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DUTCH LANGUAGE
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DUTCH See also:LANGUAGE . When the See also:Romans reached the territory now forming the See also:kingdom of See also: The language which is spoken there, and farther to the north through See also:Drente as far as in some parts of See also:Groningen, is called Saxon. Indeed, these dialects correspond in a great many respects with the language of the Old-Saxon poem See also:Heliand (q.v.) and with the North-German dialects—from the latter they deviate considerably in some respects. The See also:chief point of conformity is the formation of the plural of the verb: wi loopt, wi gat, Heliand: wi hlo See also:pad, wi gangad, which are wei loopen, wei gaan in the Frankish dialects. In the vocal system, too, there are See also:peculiar See also:differences. In the north o[ Holland there lived, and still lives alongside thecoast, a tribe with which See also:Caesar did not come in contact. The See also:Frisians were spread over a large distance along the See also:shore as far as the mouth of the Elbe, and in the See also:west at least as far as the See also:country north of See also:Haarlem. In the time of the Romans they cannot have extended their See also:power farther southward. Later, however, this seems to have been the See also:case. See also:Maerlant and Melis Stoke (13th century) tell us that time was when their power extended even over part of See also:Flanders. About the See also:year 339 they were repelled as far as the mouth of the See also:Meuse, and ever after-wards the Franks, led by their See also:counts, pushed their dominion back farther and farther to the north, as far as the country north of See also:Alkmaar. After all, a great many Frisian peculiarities may be perceived in the language of the country See also:people of the parts which were once in their power. To begin with the south: in See also:Zeeland the population has quite given up the former probably non-Germanic language. Frisian See also:influence is still perceptible in many words and expressions, but for all that the language has lost the Frisian See also:character and assumed the nature of the neighbouring Frankish dialects in the present See also:Belgium and Brabant. If it was then influenced by the south, later it was influenced rather by the language of Holland. Farther to the north Frisian elements may be perceived in Holland at the seashore and also in many respects still in North Holland. The real Frisian See also:tongue has only been preserved in the See also:province of See also:Friesland, where intrusion of the dialect spoken in Holland is already perceptible since the 13th century. With the Frisian tongue this formed a new dialect in the towns, the " Stadfriesch," whereas the country people in the villages and the peasants have preserved the old Frisian tongue as "'Boerenfriesch." The more eastward dialects of Frisian in Groningen, the eastern part of Friesland (Stellingawerf) and West-Drente were first strongly mixed with Saxon; at the same time we find a strong mixture of Frisian and Saxo-Frankish east of the Zuider Zee. Later the Saxon dialect of the See also:town of Groningen,once the See also:capital of East-Drente, became prominent over the whole province. In all parts, however, the language of Holland, mixed with and changed by the living speech,is getting more and more influence, issuing from the towns and large villages. This influence over the whole country began at the opening of the 17th century, and, in connexion with the prevalent written language, gradually produced a colloquial language, deviating from the written language as well as from the native idioms of the country, though assuming elements from both. In this colloquial speech the See also:idiom of Holland forms•the basis, whereas the written language formed itself on quite different principles. If we compare the colloquial speech and the native idiom with the written language, we find remarkable differences, which are caused by the origin of the Dutch written language. The first to write in any of the idioms of the Dutch language, if we leave apart the old version of the See also:psalms in East Low Frankish, was an inhabitant of the neighbourhood of See also:Maastricht, H,pnrik See also:van Veldeke, who wrote a Servatius See also:legend and an Aeneid; the latter we only know by a See also:Mid High German copy. This dialect deviates from the western dialects and has likeness to the See also:Middle-Frankish. His See also:work had no influence whatever on the written language. In the west of Belgium, in the districts of See also:Antwerp, East and West Flanders and Brabant, great prosperity and strong development of See also:commerce caused a vivid intellectual See also:life. No wonder we find there the first writings in the West-Low-Frankish native idiom. This language spread over the neighbouring districts. At least in 1254 we find the same language used in the See also:statute (i.e. See also:privilege) of See also:Middelburg. In those parts a great See also:deal was written in See also:poetry and See also:prose, and the writings in this language are known under the name of Middle-Dutch literature. If originally the south took the See also:lead in all departments, later the north gradually surpasses the south, and elements from the See also:northern native idiom begin to intrude into the written language. North