Dutch dialects

Dutch dialects are primarily dialects that are cognate with the Dutch language and are spoken in the same language area as the Dutch standard language. However, some dialects in adjacent parts of German North Rhine-Westphalia, where German is the standard, actually stand on a shorter distance to Dutch than to High German and could therefore also be called Dutch. They are Low Franconian in character and are called Low Rhenish dialects, as such belonging to the broader Meuse-Rhenish dialect continuum.

The province of Friesland is bilingual. West Frisian language, not being a Dutch dialect, is spoken here, while Dutch is the standard language. A (West) Frisian standard language has also been developed.

Dutch dialects are remarkably diverse. The Netherlands have quite a lot different regions and various dialects.

A first dichotomy

In the east there is an extensive Dutch Low Saxon dialect area: the provinces of Groningen (Gronings), Drenthe and Overijssel are almost exclusively Low Saxon, and a major part of the province of Guelderland also belongs to it. The IJssel river roughly forms the linguistic watershed here. Although this group, not being Low Franconian, is very close to neighbouring Low German, it is still regarded as Dutch, because of the superordination of the Dutch standard language in this area ever since the seventeenth century.

Extension across the borders

• Zuid-Gelders and Limburgish are dialects also spoken in adjacent parts of German North Rhine-Westphalia.
• Brabantian (Noord-Brabant) fades into the dialects spoken in the adjoining provinces of Belgium.
• The same applies to Limburgish (Limburg (Netherlands)), but this is also spoken across the border of Germany.
• Zealandic of most of Zeeland is a transitional regional language between West Flemish and Hollandic, with the exception of the eastern part of Zealandic Flanders, where East Flemish is spoken.

Holland and the Randstad

In Holland proper, Hollandic is spoken, though the original forms of this dialect, heavily influenced by a Frisian substratum, are now relatively rare; the urban dialects of the Randstad, which are Hollandic dialects, do not diverge from standard Dutch very much, but there is a clear difference between the city dialects of Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam or Utrecht.

In some rural Hollandic areas more authentic Hollandic dialects are still being used, especially north of Amsterdam. Another group of dialects based on Hollandic is that spoken in the cities and larger towns of Friesland, where it displaced West Frisian in the 16th century and is known as Stadsfries ("Urban Frisian").

Minority languages

Limburgish has the status of official regional language in the Netherlands (but not in Belgium). It receives protection by chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Limburgish has been influenced by the Rhinelandic dialects like the Cologne dialect: Kölsch, and has had a somewhat different development since the late Middle Ages.

Limburgish and Dutch Low Saxon have been elevated by the Netherlands (and by Germany) to the legal status of streektaal (regional language) according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which causes some native speakers to consider them separate languages.

Recent use

Dutch dialects are not spoken as often as they used to be. Nowadays in The Netherlands only older people speak these dialects in the smaller villages, with the exception of the Low Saxon and Limburgish regional languages, which are actively promoted by some provinces and still in common use. Most towns and cities stick to standard Dutch - although many cities have their own city dialect, which continues to prosper. In Belgium, however, dialects are very much alive; many senior citizens there are unable to speak standard Dutch. In both the Netherlands and Belgium, many larger cities also have several distinct smaller dialects.

Flanders

In Flanders, there are four main dialect groups:

• West Flemish (West-Vlaams) including French Flemish in the far North of France,
• East Flemish (Oost-Vlaams),
• Brabantian (Brabants), which includes several main dialect branches, including Antwerpian, and
• Limburgish (Limburgs).

Some of these dialects, especially West and East Flemish, have incorporated some French loanwords in everyday language. An example is fourchette in various forms (originally a French word meaning fork), instead of vork. Brussels is especially heavily influenced by French because roughly 85% of the inhabitants of Brussels speak French. The Limburgish in Belgium is closely related to Dutch Limburgish. An oddity of West Flemings (and to a lesser extent, East Flemings) is that, when they speak AN, their pronunciation of the "soft g" sound (the voiced velar fricative) is almost identical to that of the "h" sound (the voiced glottal fricative), thus, the words held (hero) and geld (money) sound nearly the same, except that the latter word has a 'y' /j/ sound embedded into the "soft g". When they speak their local dialect, however, their "g" is almost the "h" of the Algemeen Nederlands, and they do not pronounce the "h". Some Flemish dialects are so distinct that they might be considered as separate language variants, although the strong significance of language in Belgian politics would prevent the government from classifying them as such. West Flemish in particular has sometimes been considered a distinct variety. Dialect borders of these dialects do not correspond to present political boundaries, but reflect older, medieval divisions.

