| West Flemish | |
| Nativename: | West-Vlaams |
| States: | Belgium, Netherlands, France |
| Region: | West Flanders |
| Speakers: | million |
| Date: | 1998 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Germanic |
| Fam3: | West Germanic |
| Fam4: | Weser–Rhine Germanic |
| Fam5: | Low Franconian |
| Dia1: | Zeelandic |
| Dia2: | French Flemish |
| Lc1: | vls |
| Ld1: | (West) Vlaams |
| Lc2: | zea |
| Ld2: | Zeelandic (Zeeuws) |
| Lingua: | 52-ACB-ag |
| Glotto: | sout3292 |
| Glottoname: | Southwestern Dutch |
| Glotto2: | vlaa1240 |
| Glottoname2: | Western Flemish |
| Map2: | Lang Status 80-VU.svg |
West Flemish (West-Vlams or West-Vloams or Vlaemsch (in French Flanders), Dutch; Flemish: West-Vlaams, French: link=no|flamand occidental) is a collection of Low Franconian varieties spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and the Netherlands.
West Flemish is spoken by about a million people in the Belgian province of West Flanders, and a further 50,000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders (200,000 if including the closely related dialects of Zeelandic) and 10-20,000 in the northern part of the French department of Nord. Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges, Dunkirk, Kortrijk, Ostend, Roeselare and Ypres.
West Flemish is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's online Red Book of Endangered Languages.[1]
West Flemish has a phonology that differs significantly from that of Standard Dutch, being similar to Afrikaans in the case of long E, O and A. Also where Standard Dutch has sch, in some parts of West Flanders, West-Flemish, like Afrikaans, has sk. However, the best known traits are the replacement of Standard Dutch (pre-)velar fricatives g and ch in Dutch (pronounced as //x, ɣ//) with glottal h pronounced as /[h, ɦ]/,. The following differences are listed by their Dutch spelling, as some different letters have merged their sounds in Standard Dutch but remained separate sounds in West Flemish. Pronunciations can also differ slightly from region to region.
The absence of pronounced as //x// and pronounced as //ɣ// in West Flemish makes pronouncing them very difficult for native speakers. That often causes hypercorrection of the pronounced as //h// sounds to a pronounced as //x// or pronounced as //ɣ//.
Standard Dutch also has many words with an -en (pronounced as //ən//) suffix (mostly plural forms of verbs and nouns). While Standard Dutch and most dialects do not pronounce the final n, West Flemish typically drops the e and pronounces the n inside the base word. For base words already ending with n, the final n sound is often lengthened to clarify the suffix. That makes many words become similar to those of English: beaten, listen etc.
The short o (pronounced as /[ɔ]/) can also be pronounced as a short u (pronounced as /[ɐ]/), a phenomenon also occurring in Russian and some other Slavic languages, called akanye. That happens spontaneously to some words, but other words keep their original short o sounds. Similarly, the short a (pronounced as /[ɑ]/) can turn into a short o (pronounced as /[ɔ]/) in some words spontaneously.
The diphthong ui (pronounced as //œy//) does not exist in West Flemish and is replaced by a long u (pronounced as /[y]/) or a long ie (pronounced as /[i]/). Like for the ui, the long o (pronounced as /[o]/) can be replaced by an pronounced as /[ø]/ (eu) for some words but a pronounced as /[uo]/ for others. That often causes similarities to ranchers English.
Here are some examples showing the sound shifts that are part of the vocabulary:
| Dutch | West Flemish | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| vol (short o) | vul pronounced as /[vɐl]/ | full | |
| zon (short o) | zunne pronounced as /[ˈzɐnːə]/ | sun | |
| kom (short o) | kom* pronounced as /[kɔm]/ | come | |
| boter (long o) | beuter pronounced as /[ˈbøtər]/ | butter | |
| boot (long o) | boot pronounced as /[buot]/ | boat | |
| kuiken | kiek'n pronounced as /[ˈkiːʔŋ̍]/ | chick | |
| bruin | brun pronounced as /[bryn]/ | brown |
Plural forms in Standard Dutch most often add -en, but West Flemish usually uses -s, like the Low Saxon dialects and even more prominently in English in which -en has become very rare. Under the influence of Standard Dutch, -s is being used by fewer people, and younger speakers tend to use -en.
The verbs zijn ("to be") and hebben ("to have") are also conjugated differently.
| Dutch | West Flemish | English | Dutch | West Flemish | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| zijn | zyn | to be | hebben | èn | to have | |
| ik ben | 'k zyn | I am | ik heb | 'k è | I have | |
| jij bent | gy zyt | you are | jij hebt | gy èt | you have | |
| hij is | ie is | he is | hij heeft | ie èt | he has | |
| wij zijn | wydder zyn | we are | wij hebben | wydder èn | we have | |
| jullie zijn | gydder zyt | you are | jullie hebben | gydder èt | you have | |
| zij zijn | zydder zyn | they are | zij hebben | zydder èn | they have |
West Flemish often has a double subject.
| Dutch | West Flemish | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dutch; Flemish: Jij hebt dat gedaan. | '''G{{' | You have done that. | |
| Dutch; Flemish: Ik heb dat niet gedaan. | '''{{' | I didn't do that. |
Standard Dutch has an indefinite article that does not depend on gender, unlike in West Flemish. However, a gender-independent article is increasingly used. Like in English, n is pronounced only if the next word begins with a vowel sound.
| Dutch | West Flemish | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| een stier (m) | ne stier | a bull | |
| een koe (f) | e koeje | a cow | |
| een kalf (o) | e kolf | a calf | |
| een aap (m) | nen oap | an ape | |
| een huis (o) | en 'us | a house |
Another feature of West Flemish is the conjugation of ja and nee ("yes" and "no") to the subject of the sentence. That is somewhat related to the double subject, but even when the rest of the sentence is not pronounced, ja and nee are generally used with the first part of the double subject. It is also There is also an extra word, toet (pronounced as /[tut]/), negates the previous sentence but gives a positive answer. It is an abbreviation of " 't en doe 't" - it does it. The full version is also used - as in "ja'k en doe 't".
Ja and nee can also all be strengthened by adding mo- or ba-. Both mean "but" and are derived from Dutch but or maar) and can be even used together (mobajoat).
| Dutch | West Flemish | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heb jij dat gedaan? - Ja / Nee | Èj gy da gedoan? - Joak / Nink | Did you do that? - Yes / No [I (did/didn't)] | |
| Je hebt dat niet gedaan, hé? - Maar jawel | G'èt da nie gedoan, é? - Bajoak (ja'k en doe 't) | You didn't do that, eh? - On the contrary (But yes I did). | |
| Heeft hij dat gedaan? - Ja / Nee | Èt ie (ne) da gedoan? - Joaj/Nij (Joan / Nin) | Did he do that? - Yes / No [he (did/didn't)] | |
| Gaan we verder? - Ja / Nee | Zyn me? - Joam / Nim | Can we go? - Yes / No [we (can/cannot)] |