Re: Diglossia (was Re: Nur-ellen in the world of Brithenig)

> Date:         Mon, 11 Sep 2000 18:47:57 -0400
> From:         Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
> <despairing look>  You mean I'm taking German and I'll be able to read
> abstruse German topology text but I won't be able to *talk* to anyone?  I
> should've listened harder when my boyfriend made some vague mention of
> High/Low German.
Hey now, I'm sure Germans could write lucid math texts if they wanted
to. But don't despair, I don't think you'll be able to find a Platt
speaker who isn't bilingual in High German as well. (Unless they live
in the Netherlands --- I think there is a small pocket there).

In fact, the Standard German spoken in Northern Germany is actually
quite Standard, because the local dialects are a different languge.
The problem is Bavarians, Austrians and that lot, who think their
regional variants of High German are intelligible to people who have
learnt Standard German as a second language.

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