West Flemish
Spoken in
- Indo-European Germanic West Germanic low Franconian Flemish West Flemish
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Acc
Vls
West Flemish is a dialect which is spoken in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. The distribution area extends from the western part of Zeeland Vlaanderens in the Netherlands, the province of West Flanders in Belgium to the north- eastern tip of French Flanders.
Use
West Flemish is spoken in the extreme north of France in French Flanders of several thousand people. The interest in the dialect is growing again, after centuries the language has been suppressed for nationalistic reasons. In the western part of Zeeland Flanders is spoken by a small minority West Flemish. The local West Flemish is often mistakenly associated with the Zeeland. In the province of West Flanders, the dialect is the common vernacular. In a survey conducted in 1993, there was an average student at Dialektkentnis of 88% in West Flanders. In contrast, the proportion was 50% in East Flanders and Limburg at 40 %. Overall, West Flemish comes to 1.2 million speakers.
Demarcation and internal separation
Between West Flemish and Ostflämisch a dialect continuum, which means that there is a seamless transition between the two variants. With increasing distance Ostflämisch increasingly resembles the Brabant dialects. Zeeland ( Zeeland ), which is in the Dutch region of Zeeland still spoken by 200,000 people, is also closely related to West Flemish.
The West-Flemish dialects form a rather homogeneous unit. In contrast to the situation in East Flanders West a Flame from the north understands without problems the dialect from the southeast. Differences are especially selective. Nevertheless, there are four groups recognized
- Northern Küstenwestflämisch
- Western Küstenwestflämisch
- Kontinentalwestflämisch.
- French West Flemish
Example: The diminutive - tje ( huzetje, nl. Huisje, dt: Cottage ) is common on the coast. The precluding the - ke ( huzeke ) inland. Typical of Küstenwestflämisch in the use of the first person singular is the diffraction of the verbs in the first person plural. ik zin (German: " I am" ), ik peizen ( " I think " ) instead of ik ben, ik Peize.
The Flemish in the French Westhoek distances himself from the more powerful and has its similarity, thanks to the political isolation, preserved more with the archaic Middle Dutch.
Official Status
The differences between West Flemish and Dutch are sometimes greater than between Afrikaans and Dutch, West Flemish still has no recognition as a separate language. In Belgium, a recognition was as a minority language in order not to increase the linguistic confusion, not ratified. In France, West Flemish is on the list of regional branches langues de France. The closely related Zeeland in the Netherlands aimed at recognition. An application was rejected in 2004.
History
Bruges, as a cultural and financial center of the Burgundian Netherlands, provided a certain degree of standardization of the Middle Dutch, the predecessor of today's Dutch. The former dialects not yet differed so greatly from one another as they are today. West Flemish has retained most of the features of the Middle Dutch until today.
Although a Low Franconian language, West Flemish has many North Sea Germanic characteristics which give cause to wonder in the West-Flemish there Frisian substrate.
In the second half of the 19th century Sprachpartikularisten turned against the introduction and standardization of the " half-Jewish, half- pagan high - Dutch " in Belgium. It was feared above all a spillover of Protestantism. During this time, the Catholic poet Guido Gezelle has profiled as thought leaders westflämischer.
Due to the rural character and the peripheral location of West Flanders West Flemish is able to maintain more than other dialects to this day. Due to the strong influence of Flemish Brabant in the media and as a result of the introduction of the Dutch standard language but even this dialect is on the decline.
North Sea Germanic features
The relationship to English, English dialects, Old English and Frisian is sometimes very significantly. The Küstenwestflämische is the North Sea Germanic languages more similar because the Kontinentalwestflämisch was more exposed to the influences of Brabant.
Phonetics
The occurring in many English dialects h- elision of word-initial can also be found in Küstenwestflämisch. Characteristic feature of the entire West Flemish Glottalisierung of the g [ χ ] is a h combination of features is often stigmatizing for West Flemish. De hoed goed zit it says in the Algemeen Nederlands ( AN). From De oed is zit hoed. This may result in the use of AT to a Hyperkorrektion. The Old Dutch text Hebban olla vogala shows examples of such uncertainty in the use of the h- Loud: Old Dutch hic instead of ic (Eng. " I " ) and adventur latin instead habent (Eng. " they ").
The ü sound [ ʏ ] as in put and dun (German: "pit" and "thin" ) is to pit and dinne [ ɪ ] in West Flemish and pit and thin in English.
As in English the a [ ɑ ] darkens to a o [ ɒ ], which can be observed in more detail with reference to the right table.
While in AN and other dialects in the suffix -en rather the n is omitted, n is attached directly to the stem in West Flemish. Examples (AN in parentheses): zotn ( villi ), hurtn ( luis lower ) s bustn ( bristles ) (English: "Crazy ", " listen ", " breasts "). This can be found in English also again ( beaten, listen).
Besides hurtn and bustn plugged into bus ( bos), mussels ( mosselen ), vul (vol) en zunne ( zon ) (German: "bush ", "Shell ", " full", " sun"), another feature: the o ü palatalized to [ ʏ ].
Also characteristic of the coastal languages is the transformation of the diphthong iu to altwestgermanischen ie, whereas continental dialects have developed a üü. Examples: kieken, four, stare ( analogous to engl. Chicken, fire, steer ) are kuiken ( with diphthongization of uu after ui), vuur, stubborn against (German: Chick, fire control ).
Grammatical features and vocabulary
Striking is the still partially implemented by plural formation in the West-Flemish by -s, as opposed to en - in Dutch. Examples: Trings ( treinen ), Keun ( Konijnen ) Bril ( eyeglasses ), Kleer ( kleren ), kinders ( kids ) (German: " Trains ", " rabbit ", " glasses ", " clothes ", " children " ). The Old Dutch text Hebban olla vogala shows such an example: Old Dutch Modern Dutch nestas over nest ( German " nests ").
On the one hand live many words from the Saxon heritage in the West Flemish dialect on. On the other hand, the dialect has taken many loanwords from trade with England.
French features
The neighborhood to the French language and the predominance of Wallonia after the founding of Belgium have led to a strong influence on the vocabulary of the West-Flemish dialects.
In a negating phrase you used in the West-Flemish as in standard Dutch, a negative epithet never (t) ( " not "). But there is also a negation word, how to use it in French. Example: "Jan en ee never veel money " (engl.: "Jan does not have much money. ").
Before t, d and s, the diphthong au mutated (written ou ) to an u [ ʊ ] ( 't is koud in m'n oude kousen ). This probably does to the French pronunciation. Likewise, shifts a long o [o ] to ö [ ø ].
Features from the Middle Dutch
For Dutch Brabant West Flemish spokesman acts often as an ancient language. This is because the Western Flemish has retained much of the Middle Dutch.
Strikingly, the flexion of the answers is yes and neck ("yes" and "no").
The monophthongs ie and uu for the standard language diphthongs ij and ui have also kept from the Middle Dutch.
Sometimes there are in the indefinite articles a genus, which has completely disappeared in the AN. Example: ne bull, en koe, e kalf (German: " a bull, a cow, a calf" ) - Dutch always een. Many female nouns end in addition to a -e (example: de Boane; nl: de baan; German. " The street" ).