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Germanic Profile | ||
Tags: Frisian | Faroese | Yiddish | Afrikaans | Germanic Languages | Scandinavian Languages | Icelandic | Danish | Linguistic relationships | Norwegian | Swedish | Dutch | Choosing a Language | English | German | ||
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| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7155 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes  20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 1 of 2 12 August 2011 at 5:01pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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INTRODUCTION
The Germanic languages are a sub-group of the Indo-European languages spoken around the world. Approximately 550 million people are native speakers of a Germanic language, and most of these are found in Western Europe, North America, Australia and Southern Asia. Some of these languages have been used as a lingua franca normally as a legacy of past colonial/imperial expansion by entities governed by speakers of a Germanic language. In a similar way to Romance languages, the primary attraction of the Germanic languages for many potential learners is their ubiquitousness, utility and for a few of the languages, a perceived link to cultural sophistication. Learning resources designed for English-speakers for the higher-profile Germanic languages are plentiful. Despite their popularity for learners of foreign languages, studying a Germanic language can be a credible but rewarding challenge. Ten of the Germanic languages: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, Faroese, German, Icelandic, Luxembourgish, Norwegian and Swedish are national languages and with the exception of Faroese and Luxembourgish, are at least moderately supported by learning material for English-speakers. In any case, exposure/immersion via travel as part of an independent learning plan for any of these aforementioned languages are feasible endeavours. Studying Frisian or Yiddish are also feasible even though these aren't used as official national languages. As with any other language, the associated culture of the respective Germanic speech communities can be sufficient encouragement for someone to study a Germanic language. The modern culture of many Germanic speakers is broadly “Western” in being informed to a certain degree by Christianity and social or artistic movements experienced throughout Europe. However there are native-speakers of Germanic languages in Asia and Africa whose cultural orientation is more closely aligned to cultures other than the “Western” one. TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES Germanic languages may be encountered anywhere because of the aforementioned legacy of colonial/imperial expansion or education in these languages (especially English). As official languages, Germanic languages dominate this sphere in North America and Australasia, and are also used officially in parts of Africa and western and northern Europe. COUNTRIES (not exhaustive) Africa: Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe Americas: Barbados, Canada, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, USA Asia: India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore Australasia: Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark (include Faroe Islands and Greenland), Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom SPEAKERS Approximately 550 million are native speakers of a Germanic language CHARACTERISTICS OF INTEREST TO LEARNERS IN SELECTED GermanIC LANGUAGES AFRIKAANS - stress can fall on any syllable as the position depends on lexis or interaction of morphological and/or phonological factors - no pitch-accent - substantial vowel reduction - strongly analytic - usually SV(O) in a main clause (described in South Africa as “STOMPI” - Subject, verb 1, Time, Object, Manner, Place, verb 2, Infinitive) - 4 moods - 4 tenses in indicative mood (5 if one adds conditional to present, future, preterite and perfect) - largely reliant on 1 case (pronouns and certain fixed expressions show evidence of distinct cases) - indefinite and definite articles precede the nominal separately - no grammatical gender - verbs on their own show little marking for person or number - basically two-tiered T-V distinction - modified Latin alphabet - substantial mutual intelligibility with Dutch but somewhat asymmetric as speakers of Dutch tend to understand Afrikaans better than vice-versa. - double negation is part of the standard language (nie...nie...) unlike for the other modern Germanic languages - approximately 7 million native speakers - moderate support for English-speaking learners DANISH - stress placement depends on the origin of the word and/or its form - no pitch accent - strong vowel reduction - generally analytic with limited fusion - usually SV(O) in a main clause - 2-3 moods depending on how you count them (indicative and imperative with subjunctive/optative confined to fixed expressions) - 5 tenses in indicative mood - 2 cases for nominals other than personal pronouns; these pronouns use oblique in addition to nominative and genitive - indefinite article precedes the nominal separately; definite article can precede the nominal separately or be attached as a suffix on the nominal depending on whether there's an attribute adjective or genitive form. - common and neuter - T-V distinction exists but is not usually made - modified Latin alphabet - substantial to high intelligibility with Norwegian but dependent on the dialect/variants considered on both sides, somewhat less with Swedish. However mutual intelligibility is uneven as Danish in speech is much less intelligible to Norwegians and Swedes than Danish in print. - Danish differs from the closely-related