Maastrichtian dialect
| Maastrichtian | |
|---|---|
| Mestreechs (sometimes Mestreechs-Limburgs or coloquially Dialek, Plat) | |
| Pronunciation | /məˈstʀeːçs/ |
| Native to |  City of Maastricht, the Netherlands |
Native speakers | 60.000 (est.) |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Limburg, The Netherlands: Recognised as regional language as a variant of Limburgish. |
| Regulated by | Veldeke-Krink Mestreech |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Maastrichtian (Mestreechs IPA: [məˈstʀeːçs]) is the Limburgish city dialect spoken in the Dutch city of Maastricht. It is a variant of the Limburgish dialects and is therefore a tonal dialect. Furthermore, it is considered to be one of the most spoken and written dialects of these. The dialect is divided in sociolects and historically there have been linguistic differences between various neighbourhouds. Furthermore, like most city dialects Maastrichtian is more conservative then rural Limburgish dialects [citation needed] and therefore kept more Gallo-Romance (or more accurately, French and Walloon) influences in its vocabulary than other variants of Limburgish [1].
Geographic distribution
Being a city dialect the terminology "Maastrichtian" (Mestreechs) is practically limited to the municipal borders although with some exceptions of places within the Maastrichtian municipality where the spoken dialects are in fact not Maastrichtian. These exceptions come in the form of previously separate villages and/or municipalities before merging with the municipality of Maastricht namely Amby, Borgharen, Heer and Itteren.
Written Maastrichtian
The oldest known and preserved text in Maastrichtian dates from the 18th century. This text named Sermoen euver de Weurd Inter omnes Linguas nulla Mosa Trajestensi prastantior gehauwe in Mastreeg, presumably written for one of the carnivals-celebrations, incites people to learn Maastrichtian. As from the 19th century, there are more written Maastrichtian texts again mostly oriented towards these carnivals-celebrations. Nowadays however, many other sources display written Maastrichtian including non-carnival song texts but also books, poems, streetsigns etc.
Standardisation of Maastrichtian
In 2001, the municipal government created a standardised spelled version of the dialect.
Dictionaries
- Aarts, F. (2005). Dictionairke vaan 't Mestreechs. (2nd ed.). Maastricht, the Netherlands: Stichting Onderweg.
- Brounts P., Chambille G., Kurris J., Minis T., Paulissen H. & Simais M. (2004). De Nuie Mestreechsen Dictionair. Maastricht, the Netherlands: Veldeke-Krink Mestreech.
Wikipedia
Maastrichtian is included in the Limburgish Wikipedia. Since there are only standardised 'variants' of Limburgish but no standardised Limburgish itself (although this is in development), each article is tagged as being written in a certain variant of the language. All articles in Maastrichtian can be found here.
Sounds
 | This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. (April 2009) |
The phonology of the Maastrichtian dialect, espcially with regards to vowels is quite extensive due to the dialect's tonal nature. As with all other Limburgish dialects, and the Dutch accent area in the region, Maastrichtian uses the so-called soft G.
Vowels
Monophthongs
| Sign | IPA | Maastrichtian example ("translation") | English or other example | Notes |
| a | [ɑ] | kat ("cat") | spa | -- |
| aa | [aː] | maan ("man") | -- | -- |
| ao | [ɒː] | maon ("moon") | -- | -- |
| äö | [œː] | häöm ("him") | cœur (French) | -- |
| e | [æ] ([ɛ]) | werk ("work") | man | -- |
| e | [ə] | de (the) | fur (RP) | -- |
| è | [ɛ] | wèrke ("to work") | bed (GA) | -- |
| ee | [eː] | wee ("who") | bear (AUS) | -- |
| eu | [øː] | leus ("you/he reads") | -- | -- |
| i | [ɪ] | hin ("chicken") | bit | -- |
| ie | [i] | diech ("you") | dich (German) | -- |
| ie | [iː] | zie ("sea") | free | -- |
| o | [ɔ] | bot ("bone") | bore (RP) | -- |
| ó | [o] | lótsj ("dummy" or "pacifier") | -- | u-like |
| ö | [œ] | dörp ("village") | jeune (French) | -- |
| oe | [uː] | hoes ("home") | loose | -- |
| oo | [oː] | hoond ("dog") | -- | -- |
| u | [ʏ] | un ("onion") | book (SEE) | -- |
| uu | [yː] | vuur ("fire") | food (SCE) | -- |
Diphthongs
| Sign | IPA | Maastrichtian example ("translation") | English or other example | Notes |
| aaj | [aːi] | aajd ("old") | -- | -- |
| aoj | [ɒːi] | slaoj ("salad") | -- | -- |
| äöj | [œːi] | dräöj ("thread") | -- | -- |
| aj | [ɑi] | ajdste ("oldest") | -- | -- |
| au | [ɑu] | auto ("car") | -- | -- |
| aw | [ɑw] | klaw ("claw") | wow! | -- |
