The Hague dialect explained
The Hague dialect (Standard Dutch: Haags, het Haagse dialect; The Hague dialect: Haags, et Haagse dialek) is a dialect of Dutch mostly spoken in The Hague. It differs from Standard Dutch almost exclusively in pronunciation.
It has two subvarieties:
- Low-class plat Haags, generally spoken roughly south of the Laan van Meerdervoort;
- More posh dàftig, Haegs or bekakt Haags, generally spoken roughly north of the Laan van Meerdervoort.
Distribution
- Leyenburg
- Rustenburg en Oostbroek
- Morgenstond
- Bouwlust
- Vrederust
- Zuiderpark
- Moerwijk
- parts of Loosduinen
- Kraayenstein
- Houtwijk
- Waldeck
- Laakkwartier
Rijswijk and Voorburg are for the most part Haags-speaking.
Scheveningen has its own dialect (Schevenings), which is different than the traditional The Hague dialect. However, some people also speak The Hague dialect there, or a mixture between the Scheveningen dialect and The Hague dialect (Nieuw-Schevenings).
The dialect of Loosduinen (Loosduins) is very similar to The Hague dialect, and Ton Goeman classifies it as a separate dialect. It differs from other varieties of Haags by having a diphthongal pronunciation of pronounced as //ɛi// and pronounced as //ʌu//.
Some people also speak The Hague dialect in Zoetermeer. That is because an influx of people from The Hague to Zoetermeer took place in the 1960s, multiplying the population of the latter twelve times.
Spelling
Apart from Tilburg, The Hague is the only Dutch city with an official dialectal spelling, used e.g. in the Haagse Harry comic series written by Marnix Rueb.[1]
Apart from that, The Hague dialect is rather rarely written. The Haagse Harry spelling works as follows:
| Phoneme | Spelling |
|---|
| Standard | Haagse Harry |
|---|
| pronounced as //eː// | ee, e | ei |
| pronounced as //eːr// | eer, er |
| pronounced as //øː// | eu | ui |
| pronounced as //øːr// | eur |
| pronounced as //oː// | oo, o | au |
| pronounced as //oːr// | oor, or |
| pronounced as //ɛi̯// | ei, ij | è |
| pronounced as //œy̯// | ui | ùi |
| pronounced as //ʌu̯// | ou(w), au(w) | âh/ah |
| pronounced as //ər// | er |
| pronounced as //ən// | en | ûh/uh/e, en | |
The second spelling is used before a syllable that starts with one consonant followed by a vowel.
The second spelling is used before a syllable that starts with a vowel.
The spellings and are in free variation, as the Haagse Harry spelling is inconsistent in this case. The same applies to, and . For consistency, this article will use only and .
pronounced as //ən// is written only when the word in the standard language has a single stem that ends in -en. Thus, standard ik teken "I draw" is written ik teiken, but standard de teken "the ticks" is written de teike.
Phonology
The sound inventory of The Hague dialect is very similar to that of Standard Dutch.
Vowels
! colspan="4" | Front | Central | Back |
|---|
| | |
|---|
| | | | | | |
|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | | | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|
| Near-close | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | | | |
|---|
| Mid | | | | | pronounced as /link/ | | |
|---|
| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|
| Open | | pronounced as /link/ | | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|
- Among the back vowels, pronounced as //u, ɔ// are rounded, whereas pronounced as //ɑ, ɑː// are unrounded.
- pronounced as //ɪ// and pronounced as //ʏ// may be somewhat closer to, respectively, cardinal pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ than in Standard Dutch.
- The long vowels pronounced as //ɛː, œː, ɑː// correspond to closing diphthongs pronounced as //ɛi̯, œy̯, ʌu̯// in Standard Dutch.
- pronounced as //ɛ// may be realized as mid near-front pronounced as /link/.
- pronounced as //aː// may be somewhat higher (closer to pronounced as /link/) than in Standard Dutch, especially before pronounced as //r//.
! colspan="3" | Ending point |
| Front | Back |
|---|
| | |
|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /eɪ/ | pronounced as /øʏ/ | pronounced as /oʊ/ | |
|---|
- These diphthongs correspond to long vowels pronounced as //eː, øː, oː// in Belgian Standard Dutch. In Netherlandic Standard Dutch, they are diphthongized just as in The Hague dialect.
- Some speakers may realize them as wider diphthongs pronounced as /[ɛe̯, œø̯, ɔu̯]/, which sound almost like Standard Dutch pronounced as //ɛi̯, œy̯, ʌu̯//.
- An alternative realization of pronounced as //oʊ// is a central diphthong pronounced as /[əʊ̯̈]/. It is common, albeit stigmatized.
- Before pronounced as //r//, pronounced as //ɔ// contrasts with pronounced as //oʊ// primarily by length for some speakers.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar /
Uvular | Glottal |
|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|
Plosive /
Affricate | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) |
|---|
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | (pronounced as /link/) | |
|---|
| Fricative | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|
| (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ |
|---|
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | |
|---|
| Trill | | pronounced as /ʀ/ | | |
|---|
- pronounced as //m, p, b// are bilabial, whereas pronounced as //f, v, ʋ// are labiodental.
- As in Standard Dutch, the speakers of The Hague dialect are inconsistent in maintaining the pronounced as //f–v// contrast, and tend to merge these two phonemes into pronounced as //f//. pronounced as /[v]/ also occurs as an allophone of pronounced as //f// before voiced consonants, or even between vowels.
