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West Flemish

April 13, 2024

West Flemish (West-Vlams or West-Vloams or Vlaemsch (in French Flanders), Dutch: West-Vlaams, French: flamand occidental) is a collection of Dutch dialects spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and the Netherlands.

West Flemish
West-Vlaams
Native toBelgium, Netherlands, France
RegionWest Flanders
Native speakers
(1.4 million cited 1998)[1]
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
vls – (West) Vlaams
zea – Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
Glottologsout3292  Southwestern Dutch
vlaa1240  Western Flemish
Linguasphere52-ACB-ag
West Flemish is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

West Flemish is spoken by about a million people in the Belgian province of West Flanders, and a further 50,000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders (200,000 if including the closely related dialects of Zeelandic) and 10-20,000 in the northern part of the French department of Nord.[1] Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges, Dunkirk, Kortrijk, Ostend, Roeselare and Ypres.

West Flemish is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's online Red Book of Endangered Languages.[2]

Position of West Flemish (colour: light blue) among the other minority languages, regional languages and dialects in Belgium, the Netherlands and French department Nord
Flemish (green) and French (red/brown) as spoken in the arrondissement of Dunkirk in France, in 1874 and 1972
Bachten de Kupe [nl; vls] scenic road sign.

Phonology edit

West Flemish has a phonology that differs significantly from that of Standard Dutch, being similar to Afrikaans in the case of long E, O and A. Also where Standard Dutch has sch, in some parts of West Flanders, West-Flemish, like Afrikaans, has sk. However, the best known traits are the replacement of Standard Dutch (pre-)velar fricatives g and ch in Dutch (/x, ɣ/) with glottal h [h, ɦ],. The following differences are listed by their Dutch spelling, as some different letters have merged their sounds in Standard Dutch but remained separate sounds in West Flemish. Pronunciations can also differ slightly from region to region.

  • sch - /sx/ is realised as [ʃh], [sh] or [skʰ] (sh or sk).
  • ei - /ɛi/ is realised as [ɛː] or [jɛ] (è or jè).
  • ij - /ɛi/ is realised as [i] (short ie, also written as y) and in some words as [y].
  • ui - /œy/ is realised as [y] (short u) and in some words as [i].
  • au - /ʌu/ is realised as [ɔu] (ow)
  • ou - /ʌu/ is realised as [ʊ] (short oe), it is very similar to the long "oe" that is also used in Standard Dutch ([u]), which can cause confusion
  • e - /ɛ/ is realised as [æ] or [a].
  • i - /ɪ/ is realised as [ɛ].
  • ie - /i/ is longer [iː]
  • aa - /aː/ is realised as [ɒː].

The absence of /x/ and /ɣ/ in West Flemish makes pronouncing them very difficult for native speakers. That often causes hypercorrection of the /h/ sounds to a /x/ or /ɣ/.

Standard Dutch also has many words with an -en (/ən/) suffix (mostly plural forms of verbs and nouns). While Standard Dutch and most dialects do not pronounce the final n, West Flemish typically drops the e and pronounces the n inside the base word. For base words already ending with n, the final n sound is often lengthened to clarify the suffix. That makes many words become similar to those of English: beaten, listen etc.

The short o ([ɔ]) can also be pronounced as a short u ([ɐ]), a phenomenon also occurring in Russian and some other Slavic languages, called akanye. That happens spontaneously to some words, but other words keep their original short o sounds. Similarly, the short a ([ɑ]) can turn into a short o ([ɔ]) in some words spontaneously.

The diphthong ui (/œy/) does not exist in West Flemish and is replaced by a long u ([y]) or a long ie ([i]). Like for the ui, the long o ([o]) can be replaced by an [ø] (eu) for some words but a [uo] for others. That often causes similarities to ranchers English. [clarification needed]

Here are some examples showing the sound shifts that are part of the vocabulary:

Dutch West Flemish English
vol (short o) vul [vɐl] full
zon (short o) zunne [ˈzɐnːə] sun
kom (short o) kom* [kɔm] come
boter (long o) beuter [ˈbøtər] butter
boot (long o) boot [buot] boat
kuiken kiek'n [ˈkiːʔŋ̍] chick
bruin brun [bryn] brown

* This is as an example as a lot of words are not the same. The actual word used for kom is menne.

