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Flemish (linguistics)

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Flemish (Vlaams in Dutch), as the general adjective relating to Flanders, can refer to the speech of the Flemings, inhabitants of Flanders, though for the Flemish Community, Algemeen Nederlands (Common Dutch) is the official name of the standard language hence in English referred to as standard Dutch. 'Flemish' is the term for a limited group of non-standardised dialects; the widespread contemporary usage for 'Dutch as spoken in Belgium' (in particular the Flemish Region and Brussels-Capital), is not considered correct by linguists, since boundaries between relevant areas of distinct groups of historical dialects do not at all coincide with the national borders.

Different linguistic meanings of Flemish

To the term Flemish, as a linguistic notion, several meanings can be given:

  • The variants of standard Dutch as generally perceived from speakers or writers of 'Common Dutch' that are native to the Belgian regions Flanders or Brussels-Capital;
  • The non-standardized dialects as spoken in the present region Flanders, often perceived as related;

Note: for linguists however, these are part of three distinct groups:
#the dialects of the former duchy named Brabant which once covered the provinces North Brabant (the Netherlands), Antwerp and Flemish Brabant (present region Flanders), the Brussels-Capital region, and — historically because the original dialects have become (all but?) extinct — the now French-speaking province Walloon Brabant (present Wallonia, in Belgium),
#the dialects of the former county named Flanders, which once covered the provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders (present region Flanders), Zeelandic Flanders (province of Zeeland in the Netherlands), and French Flanders (départements Nord and Pas-de-Calais in France);

  • The nonstandardized dialects of the former county of Flanders (see here above), a proper usage of 'Flemish' to linguists;
  • The nonstandardized dialects of the provinces of West Flanders, Zeelandic Flanders and French Flanders, as a whole called West Flemish by linguists, which are less influenced by Brabantian dialects than are the East Flemish dialects;
  • A range of mixes of standard Dutch with non-standardized dialect as individuals may tend to speak outside the most formal and their most familiar local environments, or in a familiar local environment while addressing an audience; or as in particular younger people who may not master a dialect tend to speak in any but the more formal environments.
  • Any combination of the above.

Depending on the definition used, Flemish shows more or less important differences with the standard Dutch as officially determined by the Nederlandse Taalunie. Some usages that are common in Belgium, but not in the Netherlands, are recognized as being interchangeably correct, and are therefore correct Dutch, while even in Flanders others are rejected as dialectisms.

More about Dutch, dialect groups and dialects

Native speakers can quickly distinguish spoken and even written variants of standard Dutch used by Flemish speakers from variants that are common in the Netherlands. The differences in vocabulary however, are quite small. The Woordenlijst der Nederlandse taal, often referred to by its cover colour as the green bible of the Dutch language and published under the leadership of Guido Geerts at Van Dale, also known for the Van Dale dictionary standard work, had shown 1,500 typically 'Flemish' words... in a list of 110,000 different Dutch language terms, statistically proving Flemish and Dutch to be a single language. Thus in 1973 the Flemish Cultural Council, a predecessor of the Flemish Parliament, decided that in any law the term "Vlaamse taal", Flemish language, had to be replaced with "Nederlandse taal", Dutch language. On 9 September, 1980 the treaty regarding the Nederlandse Taalunie, Dutch-language Union between the Kingdoms of Belgium and of the Netherlands was signed.

"Flemish dialects" as those of the present-day Flanders are often called by the layperson, do not form a unity: i.e. not all of the dialects are much more closely related to each other than to those spoken in the Netherlands. Instead there are several dialect groups, rather corresponding to the former territories of the feudal principalities Flanders, Brabant, and Limburg side by side from west to east. These were cut into northern and southern parts by separations of the Southern Netherlands and later Belgium. A few centuries of separate political life did generate quite some idiomatic differences in official language and various dialects, but linguists consider these isogloss bundles to be minor as to them, the dialects hardly underwent any grammatical changes and not significantly more even in vocabulary — a point of view that may lead laypeople to sometimes wonder whether linguists ever overheard a proper conversation in an authentic dialect. Indeed in the company of outsiders or non-locals, most dialect-speakers apart from Antverpians tend to 'clean up' their speech towards either a middle-of-the-road dialect, or often, starting several decades ago, a tussentaal ('in-between language') as a mix of dialect and standard Dutch is called.

The use of local dialects has retained more vigor in Flanders than in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, local dialects have given way to standard Dutch over wide areas, particularly in the densely populated areas around Amsterdam and The Hague. While the local dialects persist, their everyday practical use has become much more limited than is the case with dialects in Flanders.

Compared by the speech in the Netherlands, Flemish is notable in that nearly each hamlet or city has preserved its own unique dialect variant, so that a person's place of origin, down to the level of a city quarter, is apparent to people from the same region. This is so throughout the entire Flemish territory, except where communities have been newly founded or their uniqueness severely weakened by a strong foreign language influence or by influx from other dialectical areas. There has been some recent upheaval because the uniqueness and authenticity of many dialects is further endangered by standard Dutch in the media and in education. In school, children are prohibited from using dialectical vocabulary in their writing and dialectally distinctive pronunciation in classroom conversation, and sometimes even on the school playground. To counteract the decline, many areas have started archiving their dialects, special school programs have been started that teach children and adults to speak the local dialect, and promotional campaigns have encouraged the use of the dialects in art, literature, and music. The use of dialects appears to have gradually become popular again to the point of being a source of pride for each community.

The dialect groups as they survived in Flanders have a distinct sound and rhythm. The remarkably tonal and notably slower speech of Limburgish people is for more westerly speakers traditional cause for mockery. Once a television station asked two politicians, one from Limburg, the other from West Flanders — where the fastest speech occurs — to comment on the subject, 'Which is better: slower or faster?'. The hilarious outcome was that the Limburger, who did speak notably slower and in a more musical way, made his point in less than four minutes, while the West Fleming needed over eight to make his. A similar observation is noticed between the, interruptionless speech of Dutch people in general, and the comparatively halting style of many Flemish speakers.

Ironically, the Flemish excel in their knowledge of standard Dutch to such extent that in the former TV show, "Tien voor Taal" (broadcast on both Flemish and Dutch public television from 1989 till 2005) their teams could beat their Dutch opponents two out of three times in the language quiz. The program still continues in the Netherlands.

Classification

Flemish can be classified as followed:

See also

Voorblad of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Keep in mind that this site does not discuss the Flemish language, but a dialectic form of West-Flanders which is not always understood by those in other provinces. Written Flemish is identical to Dutch; it just differs in use and speech.

References

Footnotes

General online sources

External links



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