of the Meuse and the Rhine little was written as yet in the 13th century. Not until about 1300 does See also:literary life begin to develop here (Melis Stoke's Rijmcronijk) , and these writings 718 were written in the language of the south with slight' deviations here and there. See also:Chancery and See also:clergy had taken a written language to the north, deviating considerably from the native idiom in See also:vogue there, which belonged to the Frisio-Frankish idioms. So this written language gradually spread over the west of the See also:Netherlands and Belgium. The east of the Nether-lands agreed in its chancery See also:style more with the districts of Low Germany. There was a great difference between the written language and the dialect spoken on the See also:banks of the Y. This becomes quite conspicuous if we compare what See also:Roemer Visscher, Coster, Bredero See also:borrow from their native idiom with the language of See also:Huygens or See also:Cats, in the latter of which the See also:southern elements predominate, mixed with the dialects of Zeeland and Holland. See also:Vondel, too, in his first See also:period was influenced by the idiom of Brabant. Only after 1625 does he get on more See also:familiar terms with the See also:Amsterdam dialect. In the various See also:editions of his poems it may be seen how not only See also:loan-words, but also words belonging to the southern idiom, are gradually replaced by other words, belonging to the vocabulary of North Holland, and still to be heard. The written language passed from the south to the north, and, considerably changed at Amsterdam, was also assumed in the other provinces in the 17th century, after the See also:Union of Utrecht. In the north, in Groningen and Friesland, the See also:official writings and See also:laws were still noted down in a Frisian or Saxo-Frisian idiom as See also:late as the 15th and 16th centuries. When the contact with Holland See also:grew stronger, and the See also:government officials ever and again came in contact with Holland, chancery, too, gradually assumed the Holland idiom. The same took See also:place in the eastern provinces. This, however, did not yet make the written language popular, which did not happen before the population of the Dutch provinces got its Statenbybel, the well-known authorized version of the See also:Bible, made at See also:Dordrecht between 1626 and 1637. By the frequent use of this so-called St at envert aling the language of Holland obtained its vogue in all provinces on the point of See also:religion, and many expressions, borrowed from that Bible, were preserved in the native idiom. By the remarkable vicissitudes of these parts from the earliest time up to the moment when Holland became an See also:independent kingdom, during which alternately German elements under the Bavarian counts and See also:French influences under the Burgundian princes were predominant, and also later in the 16th and 17th centuries, elements from these See also:languages were mixed with the language in See also:common use. Moreover, various words passed from the eastern languages into Dutch by the colonial and commercial connexions, while at the same time many words were borrowed from Latin, the language of the learned people, especially in the 16th century, and from French, under the influence of the poetic clubs of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the time of the rhetoricians, in the 16th century, and of See also:Coornhert, as well as in the days of Bredero, See also:Hooft and Vondel, we repeatedly find opposition against these See also:foreign words, often successful, so that in 165o Vondel could say: " Onze spraak is sedert weinige jaren herwaart van bastaard-woorden en onduitsch allengs geschuimt."' Some people, e.g. Hooft, went even so far as to make very clumsy versions of Latin and French See also:bastard words, handed down of old.
Under the influence of the See also:club " Nil Volentibus Arduum " and the predominant literary clubs of the 18th century, people became inclined towards expressing their thoughts as much as possible in pure Dutch. Therefore a large number of rules were given, with respect to prose as well as to poetry, in consequence of which the written language grew very stiff in choice of words and forms, and remains so till the latter See also:half of the 19th century. The obtrusion of the French language during the reign of See also:Napoleon had no effect. But the subsequent union of Holland and Belgium strengthened the French See also:element, especially in the higher ranks of society. See also: See also:Willems, Heremans and others in the south, were supported in the north by See also:Professor de Vries at See also:Leiden. In See also:order to get a pure Dutch language, the See also:idea of composing a general Dutch See also:dictionary was introduced. M. de Vries and his partner L. te Winkel, however, did not begin this task before having given a new formulation of the rules for spelling. These rules, deviating in many respects from the spelling then in vogue, introduced by Siegenbeek in 18o6, have been predominant up to the present moment. Since 1891 Dr R. A. Kollewyn and Dr F. Buitenrust Hettema have been engaged in trying to bring about a simplification in the spelling. As this simplification is not generally considered efficient, their principles are not yet generally adopted; see for instance C. H. den Hertog, Waarom