Dutch language - Wikipedia

Dutch language - Wikipedia
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West Germanic language
Dutch
Nederlands
Pronunciation
[ˈneːdərlɑnts]
Native to
The Netherlands
Belgium
Suriname
France
Nord
Ethnicity
Dutch
Flemings
Indo
Afrikaners
Cape Coloureds
Cape Malays
Griquas
Oorlams
Basters
Indo-Surinamese
Javanese Surinamese
Chinese Surinamese
Afro-Surinamese
Indigenous Surinamese
European Surinamese
Native speakers
25 million (2021)
Total (
L1
plus
L2
speakers): 30 million (2021)
Language family
Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
Weser–Rhine Germanic
Low Franconian
Dutch
Early forms
Frankish
Old Dutch
Middle Dutch
Modern Dutch
Standard forms
Standard Dutch
Dialects
Central
Flemish
Stadsfries
West Frisian Dutch
Surinamese Dutch
Writing system
Latin
Dutch alphabet
Dutch six-dot Braille
Dutch eight-dot Braille
Signed forms
Signed Dutch
NmG
Official status
Official language in
Netherlands
Aruba
Bonaire
Curaçao
Sint Eustatius
Sint Maarten
Saba
Belgium
Suriname
Organisations
Benelux
Caribbean Community
European Union
PROSUR
South American Union
Regulated by
Nederlandse Taalunie
Dutch Language Union
Language codes
ISO 639-1
nl
ISO 639-2
dut
nld
ISO 639-3
nld
Dutch/
Flemish
Glottolog
mode1257
Linguasphere
52-ACB-a
Dutch-speaking world (included are areas of daughter language
Afrikaans
Distribution of Standard Dutch in Europe
Dark blue where a majority language, light blue for Brussels, Friesland and Low Franconian dialects in France and Germany
This article contains
IPA
phonetic symbols.
Without proper
rendering support
, you may see
question marks, boxes, or other symbols
instead of
Unicode
characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see
Help:IPA
A young woman speaking Dutch (1:32)
Dutch
endonym
Nederlands
[ˈneːdərlɑnts]
Nederlandse taal
) is a
West Germanic language
of the
Indo-European language family
, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language
and 5 million as a second language and is the
third most spoken
Germanic language. In Europe, Dutch is the native language of most of the population of the
Netherlands
and
Flanders
(which includes 60% of the population of
Belgium
).
Dutch was one of the official languages of
South Africa
until 1925, when it was replaced by
Afrikaans
, a separate but partially
mutually intelligible
daughter language
of Dutch.
Afrikaans, depending on the definition used, may be considered a
sister language
spoken, to some degree, by at least 16 million people, mainly in
South Africa
and
Namibia
and evolving from
Cape Dutch
dialects.
In South America, Dutch is the native language of the majority of the population of
Suriname
, and spoken as a second or third language in the
multilingual
Caribbean
island countries of
Aruba
Curaçao
and
Sint Maarten
. All these countries have recognised Dutch as one of their official languages, and are involved in one way or another in the
Dutch Language Union
The
Dutch Caribbean
municipalities (
St. Eustatius
Saba
and
Bonaire
) have Dutch as one of the official languages.
In Asia, Dutch was used in the
Dutch East Indies
(now mostly
Indonesia
) by a limited educated elite of around 2% of the total population, including over 1 million indigenous Indonesians,
until it was banned in 1957, but the ban was lifted afterwards.
10
About a fifth of the
Indonesian language
can be traced to Dutch, including many
loan words
10
Indonesia's
Civil Code
has not been officially translated, and the original Dutch language version dating from colonial times remains the authoritative version.
11
Up to half a million native speakers reside in the United States, Canada and Australia combined,
and historical linguistic minorities on the verge of extinction remain in parts of France
12
and Germany.
Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both
German
and English,
and is colloquially said to be "roughly in between" them.
Dutch, like English, has not undergone the
High German consonant shift
, does not use
Germanic umlaut
as a grammatical marker, has largely abandoned the use of the
subjunctive
, and has
levelled
much of its
morphology
, including most of its
case system
Features shared with German, however, include the survival of two to three
grammatical genders
– albeit with few grammatical consequences
– as well as the use of
modal particles
13
final-obstruent devoicing
, and (similar)
word order
Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic; it incorporates slightly more
Romance loans
than German, but far fewer than English.
Name
edit
Main article:
Terminology of the Low Countries
In Belgium, the Netherlands and Suriname, the native official name for Dutch is
Nederlands
14
15
(historically
Nederlandsch
before the
Dutch orthographic reforms
).
16
Sometimes
Vlaams
("
Flemish
") is used as well to describe
Standard Dutch
in
Flanders
, whereas
Hollands
("
Hollandic
") is occasionally used as a colloquial term for the standard language in the central and northwestern parts of the Netherlands.
17
English uses the adjective
Dutch
as a noun for the language of the Netherlands and Flanders. The word is derived from
Proto-Germanic
*þiudiskaz
. The stem of this word,
*þeudō
, meant "people" in Proto-Germanic, and
*-iskaz
was an adjective-forming suffix, of which
-ish
is the
Modern English
form.
18
Theodiscus
was its
Latinised
form
19
and used as an
adjective
referring to the
Germanic
vernaculars
of the
Early Middle Ages
. In this sense, it meant "the language of the common people". The term was used as opposed to
Latin
, the
non
-native language of writing and the
Catholic Church
20
It was first recorded in 786, when the
Bishop of Ostia
writes to
Pope Adrian I
about a
synod
taking place in
Corbridge
England
, where the decisions are being written down "
tam Latine quam theodisce
" meaning "in Latin as well as common vernacular".
21
22
23
According to a hypothesis by De Grauwe, In northern
West Francia
(i.e. modern-day Belgium) the term would take on a new meaning during the
Early Middle Ages
, when, within the context of a highly dichromatic linguistic landscape, it came to be the
antonym
of
*walhisk
(Romance-speakers, specifically
Old French
).
24
The word, now rendered as
dietsc
(Southwestern variant) or
duutsc
(Central and Northern Variant), could refer to the Dutch language itself, as well as a broader Germanic category depending on context. During the
High Middle Ages
Dietsc
Duutsc
" was increasingly used as an umbrella term for the specific Germanic dialects spoken in the
Low Countries
, its meaning being largely implicitly provided by the regional orientation of medieval Dutch society: apart from the higher echelons of the clergy and nobility, mobility was largely static and hence while "Dutch" could by extension also be used in its earlier sense, referring to what today would be called Germanic dialects as opposed to
Romance dialects
, in many cases it was understood or meant to refer to the language now known as Dutch.
25
In the Low Countries
Dietsch
or its early modern Dutch form
Duytsch
as an endonym for Dutch gradually went out of common use and was gradually replaced by the Dutch endonym
Nederlands
. This designation (first attested in 1482) started at the
Burgundian court
in the 15th century, although the use of
neder
laag
bas
, and
inferior
("nether" or "low") to refer to the area known as the Low Countries goes back further in time, with the
Romans
referring to the region as
Germania Inferior
("Lower" Germania).
26
27
28
It is a reference to the Low Countries' downriver location at the
Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta
near the
North Sea
From 1551, the designation
Nederlands
received strong competition from the name
Nederduytsch
(literally "Low Dutch",
Dutch
being used in its archaic sense covering all continental West Germanic languages). It is a
calque
of the aforementioned Roman province
Germania Inferior
and an attempt by early Dutch grammarians to give their language more prestige by linking it to Roman times. Likewise,
Hoogduits
("High German") and
Overlands
("Upper-landish") came into use as a Dutch exonym for the various German dialects used in neighboring German states.
29
Use of
Nederduytsch
was popular in the 16th century but ultimately lost out over
Nederlands
during the close of the 18th century, with
(Hoog)Duytsch
establishing itself as the Dutch exonym for German during this same period.
In the 19th century Germany saw the rise of the categorisation of dialects, with German
dialectologists
terming the German dialects spoken in the mountainous south of Germany as
Hochdeutsch
("High German"). Subsequently, German dialects spoken in the north were designated as
Niederdeutsch
("Low German"). The names for these dialects were calqued by Dutch linguists as
Nederduits
and
Hoogduits
. As a result,
Nederduits
no longer serves as a synonym for the Dutch language. In the 19th century, the term "
Diets
" was revived by Dutch linguists and historians as well, as a poetic name for
Middle Dutch
and
its literature
30
History
edit
Map of the
pre-Roman Iron Age in Northern Europe
culture(s) associated with the
Proto-Germanic language
, ca 500–50 BCE. The area south of Scandinavia is the
Jastorf culture
Old Dutch
can be discerned more or less around the same time as
Old English
(Anglo-Saxon),
Old High German
Old Frisian
, and
Old Saxon
. These names are derived from the modern
standard languages
. In this age no standard languages had yet developed, while a perfect West Germanic
dialect continuum
remained present; the division reflects the contingent future contribution dialect groups would have to the later languages. The early form of Dutch was a set of Franconian dialects spoken by the
Salian Franks
in the 5th century. These happened to develop through
Middle Dutch
to Modern Dutch over the course of fifteen centuries.
31
During that period, they forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, and influenced or even replaced Old Saxon spoken in the east (contiguous with the Low German area). On the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in present-day France and Germany. The division into Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, since the transition between them was very gradual. One of the few moments when
linguists
can detect something of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. The development of the Dutch language is illustrated by the following sentence in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch:
Irlôsin sol an frithe sêla mîna fan thên thia ginâcont mi, wanda under managon he was mit mi
(Old Dutch)
Erlossen sal [hi] in vrede siele mine van dien die genaken mi, want onder menegen hi was met mi
(Middle Dutch)
Verlossen zal hij in vrede ziel mijn van degenen die genaken mij, want onder menigen hij was met mij
(Modern Dutch, same word order)
Hij zal mijn ziel in vrede verlossen van degenen die mij genaken, want onder menigen was hij met mij
(Modern Dutch, default word order)
32
He will deliver my soul in peace from those who approach me, because, amongst many, he was with me
(English)
33
Origins
edit
Main article:
History of the Dutch language
Among the
Indo-European languages
, Dutch is grouped within the
Germanic languages
, meaning it shares a
common ancestor
with languages such as English, German, and the
Scandinavian languages
. All Germanic languages are subject to the
Grimm's law
and
Verner's law
sound shifts, which originated in the
Proto-Germanic language
and define the basic features differentiating them from other Indo-European languages. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the
pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age
34
The Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups:
East
(now extinct),
West
, and
North
Germanic.
35
They remained mutually intelligible throughout the
Migration Period
. Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English,
Scots
Frisian
Low German
(Old Saxon) and
High German
. It is characterised by a number of
phonological
and
morphological
innovations not found in North or East Germanic.