Norwegian and Swedish by using stød which is often heard as a sort of laryngealization or even a glottal stop rather than pitch-accent - approximately 6 million native speakers - moderate support for English-speaking learners DUTCH - stress can fall on any syllable as the position depends on lexis or interaction of morphological and/or phonological factors - no pitch-accent - strong vowel reduction - generally analytic with limited fusion - verb is usually in second position in the main clause - 7 moods - 8 tenses - largely reliant on 1 case since the 1950s (pronouns and certain fixed expressions show evidence of distinct cases) - indefinite and definite articles precede the nominal separately - 2-3 grammatical genders depending on how you count them or which variant of Dutch is being considered - largely two-tiered T-V distinction - modified Latin alphabet - substantial mutual intelligibility with Afrikaans, varying degrees of intelligibility with variants of Frisian and Low German - Standard Dutch is taught in all schools and used officially as "Dutch". However it can be seen as part of a pluricentric entry alongside at least two national varieties: Belgian Dutch and "Northern"/"Netherlandish" Dutch both of which do not fully overlap with standard "Dutch". The difference between these national variants is comparable to the difference between British and American English. - approximately 23 million native speakers - moderate support for English-speaking learners ENGLISH - main stress can fall on any syllable - no pitch-accent - strong vowel reduction - generally analytic with some fusion and agglutination - often SV(O) in main clauses - 3 moods - 12 tenses in indicative mood with the list stretched to 16 if tenses for conditional are included; verb conjugation stands out from other Germanic languages out by using “do” as a dummy-verb in questions and negated phrases. - largely reliant on 1 case (but genitive can be marked by possessor with “'s”) (most pronouns have nominative and non-nominative forms) - indefinite and definite articles precede the nominal separately - no grammatical gender - no T-V distinction - modified Latin alphabet - limited mutual intelligibility with Frisian, even less with other Germanic languages - stands out from the other Germanic languages with its combination of reduced declensions (cf. Northern Germanic languages), generally analytic typology (cf. Afrikaans) and roughly 60% of the modern vocabulary estimated to have derived from Latin or French - approximately 400 million native speakers - large body of learners and fluent speakers of it as a foreign language at present (estimated near 1 billion) is related to the vast industry of ESL/EFL FAROESE - main stress tends to fall on the first syllable - no pitch-accent - moderate vowel reduction - generally fusional morphology - verb is in second position; SV(O) is a common variant for main clauses - 3 moods (5 moods if one adds infinitive and particple to the indicative, imperative and optative) - 8 tenses - 4 cases - indefinite articles precede the nominal separately but definiteness is marked at minimum by suffix on the nominal; nominals modified by adjectives mark definiteness with definite article preceding the nominal separately and the definite suffix attached to the nominal - masculine, feminine, neuter - T-V distinction exists but is usually made in official register only - modified Latin alphabet - some mutual intelligibility with Icelandic but uneven as aural/oral intelligibilty is usually less than mutual intelligibility of written expression - language planning in Faroese is marked by selective purism in that calques or borrowing from Icelandic is noticeably preferred over doing the same using Danish, English or other languages. - approximately 70 000 native speakers - limited support for English-speaking learners FRISIAN - main stress can fall on any syllable as the position depends on lexis or interaction of morphological and/or phonological factors - no pitch-accent - moderate vowel reduction - generally analytic morphology - verb is often in second position in main clauses - 2 moods - 4 tenses in indicative mood - largely reliant on 1 case (but genitive can be marked by possessor with “-e”) (most pronouns have nominative and non-nominative forms) - indefinite and definite articles precede the nominal separately - common and neuter genders - T-V distinction maintained for singular addressee (i.e. polite jo versus do) - modified Latin alphabet - limited mutual intelligibility with Dutch and English - “Frisian” can be a catch-all term for "West Frisian", "Saterland Frisian" and "North Frisian" which are only partially mutually intelligible. West Frisian has the largest number of speakers and is not to be confused with the Dutch convention of using Westfries ("West Frisian") to designate a Dutch dialect spoken in North Holland (province). - between 300 000 and 600 000 native speakers (i.e. estimates vary) - limited support for English-speaking learners GERMAN - main stress tends to fall on the first syllable of native words including words with inseparable prefixes. Placement of main stress for other types of words depends on morphological or lexical factors. - no pitch-accent - moderate vowel reduction - generally fusional typology - verb is in 2nd position in main clauses; verb in final position in subordinate clauses - 4 moods - 6 tenses in indicative mood - 4 cases - indefinite and definite articles precede the nominal separately - masculine, feminine and neuter - T-V distinction - modified Latin alphabet - substantial mutual intelligibility with Luxembourgish and Pennsylvania German; moderate oral/aural mutual intelligibility with Yiddish; limited but uneven mutual intelligibility with Dutch (Dutch and German in print tend to be more