Getelands Explained
Getelands (pronounced as /nl/, li|Getelandjs in Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish pronounced as /ˈɣeːtəlɑntʃs/) or West Getelands (nl|Westgetelands pronounced as /nl/, li|Wesgetelandjs in Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish pronounced as /wæsˈxeːtəlɑntʃs/) is a South Brabantian dialect spoken in the eastern part of Flemish Brabant as well as the western part of Limburg in Belgium. It is a transitional dialect between South Brabantian and West Limburgish.
The dialect is named after the river Gete. It is an endangered language.
Characteristics
The first person singular pronoun is typically the Limburgish ich, instead of Brabantian/Standard Dutch ik. The diminutive forms are formed as in Limburgish, using the umlaut. In Truierlands (sometimes called East Getelands), the plural is also formed by using the umlaut (Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: pot pronounced as //pɔt// vs. Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: pöt pronounced as //pœt//), in contrast to Getelands plurals formed the Standard Dutch way (Dutch; Flemish: pot pronounced as //pɒt// vs. Dutch; Flemish: potte pronounced as //ˈpɒtə//). Both dialects share the lack of pitch accent found in most varieties of Limburgish.
Word accent in the Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect shows phonetic features of accent 2 (the dragging tone) of the neighboring West Limburgish dialects.
Phonology
See also: Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology. This section shows the phonology of the Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect, which is spoken in the Linter municipality. The dialect of Melkwezer has a similar phonology, except for the fact that the diphthong pronounced as //uɪ// is realized with a mid onset: pronounced as /[ɔɪ]/.
Consonant phonemes | Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Dorsal | Glottal |
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| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ (m) | pronounced as /link/ (n) | | | pronounced as /link/ (ng) | | |
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| Stop | | pronounced as /link/ (p) | pronounced as /link/ (t) | pronounced as /tʲ/ (tj) | | pronounced as /link/ (k) | pronounced as /kʲ/ (kj) | |
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| pronounced as /link/ (b) | pronounced as /link/ (d) | | | | |
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| Fricative | | pronounced as /link/ (f) | pronounced as /link/ (s) | | pronounced as /link/ (sj) | pronounced as /link/ (ch) | | |
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| pronounced as /link/ (v) | pronounced as /link/ (z) | | pronounced as /link/ (zj) | pronounced as /link/ (g) | | pronounced as /link/ (h) |
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| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ (w) | pronounced as /link/ (l) | | | | pronounced as /link/ (j) | |
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| Trill | | pronounced as /link/ (r) | | | | | |
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- pronounced as //ʒ// is restricted to word-initial position, and occurs only in loanwords from French. It tends to either devoice to pronounced as /link/ or be affricated to pronounced as /link/.
- The exact place of articulation of pronounced as //x, ɣ// varies:
- Velar pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|x}}, {{IPAplink|x|ɣ̊}}]/ before and after back vowels and, in the case of pronounced as //x//, also when it is preceded by a back vowel in an intervocalic position between stressed and unstressed syllable.
- Palatal pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ç}}, {{IPAplink|ç|ʝ̊}}]/ before and after front vowels and, in the case of pronounced as //x//, also after pronounced as //ə//.
- pronounced as //ɦ// may be dropped by some speakers.
- pronounced as //r// has a few possible realizations, none of which are uvular. This stands in contrast to most varieties of Limburgish, where pronounced as //r// is a uvular trill or fricative.
- Apical trill pronounced as /link/ or an apical fricative pronounced as /link/ before a stressed vowel in word-initial syllables.
- Intervocalically and in the onset after a consonant, it may be a tap pronounced as /link/.
- Word-final pronounced as //r// is highly variable; the most frequent variants are an apical fricative trill pronounced as /link/, an apical fricative pronounced as /link/ and an apical non-sibilant affricate pronounced as /link/. The last two variants tend to be voiceless (pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ɹ̝̊}}, {{IPAplink|tɹ̝̊}}]/) in pre-pausal position.
- The sequence pronounced as //ər// can be vocalized to pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/.