36
Frankish (3rd–5th centuries)
edit
Main article:
Frankish language
The Frankish language itself is not directly attested, the only possible exception being the
Bergakker inscription
, found near the Dutch city of
Tiel
, which may represent a primary record of 5th-century Frankish. Although some place names recorded in Roman texts such as
vadam
(modern Dutch:
wad
, English: "mudflat"), could arguably be considered as the oldest single "Dutch" words, the Bergakker inscription yields the oldest evidence of Dutch morphology. However, interpretations of the rest of the text lack consensus.
37
The
Franks
emerged in the southern Netherlands (
Salian Franks
) and central Germany (
Ripuarian Franks
), and later descended into
Gaul
. The name of
their kingdom
survives in that of France. Although they ruled the
Gallo-Romans
for nearly 300 years, their language,
Frankish
, became extinct in most of France and was replaced by later forms of the language throughout Luxembourg and Germany in around the 7th century. It was replaced in France by
Old French
(a
Romance language
with a considerable Old Frankish influence).
However, the Old Franconian language did not die out at large, as it continued to be spoken in the Low Countries, and subsequently evolved into what is now called Old Low Franconian or Old Dutch in the Low Countries. In fact, Old Frankish could be reconstructed from Old Dutch and Frankish loanwords in Old French.
38
Old Dutch (5th–12th centuries)
edit
Main article:
Old Dutch
Area in which Old Dutch was spoken
The term
Old Dutch
or
Old Low Franconian
39
40
refers to the set of
Franconian dialects
(i.e. West Germanic varieties that are assumed to have evolved from
Frankish
) spoken in the
Low Countries
during the
Early Middle Ages
, from around the 5th to the 12th century.
41
Old Dutch is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and Old Dutch loanwords in French.
42
Old Dutch is regarded as the primary stage in the development of a separate Dutch language. It was spoken by the descendants of the
Salian Franks
who occupied what is now the southern
Netherlands
, northern
Belgium
, part of northern France, and parts of the
Lower Rhine
regions of Germany.
The High German consonant shift, moving over Western Europe from south to west, caused a differentiation with the
Central and High Franconian
in Germany. The latter would as a consequence evolve (along with
Alemannic
Bavarian
and
Lombardic
) into Old High German. At more or less the same time the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law, moving over Western Europe from west to east, led to the development of
Old English
(or Anglo-Saxon),
Old Frisian
and
Old Saxon
. Hardly influenced by either development, Old Dutch probably remained relatively close to the original language of the Franks. However, the language did experience developments of its own, such as very early
final-obstruent devoicing
. In fact, the find at Bergakker indicates that the language may already have experienced this shift during the Old Frankish period.
The Utrecht baptismal vow
Attestations of Old Dutch sentences are extremely rare. The language is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and loan words from Old Dutch in other languages.
42
The oldest recorded is found in the
Salic law
. In this
Frankish
document written around 510 the oldest Dutch sentence has been identified:
Maltho thi afrio lito
("I say to you, I free you, serf") used to free a serf. Another old fragment of Dutch is
Visc flot aftar themo uuatare
("A fish was swimming in the water"). The oldest conserved larger Dutch text is the
Utrecht baptismal vow
(776–800) starting with
Forsachistu diobolae ... ec forsacho diabolae
(litt.: "Forsake you the devil? ... I forsake the devil"). If only for its poetic content, the most famous Old Dutch sentence is probably
Hebban olla vogala
nestas hagunnan, hinase hic enda tu, wat unbidan we nu
("All birds have started making nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for"), is dated to around the year 1100, written by a Flemish
monk
in a convent in
Rochester
England
. Since the sentence speaks to the imagination, it is often erroneously stated as the oldest Dutch sentence.
Middle Dutch (12th–15th centuries)
edit
Main article:
Middle Dutch
Old Dutch naturally evolved into
Middle Dutch
. The year 1150 is often chosen as the time of the transition, but it actually marks a time of profuse Dutch writing; during this period a rich
Medieval Dutch literature
developed. There was at that time no overarching
standard language
; Middle Dutch is rather a collective name for a number of closely related, mutually intelligible dialects spoken in the former Old Dutch area. Where Old Dutch fragments are very hard to read for untrained Modern Dutch speakers, the various literary works of Middle Dutch are somewhat more accessible.
43
The most notable difference between Old and Middle Dutch is in a feature of speech known as
vowel reduction
, whereby vowels in unstressed syllables are leveled to a
schwa
The Middle Dutch dialect areas were affected by political boundaries. The sphere of political influence of a certain ruler often also created a sphere of linguistic influence, with the language within the area becoming more homogenous. Following the contemporary political divisions they are in order of importance:
West Flemish
with the
County of Flanders
at its centre. It had been influential during the earlier Middle Ages (the "Flemish expansion") but lost prestige to the neighbouring Brabantian in the 13th century.
Brabantian
(and related East Flemish), spoken primarily in the
Duchy of Brabant
and adjacent parts. It was an influential dialect during most of the Middle Ages, during the so-called "Brabantian expansion" in which the influence of Brabant was extended outwards into other areas.
Hollandic
, which had the
County of Holland
as its heartland, where originally
Old Frisian
was spoken. The people adopted Low Franconian
44
45
and a new Frankish dialect with a Frisian
substrate
developed. It was less influential during most of the Middle Ages but became more so in the 16th century during the "Hollandic expansion"; the
Eighty Years' War
took place in the Southern Netherlands during this period.
Limburgish
, spoken by the people in the modern-day provinces of
Dutch
and
Belgian Limburg
, and adjacent lands in Germany. It was over time tied to different political areas and is therefore the most divergent of the dialects. It was even partly influenced by the High German consonant shift and is the most distant to the later developed standard language to which it contributed little. It was, however, the earliest Middle Dutch dialect that developed a literary tradition.
Since it is part of the Old Saxon and not Low Franconian (Old Dutch) area,
Dutch Low Saxon
is not strictly a Dutch dialect. However, it was influenced by Middle Dutch since the 14th century and it did play a part in the formation of the standard Dutch language in later periods. It was spoken in the
Oversticht
territories of the
episcopal principality of Utrecht
and adjacent parts of
Guelders
. A
dialect continuum
remained present with Low Franconian areas to the west and Low Saxon areas to the east.
Modern Dutch (15th century–present)
edit
Title page of the
Statenvertaling
(1637) reads:
Biblia ... Uyt de Oorspronckelijcke talen in onse Neder-landtsche tale getrouwelijck over-geset.
(English: From the Original languages into our Dutch language faithfully translated.)
46
A process of
standardisation
started in the
Middle Ages
, especially under the influence of the
Burgundian
Ducal Court in Dijon (
Brussels
after 1477). The dialects of Flanders and Brabant were the most influential around this time. The process of standardisation became much stronger at the start of the 16th century, mainly based on the urban dialect of
Antwerp
. The 1585
fall of Antwerp
to the Spanish army led to a flight to the northern Netherlands, where the
Dutch Republic
declared its independence from Spain. This influenced the urban dialects of the province of
Holland
. In 1637, a further important step was made towards a unified language,
47
when the
Statenvertaling
, the first major Bible translation into Dutch, was created that people from all over the new republic could understand. It used elements from various, even
Dutch Low Saxon
, dialects but was predominantly based on the urban dialects of Holland of post 16th century.
48
In the
Southern Netherlands
(now Belgium and Luxembourg), developments were different. Under subsequent
Spanish
Austrian
and
French rule
, the standardisation of Dutch language came to a standstill. The state, law, and increasingly education used French, yet more than half the Belgian population were speaking a variety of Dutch. In the course of the 19th century, the
Flemish Movement
stood up for the rights of Dutch speakers, mostly referred to as "Flemish". However, the dialect variation was a serious disadvantage in the face of the standardised
francophony
49
Since standardisation is a lengthy process, Dutch-speaking Belgium associated itself with the standard language that had already developed in the Netherlands over the centuries. Therefore, the situation in Belgium is essentially no different from that in the Netherlands, although there are recognisable differences in pronunciation, comparable to the pronunciation differences between standard British and standard American English.
50
In 1980 the Netherlands and Belgium concluded the
Language Union Treaty
. This treaty lays down the principle that the two countries must gear their language policy to each other, among other things, for a common system of spelling.
Classification
edit
Indo-European languages
Germanic
West Germanic
Low Franconian
Dutch
Afrikaans,
Dutch-based creoles
Dutch belongs to its own
West Germanic
sub-group, the
Low Franconian
languages, paired with its sister language Limburgish or East Low Franconian. Its closest relative is the
mutually intelligible
daughter language Afrikaans. Other West Germanic languages related to Dutch are
German
and the un-standardised languages
Low German
and
Yiddish
Dutch stands out in combining some
Ingvaeonic characteristics
(occurring consistently in English and Frisian and reduced in intensity from west to east over the
continental West Germanic
plane) with dominant Istvaeonic characteristics, some of which are also incorporated in German. Unlike German, Dutch (apart from Limburgish) has not been influenced at all by the south to north movement of the
High German consonant shift
and had some changes of its own.
The cumulation of these changes resulted over time in separate, but related standard languages with various degrees of similarities and differences between them. For a comparison between the West Germanic languages, see the sections Phonology, Grammar, and Vocabulary.
Dialects
edit
Main article:
Dutch dialects and varieties
Dutch
dialects
are primarily the dialects that are both related with the Dutch language and are spoken in the same language area as the Dutch
standard language
. Although heavily under the influence of the standard language, some of them remain diverse and are found in the
Netherlands
and in the
Brussels
and
Flemish regions
of
Belgium
. The areas in which they are spoken often correspond with former medieval counties and duchies. The Netherlands (but not Belgium) distinguishes between a dialect and a
streektaal
("
regional language
"). Those words are actually more political than linguistic because a regional language unites a large group of very different varieties. Such is the case with the
Gronings dialect
, which is considered a variety of the
Dutch Low Saxon
regional language, but it is relatively distinct from other Dutch Low Saxon varieties. Also, some Dutch dialects are more remote from the Dutch standard language than some varieties of a regional language are. Within the Netherlands, a further distinction is made between a regional language and a separate language, which is the case with the (
standardised
West Frisian language
. It is spoken alongside Dutch in the province of
Friesland
Dutch dialects and regional languages are not spoken as often as they used to be, especially in the Netherlands. Recent research by Geert Driessen shows that the use of dialects and regional languages among both Dutch adults and youth is in heavy decline. In 1995, 27 percent of the Dutch adult population spoke a dialect or regional language on a regular basis, but in 2011, that was no more than 11 percent. In 1995, 12 percent of children of primary school age spoke a dialect or regional language, but in 2011, that had declined to four percent. Of the officially recognised regional languages
Limburgish
is spoken the most (in 2011 among adults 54%, among children 31%) and Dutch Low Saxon the least (adults 15%, children 1%). The decline of the
West Frisian language
in Friesland occupies a middle position (adults 44%, children 22%). Dialects are most often spoken in rural areas, but many cities have a distinct city dialect. For example, the city of
Ghent
has very distinct "g", "e" and "r" sounds that greatly differ from its surrounding villages. The
Brussels
dialect combines Brabantian with words adopted from
Walloon
and
French
Some dialects had, until recently, extensions across the borders of other standard language areas. In most cases, the heavy influence of the standard language has broken the
dialect continuum
. Examples are the
Gronings dialect
spoken in
Groningen
as well as the closely related varieties in adjacent
East Frisia
(Germany).
