Re: Columbian Danish (was: political Zera)

> Date:         Wed, 12 Apr 2000 17:55:36 +0200
> From: Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...>
> That sounds realistic. So perhaps not a creole, but some a variant
> of Danish not intelligible with European Danish. It seems to me
> afterall that the Danish language changes/evolves quite quickly. One
> only has to watch old Danish movies to hear how much Danish has
> changed over the decades. So if we go backwards in time, then
> Columbian-Danish certainly would have evolved from some form of
> Danish that is no longer spoken today.
Just populate New Foundland with fishermen from Bornholm and Thy
(Burgundians and Teutons), the mainland with farmers from Vendsyssel
and Himmerland (Vandals and Kimbrians). Then have supplies/traders
come from the Southern Islands (Ærø) and the administrators from Ribe
(because the overseas possessions formally belong to some count or
other in that diocese). That represents all the dialect groups except
the one that becomes Standard Danish. A fine stew, even without the
native input.

By the time the central administration in Copenhagen wakes up, in the
late 1700s or so, it will be too late --- Columbian-Danish will be a
completely separate language. It will probably also escape the
influence of literacy on pronunciation, which *here* has retarded some
phonetic developments for close to 200 years.

Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)