onaannemelyk? (Groningen, 1893). Excepting Belgium (Flanders, Antwerp, Brabant) the Dutch language is heard outside Holland in Dutch East See also:India and in the West Indies. In East India pure Dutch has been preserved, though some Javanese and See also:Malay bastard words may have slipped in by the See also:habit of speaking to the population in the Malay tongue or in the native idiom. Hence no Indo-Dutch was formed there. This is different in the West Indies, where a great number of See also:negro words and See also:English words as well as English syntactical constructions have slipped in. In the 17th century a number of Dutchmen, for the greater part from Holland and Zeeland, under See also:Jan van Riebeek, had settled in South See also:Africa, in Cape Town, where the Dutch See also:navigation called into being a Dutch See also:port. In course of time they were joined there by French emigrants (most of them See also:Huguenots who See also:left their country about 1688 and joined with other Huguenots from Holland in assuming the Dutch language), perhaps also by Portuguese and by Malay people, who, together with the English who settled there and after 182o became numerous in Cape See also:Colony, mixed some peculiarities of their language with the Dutch idioms. Thus in the first half of the 18th century the language arose which is now called the South See also:African Dutch. Since 188o the present Dutch language has became more frequently used in official writings, though with certain adaptations agreeably to the native idiom. In order to offer an example of the Middle-Dutch language beside the present language, we give here a single See also:strophe from Maerlant's Wapene See also:Martyn, with a metrical See also:translation in See also:modern Dutch from the See also:pen of Nikolaas See also:Beets (188o). See also:God, See also:diet at bi redene doet, God, See also:die See also:bet at met wijsheid doet, Gaf dat wandel ertsche goet Gaf dit verganklijk aardsche goed Der menschelt gemene, Den menschen in't gemeen, Dattere mede See also:ware gevoet, Op dat zij zouden zijn gevoed, Ende gecleet, ende gescoet, Het Iijf gekleed, geschoeid de voet Ende See also:leven soude rene. En leven See also:rein van zeen. Nu es giericheit so verwoet, Maar zie no See also:hoe de hebzucht woedt Dat elc settet sinen moet Dat iedereen in arren moed Om al te hebbene allene. 't Al hebben wit alleen' Hieromme stortmen menschenbloet, Hierom vergiet men menschenbloed Hieromme stichtmen metter spoet En bouwt met roekeloozen spoed Borge ende hoge stene Burchtsloten, zwaar van See also:steen, Menegen te wene. Tot See also:smart van menigeen. A Survey of the Sounds used in Dutch.—The Consonants. As regards the consonants, Dutch in the See also:main does not differ from the other Low German languages. The explosive g and the th are wanting. Instead of the former there is a g with " fricative " See also:pronunciation, and as in High German the th has passed over into d. The final consonants in Middle Dutch are sharpened, and the See also:sharp sounds are graphically represented; in Modern Dutch, on the other See also:hand, the See also:historical development of the language being more distinctly kept in view, and the agreement observed with the inflexional forms, the soft consonant is written more frequently than it is sounded; thus we have Middle Dutch See also:dach, Modern Dutch dag, in See also:analogy with the plural dagen. The gutturals are g, k, ch and h. G is the soft spirant, not used in English. In Middle Dutch this See also:letter was also indicated by gh. K was pronounced like English k. In Middle Dutch c was sometimes used instead of k; now this is no longer done. Ch (pronounced as German ch without the i-See also:sound, not as English ch) loses its sound when combined with s to sch at the end of a syllable, for instance, vleesch, but the s-sound is not purely dental as in dans. As an initial consonant sch is nearly pronounced as sg (schip, English See also:ship) ; only in Frisian and Saxon dialects the old consonant sk in skip, skool is retained. H has the same pronunciation as in English. The dentals are d and t. The d is formed by placing the point of the tongue against the upper See also:teeth. At the end of a word d is sharpened into t, but written d, for instance, goed, pronounced gut. In the idiom of the east of the Netherlands final d is preserved. When between two vowels after oe (Engl. o in do), 6, or ui, d is not pronounced, though it is written. After it has been left out, a j-sound has See also:developed between the two vowels, so, for instance, goede became first goe:e and then See also:goeje. Thus it is pronounced, though it is still spelled goede. After ou d disappeared and ou became ouw, for instance koude > kouw. T has the same pronunciation as in English. In some dialects final t is dropped, for instance, heef for heeft, nie for niet. S has the pronunciation of English s in sound, z that of English z in See also:hazel; only in zestig and zeventig z has the pronunciation of s. The labials are b, f, v, p. At the beginning and in the See also:body of a word b has the same sound as in English. At the end of a word, when shortened from bb, followed by a vowel, it became p in the pronunciation, so older krabbe became krabb, krab (the present spelling), which is now pronounced krap. F has the same pronunciation as English f. In many cases older initial f passed into v, hence most words which have f in English have initial v in Dutch, for instance vader, vol, vechten. This v, initial and between vowels, has the pronunciation of English v in See also:lover. Dutch p is the same as English p, also the liquids and nasals. The w in Dutch is mostly labiodental; in the eastern parts before vowels bilabial pronunciation is heard. . Vowels.