Kleverlandish
is a dialect spoken in southern
Gelderland
, the northern tip of
Limburg
, and northeast of
North Brabant
(Netherlands), but also in adjacent parts of
North Rhine-Westphalia
(Germany).
Limburgish
Limburgs
) is spoken in
Limburg (Belgium)
as well as in the remaining part of
Limburg (Netherlands)
and extends across the German border. West Flemish (
Westvlaams
) is spoken in
West Flanders
, the western part of
Zeelandic Flanders
and also in
French Flanders
, where it virtually became extinct to make way for French.
Dialect groups
edit
Traditional division of Dutch dialects
The
West Flemish
group of dialects, spoken in
West Flanders
and
Zeeland
, is so distinct that it might be considered as a separate language variant, although the strong significance of language in Belgian politics would prevent the government from classifying them as such. An oddity of the dialect is that, the
voiced velar fricative
(written as "g" in Dutch) shifts to a
voiced glottal fricative
(written as "h" in Dutch), while the letter "h" becomes mute (as in French). As a result, when West Flemings try to talk Standard Dutch, they are often unable to pronounce the g-sound, and pronounce it similar to the h-sound. This leaves, for example, no difference between "
held
" (hero) and "
geld
" (money). Or in some cases, they are aware of the problem, and hyper-correct the "h" into a voiced velar fricative or g-sound, again leaving no difference. The West Flemish variety historically spoken in adjacent parts in France is sometimes called
French Flemish
and is listed as a French
minority language
. However, only a very small and aging minority of the French-Flemish population still speaks and understands West Flemish.
Hollandic
is spoken in
Holland
and
Utrecht
, though the original forms of this dialect (which were heavily influenced by a West Frisian
substratum
and, from the 16th century on, by
Brabantian dialects
) are now relatively rare. The urban dialects of the
Randstad
, which are Hollandic dialects, do not diverge from standard Dutch very much, but there is a clear difference between the city dialects of
Rotterdam
The Hague
Amsterdam
and
Utrecht
. In some rural Hollandic areas more authentic Hollandic dialects are still being used, especially north of Amsterdam. Another group of dialects based on Hollandic is that spoken in the cities and larger towns of
Friesland
, where it partially displaced
West Frisian
in the 16th century and is known as
Stadsfries
("Urban Frisian"). Hollandic together with inter alia
Kleverlandish
and
North Brabantian
, but without Stadsfries, are the
Central Dutch dialects
Brabantian
is named after the historical
Duchy of Brabant
, which corresponded mainly to the provinces of
North Brabant
and southern
Gelderland
, the Belgian provinces of
Antwerp
and
Flemish Brabant
, as well as Brussels (where its native speakers have become a minority) and the province of
Walloon Brabant
. Brabantian expands into small parts in the west of
Limburg
while its strong influence on the
East Flemish
of
East Flanders
and eastern
Zeelandic Flanders
51
weakens towards the west. In a small area in the northwest of North Brabant (
Willemstad
),
Hollandic
is spoken. Conventionally, the
Kleverlandish
dialects are distinguished from Brabantian, but there are no objective criteria apart from geography to do so. Over 5 million people live in an area with some form of Brabantian being the predominant colloquial language out of the area's 22 million Dutch-speakers.
52
53
Limburgish
, spoken in both
Belgian Limburg
and
Netherlands Limburg
and in adjacent parts in Germany, is considered a dialect in Belgium, while having obtained the official status of regional language in the Netherlands. Limburgish has been influenced by the
Ripuarian
varieties like the
Colognian dialect
, and has had a somewhat different development since the late Middle Ages.
Regional languages
edit
Two dialect groups have been given the official status of
regional language
(or
streektaal
) in the Netherlands. Like several other dialect groups, both are part of a dialect continuum that continues across the national border.
Dutch Low Saxon
edit
Main article:
Dutch Low Saxon
The Dutch Low Saxon dialect area comprises the provinces of
Groningen
Drenthe
and
Overijssel
, as well as parts of the provinces of
Gelderland
Flevoland
Friesland
and
Utrecht
. This group, which is not Low Franconian but instead Low Saxon and close to neighbouring Low German, has been elevated by the Netherlands (and by Germany) to the legal status of
streektaal
regional language
) according to the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
. By some it is regarded as Dutch for a number of reasons. From the 14th to 15th century onward, its urban centers (
Deventer
Zwolle
Kampen
Zutphen
and
Doesburg
) have been increasingly influenced by the western written Dutch and became a linguistically mixed area. From the 17th century onward, it was gradually integrated into the Dutch language area.
54
Dutch Low Saxon used to be at one end of the Low German
dialect continuum
. However, the national border has given way to dialect boundaries coinciding with a political border, because the traditional dialects are strongly influenced by the national standard varieties.
55
Limburgish
edit
Main article:
Limburgish
While a somewhat heterogeneous group of
Low Franconian
dialects, Limburgish has received official status as a regional language in the
Netherlands
, but not in Belgium. Due to this official recognition, it receives protection by chapter 2 of the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
56
Daughter and sister languages
edit
Afrikaans
, although to a significant degree mutually intelligible with Dutch, is usually not considered a dialect but instead a separate
standardised language
. It is spoken in South Africa and Namibia. As a daughter language of 17th-century Dutch dialects, Afrikaans evolved in parallel with modern Dutch, but was influenced by various
other languages
in South Africa.
West Frisian
Westerlauwers Fries
), along with
Saterland Frisian
and
North Frisian
, evolved from the same branch of the
West Germanic languages
as
Old English
(i.e.
Anglo-Frisian
) and are therefore genetically more closely related to English and Scots than to Dutch. The different influences on the respective languages, however, particularly that of Norman French on English and Dutch on West Frisian, have rendered English quite distinct from West Frisian, and West Frisian less distinct from Dutch than from English. Although under heavy influence of the Dutch standard language, it is not mutually intelligible with Dutch and considered a
sister language
of Dutch, like English and German.
57
Geographic distribution
edit
See also:
Dutch diaspora
and
Geographical distribution of Dutch speakers
Approximate distribution of native Dutch speakers worldwide:
Netherlands (70.8%)
Belgium (27.1%)
Suriname (1.70%)
Caribbean (0.10%)
Other (0.30%)
Dutch First Language Speakers
Country
Speakers
Year
Netherlands
17,000,000
2020
Belgium
6,500,000
2020
Suriname
400,000
2020
Curaçao
12,000
58
2011
Aruba
6,000
59
2010
Caribbean Netherlands
3,000
60
2018
Sint Maarten
1,500
61
2011
Total worldwide
24,000,000
N/A
Dutch is an
official language
of the Netherlands proper (not enshrined in the
constitution
but in administrative law
62
), Belgium, Suriname, the Dutch Caribbean municipalities (St. Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire),
Aruba
Curaçao
and
Sint Maarten
. Dutch is also an official language of several international organisations, such as the
European Union
66
Union of South American Nations
67
and the
Caribbean Community
. At an academic level, Dutch is taught in about 175 universities in 40 countries. About 15,000 students worldwide study Dutch at university.
68
Europe
edit
In Europe, Dutch is the majority language in the Netherlands (96%) and Belgium (59%) as well as a minority language in Germany and northern France's
French Flanders
. Though Belgium as a whole is multilingual, three of the four
language areas
into which the country is divided (
Flanders
, francophone
Wallonia
, and the
German-speaking Community
) are largely monolingual, with
Brussels
being bilingual. The Netherlands and Belgium produce the vast majority of
music
films
books
and other media written or spoken in Dutch.
69
Dutch is a
monocentric language
, at least what concerns its written form, with all speakers using the same
standard form
(authorised by the
Dutch Language Union
) based on a
Dutch orthography
defined in the so-called "
Green Booklet
" authoritative dictionary and employing the
Latin alphabet
when writing; however, pronunciation varies between dialects. Indeed, in stark contrast to its written uniformity, Dutch lacks a unique
prestige dialect
and has a large dialectal continuum consisting of 28 main dialects, which can themselves be further divided into at least 600 distinguishable varieties.
70
71
In the Netherlands, the
Hollandic dialect
dominates in national
broadcast media
while in Flanders
Brabantian dialect
dominates in that capacity, making them in turn unofficial
prestige dialects
in their respective countries.
Outside the Netherlands and Belgium, the dialect spoken in and around the German town of
Kleve
Kleverlandish
) is historically and genetically a
Low Franconian
variety. In North-Western France, the area around
Calais
was historically Dutch-speaking (West Flemish), of which an estimated 20,000 are daily speakers. The cities of
Dunkirk
Gravelines
and
Bourbourg
only became predominantly French-speaking by the end of the 19th century. In the countryside, until
World War I
, many elementary schools continued to teach in Dutch, and the Catholic Church continued to preach and teach the
catechism
in Dutch in many parishes.
72
During the second half of the 19th century, Dutch was banned from all levels of education by both
Prussia
and France and lost most of its functions as a cultural language. In both Germany and France, the Dutch standard language is largely absent, and speakers of these Dutch dialects will use German or French in everyday speech. Dutch is not afforded legal status in France or Germany, either by the central or regional public authorities, and knowledge of the language is declining among younger generations.
73
As a foreign language, Dutch is mainly taught in primary and secondary schools in areas adjacent to the Netherlands and
Flanders
. In
French-speaking Belgium
, over 300,000 pupils are enrolled in Dutch courses, followed by over 23,000 in the
German states
of
Lower Saxony
and
North Rhine-Westphalia
, and about 7,000 in the
French region
of
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
(of which 4,550 are in primary school).
74
At an academic level, the largest number of faculties of
neerlandistiek
can be found in Germany (30 universities), followed by France (20 universities) and the United Kingdom (5 universities).
74
75
Asia
edit
Further information:
Indonesian Dutch
and
List of Dutch loanwords in Indonesian
In the
Dutch East Indies
(present day
Indonesia
and
Malacca
, Malaysia), Dutch was used by only a limited educated elite.
