> OK I understand it now, it's hilarious. Actually I did understand

it

> as in the English translation the first time I read it in
> Middelsprake, but for some reason I didn't get the humour. Maybe

it's

> the choice of colloquial words and language that make it funny for

me

> in the English translation.
>
> By the way, Ingmar, perhaps you could help resolve a long-running
> debate we've had on the Cybalist Yahoo Group. In talking about

plural

> formations in Germanic, I mentioned my (somewhat superficial) love

of

> Old Saxon and how I wished a national language had evolved from it.
> So one of our Cybalist members, Torsten, a Dane, suggested that

Dutch

> is the nearest modern national language to Old Saxon, and suggested

I

> learn it. He, probably jokingly, offered the following online

lessons:

>
> > > http://www.youtube com/watch? v=jGzwZH03QLE
> > > http://www.youtube com/watch? v=WZf07Stnh- E
> > > http://www.youtube com/watch? v=vfEuhAlUgkc
> > > http://www.youtube com/watch? v=ceemw1LkCH0
> > > http://www.youtube com/watch? v=A_zHHm5T24Q
>
> If you watch these youtube clips, you will see two girls offering
> lessons in Dutch. Torsten insists that the girls are Scottish. I
> said that the dark-haired, narrower-eyed girl is Dutch, and the
> reddish-haired girl might be Dutch too. We then proceeded to argue

at

> length and combed all the details of these clips for evidence on

both

> sides. I still am firmly convinced that the darker-haired girl is
> Dutch, and strongly suspect that the other is also Dutch. They even
> have a website where they say that they are sisters living in the
> Netherlands. But Torsten still insists that they are Scottish.
>
> Maybe you could help resolve the argument? Can you tell for us
> whether they are Dutch or native English speakers, Scottish or
> otherwise? Thanks.
>
> Andrew
>