GR: Hey Marco. Good morning to you. Oh yes, any
word that sounds similar can have different meanings in two languages.
The same phenomenon can happen in one language as well. Here's an
example from American English: what's the name of a popular sandwich
made by splitting a long, torpedo-shaped roll in half lengthwise and filling
it with some or all of these cold cuts, sausage, cheese, lettuce, tomato,
pickles, and other condiments? The answer is very regional and is
known by one of the following: submarine, grinder,
hero, hoagie, Italian sandwich, poor boy, sub, torpedo. Or what about
the nonalcoholic beverages, usually carbonated so as to fizz, bubble, or
sparkle. Again, this is a regional varient know as: soda, club
soda, pop, soda pop, soft drink, sparkling water, tonic, water with gas, fizzy
water etc.
In New England the word tonic is used for soda pop and
fizzy water as well as a type of medicine.
> >> In order to assess accent similarities
and differences, one
needs first of all to draw an ethnic map. Then
upon this map one
needs to allow for social
> >
distinction as well as economic differences. <<
>
> I already guessed that you are from US seeing you amazed
by my
> description of Europe barren population. I can
guess from your
> surname that you are of German origin.
How this origin is remote
> and how it still infuences your
speech? Do you remember something
> of the language of your
ancestors or is it alien to you like
> Enochian?
>
> *** Yes, Haverhill was named after a town somewhere
in England.
The Merrimack Valley is along the Merrimack River in the
North East
corner
> of Massachusetts. My surname
is actually my married name and
German is the
>
ethnicity of my husband. My maiden name is Walukevich which is
of
Polish and Lithuanian heritage. Polish was a language that my
mother
and aunt (who lived in our household) would speak when they
had "private"
matters to discuss. The only things I remember in
Polish are a few
Catholic prayers and some "off color" words.
>
Yiiips!!! So you
probably found my invectives somewhat scabrous.
Probably you were offended
by my fierce anti-Catholicism.
I'm very sorry for all this, but I cannot
brake my turbolent
nature. Nothing personal.
About Haverhill, from your
description I imagine it like a place in
Hobbits' County.
GR: Actually your invectives I missed. I'm glad you see
Haverhill as a place in Hobbits' Country.... is this from the texts or the
Lord of the Rings films?
> It is quite interesting, but apparently you
speak
> of "microdifferences". All kind of English spoken
in your valley
are
> mutually understandable or there
is some difficulty of
communication?
>
>
*** You are absolutely correct that all people in my valley
could
converse with others, even though some might choose not to.
For
example, someone whose occupation was that of an uneducated
factory worker
would find it difficult to converse with the Kennedys
for example.
Somewhere, however, I did mention that a speaker of
Haverhillian would
find understanding Creole (as spoken in Louisiana)
incomprehensible.
>
Now in Milan all people could converse
with others in common Italian,
but when I was a child things were more
difficult. A Sicilian
couldn't understand a native. And all this not only
for intonation of
voice.
GR: I know very little about Italian dialects but I do know from
regional foods and from visiting Italy many years ago that
Sicilians weren't considered of the same social class as those from the
Rome area, for example. They were considered "rustic"; almost foreign
and their food was more peasantlike than food served in the large
cities.
Nice chatting with you Marco.
Gerry
>
> As for me, language and species
origins are all but clear and
> understandable. We know
almost nothing about this topic, and all
> models of
macro-families are still very feeble and uncapable to
go
> back to the ultimate source of human
language.
> So reconstruct precise paths in the history of
language change
> is terribly hard and all this despite of
Glen's opinion.
> Glen uses Occam's Razor in a terrible way.
Once Einstein said
that
> things are the most possible
easy, but not easier than possible,
and
> I agree.
>
> *** Finding the "ultimate source" for
language-origins is a moot
endeavor. So is searching for origins of
species. A spoken
language is the assimilation of education,
geography, class,
religion, and social group to which a person belongs
(i.e. the
environment). A species likewise is the product of its
environment.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Gerry
As for me, it's not only environment, but I
cannot deeply understand
all this.
Best
wishes
Marco