76
Indonesia
did not adopt the Dutch language after independence. However, the
Indonesian language
is heavily influenced by Dutch. Seen here is
kantor pos
(from the Dutch
postkantoor
), meaning
post office
Despite the Dutch presence in Indonesia for almost 350 years, as the Asian bulk of the
Dutch East Indies
, the Dutch language has no official status there
77
and the small minority that can speak the language fluently are either educated members of the oldest generation, or employed in the legal profession such as historians, diplomats, lawyers, jurists and linguists/polyglots,
78
as certain
law codes
are still available only in Dutch.
79
Dutch is taught in various educational centres in Indonesia, the most important of which is the Erasmus Language Centre (ETC) in
Jakarta
. Each year, some 1,500 to 2,000 students take Dutch courses there.
80
In total, several thousand Indonesians study Dutch as a foreign language.
81
Owing to centuries of Dutch rule in Indonesia, many old documents are written in Dutch. Many universities therefore include Dutch as a source language, mainly for law and history students.
82
In Indonesia this involves about 35,000 students.
68
Unlike other European nations, the Dutch chose not to follow a policy of language expansion amongst the indigenous peoples of their colonies.
83
In the last quarter of the 19th century, however, a local elite gained
proficiency
in Dutch so as to meet the needs of expanding bureaucracy and business.
84
Nevertheless, the Dutch government remained reluctant to teach Dutch on a large scale for fear of destabilising the colony. Dutch, the language of power, was supposed to remain in the hands of the leading elite.
84
After independence, Dutch was dropped as an official language and replaced by
Indonesian
, but this does not mean that Dutch has completely disappeared in Indonesia:
Indonesian Dutch
, a regional variety of the Dutch, was still spoken by about 500,000 half-blood in Indonesia in 1985.
85
Yet the Indonesian language inherited many words from Dutch: words for everyday life as well as scientific and technological terms.
86
One scholar argues that 20% of Indonesian words can be traced back to Dutch words,
10
many of which are transliterated to reflect phonetic pronunciation e.g.
kantoor
"office" in Indonesian is
kantor
handdoek
"towel" in Indonesian is
handuk
, or
bushalte
"bus stop" in Indonesian is
halte bus
. In addition, many Indonesian words are
calques
of Dutch; for example,
rumah sakit
"hospital" is calqued on the Dutch
ziekenhuis
(literally "sickhouse"),
kebun binatang
"zoo" on
dierentuin
(literally "animal garden"),
undang-undang dasar
"constitution" from
grondwet
(literally "ground law"). These account for some of the
differences in vocabulary
between Indonesian and Malay. Some
regional languages
in Indonesia have some Dutch loanwords as well; for example,
Sundanese
word
Katel
or "frying pan" origin in Dutch is "
ketel
". The
Javanese
word for "bike/
bicycle
" "
pit
" can be traced back to its origin in Dutch "
fiets
". The
Malacca
state of
Malaysia
was also colonized by the Dutch in its longest period that Malacca was under foreign control. In the 19th century, the
East Indies
trade started to dwindle, and with it the importance of Malacca as a trading post. The Dutch state officially ceded Malacca to the British in 1825. It took until 1957 for Malaya to gain its independence.
87
Despite this, the Dutch language is rarely spoken in Malacca or Malaysia and only limited to foreign nationals able to speak the language.
Oceania
edit
After the declaration of independence of Indonesia,
Western New Guinea
, the "wild east" of the
Dutch East Indies
, remained a Dutch colony until 1962, known as
Netherlands New Guinea
88
Despite prolonged Dutch presence, the Dutch language is not spoken by many Papuans, the colony having been ceded to Indonesia in 1963.
Dutch-speaking immigrant communities can also be found in Australia and New Zealand. The
2011 Australian census
showed 37,248 people speaking Dutch at home.
89
At the
2006 New Zealand census
, 26,982 people, or 0.70 percent of the total population, reported to speak Dutch to sufficient fluency that they could hold an everyday conversation.
90
Americas
edit
The location of
Suriname
in
South America
The
Dutch Caribbean
at both ends of the
Lesser Antilles
, lining the
Caribbean Sea
In contrast to the colonies in the
East Indies
, from the second half of the 19th century onwards, the Netherlands envisaged the expansion of Dutch in its colonies in the
West Indies
. Until 1863, when
slavery
was abolished in the West Indies, slaves were forbidden to speak Dutch, with the effect that local creoles such as
Papiamento
and
Sranan Tongo
which were based not on Dutch but rather other European languages, became common in the Dutch West Indies. However, as most of the people in the
Colony of Surinam
(now
Suriname
) worked on Dutch plantations, this reinforced the use of Dutch as a means for direct communication.
84
91
In
Suriname
today, Dutch is the sole official language,
92
and over 60 percent of the population speaks it as a
mother tongue
93
Dutch is the obligatory medium of instruction in schools in Suriname, even for non-native speakers.
94
A further twenty-four percent of the population speaks Dutch as a
second language
95
Suriname gained its independence from the Netherlands in 1975 and has been an associate member of the
Dutch Language Union
since 2004.
96
The
lingua franca
of Suriname, however, is
Sranan Tongo
97
spoken natively by about a fifth of the population.
69
Dutch is official on all 6
Dutch Caribbean
islands (
Aruba
Bonaire
Curaçao
Sint Maarten
Saba
and
Sint Eustatius
), but is not commonly spoken on any of the islands. Dutch is spoken as a first language by only 7% to 8% of the population,
98
although most people on the Dutch Caribbean islands can speak Dutch to varying degrees of fluency as the education system is in Dutch at some or all levels.
Now-extinct
Dutch-based creole languages
were formerly spoken in the
Virgin Islands
and
Guyana
Negerhollands
Berbice Dutch creole
Skepi Dutch creole
).
In the United States, a now extinct dialect of Dutch,
Jersey Dutch
, spoken by descendants of 17th-century Dutch settlers in Bergen and Passaic counties, was still spoken as late as 1921.
99
Other
Dutch-based creole languages
once spoken in the Americas include
Mohawk Dutch
(in
Albany, New York
),
Berbice
(in Guyana),
Skepi
(in
Essequibo, Guyana
) and
Negerhollands
(in the
United States Virgin Islands
).
Pennsylvania Dutch
is not a member of the set of Dutch dialects and is less misleadingly called
Pennsylvania German
100
Martin Van Buren
, the eighth
President of the United States
, spoke Dutch natively
101
and is the only U.S. president whose first language was not English. Dutch prevailed for many generations as the dominant language in parts of
New York
along the
Hudson River
. Another famous American born in this region who spoke Dutch as a first language was
Sojourner Truth
According to the
2000 United States census
, 150,396 people spoke Dutch at home,
102
while according to the
2006 Canadian census
, this number reaches 160,000 Dutch speakers.
103
At an academic level, 20 universities offer Dutch studies in the United States.
74
75
In Canada, Dutch is the fourth most spoken language by farmers, after English, French and German,
104
and the fifth most spoken non-official language overall (by 0.6% of Canadians).
105
Africa
edit
Dutch-language variant of a Belgian Congo postage stamp showing colonial expeditions
Main article:
Afrikaans
See also:
Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch
Standard Dutch used in a 1916 ad in South Africa before Afrikaans replaced Dutch for use in media
The distribution of Afrikaans across South Africa: proportion of the population speaking Afrikaans at home:
0–20%
20–40%
40–60%
60–80%
80–100%
The largest legacy of the Dutch language lies in South Africa, which attracted large numbers of Dutch, Flemish and other northwest European farmer (in Dutch,
boer
) settlers, all of whom were quickly assimilated.
106
The long isolation from the rest of the Dutch-speaking world made the Dutch as spoken in Southern Africa evolve into what is now Afrikaans.
107
In 1876, the first Afrikaans newspaper called
Die Afrikaanse Patriot
was published in the Cape Colony.
108
European Dutch remained the
literary language
107
until the start of the 1920s, when under pressure of
Afrikaner nationalism
the local "African" Dutch was preferred over the written, European-based standard.
106
In 1925, section 137 of the 1909 constitution of the
Union of South Africa
was amended by Act 8 of 1925, stating "the word
Dutch
in article 137 ... is hereby declared to include Afrikaans".
109
110
The constitution of 1983 only listed English and Afrikaans as official languages. It is estimated that between 90% and 95% of Afrikaans vocabulary is ultimately of Dutch origin.
111
112
Both languages are still largely mutually intelligible, although this relation can in some fields (such as lexicon, spelling and grammar) be asymmetric, as it is easier for Dutch speakers to understand written Afrikaans than it is for Afrikaans speakers to understand written Dutch.
113
Afrikaans is grammatically far less complex than Dutch, and vocabulary items are generally altered in a clearly patterned manner, e.g.
vogel
becomes
voël
("bird") and
regen
becomes
reën
("rain").
114
In South Africa, the number of students following Dutch at university is difficult to estimate, since the academic study of Afrikaans inevitably includes the study of Dutch.
68
Elsewhere in the world, the number of people learning Dutch is relatively small.
Afrikaans is the third largest language of South Africa in terms of native speakers (~13.5%),
115
of whom 53% are
Coloureds
and 42.4%
Whites
116
In 1996, 40 percent of South Africans reported to know Afrikaans at least at a very basic level of communication.
117
It is the
lingua franca
in Namibia,
106
118
119
where it is spoken natively in 11 percent of households.
120
In total, Afrikaans is the
first language
in South Africa alone of about 7.1 million people
115
and is estimated to be a
second language
for at least 10 million people worldwide,
121
compared to over 23 million
93
and 5 million respectively, for Dutch.
The Dutch colonial presence elsewhere in Africa, notably the
Dutch Gold Coast
, was too ephemeral not to be wiped out by prevailing colonising European successors. Likewise, the Belgian colonial presence in the
Congo
and
Ruanda-Urundi
Rwanda
and
Burundi
held under a
League of Nations
mandate and later a UN trust territory) left little Dutch (Flemish) legacy, as French was the main colonial language.
122
Phonology
edit
Main article:
Dutch phonology
Spoken Dutch, with a Netherlands (Brabantian) accent
Spoken Standard Dutch, with a
West Flemish
accent
For further details on different realisations of phonemes, dialectal differences and example words, see the full article at
Dutch phonology
Consonants
edit
Unlike other Germanic languages, Dutch has no phonological
aspiration of consonants
123
Like most other Germanic languages, the Dutch
consonant
system did not undergo the
High German consonant shift
and has a
syllable
structure that allows fairly-complex
consonant clusters
. Dutch also retains full use of the
velar
fricatives
of
Proto-Germanic
that were lost or modified in many other Germanic languages. Dutch has
final-obstruent devoicing
. At the end of a word, voicing distinction is neutralised and all obstruents are pronounced voiceless. For example, Dutch
goede
(̇'good') is
[ˈɣudə]
but the related form
goed
is
[ɣut]
. Dutch shares this
final-obstruent devoicing
with German (the Dutch noun
goud
is pronounced
[ɣɑut]
, the adjective
gouden
is pronounced
[ɣɑudə(n)]
, like the German noun
Gold
, pronounced
[ɡɔlt]
, adjective
golden
, pronounced
[ɡɔldn]
vs English
gold
and
golden
, both pronounced with
[d]
.)