Grammar edit

Plural form edit

Plural forms in Standard Dutch most often add -en, but West Flemish usually uses -s, like the Low Saxon dialects and even more prominently in English in which -en has become very rare. Under the influence of Standard Dutch, -s is being used by fewer people, and younger speakers tend to use -en.

Verb conjugation edit

The verbs zijn ("to be") and hebben ("to have") are also conjugated differently.

Dutch West Flemish English Dutch West Flemish English
zijn zyn to be hebben èn to have
ik ben 'k zyn I am ik heb 'k è I have
jij bent gy zyt you are jij hebt gy èt you have
hij is ie is he is hij heeft ie èt he has
wij zijn wydder zyn we are wij hebben wydder èn we have
jullie zijn gydder zyt you are jullie hebben gydder èt you have
zij zijn zydder zyn they are zij hebben zydder èn they have

Double subject edit

West Flemish often has a double subject.

Dutch West Flemish English
Jij hebt dat gedaan. G' èt gy da gedoan. You have done that.
Ik heb dat niet gedaan. 'K èn ekik da nie gedoan. I didn't do that.

Articles edit

Standard Dutch has an indefinite article that does not depend on gender, unlike in West Flemish. However, a gender-independent article is increasingly used. Like in English, n is pronounced only if the next word begins with a vowel sound.

Dutch West Flemish English
een stier (m) ne stier a bull
een koe (f) e koeje a cow
een kalf (o) e kolf a calf
een aap (m) nen oap an ape
een huis (o) en 'us a house

Conjugation of yes and no edit

Another feature of West Flemish is the conjugation of ja and nee ("yes" and "no") to the subject of the sentence. That is somewhat related to the double subject, but even when the rest of the sentence is not pronounced, ja and nee are generally used with the first part of the double subject. There is also an extra word, toet ([tut]), negates the previous sentence but gives a positive answer. It is an abbreviation of " 't en doe 't" - it does it. The full version is also used - as in "ja'k en doe 't".

Ja and nee can also all be strengthened by adding mo- or ba-. Both mean "but" and are derived from Dutch but or maar) and can be even used together (mobajoat).

Dutch West Flemish English
Heb jij dat gedaan? - Ja / Nee Èj gy da gedoan? - Joak / Nink Did you do that? - Yes / No
Je hebt dat niet gedaan, hé? - Maar jawel G'èt da nie gedoan, é? - Bajoak (ja'k en doe 't) You didn't do that, eh? - On the contrary (But yes I did.).
Heeft hij dat gedaan? - Ja / Nee Èt ie da gedoan? - Joan / Nin (Joaj/Nij - Joas/Nis) Did he do that? - Yes / No (Yes/No - Yes/No)
Gaan we verder? - Ja / Nee Zyn me? - Joam / Nim Can we go? - Yes / No

See also edit

 
Apartment building in Blankenberge (Belgium) with West Flemish name "Yzeren Rampe" (Iron embankment)

References edit

  1. ^ a b (West) Vlaams at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Zeelandic (Zeeuws) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ . United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 2023-02-07.

