Re: creolego "cannibalizes" AND "phagocytates" (wasRe: Gaelic Thingie)

 --- Roger wrote:

> >/Ei/ (pronounced [Ej], [Ei], [E:], [aj], etc... depending on dialect). It's
> >nearly always a vowel, pronounced like the digraph |ei|. Only in cases
> >where it replaces a former |y| after another vowel, which was not replaced
> >by a simple |i|, it is pronounced [j] , or rather marks the glide of a
> >diphtongue (but this is rare and mostly found in proper names).
I couldn't think of any example of this in Dutch.

> The chain of hypermarchés in this area is Meijer('s)-- everything from soup
> to motor oil-- , always correctly pronounced ['maj@r] since much of the
> population is of Dutch descent.  I write it in my checkbook as "Meÿer",
> though in script it could just as well be "ij".  A proper name (19-20C
> missionary/linguist/anthropologist) Kruijt-- I never understood why the "j"
> was necessary there, since AFAIK "Kruit" would be pronounced the same.
Yes, the pronunciation is exactly the same. This name usually were not subject
to spelling reforms, they often preserve samples of really old-fashioned
spelling. "uy" and "uij" are nothing but old spellings of "ui", like "ey" and
"eij" are old spellings of "ei".
BTW This is a nice example of how Dutch "ij" and "y" interfere. To make it more
complicated, both were once pronounced [i].
I don't remember which one was there first.

> >>     megakoel ( does this make Dutch sense, o_0?) ... Mega-Cool :)
> >>
> >Rather say "megavet"!! Dutch people don't use "koel" that much to
> >mean "fun", "nice". Instead, they use "vet": "fat" (believe me, I know that
> >very well, the nephews of my friend can't say three words without
> >saying "vet" :)) ). Trust the Dutch not to do anything like the others :))
I don't agree if you say that Dutch people say "vet". Only five years ago
nobody would ever have thought of using the word in such way. It is a typical
example of kids' slang, the kind that first makes its entrance, then is used at
least three times in a sentence by everybody in a certain age, and after two or
three years disappears almost completely. Thus, during the last fifteen years
we had: "gaaf" (smooth), "wijs" (wise), "strak" (tight), "vet" (fat)... often
accompanied by an intensifier: "onwijs" (unwisely), "mega-", "kei-" (rock).

Examples: "onwijs gaaf", "onwijs wijs", "vet strak", "strak vet", "keivet"...

I am not sure, but I think "koel"/"cool" could be added to the list as well.

There is such a nice booklet, called "Turbotaal" by Jan Kuitenbrouwer, which
contains a whole list of such words.

> I wonder if that's an adaptation of US (originally Black) slang, "phat" (I
> suppose from "emphatic"?-- though by the time I pick up on such slang terms,
> they're already passé).
I doubt it.

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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