The Brabantian dialect group, for instance, also extends to much of the south of the Netherlands, and so does Limburgish. West Flemish is also spoken in part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, and even in a small area near Dunkirk, France that borders Belgium.

Sister and daughter languages

Many native speakers of Dutch, both in Belgium and the Netherlands, assume that Afrikaans and West Frisian are 'deviant' dialects of Dutch. In fact, they are different languages, a daughter language and a sister language respectively. Afrikaans has evolved mainly from Dutch. (West) Frisian evolved from the same West Germanic branch as Anglo-Saxon and is somewhat less akin to Dutch.

Non-continental dialects

• Until the early 20th century, variants of Dutch were still spoken by some descendants of Dutch colonies in the United States. New Jersey in particular had an active Dutch community with a highly divergent dialect that was spoken as recently as the 1950s. See Jersey Dutch for more on this dialect.
• Another North-American Dutch dialect is Pella Dutch.
• However, Pennsylvania Dutch, despite its somewhat confusing name, actually is German-based.
• Plautdietsch is a Low German variety with influences and elements of Dutch.
• Russia today also has some people in small colonies who speak Dutch-based dialects.

Source

• Ad Welschen 2000-2005: Course Dutch Society and Culture, International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam

References

• Georg Cornelissen 2003: Kleine niederrheinische Sprachgeschichte (1300-1900) : eine regionale Sprachgeschichte für das deutsch-niederländische Grenzgebiet zwischen Arnheim und Krefeld [with an introduction in Dutch. Geldern / Venray: Stichting Historie Peel-Maas-Niersgebied, ISBN 90-807292-2-1]
• Michael Elmentaler, Die Schreibsprachgeschichte des Niederrheins. Forschungsprojekt der Uni Duisburg, in: Sprache und Literatur am Niederrhein, Schriftenreihe der Niederrhein-Akademie Bd. 3, 15-34.
• Frins, Jean (2005): Syntaktische Besonderheiten im Aachener Dreilãndereck. Eine Übersicht begleitet von einer Analyse aus politisch-gesellschaftlicher Sicht. Groningen: RUG Repro [Undergraduate Thesis, Groningen University]
• Frins, Jean (2006): Karolingisch-Fränkisch. Die plattdůtsche Volkssprache im Aachener Dreiländereck. Groningen: RUG Repro [Master's Thesis, Groningen University]
• Theodor Frings 1916: Mittelfränkisch-niederfränkische studien I. Das ripuarisch-niederfränkische Übergangsgebiet. II. Zur Geschichte des Niederfränkischenn in: Beiträge zur Geschichte und Sprache der deutschen Literatur 41 (1916), 193-271 en 42, 177-248.
• Irmgard Hansche 2004: Atlas zur Geschichte des Niederrheins (= Schriftenreihe der Niederrhein-Akademie 4). Bottrop/Essen: Peter Pomp (5e druk). ISBN 3893552006
• Uwe Ludwig, Thomas Schilp (red.) 2004: Mittelalter an Rhein und Maas. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Niederrheins. Dieter Geuenich zum 60. Geburtstag (= Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur Nordwesteuropas 8). Münster/New York/München/Berlin: Waxmann. ISBN 383091380X
• Arend Mihm 1992: Sprache und Geschichte am unteren Niederrhein, in: Jahrbuch des Vereins für niederdeutsche Sprachforschung, 88-122.
• Arend Mihm 2000: Rheinmaasländische Sprachgeschichte von 1500 bis 1650, in: Jürgen Macha, Elmar Neuss, Robert Peters (red.): Rheinisch-Westfälische Sprachgeschichte. Köln enz. (= Niederdeutsche Studien 46), 139-164.
• Helmut Tervooren 2005: Van der Masen tot op den Rijn. Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der volkssprachlichen mittelalterlichen Literatur im Raum von Rhein und Maas. Geldern: Erich Schmidt. ISBN 3503079580