! colspan="4" | Front | Central | Back |
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| Close | | pronounced as /link/ (ie) | | pronounced as /link/ (uu) | | | pronounced as /link/ (oe) | pronounced as /link/ (oê) |
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| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ (i) | pronounced as /link/ (ee) | pronounced as /link/ (u) | pronounced as /link/ (eu) | pronounced as /link/ (e) | | pronounced as /link/ (ó) | pronounced as /link/ (oo) |
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| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ (e) | pronounced as /link/ (ae) | pronounced as /link/ (ö) | pronounced as /link/ (äö) | | pronounced as /link/ (o) | pronounced as /link/ (ao) |
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| Open | | | | | pronounced as /link/ (a) | pronounced as /link/ (aa) | | |
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| Marginal | pronounced as /link/ (uu) pronounced as /link/ (oo) |
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| Diphthongs | | pronounced as /uɪ/ (oei) pronounced as /aɪ/ (ai) pronounced as /aʊ/ (aw) |
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| pronounced as /iə/ (ieë) pronounced as /eə/ (eë) pronounced as /ɛə/ (aeë) pronounced as /ɔə/ (oa) | |
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- Peters gives six more diphthongs, which are pronounced as /[eɪ, øʏ, əʊ, ɛɪ, œʏ, ɔʊ]/. He gives no evidence for their phonemic status. As Brabantian dialects are known for both diphthongizing pronounced as //eː, øː, oː// and especially monophthongizing pronounced as //ɛɪ, œʏ, ɔʊ//, the distinction between the closing diphthongs and the monophthongs is ignored elsewhere in the article, with (IPA|eː, øː, oː, ɛː, œː, ɒː) being used as cover symbols for both.
- The open central vowels are phonologically back in that they trigger the velar allophones of pronounced as //x// and pronounced as //ɣ//.
- Among the long rounded vowels, pronounced as //yː, uː, ɒː// before pronounced as //t, d// within the same syllable vary between monophthongs pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|yː}}, {{IPAplink|uː}}, {{IPAplink|ɒː}}]/ and centering diphthongs pronounced as /[yə, uə, ɒə]/, which often are disyllabic pronounced as /[ʏy.ə, ʊu.ə, ɒʊ.ə]/ (with the first portion realized as a closing diphthong). At least in the case of pronounced as /[yə]/ and pronounced as /[uə]/, the tongue movement may be so slight that they are sometimes better described as lip-diphthongs pronounced as /[yi, uɯ]/. In the same environment, pronounced as //øː// can be disyllabic pronounced as /[øʏ.ə]/. For the sake of simplicity, those allophones are transcribed pronounced as /[yə, uə, ɒə, øə]/ in phonetic transcription.
- There are two additional short tense vowels pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, which are tenser (higher and perhaps also more rounded) than the native short pronounced as //ʏ, ʊ// (with the latter being pronounced as /link/ phonetically). They appear only in a few French loanwords. Their status as phonemes separate from the long tense pronounced as //yː// and pronounced as //oː// is unclear; Peters treats them as marginal phonemes.
- pronounced as //ɔə// occurs only before alveolar consonants. Phonetically, it varies between pronounced as /[ɔə ~ ɔʊ.ə ~ ɔʌ]/.
- Stressed short vowels cannot occur in open syllables. Exceptions to this rule are high-frequency words like wa pronounced as //wa// 'what' and loanwords from French.
Bibliography
- Belemans, R.; Keulen, R. (2004): Taal in stad en land. Belgisch-Limburgs: 25
- Belemans, R.; Kruijsen, J.; Van Keymeulen, J. (1998): Gebiedsindeling van de zuidelijk-Nederlandse dialecten, Taal en Tongval jg 50, 1 online
- Goossens, J. (1965): Die Gliederung des Südniederfränkischen, in Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter, 30: 79-94.
- Pauwels, J.L.; Morren, L. (1960): De grens tussen het Brabants en Limburgs in België. In: Zeitschrift für Mundartforschung 27. blz. 88-96.
- Stevens, A. (1978): Struktuur en historische ondergrond van het Haspengouws taallandschap (Mededelingen van de Vereniging voor Limburgse Dialect- en Naamkunde, Nr. 9). Hasselt