Voicing of pre-vocalic initial
voiceless alveolar fricatives
occurs in standard Dutch like in German (Dutch
zeven
, German
sieben
with
[z]
versus English
seven
, Low Saxon
seven
with
[s]
), and also the shift
/θ/
/d/
. Dutch shares only with Low German the development of
/xs/
/ss/
(Dutch
vossen
ossen
and Low German
Vösse
Ossen
versus German
Füchse
Ochsen
and English
foxes
oxen
), and also the development of
/ft/
/xt/
though it is far more common in Dutch (Dutch
zacht
and Low German
sacht
versus German
sanft
and English
soft
, but Dutch
kracht
versus Low German/German
Kraft
and English
craft
).
Labial
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Uvular
Glottal
Nasal
Plosive
tɕ
) (
dʑ
Fricative
) (
Approximant
Rhotic
Notes:
[ʔ]
is not a separate phoneme in Dutch, but is inserted before vowel-initial syllables within words after
/a/
and
/ə/
and often also at the beginning of a word.
The realisation of
/r/
phoneme varies considerably from dialect to dialect and even between speakers in the same dialect area. Common realisations are an
alveolar trill
[r]
alveolar tap
[ɾ]
uvular trill
[ʀ]
voiced uvular fricative
[ʁ]
, and
alveolar approximant
[ɹ]
The realisation of
/ʋ/
also varies somewhat by area and speaker. The main realisation is a
labiodental approximant
[ʋ]
, but some speakers, particularly in the south, use a
bilabial approximant
[β̞]
or a
labiovelar approximant
[w]
The lateral
/l/
is slightly velarised postvocalically in most dialects, particularly in the north.
124
/x/
and
/ɣ/
may be true velars
[x]
and
[ɣ]
, uvular
[χ]
and
[ʁ]
or palatal
[ç]
and
[ʝ]
. The more palatal realisations are common in southern areas, and uvulars are common in the north.
Some northern dialects have a tendency to devoice all fricatives, regardless of environment, which is particularly common with
/ɣ/
but can affect others as well.
/ɕ/
/ʑ/
/tɕ/
, and
/dʑ/
are not native phonemes of Dutch and usually occur in borrowed words, like
show
and
bagage
('baggage'), but may occur if
/s/
/z/
, /t/, and /d/ are palatalised.
/ɡ/
is not a native phoneme of Dutch and occurs only in borrowed words, like
baguette
Vowels
edit
Like English, Dutch did not develop
i-mutation
as a morphological marker and shares with most other Germanic languages the lengthening of short
vowels
in
stressed
open
syllables
, which has led to contrastive
vowel length
being used as a
morphological
marker. Dutch has an extensive
vowel
inventory. Vowels can be grouped as back rounded, front unrounded and front rounded. They are also traditionally distinguished by length or
tenseness
Vowel length is not always considered a distinctive feature in Dutch phonology because it normally occurs with changes in vowel
quality
. One feature or the other may be considered redundant, and some phonemic analyses prefer to treat it as an opposition of
tenseness
. However, even if it is not considered part of the phonemic opposition, the long/tense vowels are still realised as
phonetically
longer than their short counterparts. The changes in vowel quality are also not always the same in all dialects, some of which may be little difference at all, with length remaining the primary distinguishing feature. Although all older words pair vowel length with a change in vowel quality, new loanwords have reintroduced phonemic oppositions of length. Compare
zonne(n)
[ˈzɔnə]
("suns") versus
zone
[ˈzɔːnə]
("zone") versus
zonen
[ˈzoːnə(n)]
("sons"), or
kroes
[krus]
("mug") versus
cruise
[kruːs]
("cruise").
Short/lax vowels
Front
unr.
Front
rnd.
Central
Back
Close
Mid
Open
Long/tense vowels
Front
unr.
Front
rnd.
Back
Close
iː
yː
uː
Close-mid
eː
øː
oː
Open-mid
ɛː
œː
ɔː
Open
aː
Notes:
The distinction between
/i
u/
and
/iː
yː
uː/
is only slight and may be considered allophonic for most purposes. However, some recent loanwords have introduced distinctively-long
/iː
yː
uː/
, making the length distinction marginally phonemic.
The long close-mid vowels
/eː
øː
oː/
are realised as slightly closing diphthongs
[ei
øy
ou]
in many northern dialects.
The long open-mid vowels
/ɛː
œː
ɔː/
occur only in a handful of loanwords, mostly from French. In certain Belgian Dutch varieties, they may also occur as realisations of
/ɛi
œy
ɔu/
124
The long close and close-mid vowels are often pronounced more closed or as centering diphthongs before an
/r/
in the syllable coda, which may occur before coda
/l/
as well.
Diphthongs
edit
See also:
IJ (digraph)
Unique to the development of Dutch is the collapse of older
ol
ul
al
dental
into
ol
+ dental, followed by vocalisation of pre-
consonantal
/l/ and after a short vowel. That created the diphthong
/ɑu/
: Dutch
goud
zout
and
bout
corresponds with Low German
Gold
Solt
Bolt
; German
Gold
Salz
Balt
and English
gold
salt
bolt
. It is the most common diphthong, along with
/ɛi
œy/
. All three are the only ones commonly considered unique phonemes in Dutch. The tendency for native English speakers is to pronounce Dutch names with
/ɛi/
(written as
ij
or
ei
) as
/aɪ/
, (like the English "long i") does not normally lead to confusion for native listeners since in a number of dialects (such as in Amsterdam
125
), the same pronunciation is heard.
In contrast,
/ɑi/
and
/ɔi/
are rare in Dutch. The "long/tense" diphthongs are indeed realised as proper diphthongs but are generally analysed phonemically as a long/tense vowel, followed by a glide
/j/
or
/ʋ/
. All diphthongs end in a close vowel (
/i
u/
) and are grouped here by their first element.
Short/lax diphthongs
Front
unr.
Front
rnd.
Back
Close
Mid
ɛɪ
œʏ
ɔɪ
Open
ɑʊ
ɑɪ
Long/tense diphthongs
Front
unr.
Front
rnd.
Back
Close
iʊ
yʊ
uɪ
Mid
eːʊ
oːɪ
Open
aːɪ
Phonotactics
edit
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does not
cite
any
sources
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The
syllable structure
of Dutch is (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C). Many words, as in English, begin with three consonants:
straat
/straːt/
(street). There are words that end in four consonants:
herfst
/ɦɛrfst/
(autumn),
ergst
/ɛrxst/
(worst),
interessantst
/ɪn.tə.rɛ.sɑntst/
(most interesting),
sterkst
/stɛrkst/
(strongest), the last three of which are
superlative
adjectives.
The highest number of consonants in a single cluster is found in the word
slechtstschrijvend
/ˈslɛxtstˌsxrɛi̯vənt/
(writing worst), with seven consonant phonemes.
angstschreeuw
/ˈɑŋstsxreːu̯/
(scream in fear) has six in a row.
Polder Dutch
edit
A notable change in pronunciation has been occurring in younger generations in the Dutch provinces of
Utrecht
North
and
South Holland
, which has been dubbed "Polder Dutch" by Jan Stroop.
126
Such speakers pronounce
⟨ij/ei⟩
⟨ou/au⟩
and
⟨ui⟩
, which used to be pronounced respectively as
/ɛi/
/ɔu/
, and
/œy/
, as increasingly lowered
[ai]
[au]
, and
[ay]
; respectively. In addition, the same speakers pronounce
/eː/
/oː/
, and
/øː/
as the
diphthongs
[ɛi]
[ɔu]
, and
[œy]
127
respectively, making the change an example of a
chain shift
The change is interesting from a sociolinguistic point of view because it has apparently happened relatively recently, in the 1970s and was pioneered by older well-educated women from the upper middle classes.
128
The lowering of the diphthongs has long been current in many Dutch dialects and is comparable to the English
Great Vowel Shift
and the diphthongisation of long high vowels in Modern
High German
, which had centuries earlier reached the state now found in Polder Dutch. Stroop theorises that the lowering of open-mid to open diphthongs is a phonetically "natural" and inevitable development and that Dutch, after it had diphthongised the long high vowels like German and English, "should" have lowered the diphthongs like German and English as well.
Instead, he argues that the development has been artificially frozen in an "intermediate" state by the standardisation of Dutch pronunciation in the 16th century in which lowered diphthongs found in rural dialects were perceived as ugly by the educated classes and were accordingly declared substandard. Now, however, he thinks that the newly-affluent and independent women can afford to let that natural development take place in their speech. Stroop compares the role of Polder Dutch with the urban variety of British English pronunciation called
Estuary English
This change is not taking place in
Afrikaans
(which instead has diphthongized the mid monophthongs
/eː,
øː,
oː/
to
[iə,
yə,
uə]
), nor for Dutch speakers outside
Utrecht
and
Holland
Grammar
edit
Main article:
Dutch grammar
See also:
DT-Manie
Dutch is grammatically similar to
German
, such as in
syntax
and verb
morphology
(for verb morphology in English verbs, Dutch and German, see
Germanic weak verb
and
Germanic strong verb
).
Grammatical cases
have largely become limited to pronouns and many
set phrases
. Inflected forms of the articles are often grace surnames and toponyms.
Standard Dutch uses three
genders
across natural and grammatical genders but for most non-Belgian speakers, masculine and feminine have merged to form the common gender (with
de
for "the"). The neuter (which uses
het
) remains distinct. This is similar to those of most
Continental Scandinavian tongues
. Less so than English, inflectional grammar (such as in adjectival and noun endings) has simplified.
Verbs and tenses
edit
When grouped according to their conjugational class, Dutch has four main verb types:
weak verbs
strong verbs
irregular verbs
and mixed verbs.
Weak verbs are most numerous, constituting about 60% of all verbs. In these, the past tense and past participle are formed with a dental suffix:
Weak verbs with past in
-de
Weak verbs with past in
-te
Strong verbs are the second most numerous verb group. This group is characterised by a vowel alternation of the stem in the past tense and perfect participle. Dutch distinguishes between 7 classes, comprising almost all strong verbs, with some internal variants. Dutch has many 'half strong verbs': these have a weak past tense and a strong participle or a strong past tense and a weak participle. The following table shows the vowel alternations in more detail. It also shows the number of roots (bare verbs) that belong to each class, variants with a prefix are excluded.