| ei, ij | [ɛ(ː)ɪ] | ei ("egg") | -- | often [ɛː] |
| ej | [æj] | hej ("[he/she] had") | -- | -- |
| ew | [æw] | klewke ("claw") | -- | -- |
| iew | [iːw] | kiew ("gill") | new | -- |
| oj | [ɔi] | trojt ([he/she] "marries") | -- | -- |
| ooj | [oːj] | snooje ("to trim" or "to prune") | -- | -- |
| ou | [ɔu] | douf ("deaf") | -- | -- |
| ui | [øi] | buimke ("tree") | -- | -- |
Consonants
| Sign | IPA | Maastrichtian example ("in English") | English (or other) example | Notes |
| b | [b] | broor ("brother") | brother | -- |
| ch | [ç], [ʝ] | ouch ("also") | -- | Similar to Dutch accents using soft G and German |
| d | [d] | daak ("roof") | diverse | Becomes a [t] when at the end of words |
| f | [f] | fien ("fine") | fine | -- |
| g | [ʝ] | good ("good") | -- | Sometimes similar to [ch] |
| gk | [g] | lègke ("to lay") | -- | -- |
| h | [h] | hei ("here") | here | -- |
| j | [j] | jao ("jao") | yes | -- |
| k | [k] | klaor ("ready") | kiss | -- |
| l | [l] | links ("left") | left | -- |
| m | [m] | miew ("gull") | map | -- |
| n | [n] | nui ("new") | new | -- |
| ng | [ŋ] | ing ("scary") | bang | -- |
| p | [p] | pries ("price") | price | -- |
| r | [ʁ] | roond ("round") | Frau (German) | -- |
| s | [s] | as ("ash") | sap | -- |
| sj | [ʃ] | sjeep ("ship") | ship | -- |
| t | [t] | tied | time | -- |
| v | [v] | vaan ("of") | vase | -- |
| w | [w] | wien ("whine") | weep | -- |
| z | [z] | zie ("sea") | zap | -- |
Orthography
Vocabulary
Maastrichtian contains many specific words ample or not used in other Limburgish dialects some being creolisations/"limburgisations" of Dutch, French and German words while others cannot be directly subscribed to one of these languages.
(Historical) Vocabulary influences from other languages
Maastrichtian vocabulary provides a mix of a Dutch/Limburgish vocabulary base with strong German and French influences. The latter is not only because of geographic closeness of this linguistic region to Maastricht but also because of French being the predominant spoken language of Maastrichtian "high society" in the past. Some examples:
| English | Dutch | French | German | Maastrichtian [1] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| apple turnover | appelflap | chausson aux pommes | Apfeltasche | tartepom | absorbed from French "tarte aux pommes" (applepie) |
| completely | helemaal | tout à fait | ganz | gans | absorbed from German, used in most other Limburgish variants as well |
| errand | boodschap | commission | Einkauf | kemissie | absorbed from French |
| liquorice candy | drop | (bonbon à la) réglisse | Lakritze | krissie | absorbed from German |
| pig | varken | cochon | Schwein | kuusj | absorbed from French |
| to remember | (zich) herinneren | se rappeler | (sich) erinnern | (ziech) rappelere | absorbed from French |
| uncle | oom | oncle | Onkel | noonk | arguably an absorption from French and/or German |
| washbasin | wastafel | lavabo | Waschbecken | lavvabo | absorbed from French |
| your | jouw | ton / ta | dein | dien | absorbed from German, used in most other Limburgish variants as well |
Other examples of Maastrichtian vocabulary
Some examples of specific Maastrichtian vocabulary:
| English | Dutch | French | German | Maastrichtian [1] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| approximately, roughly | ongeveer | appoximativement, environ | ungefähr | naoventrint | |
| bag | tas | sac | Tasche | kalbas | |
| frame (of doors and windows) | lijst | cadre | Rahmen | sjabrang | |
| grandmother / grandfather | grootmoeder / grootvader | grand-mère / grand-père | Großmutter / Großvater | bomma(ma) / bompa(pa) | |
| sieve | vergiet | passoire | Sieb | zeiboar (sometimes written zeijboar) | |
| where? | waar? | où? | wo? | boe? |
Expressions
Some examples of Maastrichtian expressions:
| Maastrichtian Expression | Meaning (Approx.) | Notes [1] |
|---|---|---|
| Neet laank meh breid | Literally "Not long but broad". Commonly used to indicate the characteristic of the Maastrichtian dialect to "stretch" vowels (in speech and writing). The word laank (long) is the example in this case whereas it would be written as either lank or lang in other variants of Limburgish and lang in Dutch. | |
| Nondezju [1] | A minor swear word and /or an expression of surprise | Literally a creolisation/"limburgisation" of the French "nom de Dieu" meaning "(in) name of God" |
Notes
External links
| Culture |
| | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geography |
| |||||||
| Politics |
| |||||||
| Sports | ||||||||
| Transportation | ||||||||
.svg){kind=small}
