Flemish (linguistics)

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Flemish is the term for the dialects of Dutch spoken in Flanders or, alternatively, the forms of Dutch spoken in Belgium. The latter definition, though being the most common, is considered too precise by linguists, since the political borders seldom entirely correspond to linguistic ones. The official language in Belgium is Standard Dutch (i.e. the Dutch standard language), along with French and German.^[1][2][3]

In contrast to countries where the names of languages may have a more purely descriptive significance, in Belgium language is at the basis of a long political emancipation struggle, which accounts for the weight being put on the use of correct terminology, as well as the involvement of government in determining and defining standard languages.

Contents 1 Different linguistic meanings of Flemish 2 Other dialects 3 Classification 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References

[edit] 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:

1. the dialects of the separate language of Limburg, at present roughly covering the provinces Limburg (the Netherlands) and Limburg (present region Flanders, in Belgium),
2. the dialects of the former duchy of Brabant which once covered the provinces North Brabant (the Netherlands), Antwerp and Flemish Brabant (present region Flanders), and the Brussels-Capital region,
3. the dialects of the former countship of Flanders, which once covered most of the provinces of West-Vlaanderen, Oost-Vlaanderen (present region Flanders), Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (the Netherlands) and the northern French region of French Flanders;

• The non-standardized dialects of the former countship of Flanders (see here above);
• The non-standardized dialects of the provinces of West-Vlaanderen, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and French Flanders;
• 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 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 others are rejected in Flanders as dialectisms.

[edit] Other dialects

Another category of variants consists of the Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium. These "Flemish dialects", as they are often called by the layperson, do not form a unity however: i.e. they are not more closely related to each other than to the dialects spoken in the Netherlands, instead there are several groups, rather corresponding to the feudal principalities; some are strictly cross-border, especially in the provinces that were created by separating the historical duchy of Brabant (North Brabant is Dutch, Antwerp and Vlaams-Brabant are Belgian) and the region of Limburg (both states have a homonymous province). The main dividing lines between the Dutch dialects run from north to south, not from west to east as the Belgian-Dutch state border does. Of course centuries of separate political life did generate quite some idiomatic differences in official language and various jargons, but hardly anything grammatical and not significantly more even in vocabulary than between say Austria, Switzerland and Germany (even within this federal country there are very distinct northern and southern groups, pre-Luther without a common standard even in writing). The idea that 'Flemish' was a 'language without a literature' separate from Dutch was maintained by Belgium's francophone ruling class to fence off any threat from growing cries for recognition among the Dutch-speaking majority.

Finally there are among these Dutch dialects also strictly Flemish dialects in the linguistic sense, that are spoken in the old county of Flanders (about a third of the Dutch-speaking region in Belgium), among which the most deviant subset is West Flemish, which is also spoken in Zeeuws Vlaanderen situated in Zeeland a province of The Netherlands alongside Zeeuws which can be seen as the link between Hollandic and West Flemish.

While it is true that historically the provinces Brabant, Limburg and West Vlaanderen spanned territory on both sides of the Dutch-Belgian border, it is not the case that people close to the border speak the same dialect currently. While definitely related in a linguistic sense, more than 180 years of language evolution since the separation of Belgium (1830) has driven the two sides of the border apart. Also it should be noted that standard Dutch evolved significantly during this time. Both grammar, spelling and vocabulary, as defined by the Nederlandse Taalunie, have changed significantly and to such an extent that it makes 19th century texts hard to read for current speakers of the language. Arguably, the various Dutch dialects went through a similar evolution and are now significantly different from the way they were spoken before the separation.

A difference between the Netherlands and Belgium is that standard Dutch has replaced local dialects in large parts of the Netherlands, particularly in the densely populated parts around Amsterdam and The Hague. While these areas still have local dialects their use is much more limited than the use of Flemish dialects is in Belgium. Ironically, the Belgians excel in their use of standard Dutch to such extent that they beat the Dutch team most of the time in the language quiz "Tien voor Taal" which has two teams from both countries compete. It is broadcast on both Belgian and Dutch public television (since 1989).

[edit] Classification

Flemish can be classified as followed:

• Indo-European
  • Germanic
    • West Germanic
      • Low Franconian
        • Dutch
          • Flemish

[edit] See also

• West Flemish
• French Flemish
• East Flemish

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• De Standaard, Flemish newspaper (in Dutch)
• Website of the Taalunie, in Dutch
• taalschrift.org (in Dutch)