Verb class
Verb
Present
Past
Participle
Number of roots
kijken
(to watch)
ɛi
ij
eː
ee
eː
gek
ken
58
2a
bieden
(to offer)
ie
oː
oo
oː
geb
den
17
2b
stuiven
(to gush)
œy
st
ui
oː
st
oo
oː
gest
ven
23
3a
klimmen
(to climb)
kl
kl
gekl
mmen
25
3b
zenden
(to send)
nd
nd
gez
nden
18
3 + 7
sterven
(to die)
st
rf
st
ie
rf
gest
rven
breken
(to break)
eː
br
ee
ɑ ~ aː
br
k ~ br
ken
oː
gebr
ken
irregular
wegen
(to weigh)
eː
ee
oː
oo
oː
gew
gen
geven
(to give)
eː
ee
ɑ ~ aː
f ~ g
ven
eː
geg
ven
10
irregular
zitten
(to sit)
ɑ ~ aː
t ~ z
ten
eː
gez
ten
dragen
(to carry)
aː
dr
aa
dr
oe
aː
gedr
gen
roepen
(to call)
oe
ie
ger
oe
pen
irregular
vangen
(to catch)
ng
ng
gev
ngen
Half strong past
vragen
(to ask)
vraag
vroeg
gevraag
Half strong perfect
bakken
(to bake)
bak
bak
te
gebakken
19
Other
scheppen
(to create)
sch
sch
ie
gesch
pen
There is an ongoing process of "weakening" of strong verbs. The verb "
ervaren
" (to experience) used to be strictly a class 6 strong verb, having the past tense "
ervoer
" and participle "
ervaren
", but the weak form "
ervaarde
" for both past tense and participle is currently also in use. Some other verbs that were originally strong such as "
raden
" (to guess) and "
stoten
" (to bump), have past tense forms "
ried
" and "
stiet
" that are at present far less common than their weakened forms; "
raadde
" and "
stootte
".
129
In most examples of such weakened verbs that were originally strong, both their strong and weak formations are deemed correct.
Genders and cases
edit
As in English, the case system of Dutch and the
subjunctive
have largely fallen out of use, and the system has generalised the
dative
over the
accusative
case
for certain
pronouns
(NL:
me
je
; EN:
me
you
; LI:
mi
di
vs. DE:
mich/mir
dich/dir
). While standard Dutch has three
grammatical genders
, this has few consequences and the masculine and feminine gender are usually merged into a common gender in the Netherlands but not in Belgium (EN: none; NL/LI: common and neuter; in Belgium masculine, feminine and neuter is in use).
Modern Dutch has mostly lost its case system.
130
However, certain idioms and expressions continue to include now archaic case declensions. The definite article has just two forms,
de
and
het
, more complex than English, which has only
the
. The use of the older inflected form
den
in the dative and accusative, as well as use of
der
in the dative, is restricted to numerous set phrases, surnames and toponyms. But some dialects still use both, particularly "
der
" is often used instead of "
haar
" (her).
Masculine singular
Feminine singular
Neuter singular
Plural (any gender)
Nominative
de
de
het
de
Genitive
van de
van de
van het
van de
Genitive
des
der
des
der
In modern Dutch, the genitive articles
des
and
der
in the bottom line are commonly used in
idioms
. Other usage is typically considered archaic, poetic or stylistic. One must know whether a noun is masculine or feminine to use them correctly. In most circumstances, the preposition
van
, the middle line, is instead used, followed by the normal article
de
or
het
, and in that case it makes no difference whether a word is masculine or feminine. For the idiomatic use of the articles in the genitive, see for example:
Masculine singular: "
des
duivel
" (
lit
: "of the devil") (common proverbial meaning: Seething with rage)
Feminine singular: "
het woordenboek
der
Friese taal
" ("the dictionary of the Frisian language")
Neuter singular: "
de vrouw
des
huiz
es
" ("the lady of the house")
Plural: de voortgang "
der
werken
" ("the progress of (public) works")
In contemporary usage, the
genitive case
still occurs a little more often with plurals than with singulars, as the plural article is
der
for all genders and no special noun inflection must be taken account of.
Der
is commonly used in order to avoid reduplication of
van
, e.g.
het merendeel
der
gedichten
van de
auteur
instead of
het merendeel
van de
gedichten
van de
auteur
("the bulk of the author's poems").
There is also a genitive form for the pronoun
die/dat
("that [one], those [ones]"), namely
diens
for masculine and neuter singulars (occurrences of
dier
for feminine singular and all plurals are extremely rare). Although usually avoided in common speech, this form can be used instead of possessive pronouns to avoid confusion. Compare:
Hij vertelde over zijn zoon en
zijn
vrouw.
– He spoke about his son and
his (own)
wife.
Hij vertelde over zijn zoon en
diens
vrouw.
– He spoke about his son and
the latter's
wife.
Analogically, the relative and interrogative pronoun
wie
("who") has the genitive forms
wiens
and
wier
(corresponding to English
whose
, but less frequent in use).
Dutch also has a range of fixed expressions that make use of the genitive articles, which can be abbreviated using apostrophes. Common examples include "
's ochtends
" (with
's
as abbreviation of
des
; "in the morning") and
desnoods
(lit: "of the need", translated: "if necessary").
The Dutch written grammar has simplified over the past 100 years:
cases
are now mainly used for the pronouns, such as
ik
(I),
mij, me
(me),
mijn
(my),
wie
(who),
wiens
(whose: masculine or neuter singular),
wier
(whose: feminine singular; masculine, feminine or neuter plural). Nouns and adjectives are not case inflected (except for the genitive of proper nouns (names): -s, -'s or -'). In the spoken language cases and case inflections had already gradually disappeared from a much earlier date on (probably the 15th century) as in many continental West Germanic dialects.
Inflection of adjectives is more complicated. The adjective receives no ending with indefinite neuter nouns in singular (as with
een
/ən/
'a/an'), and
-e
in all other cases. (This was also the case in Middle English, as in "a good
man".)
Fiets
belongs to the masculine/feminine category, while
water
and
huis
are neuter.
Masculine singular or feminine singular
Neuter singular
Plural (any gender)
Definite
(with definite article
or pronoun)
de mooi
fiets
("the beautiful bicycle")
onze mooi
fiets
("our beautiful bicycle")
deze mooi
fiets
("this beautiful bicycle")
het mooi
huis
("the beautiful house")
ons mooi
huis
("our beautiful house")
dit mooi
huis
("this beautiful house")
de mooi
fietsen
("the beautiful bicycles")
de mooi
huizen
("the beautiful houses")
onze mooi
fietsen
("our beautiful bicycles")
deze mooi
huizen
("these beautiful houses")
Indefinite
(with indefinite article or
no article and no pronoun)
een mooi
fiets
("a beautiful bicycle")
koud
soep
("cold soup")
een mooi huis
("a beautiful house")
koud water
("cold water")
mooi
fietsen
("beautiful bicycles")
mooi
huizen
("beautiful houses")
An adjective has no
if it is in the
predicative
De soep is koud.
More complex inflection is still found in certain lexicalised expressions like
de heer de
hui
zes
(literally, "the man of the house"), etc. These are usually remnants of cases (in this instance, the genitive case which is still used in German, cf.
Der Herr des Hauses
) and other inflections no longer in general use today. In such lexicalised expressions remnants of strong and weak nouns can be found too, e.g.
in het jaar de
Her
en
(Anno Domini), where
-en
is actually the genitive ending of the weak noun. Similarly in some place names:
‌'s
-Grav
en
brakel
‌'s
-Hertog
en
bosch
, etc. (with weak genitives of
graaf
"count",
hertog
"duke"). Also in this case, German
retains this feature
Word order
edit
Dutch shares much of its word order with German. Dutch exhibits
subject–object–verb
word order, but in main clauses the
conjugated verb
is moved into the second position in what is known as verb second or
V2 word order
. This makes Dutch word order almost identical to that of German, but often different from English, which has
subject–verb–object
word order and has since lost the V2 word order that existed in
Old English
131
An example sentence used in some Dutch language courses and textbooks is "
Ik kan mijn pen niet vinden omdat het veel te donker is
", which translates into English word for word as "
I can my pen not find because it far too dark is
", but in standard English word order would be written "
I cannot find my pen because it is far too dark
". If the sentence is split into a main and subclause and the verbs highlighted, the logic behind the word order can be seen.
Main clause: "
Ik
kan
mijn pen niet
vinden
Verb infinitives are placed in final position, but the finite, conjugated verb, in this case "
kan
" (can), is made the second element of the clause.
In subordinate clauses: "
omdat het veel te donker
is
", the verb or verbs always go in the final position.
In an
interrogative
main clause the usual word order is: conjugated verb followed by subject; other verbs in final position:
Kun jij je pen niet vinden?
" (literally "
Can you your pen not find?
") "
Can't you find your pen?
In the Dutch equivalent of a
wh-question
the word order is: interrogative pronoun (or expression) + conjugated verb + subject; other verbs in final position:
Waarom kun jij je pen niet vinden?
" ("
Why can you your pen not find?
") "
Why can't you find your pen?
In a
tag question
the word order is the same as in a declarative clause:
Jij kunt je pen niet vinden?
" ("
You can your pen not find?
") "
You can't find your pen?
A subordinate clause does not change its word order:
Kun jij je pen niet vinden omdat het veel te donker is?
" ("
Can you your pen not find because it far too dark is?
") "
Can you not find your pen because it's far too dark?
Diminutives
edit
See also:
List of diminutives by language § Dutch
In Dutch, the diminutive is used extensively. The nuances of meaning expressed by the diminutive are a distinctive aspect of Dutch, and can be difficult for non-native speakers to master. It is very productive
132
: 61
and formed by adding one of the
suffixes
to the noun in question, depending on the latter's phonological ending:
-je
for ending in -b, -c, -d, -t, -f, -g, -ch, -k, -p, -v, -x, -z or -s:
neef
neef
je
male cousin
nephew
-pje
for ending in -m:
boom
tree
) →
boom
pje
-kje
for ending in -ing if the preceding syllable carries the stress:
koning
king
) →
konin
kje
(the 'ng'-sound transforms into 'nk'); but
ring
ring
etje
ring
), and
vondeling
vondeling
etje
foundling
) without this stress pattern
-tje
for ending in -h, -j, -l, -n, -r, -w, or a vowel other than -y:
zoen
zoen
tje
kiss
). A single open vowel is doubled when adding "
-tje
" would change the pronunciation:
aut
aut
oo
tje
car
).
-′tje
for ending in -y and for abbreviations:
baby
baby'tje
cd
cd'tje
A4
A4'tje
-etje
for ending in -b, -l, -n, -ng or -r preceded by a "short" (lax) vowel:
bal
ball
etje
ball
). Final consonant is doubled (except for -ng) to preserve the vowel's shortness.