Further reading edit

  • Debrabandere, Frans (1999), "Kortrijk" (PDF), in Kruijsen, Joep; van der Sijs, Nicoline (eds.), Honderd Jaar Stadstaal, Uitgeverij Contact, pp. 289–299

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Flemish language.
  • Euromosaic report on West Flemish (thus Dutch) in France
 
West Flemish edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

April 13, 2024
west, flemish, this, article, need, reorganization, comply, with, wikipedia, layout, guidelines, please, help, editing, article, make, improvements, overall, structure, august, 2017, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, help, expand, this, article, wi. This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia s layout guidelines Please help by editing the article to make improvements to the overall structure August 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Dutch November 2012 Click show for important translation instructions Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate rather than simply copy pasting machine translated text into the English Wikipedia Consider adding a topic to this template there are already 377 articles in the main category and specifying topic will aid in categorization Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low quality If possible verify the text with references provided in the foreign language article You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Dutch Wikipedia article at nl West Vlaams see its history for attribution You should also add the template Translated nl West Vlaams to the talk page For more guidance see Wikipedia Translation West Flemish West Vlams or West Vloams or Vlaemsch in French Flanders Dutch West Vlaams French flamand occidental is a collection of Dutch dialects spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and the Netherlands West FlemishWest VlaamsNative toBelgium Netherlands FranceRegionWest FlandersNative speakers 1 4 million cited 1998 1 Language familyIndo European GermanicWest GermanicWeser Rhine GermanicLow FranconianDutchWest FlemishDialectsZeelandic French FlemishLanguage codesISO 639 3Either a href https iso639 3 sil org code vls class extiw title iso639 3 vls vls a West Vlaams a href https iso639 3 sil org code zea class extiw title iso639 3 zea zea a Zeelandic Zeeuws Glottologsout3292 Southwestern Dutchvlaa1240 Western FlemishLinguasphere52 ACB agWest Flemish is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World s Languages in DangerWest Flemish is spoken by about a million people in the Belgian province of West Flanders and a further 50 000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders 200 000 if including the closely related dialects of Zeelandic and 10 20 000 in the northern part of the French department of Nord 1 Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges Dunkirk Kortrijk Ostend Roeselare and Ypres West Flemish is listed as a vulnerable language in UNESCO s online Red Book of Endangered Languages 2 Position of West Flemish colour light blue among the other minority languages regional languages and dialects in Belgium the Netherlands and French department NordFlemish green and French red brown as spoken in the arrondissement of Dunkirk in France in 1874 and 1972 Bachten de Kupe nl vls scenic road sign Contents 1 Phonology 2 Grammar 2 1 Plural form 2 2 Verb conjugation 2 3 Double subject 2 4 Articles 2 5 Conjugation of yes and no 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksPhonology editWest Flemish has a phonology that differs significantly from that of Standard Dutch being similar to Afrikaans in the case of long E O and A Also where Standard Dutch has sch in some parts of West Flanders West Flemish like Afrikaans has sk However the best known traits are the replacement of Standard Dutch pre velar fricatives g and ch in Dutch x ɣ with glottal h h ɦ The following differences are listed by their Dutch spelling as some different letters have merged their sounds in Standard Dutch but remained separate sounds in West Flemish Pronunciations can also differ slightly from region to region sch sx is realised as ʃh sh or skʰ sh or sk ei ɛi is realised as ɛː or jɛ e or je ij ɛi is realised as i short ie also written as y and in some words as y ui œy is realised as y short u and in some words as i au ʌu is realised as ɔu ow ou ʌu is realised as ʊ short oe it is very similar to the long oe that is also used in Standard Dutch u which can cause confusion e ɛ is realised as ae or a i ɪ is realised as ɛ ie i is longer iː aa aː is realised as ɒː The absence of x and ɣ in West Flemish makes pronouncing them very difficult for native speakers That often causes hypercorrection of the h sounds to a x or ɣ Standard Dutch also has many words with an en en suffix mostly