- As in Standard Dutch, pronounced as //n, t, d, s, z, l// are laminal pronounced as /[n̻, t̻, d̻, s̻, z̻, l̻]/.
- Preconsontantal sequence of a vowel and pronounced as //n// is realized simply as a nasalized vowel, e.g. as in kans pronounced as /[kɑ̃s]/.
- pronounced as //ŋ, k, ɡ// are velar, whereas pronounced as //χ, ʁ// are post-velar pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|χ|x̠}}, {{IPAplink|ʁ|ɣ̄}}]/ or pre-uvular pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|χ|χ˖}}, {{IPAplink|ʁ|ʁ̟}}]/. Both the place and the manner of articulation of pronounced as //ʀ// varies; see below.
- As in Standard Dutch, the speakers of The Hague dialect are inconsistent in maintaining the pronounced as //χ–ʁ// contrast, and tend to merge these two phonemes into pronounced as //χ//.
- As in Standard Dutch, pronounced as //ɲ, tɕ, dʑ, ɕ, ʑ// are alveolo-palatal, whereas pronounced as //j// is palatal.
- As in Standard Dutch, pronounced as //ɲ, tɕ, ɕ, ʑ// can be regarded simply as sequences pronounced as //nj, tj, sj, zj//.
- Some consonant clusters are simplified, e.g. nach pronounced as //nɑχ// "night" (Standard Dutch nacht pronounced as //nɑχt//).
Realization of pronounced as //ʀ//
- According to, the uvular articulation of pronounced as //ʀ// in The Hague dialect is often considered to be a French influence.
- According to, pronounced as //ʀ// in The Hague dialect is often uvular, with the fricative realizations pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ being more or less the norm. They also state that "elision of the final pronounced as //ʀ// is common".
- According to :
- Alveolar realizations are practically non-existent. The only instances of alveolar pronounced as //ʀ// include an alveolar approximant pronounced as /link/, a voiced alveolar trill pronounced as /link/ and a voiceless alveolar tap pronounced as /link/, all of which occurred only once.
- The sequences pronounced as //χʀ// (as in schrift) and pronounced as //ʁʀ// (as in gras) tend to coalesce to pronounced as /[χ]/ (schift pronounced as /[sχɪft]/, gas pronounced as /[χɑs]/).
- A retroflex/bunched approximant pronounced as /link/ is the most common realization of pronounced as //ʀ//, occurring about 30% more often than the second common realizations (a uvular trill pronounced as /link/ and a uvular approximant pronounced as /link/), but it appears almost exclusively in the syllable coda.
- Preconsonantal pronounced as //ʀ// in the syllable coda (as in warm) can be followed by a schwa pronounced as /link/ (warrem pronounced as /[ˈʋɑʀəm]/). This is more common in older than younger speakers and more common in men than women.
- The stereotypical pronounced as /link/ realization of the coda pronounced as //ʀ// occurs only in about 2% cases. This may signify either that it is dying out, or that it is simply found in varieties broader than the one investigated in .
- Other realizations include: a uvular fricative pronounced as /link/, elision of pronounced as //ʀ//, a uvular fricative trill pronounced as /link/, a palatal approximant pronounced as /link/, a mid front vowel pronounced as /link/, as well as elision of pronounced as //ʀ// accompanied by a retraction of the following consonant.
Vocabulary
The following list contains only a few examples.
| Standard Dutch | The Hague dialect | English translation |
|---|
| aanzienlijk | anzienlek | 'considerable' |
| als | as | 'if, when' |
| Boekhorststraat | Boekkogststraat | (name of a street) |
| Den Haag | De Haag | 'The Hague' |
| dialect | dialek | 'dialect' |
| Lorentzplein | Lorensplèn | (name of a square) |
| Randstad | Ranstad | 'Randstad' |
| tenslotte | teslotte | 'in the end' |
| verschillen | veschille | 'differences, to differ' | |
Sample
Harry-spelling
Et Haags is et stasdialek dat doâh de âhtogtaune "volleksklasse" van De Haag wogt gesprauke. Et behoâht tot de Zùid-Hollandse dialekte.
Standard Dutch spelling
Het Haags is het stadsdialect dat door de autochtone "volksklasse" van Den Haag wordt gesproken. Het behoort tot de Zuid-Hollandse dialecten.
Translation
The Hague dialect is a city dialect that is spoken by the autochthonous working class of The Hague. It belongs to the South Hollandic dialects.
Phonetic transcription
pronounced as /[ət ɦaːχs ɪs‿ət stɑzdi.aɫɛk dɑ‿döːɐ̯ də ɑːtɔχtoʊ̯nə fɔɫəksklɑsə fɑ̃‿də ɦaːχ ʋɔχt χəspʀoʊ̯kə {{!}}{{!}} əd‿bəhöːɐ̯‿tɔ‿də zœːtɦɔɫɑ̃tsə di.aɫɛktə]/
See also
Bibliography
- Book: Goeman. Ton. van de Velde. Hans. Co-occurrence constraints on pronounced as //r// and pronounced as //ɣ// in Dutch dialects. 91–112. van Hout. Roeland. van de Velde. Hans. 2001. 'r-atics. Rapport d'Activités de l'Institut des Langues Vivantes et de Phonétique. Etudes & Travaux. Brussels. 0777-3692. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254818745.
Notes and References
- Web site: Harry's Haum Pogtal.