—A has in open syllables the sound of English a in See also:father, in closed syllables that of English a in See also:ass, but more open; when there is a clear sound in closed syllables the spelling is as (jaar), in open syllables a (maken), pronounced as a in ask; in bad, nett, a=a. An See also:original See also:short a and a See also:long a in open syllables are even in Middle Dutch pronounced alike, and may be rhymed with each other(dagen, lagen, a See also:rhyme which was not permitted in Middle High German). In the Saxon dialects was expressed by ao, a or d in the Frisio-Saxon districts passes into e before r, as jer (jaar). Middle Dutch preserved a in several words where in Modern Dutch it passes into e before r (arg, erg; sarc, zerk; waif, werf) ; in others, as aarde, staart, zwaard, the Middle Dutch had e and a (erde, stert, swert, swart, start; Modern Dutch zwaard, staart). In foreign words, likewise, e before r has become a; parrs, perse; lantaarn, lanterne (in the dialects e is still frequently retained). E. The sound of the e derived from a does not differ from that of an original e, or of an e derived from i, as they appear in open syllables (steden, vele, pronounced as a in English name). If the e derived from a or i or the original e occurs in closed syllables, it has a short sound, as in English men, end, Modern Dutch See also:stem. The e in closed syllables with a full sound (as English a; Sweet, ei) is spelled ee: veel, See also:week (e from i), beek. The sharp, clear ee is indicated by the same letters in both open and closed syllables: eer, sneeuw, zee. In some dialects this ee is pronounced like English ee, not only in the present dialects, but also in the 17th century. The pronunciation of ei (from ai, or eg: ag, French ai, ei, ee) is that of English i, for instance, Dutch ei, English See also:egg, is pronounced like English I. I is pronounced short (somewhat like i of English See also:pit), for instance in pit, binden, sikkel; it has a clear sound in fabrikant, though it has no stress. le is pronounced like English ee in see, but somewhat shorter; so, fabriek, fabrieken, Pieter; also in bieden, stierf, &c. For original long i, Middle Dutch ii and ij, afterwards y, was used. This vowel, though still written y, is pronounced like English i in I, like; so in sysje (English See also:siskin), lyken, &c. The letter o represents three sounds:—(i) the short sharp o and (2) the short soft o, the former like the o in English not and French soldat (Dutch bod, belofte, tocht, kolf), the latter like the English o in dori, the French o in ballon (Dutch dof, ploffen, ochtend, vol), and (3) the full, clear o as in English See also:note, French noter (Dutch kolen, sloten, verloren). The sharp clear oo, in stroom, dood, has almost the same sound as the full o, in some dialects (among others the Saxon) it is pronounced as o with a glide o, in others (Flemish and Hollandsch) somewhat like au. In Middle Dutch, the lengthening of the vowels was frequently indicated by e (before r sometimes by i, as in See also:air) ; hence ae for a, oe for 6. Where oe occurs in the modern language, it has the sound of u (pronounced like the u in High German, and answering to the See also:Gothic 6), which in Middle Dutch was frequently represented by ou. oe is pronounced ou (au; Sweet, p. 6) in West Flemish and the Groningen dialects. Before labials and gutturals oe in Middle Dutch was expressed by ue and oe (bout, souken, and also guet, but usually goet, soeken, boec). The Saxon dialects still preserve an S sound which agrees with the Dutch oe (bok, m8der) ; in two words—romer (roemer, however, is also used) and spook—o has passed from these dialects into Dutch. As the u (Old German a), which in the Dutch tongue has passed into ui except before r and w, retains the it-sound in the Saxon districts, some words have come into Dutch from these dialects, being written with oe from thesimilar sound of oe (from 6) in Dutch and i in Saxon (snoet, See also:boer, soezen), by the See also:side of which are Frankish words snuit, suizen, &c.). In the language of the people oe before m is often pronounced as a, for instance bloem and ?dom. Eu is not a diphthong, but the modification (Umlaut) of the clear o; it has the same sound as Germano in schon; so in vleugel, leugen, keuken. U before a See also:double consonant or before a consonant in monosyllables has about the same pronunciation as in English stuff, See also:rug; so in kunnen, snurken, put. When used in open syllables it has the same sound as in French nature. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Middle Dutch a passed over through of into ui by the influence of the Holland dialect. In the Saxon districts it kept the old pronunciation, but only in the language of the peasants. The common language has everywhere ui, pronounced nearly as German eu, English oy; so in duizend, suit, buigen, &c. Ou and au in vrouw and blauw are nearly pronounced in the same way}' very much like English ow in See also:crowd. (J. H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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