mutually intelligible than Dutch and German in speech). Standard German as taught in each of Austria, Germany and Switzerland differs little by country and virtually fully mutually intelligible while regional dialects/languages (e.g. Plattdüütsch, Schwyzerdütsch) can be unintelligible to outsiders (including some Germans) or those familiar only with Standard German - a myth persists that German was prevented in 1794 from becoming the official language of the USA by one vote in the House of Representatives. This vote in fact dealt with a petition from German immigrants requesting translations of federal laws into German. See this article for the explanation. - approximately 95 million native speakers - very high support for English-speaking learners ICELANDIC - main stress falls on the first syllable - no pitch-accent - limited vowel reduction - generally fusional typology - SVO is usual for main clauses - 4 moods - 7 tenses in indicative mood - 4 cases - definiteness often marked by suffixes on the noun as in Norwegian and Swedish (and infrequently as a separate article preceding the nominal); indefiniteness may or may not be marked by suffixes as it depends on the noun's grammatical gender. - masculine, feminine, neuter - T-V distinction has largely faded and is restricted to officious register or a few fixed expressions - modified Latin alphabet - substantial mutual intelligibility with Faroese but uneven as aural/oral mutual intelligibilty is usually less than mutual intelligibility of written expression - Icelandic alphabet was standardized in the 19th century relying largely on a standard used in the 12th century. The advantage is that the Sagas in their original forms are more comprehensible to the modern Icelander than otherwise but the disadvantage is that current pronunciation practices can diverge noticeably from the spelling convention - approximately 300 000 native speakers - moderate support for English-speaking learners NORWEGIAN (Bokmål unless otherwise indicated) - stress may fall on any syllable - pitch-accent - limited vowel reduction - noticeably analytic typology with some agglutinative/fusional elements - SV(O) is usual for main clauses - 3 moods - 6 tenses in indicative mood - largely reliant on 1 case (personal pronouns make some distinctions for case) - definiteness marked by suffixes on the noun as in Icelandic and Swedish; indefiniteness may be marked by suffixes or a preceding article depending on the noun's grammatical gender and/or number. - 2-3 grammatical genders depending on dialect/variant considered (masculine, feminine and neuter in most varieties OR common and neuter in Bergen variant and Riksmål) - T-V distinction is used usually in formal writing; it is used rarely in speech - modified Latin alphabet - high mutual intelligibility with Danish and Swedish. However mutual intelligibility is asymmetrical with Norwegians tending to understand Danish and Swedish more than Danes or Swedes understanding Norwegian. - two standard written forms: Bokmål and Nynorsk with the former being based on dialects native to southeastern Norway and Oslo and the latter being based on dialects in western Norway. Bokmål is most often taught to foreigners and used by about 85% of Norwegians. Differences between the standards are detectable but the distinction is less important in speech as Norwegians may show noticeable diglossia by using many non-standard or dialectal forms in speech but reverting to one of Bokmål or Nynorsk when writing. - approximately 5 million native speakers - moderate support for English-speaking learners SWEDISH - main stress in native words tends to fall on the first syllable; on the last syllable for loanwords. Compound words have stress on one syllable from each part of the compound. - pitch-accent - moderate vowel reduction - noticeably analytic typology with some agglutinative/fusional elements - verb usually is in second position in main clauses - 3 moods (4 if one adds infinitive to the indicative, subjunctive and imperative) - 5 tenses in indicative mood (7 if one counts conditional tenses) - largely reliant on 1 case (personal pronouns make some distinctions for case) - definiteness marked by suffixes on the noun as in Icelandic and Norwegian; indefiniteness is marked by an article preceding the nominal. - common and neutral grammatical gender - T-V distinction is limited (use of polite “Ni” is not widespread) - modified Latin alphabet - high mutual intelligibility with Danish and Norwegian. However mutual intelligibility is uneven as Swedes tend to understand Norwegian better than Danish but those from southern Sweden (Scania) tend to understand Danish and Norwegian equally well. On the other hand, Norwegians tend to understand Swedish better than Danes. - a questionable but common piece of trivia in Scandinavia is that the municipality with the highest proportion of native speakers of Swedish worldwide is Hammarland, Finland. See these comments for its dubiousness - approximately 10 million native speakers - high support for English-speaking learners YIDDISH - main stress tends to fall on the first syllable of native words including words with inseparable prefixes (cf. German). Internationalisms' stress tends to fall on the suffix while stress of Hebraic roots can shift from first syllable to second depending on inflection. Otherwise, stress tends to fall on the penultimate syllable. - no pitch-accent - limited vowel reduction (?) - generally fusional morphology - verb is usually in second position in main clauses - 3 moods (4 if one adds the conditional to the indicative, subjunctive and optative) - 5 tenses in indicative mood - 3 cases - indefinite and definite articles precede the nominal separately - masculine, feminine and neuter - T-V distinction - modified Hebraic