Building Blocks of Low Saxon : An Introductory Grammar
Building Blocks of Low Saxon (“Low German”) - ©2008, Reinhard F. Hahn
 
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Building Blocks of Low Saxon : Sounds & Spelling
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Sounds and Spelling

Because the language was unofficial and suppressed until fairly recently, and also because most of its speakers have lost their ethnic consciousness and are variously fragmented, Low Saxon so far has no general standard variety and no standard orthography (spelling). There are only some orthographic guidelines for certain dialect groups. However, since there is no officially regulated Low Saxon education, most people are poorly acquainted with the spelling guidelines and follow them imprecisely in futile attempts to spell their specific dialects “phonetically” (i.e. supposedly “write as it sounds”).

On the German side of the border, an additional problematic factor is that older guidelines are based on German spelling conventions, several of which are unsuitable for Low Saxon and are more conplicating and confusing than helpful (especially the use of lengthening “h” and representation of final consonants following German patterns). Furthermore, most writers do not follow the guidelines for distinguishing ęę (ee) from ee (ey), ö̢ö̢ (oe) from öö (oy), and oo (oo) from oo (ou), and this has led to learners and other non-native speakers mispronouncing many words, a situation that speeds up Sprachverfall (“language decay”).

In this introduction to the language we will not go into detailed discussions of orthographic problems. We will merely spell words and phrases in the predominant German-based system (retaining the use of the lengthening “h” but spelling final consonants phonemically rather than following German patterns). These will appear in red. Following each word or phrase will be the same written with the General Orthography (Algemeyne Schryvwys’) appearing in light blue. This orthography, which is partly based on Middle Saxon (“Middle Low German”) principles, is to be seen as an auxiliary phonemic representation and thus as a more reliable guide to pronunciation. There will be no specific introduction to the General Orthography, since its use in this phonological introduction is sufficient. However, there will be a few notes explaining features of the General Orthography.

Sound and Spelling Topics:
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Vowels & Diphthongs   Consonants   Sound Rules   Dialect Variation  

 

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