plural forms of verbs and nouns While Standard Dutch and most dialects do not pronounce the final n West Flemish typically drops the e and pronounces the n inside the base word For base words already ending with n the final n sound is often lengthened to clarify the suffix That makes many words become similar to those of English beaten listen etc The short o ɔ can also be pronounced as a short u ɐ a phenomenon also occurring in Russian and some other Slavic languages called akanye That happens spontaneously to some words but other words keep their original short o sounds Similarly the short a ɑ can turn into a short o ɔ in some words spontaneously The diphthong ui œy does not exist in West Flemish and is replaced by a long u y or a long ie i Like for the ui the long o o can be replaced by an o eu for some words but a uo for others That often causes similarities to ranchers English clarification needed Here are some examples showing the sound shifts that are part of the vocabulary Dutch West Flemish Englishvol short o vul vɐl fullzon short o zunne ˈzɐnːe sunkom short o kom kɔm comeboter long o beuter ˈboter butterboot long o boot buot boatkuiken kiek n ˈkiːʔŋ chickbruin brun bryn brown This is as an example as a lot of words are not the same The actual word used for kom is menne Grammar editPlural form edit Plural forms in Standard Dutch most often add en but West Flemish usually uses s like the Low Saxon dialects and even more prominently in English in which en has become very rare Under the influence of Standard Dutch s is being used by fewer people and younger speakers tend to use en Verb conjugation edit The verbs zijn to be and hebben to have are also conjugated differently Dutch West Flemish English Dutch West Flemish Englishzijn zyn to be hebben en to haveik ben k zyn I am ik heb k e I havejij bent gy zyt you are jij hebt gy et you havehij is ie is he is hij heeft ie et he haswij zijn wydder zyn we are wij hebben wydder en we havejullie zijn gydder zyt you are jullie hebben gydder et you havezij zijn zydder zyn they are zij hebben zydder en they haveDouble subject edit West Flemish often has a double subject Dutch West Flemish EnglishJij hebt dat gedaan G et gy da gedoan You have done that Ik heb dat niet gedaan K en ekik da nie gedoan I didn t do that Articles edit Standard Dutch has an indefinite article that does not depend on gender unlike in West Flemish However a gender independent article is increasingly used Like in English n is pronounced only if the next word begins with a vowel sound Dutch West Flemish Englisheen stier m ne stier a bulleen koe f e koeje a coween kalf o e kolf a calfeen aap m nen oap an apeeen huis o en us a houseConjugation of yes and no edit Another feature of West Flemish is the conjugation of ja and nee yes and no to the subject of the sentence That is somewhat related to the double subject but even when the rest of the sentence is not pronounced ja and nee are generally used with the first part of the double subject There is also an extra word toet tut negates the previous sentence but gives a positive answer It is an abbreviation of t en doe t it does it The full version is also used as in ja k en doe t Ja and nee can also all be strengthened by adding mo or ba Both mean but and are derived from Dutch but or maar and can be even used together mobajoat Dutch West Flemish EnglishHeb jij dat gedaan Ja Nee Ej gy da gedoan Joak Nink Did you do that Yes NoJe hebt dat niet gedaan he Maar jawel G et da nie gedoan e Bajoak ja k en doe t You didn t do that eh On the contrary But yes I did Heeft hij dat gedaan Ja Nee Et ie da gedoan Joan Nin Joaj Nij Joas Nis Did he do that Yes No Yes No Yes No Gaan we verder Ja Nee Zyn me Joam Nim Can we go Yes NoSee also edit nbsp Apartment building in Blankenberge Belgium with West Flemish name Yzeren Rampe Iron embankment Flemish dialects Dutch dialects Flemish people Flemings or Vlamingen French Flemish Hebban olla vogala WesthoekReferences edit a b West Vlaams at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Zeelandic Zeeuws at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World s Languages in Danger United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization Archived from the original on 30 October 2010 Retrieved 2023 02 07 Further reading editDebrabandere Frans 1999 Kortrijk PDF in Kruijsen Joep van der Sijs Nicoline eds Honderd Jaar Stadstaal Uitgeverij Contact pp 289 299External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Flemish language Euromosaic report on West Flemish thus Dutch in France nbsp West Flemish edition of Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title West Flemish amp oldid 1210798396, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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