alphabet - moderate oral/aural mutual intelligibility with German - lexicon has been estimated to be of 85% German origin, 10% Hebrew origin and 5% Slavonic. - approximately 1.5 million speakers (presumably as mother tongue or foreign language) - moderate support for English-speaking learners BOOKS OF INTEREST ON GermanIC LANGUAGES IN GENERAL - Harbert, Wayne. The Germanic Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. (A technically-oriented manual that may be attractive to the linguist or serious learner who is interested in comparative linguistics involving all Germanic languages, notwithstanding some errors suggesting author's lack of familiarity with Icelandic) - König, Ekkehard and van der Auwera, Johan (eds.). The Germanic Languages. London and New York: Routledge, 1994. (Somewhat technical and not focused on comparison but commonly-cited and used standard descriptive manual of the Germanic languages) - Orel, Vladimir E. A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. Leiden: Brill, 2003 (A dictionary for reconstructed Proto-Germanic that also shows attested words in ancient Germanic languages; for serious fans of Germanic etymology) - Prokosch, Eduard. A Comparative Germanic Grammar. Philadelphia: The Linguistic Society of America, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1939. (A dated but still useful text that traces the development of Germanic as a separate group within Indo-European and compares the ancient Germanic languages) - Robinson, Orrin W. Old English and its Closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages. London: Routledge, 1991. (A popular introductory text to comparative Germanic linguistics focusing on ancient Germanic languages) LINKS Afrikaans Profile Archaic English equivalents of German/Dut Differences between German and Yiddish? Difficulty of Germanic languages Dutch Profile Dutch vs Scandinavian Languages English Profile Easiest Germanic language to study? Extinct Germanic languages For English Speaker: Germanic or Romance? German Profile German, Dutch, Swedish, etc. German spin-offs Germanic “cheat sheet” Germanic family Germanic family learning sequence Germanic language family videos Germanic language learning sequence Germanic language order? Germanic languages - transparency Germanic Verbs (to be) Getting Frysky How Germanic is English? Icelandic compared with N. Germanic langs Icelandic Profile Languages related to English Luxembourgish Luxembourgish Profile Mutual Intelligibility of Older Germanic Mysterious similarities Swedish/Dutch Northern European Learning Methods? Northern Germanic Language Confusion Norwegian Profile Swedish Norwegian Danish - intelligible Swedish Profile Swiss German Profile Tackling Germanic languages Which Germanic language after German? Which Germanic languages, in which order? Which is more likely? Germ-Norw-Dutch Which Scandinavian language to study? AUDIO SAMPLES OF GermanIC LANGUAGES AT RHINOSPIKE.COM Danish Dutch English German Icelandic Norwegian Swedish AUDIO SAMPLES OF GermanIC DIALECTS/LANGUAGES AT YOUTUBE.COM Afrikaans Faroese Flemish Frisian German Luxembourgish Pennsylvania Dutch Plattdeutsch Plautdietsch Scots Schwyzerdütsch Yiddish COMMENTS FROM THOSE WHO HAVE “BEEN THERE” WITH AT LEAST TWO GermanIC LANGUAGES
Edited by Chung on 10 August 2012 at 3:50am 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7155 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 2 of 2 12 August 2011 at 5:47pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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As with the other group profiles, this one for Germanic is designed for people who are interested in learning their first Germanic language as a foreign one but are unsure of which one to pick. I hope that this brief profile will help potential learners focus their choice. In addition I encourage others who have studied at least two Germanic languages as foreign languages to post comments or send a PM to me and I will then incorporate their comments into the main profile as time allows.
My interest in Germanic is less than in Balto-Slavonic and Finno-Ugric and much of my knowledge in languages other than English and German are from second-hand descriptions of the Germanic languages. I do not vouch for the infallibility of the listed characteristics of the Germanic languages above and welcome corrections from native speakers if my lists of characteristics show mistakes. For example I'm unsure of the existence of vowel reduction in Icelandic and Yiddish. In addition, I am open to expanding the list of languages to include the "disputed ones" of Flemish and Scots (or even the extinct Gothic) as long as someone more qualified could present to me a list of characteristics in the same format as above. The consistency within these profiles aids comparison, I believe. Although I do enjoy working on these profiles and learn something new every time, I'm a little embarrassed by the Eurocentrism of the group profiles (on the other hand, I just can't muster much enthusiasm to pore through descriptions of Chinese, Semitic or Algonquian philology among many others, nor have I learned/studied that many languages). A Turkic profile is still a possibility but I'm thinking that such a profile would need to be a more overtly collaborative project since I myself have very little experience with Turkic languages, and active members of this forum who are learning Turkic languages other than Turkish are few indeed. Creating a Celtic profile would also be nice but it faces the same obstacle as a Turkic one with very few active members knowing/studying more than one of the group's languages. Anyway, comments and/or suggestions are welcome. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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