West Flemish
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| West Flemish | |
|---|---|
| West-Vlaams | |
| West-Vlams, West-Vloams | |
| Native to | Belgium, Netherlands, France |
| Region | West Flanders |
Native speakers | (1.4 million cited 1998)[1] |
Indo-European
| |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:vls – (West) Vlaamszea – Zealandic (Zeeuws) |
| Glottolog | vlaa1240 Vlaams / West Vlaamszeeu1238 Zeeuws |
| Linguasphere | 52-ACB-ag |
West Flemish (Dutch: West-Vlaams, French: flamand occidental) is a dialect of the Dutch language spoken in western Belgium and adjoining parts of the Netherlands and France.[2]
West Flemish is spoken by about a million people in the Belgian province of West Flanders, and a further 120,000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders (and another 220,000 if Zealandic is included), and 10,000 in the northern part of the French département of Nord.[1] Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges, Kortrijk, Ostend, Roeselare, and Ypres. The dialects of the rest of the Dutch province of Zeeland, Zeelandic, are often included in West Flemish; these are part of a dialect continuum which proceeds further north into Hollandic.
West Flemish is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's online Red Book of Endangered Languages.[3]
| This article is a part of a series on |
| Dutch |
|---|
| Low Saxon dialects |
| West Low Franconian dialects |
| East Low Franconian dialects |
Phonology
West Flemish phonology differs a lot from the standard Dutch phonology.
- The (pre-)velar fricatives /x, ɣ/ are realised as glottal [h, ɦ].
- /ɛi/ is realised as [ɨ].
- /œy/ is realised as [ʉ].
- /ʌu/ is realised as [ɯ].
- /ɛ/ is realised as [æ].
See also
- Dutch dialects
- Flemish people (Flemings or Vlamingen)
- French Flemish
- Hebban olla vogala
- Westhoek
References
- ^ a b (West) Vlaams at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Zealandic (Zeeuws) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ RL Trask, "Number of Languages", in Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, 2nd ed. 2007
- ^ UNESCO.org Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Debrabandere, Frans (1999), "Kortrijk", in Kruijsen, Joep; van der Sijs, Nicoline (eds.), Honderd Jaar Stadstaal (PDF), Uitgeverij Contact, pp. 289–299
External links
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