The diminutive suffixes
-ke
(from which
-tje
has derived by
palatalisation
),
-eke
-ske
-ie
(only for words ending -ch, -k, -p, or -s),
-kie
(instead of
-kje
), and
-pie
(instead of
-pje
) are used in southern dialects, and the forms ending on
-ie
as well in northern urban dialects. Some of these form part of expressions that became standard language, like
een makkie
, from
ge
mak
ease
). The noun
joch
young boy
) has, exceptionally, only the diminutive form
jochie
, also in standard Dutch. The form -ke is also found in many women's given names: Janneke, Marieke, Marijke, Mieke, Meike etc.
In Dutch, the diminutive is not restricted to nouns, but can be applied to
numerals
met z'n tweetjes
, "the two of us"),
pronouns
onderonsje
, "tête-à-tête"),
verbal particles
moetje
, "shotgun marriage"), and even
prepositions
toetje
, "dessert").
132
: 64–65
Adjectives
and
adverbs
commonly take diminutive forms; the former take a diminutive ending and thus function as nouns, while the latter remain adverbs and always have the diminutive with the
-s
appended, e.g. adjective:
groen
("green") → noun:
groen
tje
("rookie"); adverb:
even
("a while") → adverb:
even
tjes
("a little while").
Some nouns have two different diminutives, each with a different meaning:
bloem
flower
) →
bloem
pje
lit.
small flower
), but
bloem
etje
(lit. also "small flower", meaning
bouquet
). A few nouns exist solely in a diminutive form, e.g.
zeepaardje
seahorse
), while many, e.g.
meisje
girl
), originally a diminutive of
meid
maid
), have acquired a meaning
independent of their non-diminutive forms
. A diminutive can sometimes be added to an uncountable noun to refer to a single portion:
ijs
ice
ice cream
) →
ijsje
ice cream treat
cone of ice cream
),
bier
beer
) →
biertje
. Some diminutive forms only exist in the plural, e.g.
kleertjes
clothing
).
When used to refer to time, the Dutch diminutive form can indicate whether the person in question found it pleasant or not:
een uur
tje
kletsen
chatting for a "little" hour.
) The diminutive can, however, also be used pejoratively:
Hij was weer eens het "mannetje"
. (
He acted as if he was the "little" man.
All diminutives (even lexicalised ones like "
meisje
(girl)
) have neuter gender and take neuter concords: "
dit
kleine meisje
", not "
deze
kleine meisje
".
Pronouns and determiners
edit
There are two series of personal pronouns, subject and objects pronouns. The forms on the right-hand sides within each column are the unemphatic forms; those not normally written are given in brackets. Only
ons
and
do not have an unemphatic form. The distinction between emphatic and unemphatic pronouns is very important in Dutch.
132
: 67
Emphatic pronouns
in English use the
reflexive pronoun
form, but are used to emphasise the subject, not to indicate a direct or indirect object. For example, "I gave (to) myself the money" is reflexive but "I myself gave the money (to someone else) " is emphatic.
person
subject
object
1st person singular
ik – ('k)
mij – me
2nd person singular, informal
jij – je
jou – je
2nd person singular, formal
3rd person singular, masculine
hij – (ie)
hem – ('m)
3rd person singular, feminine
zij – ze
haar – ('r, d'r)
3rd person singular, neuter
het – ('t)
het – ('t)
1st person plural
wij – we
ons
2nd person plural, informal
jullie – je
jullie – je
2nd person plural, formal
3rd person plural, for a person
zij – ze
hun, hen – ze
3rd person plural, for an object
zij – ze
die – ze
Like English, Dutch has generalised the dative over the accusative case for all pronouns, e.g. NL '
me
', '
je
', EN 'me', 'you', vs. DE '
mich
'/'
mir
' '
dich
'/'
dir
'. There is one exception: the standard language prescribes that in the third person plural,
hen
is to be used for the direct object, and
hun
for the indirect object. This distinction was artificially introduced in the 17th century by grammarians, and is largely ignored in spoken language and not well understood by Dutch speakers. Consequently, the third person plural forms
hun
and
hen
are interchangeable in normal usage, with
hun
being more common. The shared unstressed form
ze
is also often used as both direct and indirect objects and is a useful avoidance strategy when people are unsure which form to use.
133
Dutch also shares with English the presence of h- pronouns, e.g. NL
hij
hem
haar
hen
hun
and EN
he
him
her
vs. DE
er
ihn
ihr
ihnen
Compounds
edit
The 27-letter compound
hemelwaterinfiltratiegebied
rainwater infiltration area
) on a traffic sign in
Zwolle
, Netherlands
Like most Germanic languages, Dutch forms noun
compounds
, where the first noun modifies the category given by the second (
hondenhok
= doghouse). Unlike English, where newer compounds or combinations of longer nouns are often written in open form with separating spaces, Dutch (like the other Germanic languages) either uses the closed form without spaces (
boomhut
= tree house) or inserts a hyphen (
VVD-coryfee
= outstanding member of the
VVD
, a political party). Like German, Dutch allows arbitrarily long compounds, but the longer they get, the less frequent they tend to be.
The longest serious entry in the
Van Dale
dictionary is
wapenstilstandsonderhandeling
(ceasefire negotiation). Leafing through the articles of association (Statuten) one may come across a 30-letter
vertegenwoordigingsbevoegdheid
(authorisation of representation). An even longer word cropping up in official documents is
"ziektekostenverzekeringsmaatschappij"
(health insurance company) though the shorter
zorgverzekeraar
(health insurer) is more common.
Notwithstanding official spelling rules, some Dutch-speaking people, like some Scandinavians and German speakers, nowadays tend to write the parts of a compound separately, a practice sometimes dubbed
de Engelse ziekte
(the English disease).
134
Vocabulary
edit
Dutch vocabulary is predominantly Germanic in origin, with loanwords accounting for 20%.
135
The main foreign influence on Dutch vocabulary since the 12th century and culminating in the
French period
has been French and (northern)
Oïl languages
, accounting for an estimated 6.8% of all words, or more than a third of all loanwords.
Latin
, which was spoken in the southern Low Countries for centuries and then played a major role as the language of science and religion, follows with 6.1%. High German and Low German were influential until the mid-20th century and account for 2.7%, but they are mostly unrecognisable since many have been "Dutchified": German
Fremdling
→ Dutch
vreemdeling
. Dutch has borrowed words from English since the mid-19th century, as a consequence of the increasing power and influence of Britain and the United States. English loanwords are about 1.5%, but continue to increase.
136
Many English loanwords become less visible over time as they are either gradually replaced by
calques
skyscraper
became Dutch
wolkenkrabber
) or
neologisms
bucket list
became
loodjeslijst
). Conversely, Dutch contributed many loanwords to English, accounting for 1.3% of its lexicon.
137
The main Dutch dictionary is the
Van Dale groot woordenboek der Nederlandse taal
, which contains some 268,826
headwords
138
In the field of
linguistics
, the 45,000-page
Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal
is also widely used. That scholarly endeavour took 147 years to complete and contains all recorded Dutch words from the
Early Middle Ages
onward.
Spelling and writing system
edit
Main articles:
Dutch orthography
History of Dutch orthography
Dutch six-dot Braille
, and
Dutch eight-dot Braille
Dutch uses the
digraph
ij
as a single letter and it can be seen in several variations. Here, a marking saying
lijnbus
("line/route" + "bus"; the tram lane also serves as bus road).
Dutch is written using the
Latin script
. Dutch uses one additional character beyond the standard alphabet, the
digraph
ij
. It has a relatively high proportion of doubled letters, both vowels and consonants, due to the formation of compound words and also to the spelling devices for distinguishing the many vowel sounds in the Dutch language. An example of five consecutive doubled letters is the word
voorraaddoos
food storage container
). The
diaeresis
(Dutch:
trema
) is used to mark vowels that are pronounced separately when involving a pre- or suffix, and a
hyphen
is used when the problem occurs in compound words, e.g.
beïnvloed
(influenced),
de zeeën
(the seas) but
zee-eend
(scoter; lit. sea duck). Generally, other
diacritical marks
occur only in loanwords. However, the
acute accent
can also be used for emphasis or to differentiate between two forms, and its most common use is to differentiate between the indefinite
article
een
/ən/
"a, an" and the numeral
één
/eːn/
"one".
Since the 1980s, the Dutch Language Union has been given the mandate to review and make recommendations on the official spelling of Dutch. Spelling reforms undertaken by the union occurred in 1995 and 2005. In the Netherlands, the official spelling is currently given legal basis by the Spelling Act of September 15, 2005.
The Spelling Act gives the Committee of Ministers of the Dutch Language Union the authority to determine the spelling of Dutch by ministerial decision. In addition, the law requires that this spelling be followed "at the governmental bodies, at educational institutions funded from the public purse, as well as at the exams for which legal requirements have been established". In other cases, it is recommended, but it is not mandatory to follow the official spelling. The Decree on the Spelling Regulations 2005 of 2006 contains the annexed spelling rules decided by the Committee of Ministers on April 25, 2005.
In Flanders, the same spelling rules are currently applied by the Decree of the Flemish Government Establishing the Rules of the Official Spelling and Grammar of the Dutch language of June 30, 2006.
The
Woordenlijst Nederlandse taal
, more commonly known as
het groene boekje
(i.e. "the green booklet", because of its colour), is the authoritative orthographic word list (without definitions) of the Dutch Language Union; a version with definitions can be had as
Het Groene Woordenboek
; both are published by
Sdu
Example text
edit
Dutch pronunciation
Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in Dutch:
Alle mensen worden vrij en gelijk in waardigheid en rechten geboren. Zij zijn begiftigd met verstand en geweten, en behoren zich jegens elkander in een geest van broederschap te gedragen.
139
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
140
See also
edit
Bargoens
Dutch eight-dot Braille
Dutch six-dot Braille
Dutch grammar
Dutch Language Union
Dutch literature
Dutch name
Dutch orthography
Dutch-based creole languages
Flemish
French Flemish
Grand Dictation of the Dutch Language
Indo-European languages
Istvaeones
List of English words of Dutch origin
List of countries and territories where Afrikaans or Dutch are official languages
Low Franconian
Meuse-Rhenish
Middle Dutch
Old Frankish
Surinamese Dutch
Notes
edit
Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see
Booij 1999
, p. 2,
Jansen, Schreuder & Neijt 2007
, p. 5,
Mennen, Levelt & Gerrits 2006
, p. 1,
Booij 2003
, p. 4,
Hiskens, Auer & Kerswill 2005
, p. 19,
Heeringa & de Wet 2007
, pp. 1, 3, 5.
Afrikaans was historically called Cape Dutch; see
Deumert & Vandenbussche 2003
, p. 16,
Conradie 2005
, p. 208,
Sebba 1997
, p. 160,
Langer & Davies 2005
, p. 144,
Deumert 2002
, p. 3,
Berdichevsky 2004
, p. 130.
