Flemish

The Flemish dialects include two specific Dutch dialects in Belgium, namely West Flemish and Ostflämisch. They are spoken in the provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders, which in turn correspond approximately to the area of the medieval County of Flanders. Apart from these two dialects in Belgium there another Dutch dialects, namely Brabants and Limburg.

History

The centers of Bruges and Ghent influenced the Dutch language area in the Middle Ages, decisively. From about 1600 the Flemish East Flanders developed faster further than the West Flanders. The reasons are the more rural character of West Flanders and East Flanders, geographical proximity to the Duchy of Brabant, where the Brabant dialect from 1600 greater impact on the language development of the Dutch language area had as Flemish.

Demarcation

" Flemish " is used in and outside Belgium for something other than the two dialects. However, it is

• Not a separate language: The official and written language in the Flemish Region and in the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region is Dutch, be it in a slightly different form than in the Netherlands. One speaks, for example in the Belgian -Dutch dictionaries. The difference is comparable to that between the standard German in Germany and in Austria.
• Not the collective name for the dialects of Dutch in Belgium, because there are more Dutch-speaking, nichtflämische dialects in Belgium.

Since " Flemish " the adjective for the people of the Flanders region, the Belgians " Flemish " is often synonymous with " Dutch-speaking ". They relate the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels with a. If Dutch denote a language as " Flemish " or " Belgian", they usually mean the spoken Dutch in Belgium without detailed knowledge of the different dialects of Belgium.

In Flanders in the 20th century developed a form of language that is identical neither with the ( Belgian ) Standard Dutch still with the old Dutch dialects of Belgium. It is the colloquial language, especially the city dwellers. The Flemish speak of a tussentaal ( intermediate language ), often also from Verkavelingsvlaams.