1. Background and aims

2. Current use

3. Example

4. Principles and properties
     Principle 1: Etymology    E-apocope    Principle 2: Uniformity    Final-obstruent devoicing    Assimilation    Exceptions    Principle 3: Open and closed syllables    Vowel length    Exceptions    Consonants at the end of a word    Further properties    Adaptations for loan words and foreign words    Capitalization of nouns    Punctuation  

5. Graphemes
     Consonants    Plosives    Fricatives    Sonorants    Vowels    Old long vowels    Pronunciation of ē    Old short vowels in open syllables    Old short vowels in closed syllables    w-sequences  

6. Sources
     Dictionaries  

7. Notes and references
     Notes    References  

The New Saxon Spelling (Low German/Low Saxon: Nysassiske Skryvwyse, NSS, "New Saxon Writing Method") is a Low German/Low Saxon spelling guideline for the entire Low German language area, on both sides of the Dutch–German border. While many other Low German spelling systems are based on local, dialectal pronunciations of Low German, the NSS aims for maximum readability and clarity across the entire Low German–speaking region, regardless of local pronunciation.

Benefits of the New Saxon Spelling include:

• unambiguous spellings of Low German words
• readability across the entire Low German–speaking area
• equality for all Low German dialects, on both sides of the border

The NSS can be seen as an extended version of the {{ill|Algemeyne Schryvwys'|nds-nl}},{{refn|group=note|General Writing Method or Orthography^[1]}} which is suited mainly for only Northern Low German/Northern Low Saxon. The NSS also borrows from other, pronunciation-based spelling systems, and from the Middle Low German/Middle Saxon spelling conventions of the Hanseatic period.

The NSS was completed in 2018 by the Warkgruppe AS 2.0 ("Working Group AS 2.0"), a group of language enthusiasts from the Veluwe and Twente regions of the Netherlands, and East Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany.

Background and aims

Current Low German spelling methods usually follow either Standard German or Standard Dutch spelling rules, with minor adjustments to accommodate Low German pronunciation. However, few speakers of Low German adhere strictly to these formal spelling rules, or know that formal spelling rules for Low German exist at all.

Low German speakers in Germany usually use spellings based on Standard German, while speakers in the Netherlands usually use spellings based on Standard Dutch. This impedes cross-border reading comprehension. Additionally, since neither spelling system is designed for Low German, each writer must decide how to adapt Standard German or Standard Dutch spelling to Low German—such as with diacritics or double- or triple-vowels—which creates a lack of uniformity in spelling.

The aim of the NSS is to simplify and encourage communication across the Dutch–German border. This is achieved by looking for neutral ways of communicating, and by separating words from their local pronunciations. The NSS aims to write Low German so that it is intelligible to Low German speakers in the Netherlands who are not familiar with German spelling rules, and vice versa. Readers may then apply their own dialectal pronunciations to written words.

Current use

In February 2018, one of the creators of the NSS presented the spelling system at a regional symposium in Beckum, the Netherlands. It received positive votes from several representatives from the {{ill|IJsselacademie|nl}}.^[2]

The NSS is used on Wearldspråke ("World Talk"), a Low German news website.^[2][3]

As of May 2018, the NSS is one of the orthographies used on the Dutch Low Saxon Wikipedia.^[4]{{Secondary source needed|date=November 2018}}

The creators of the NSS plan on making a Low German dictionary.^[2]

Example

The following example from the Tweants dialect of Low German (spoken in the Twente region of the Netherlands) shows the difference between the NSS and other, generally accepted, writing systems: the {{ill|Sass'sche Schrievwies|nds}} ("Sassian Writing Method", created by German linguist Johannes Sass and intended for Northern Low German/Northern Low Saxon dialects in Germany), and the {{ill|Standaard Skriefwieze|nds-nl}} ("Standard Writing Method", intended for the Tweants dialect in the Netherlands).

Principles and properties

The NSS can be applied both broadly, to the entire Low German language, or specifically, to a particular dialect. There is the general NSS (öäverregionale maksimaalversioon, "superregional maximal version"), which covers all the spoken differences of all dialects. And there is a series of dialectal NSS versions (regionale minimaalversionen, "regional minimal versions"), in which certain graphemes can be merged, when a phonemic merger has occurred in a particular dialect.

The main principles of the NSS are as follows:

• Etymology
• Uniformity
• Open and closed syllables

Below are a number of additional properties.

Principle 1: Etymology

In the general NSS, the spelling of words is determined by their etymology. In the regional dialectal NSS versions, a writer may deviate somwhat from the etymological spelling, if desired. A dialect may have merged phonemes that used to be separate in Old Saxon, such as ey and ee. In the Twents regional variants, these may both be written as ee.

E-apocope

The final e, which is absent in the northern dialects and in the dialects around the IJsselmeer because of e-apocope (the loss of a sound from the end of a word), is still written in the NSS, whether or not a particular dialect pronounces it. This reduces the visual differences between the northern and southern dialects. Moreover, this offers a simple and systematic solution for the reproduction of final-obstruent devoicing of vowels in the northern dialects: wyse = [vi::z], breyve = [brɛ:ɪ̯v].