Afrikaans is rooted in 17th-century dialects of Dutch; see
Holm 1989
, p. 338,
Geerts & Clyne 1992
, p. 71,
Mesthrie 1995
, p. 214,
Niesler, Louw & Roux 2005
, p. 459.
Afrikaans is variously described as a creole, a partially creolised language, or a deviant variety of Dutch and has a vastly simplified grammar compared to Dutch; see
Sebba 2007
, p. 116.
It has the widest geographical and racial distribution of all official languages of South Africa; see
Webb 2003
, pp. 7, 8,
Berdichevsky 2004
, p. 131. It has by far the largest geographical distribution; see
Alant 2004
, p. 45.
It is widely spoken and understood as a second or third language; see
Deumert & Vandenbussche 2003
, p. 16,
Kamwangamalu 2004
, p. 207,
Myers-Scotton 2006
, p. 389,
Simpson 2008
, p. 324,
Palmer 2001
, p. 141,
Webb 2002
, p. 74,
Herriman & Burnaby 1996
, p. 18,
Page & Sonnenburg 2003
, p. 7,
Brook Napier 2007
, pp. 69, 71.
An estimated 40 percent of South Africans have at least a basic level of communication in Afrikaans; see
Webb 2003
, p. 7
McLean & McCormick 1996
, p. 333. Afrikaans is a lingua franca of Namibia; see
Deumert 2004
, p. 1,
Adegbija 1994
, p. 26,
Batibo 2005
, p. 79,
Donaldson 1993
, p. xiii,
Deumert & Vandenbussche 2003
, p. 16,
Baker & Prys Jones 1998
, p. 364,
Domínguez & López 1995
, p. 399,
Page & Sonnenburg 2003
, p. 8,
CIA 2010
While the number of total speakers of Afrikaans is unknown, estimates range between 15 and 23 million. Afrikaans has 16.3 million speakers; see
de Swaan 2001
, p. 216. Afrikaans has a total of 16 million speakers; see
Machan 2009
, p. 174. About 9 million people speak Afrikaans as a second or third language; see
Alant 2004
, p. 45,
Proost 2006
, p. 402. Afrikaans has over 5 million native speakers and 15 million second language speakers; see
Réguer 2004
, p. 20. Afrikaans has about 6 million native and 16 million second language speakers; see
Domínguez & López 1995
, p. 340. In South Africa, over 23 million people speak Afrikaans to some degree, of which a third are first-language speakers; see
Page & Sonnenburg 2003
, p. 7. L2 "Black Afrikaans" is spoken, with different degrees of fluency, by an estimated 15 million; see
Stell 2008
, p. 1.
Dutch and Afrikaans share mutual intelligibility; see
Gooskens 2007
, p. 453,
Holm 1989
, p. 338,
Baker & Prys Jones 1998
, p. 302,
Egil Breivik & Håkon Jahr 1987
, p. 232. For written mutual intelligibility; see
Sebba 2007
, p. 116,
Sebba 1997
, p. 161.
It is easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than the other way around; see
Gooskens 2007
, p. 454.
410,000 in the United States, 159,000 in Canada, 47,000 in Australia; see
Simpson 2009
, p. 307. Between 200,000 and 400,000 in US alone; see
McGoldrick, Giordano & Garcia-Preto 2005
, p. 536.
In France, a historical dialect called
French Flemish
is spoken. There are about 80,000 Dutch speakers in France; see
Simpson 2009
, p. 307. In French Flanders, only a remnant of 20,000 Flemish-speakers remain; see
Berdichevsky 2004
, p. 90. French Flemish is spoken in the north-west of France by an estimated population of 20,000 daily speakers and 40,000 occasional speakers; see
European Commission 2010
A dialect continuum exists between Dutch and German through the
Kleverlandish
and
Limburgish
dialects.
In 1941, 400,000 Indonesians spoke Dutch, and Dutch exerted a major influence on Indonesian; see
Sneddon 2003
, p. 161. In 1941, about 0.5% of the inland population had a reasonable knowledge of Dutch; see
Maier 2005
, p. 12. At the beginning of World War II, about one million Asians had an active command of Dutch, while an additional half million had a passive knowledge; see
Jones 2008
, p. xxxi. Many older Indonesians speak Dutch as a second language; see
Thomson 2003
, p. 80. Some of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia speak Dutch amongst each other; see
Tan 2008
, pp. 62–64,
Erdentuğ & Colombijn 2002
, p. 104. Dutch is spoken by "smaller groups of speakers" in Indonesia; see
Bussmann 2002
, p. 83. Some younger Indonesians learn Dutch as a foreign language because their parents and grandparents may speak it and because in some circles, Dutch is regarded as the language of the elite; see
Vos 2001
, p. 91. At present, only educated people of the oldest generation, in addition to specialists who require knowledge of the language, can speak Dutch fluently; see
Ammon et al. 2006
, p. 2017. Around 6.4% of present-day Indonesian vocabulary can be traced back to Dutch words, see
Tadmor 2009
, p. 698.
Dutch and English are the closest relatives of German; see
Abraham 2006
, p. 124. Dutch is the closest relative of German; see
Czepluch & Abraham 2004
, p. 13. Dutch and English are closely related; see
Ingram 1989
, p. 494,
Todd 2004
, p. 37,
Kager 1989
, p. 105,
Hogg 2002
, p. 134,
De Bot, Lowie & Verspoor 2005
, pp. 130, 166,
Weissenborn & Höhle 2001
, p. 209,
Crisma & Longobarde 2009
, p. 250. Dutch and English are very closely related languages; see
Fitzpatrick 2007
, p. 188. Dutch is, after Frisian, the closest relative of English; see
Mallory & Adams 2006
, p. 23,
Classe 2000
, p. 390,
Hogg 2002
, p. 3,
Denning, Kessler & Leben 2007
, p. 22. English is most closely related to Dutch; see
Lightfoot 1999
, p. 22, and more so than to German; see
Sonnenschein 2008
, p. 100,
Kennedy Wyld 2009
, p. 190.
Dutch is traditionally described as morphologically between English and German, but syntactically closer to German; see
Clyne 2003
, p. 133. Dutch has been positioned to be between English and German; see
Putnam 2011
, p. 108,
Bussmann 2002
, p. 83,
Müller 1995
, p. 121,
Onysko & Michel 2010
, p. 210. Typologically, Dutch takes a position between German and English, a similar word order to that of German, grammatical gender, and a largely Germanic vocabulary with many cognates to German words. It is morphologically close to English, and the case system and subjunctive have largely fallen out of use; see
Swan & Smith 2001
, p. 6.
Dutch shares with English its simplified morphology and the abandonment of the
grammatical case system
; see
Booij 1999
, p. 1,
Simpson 2009
, p. 309. In contrast to German, case markings have become vestigial in English and Dutch; see
Hogg 2002
, p. 134,
Abraham 2006
, p. 118,
Bussmann 2002
, p. 83,
Swan & Smith 2001
, p. 6. The umlaut in Dutch and English matured to a much lesser extent than in German; see
Simpson 2009
, p. 307,
Lass 1994
, p. 70,
Deprez 1997
, p. 251.
Dutch has effectively two genders; see
Booij 1999
, p. 1,
Simpson 2009
, p. 309,
De Vogelaer 2009
, p. 71. Grammatical gender has little grammatical consequences in Dutch; see
Bussmann 2002
, p. 84
Simpson 2009
, p. 307,
Booij 1999
, p. 1 Dutch and German do not have a strict SVO order as in English; see
Hogg 2002
, pp. 87, 134. In contrast to English, which has SVO as the underlying word order, for Dutch and German this is SV
OV
or (in subordinate clauses) SOV; see
Ingram 1989
, p. 495,
Jordens & Lalleman 1988
, pp. 149, 150, 177. Dutch has almost the same word order as German; see
Swan & Smith 2001
, p. 6.
Dutch vocabulary has more Germanic words than English and more Romance words than German; see
Simpson 2009
, p. 309,
Swan & Smith 2001
, p. 17. Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic; see
Swan & Smith 2001
, p. 6. Dutch has the most similar vocabulary to English; see
Mallory & Adams 2006
, p. 1.
Friedrich Maurer uses the term
Istvaeonic
instead of Franconian; see Friedrich Maurer (1942),
Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur germanischen und frühdeutschen Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde
, Bern: Verlag Francke.
The Dutch language does have the status of official language in the Netherlands, together with the Dutch Sign Language and West-Frisian (in Friesland). However, it is not legally enshrined in the
Dutch constitution
, which is uncommon in the European Union.
63
64
65
There is almost no legally defined status of Dutch stipulated anywhere in legislation.
65
A long series of parliamentary and public discussions in the 2010s on the question whether to enshrine Dutch as the official language of the Netherlands came to nothing, and the proposal was withdrawn again by the government in February 2018.
65
Recognition of Surinamese-Dutch (
Surinaams-Nederlands
) as an equal natiolect was expressed in 1976 by the publication of the
Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands – een geannoteerde lijst van Surinaams-Nederlandse woorden en uitdrukkingen
Dictionary of Surinam Dutch – an annotated list of Surinam-Dutch words and expressions
), see Johannes van Donselaar
Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands – een geannoteerde lijst van Surinaams-Nederlandse woorden en uitdrukkingen
, Utrecht : Instituut A. W. de Groot voor Algemene Taalwetenschap van de Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht (1976), Amsterdam, E.T.Rap (1977)
ISBN
90-6005-125-4
, published in 1989 as the
Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands
Dictionary of Surinam Dutch
), by Van Donselaar, and later by the publication of the
Woordenboek Surinaams Nederlands
Dictionary Surinam Dutch
) in 2009 (editor Renata de Bies, in cooperation with lexicologists Willy Martin en Willy Smedts), which was previously published as the
Woordenboek van de Surinaamse Bijdrage aan het Nederlands
Dictionary of the Surinam Contribution to Dutch"
).
See
Spellingwet
(in Dutch),
archived
from the original on October 24, 2019
, retrieved
October 24,
2019
This came into force on February 22, 2006, replacing the Act on the Spelling of the Dutch Language of February 14, 1947. see
Wet voorschriften schrijfwijze Nederlandsche taal
(in Dutch),
archived
from the original on March 24, 2023
, retrieved
October 24,
2019
see
Besluit bekendmaking spellingvoorschriften 2005
(in Dutch),
archived
from the original on March 24, 2023
, retrieved
October 24,
2019
This decree entered into force on August 1, 2006, replacing the Spelling Decree of June 19, 1996. see
Spellingbesluit
(in Dutch),
archived
from the original on March 24, 2023
, retrieved
October 24,
2019
See
Besluit van de Vlaamse Regering tot vaststelling van de regels van de officiële spelling en spraakkunst van de Nederlandse taal
(in Dutch),
archived
from the original on October 27, 2020
, retrieved
October 24,
2019
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