Principle 2: Uniformity

The principle of uniformity means that word stems are written the same way whenever possible, even if suffixes change the pronunciation of the word stem.

Final-obstruent devoicing

At the end of a syllable, obstruents regularly become voiceless. In the NSS, this is not reflected in writing. One thus writes tyd - tyden (and not Tiet - Tieden, as in the Sass'sche Schrievwies), and skryven - skrivt (and not as in Dutch schrijven - schrijft).

Assimilation

Regular assimilations are not displayed in writing. One thus writes: bild - bilder (instead of biller), hand - handen/hände, ölven, seggen, etc.

Exceptions

Word stems ending in s, sj, or any other sibilant do not follow this rule. Here, the s from the -st suffix is dropped: nervöös → up't nervööst, duusjen → du duusjt.

Principle 3: Open and closed syllables

Vowel length

A long vowel is written with a single letter in an open syllable, and with a double letter in a closed syllable. One thus writes: maken - maakt, gode - good.

Exceptions

The letters e, y, and å are exceptions to this:

• A long e can also be doubled in a stressed open syllable. This applies especially to words with one syllable. For example, as an alternative to the northern sey (German See, Dutch zee), one can write see in the southern dialects.
• y always stands for a long vowel, which makes doubling in closed syllables unnecessary. One thus writes: hyr and myn, not hyyr or myyn.
• å always stands for a long vowel, and here again doubling in closed syllables is unnecessary. One thus writes: stån and gån, not ståån or gåån.

Consonants at the end of a word

In the NSS, there is no consonant-doubling at the ends of words, as there is in Standard German. One thus writes kan, nat, and wil, and not kann, natt, or will, as with the Sass'sche Schrievwies.

Further properties

Adaptations for loan words and foreign words

Loan words that are no longer recognized as foreign, are written phonetically. In the case of these foreign words, the spelling remains close to the word's spelling in the original language. These words are represented as follows:

• The principle of open and closed syllables: long vowels in closed syllables are written with two letters in foreign words, as they are in Low German words (kanaal, systeem, kultuur).
• c becomes k if the letter is pronounced /k/ (konferens, kakao), and remains c if the letter is pronounced /ts~s/ (citrone, centrum).
• cc becomes ks if pronounced /ks/ (aksent, aksepteren), and becomes kk if pronounced /k/ (akkumuleren, akkoord).
• qu becomes kw if pronounced /kv/ (kwaliteyt, frekwens).
• qu generally becomes k if pronounced /k/ (karantene), but for names and locations, the spelling qu can be maintained (Quebec).
• th and ph become t and f, respectively (teory, tema, telefoon, foto).
• x becomes ks (eksempel, kontekst).

Capitalization of nouns

Only the beginnings of sentences, names of people and countries are written with a capital letter. Other nouns and adjectives are not capitalized, even if they are derived from the names of countries.

Punctuation

• A comma is placed between clauses of a sentence, e.g. [main clause, main clause] or [main clause, subordinate clause]. For short subordinate clauses (around two words), the comma can be omitted. Exception: no comma is placed before un/en ("and"), or or/oder/of ("or").
• Quotation marks placed before and after a word or phrase are placed at the top. Possible quotation marks are "...", “...”, and ”...”.

Graphemes

Consonants are pronounced largely the same across all dialects of Low German. Here, the general NSS can be used with no major problems, regardless of dialect.

Vowels, however, are pronounced differently in different dialects, and some small variations in spelling are required for certain dialects or dialect groups.

The tables below show each grapheme used in the NSS, and show each grapheme's etymological origins in Old Saxon and Proto-Germanic. The tables also show examples of each grapheme's use in the NSS (with dialectal variations, where necessary); and compare the same example words in the NSS; the {{ill|Sass'sche Schrievwies|nds}}; the Gronings dialect; the {{ill|Münsterland dialect|de|Münsterländer Platt}} spoken in the Münster region; and the {{ill|Standaard Skriefwieze|nds-nl}}. Cognates in Standard Dutch and Standard German are also included for comparison.

Consonants

Plosives

Fricatives

Sonorants

Vowels

Old long vowels

Pronunciation of ē

Old short vowels in open syllables

Old short vowels in closed syllables

w-sequences

Sources

Dictionaries

• Heinrich Kahl & Heinrich Thies: der neue Sass - Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch 5th edition. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2009, {{ISBN|978-3-529-03000-0}}.
• Klaus-Werner Kahl: Wörterbuch des Münsterländer Platt. 3rd edition. Aschendorff Verlag, Mönster 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-402-06447-4}}.
• Vladimir Orel: A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leyden & Boston 2003, {{ISBN|90-04-12875-1}}.
• Groninger zakwoordenboek
• Dialexicon Twents

Notes and references

Notes

References

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