This article is a part of the Dutch dialects series. Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by around 22 million people, mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium. ...
The Dialects
Brabantian
Hollandic
West Flemish
Zealandic
East Flemish
Zuid-Gelders
Dutch Low Saxon[1]
Limburgish

Position of West Flemish/Zealandic within the Dutch speaking area (Islands only)

Zeelandic (Zeêuws in Zeelandic, Zeeuws in Dutch) is a regional language spoken in the Dutch province of Zeeland and on the South Holland island of Goeree-Overflakkee. Commonly considered a Dutch dialect, it has notable differences mainly in pronunciation, but as well in grammar and vocabulary, which set it clearly apart from Dutch proper and make easy comprehension by unskilled Dutch speakers impossible. Zeelandic is included within West Flemish by some observers. Image File history File links Dutchdialectpic. ... Brabantian or Brabantic (Dutch: Brabants) is a dialect of the Dutch language spoken in Noord-Brabant and in the Belgian provinces of Antwerpen and Vlaams-Brabant and small parts in the west of Limburg. ... Hollandic is together with Brabantic the most frequently used dialect of the Dutch language. ... West Flemish (in West Flemish, Vlaemsch) is a group of dialects, spoken in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. ... East Flemish is a dialect of the Dutch language, which is a Low Franconian language. ... Position of Zuid-Gelders (Marked dark Blue) within the Dutch speaking area Zuid-Gelders (Kleverlands) is the dialect of the Dutch language that is spoken in the Veluwezoom, around Nijmegen, in the Bommelerwaard, other areas of the Netherlands, and traditionally parts of Germany including Duisburg and partly Wuppertal up to... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Limburgish, or Limburgian or Limburgic (Dutch: Limburgs, German: Limburgisch, French: Limbourgeois) is a group of Franconian varieties, spoken in the Limburg and Rhineland regions, near the common Dutch/Belgian/German border. ... A regional language is a language spoken in a part of a country - it may be a small area, a federal state or province, or a wider area. ... Capital Middelburg Queens Commissioner drs. ... South Holland (Dutch Zuid-Holland) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the west of the country on the North Sea coast. ... Categories: Islands of the Netherlands | Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta | Netherlands geography stubs ... Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ... A vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other entity, or that are part of a specific language. ... West Flemish (in West Flemish, Vlaemsch) is a group of dialects, spoken in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. ...

Origin

Zeelandic is a transitional regional language between Hollandic and West Flemish. In the Middle Ages and early modern age, Zeeland was claimed by both the count of Holland and the duke of Flanders, and the area laid within either influence. The respective dialects clearly show a gradual increase of Hollandic elements as one goes northwards. Yet Zeelandic is fairly coherent and easy to border, as the broad sea-arms form strong isoglosses. Hollandic is together with Brabantic the most frequently used dialect of the Dutch language. ... West Flemish (in West Flemish, Vlaemsch) is a group of dialects, spoken in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Holland is a region in the central-western part of the Netherlands. ... Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen) has several main meanings: the social, cultural and linguistical, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings; some prefer to call this the Flemish community (others refer to this as the Flemish nation) which is, with over 6 million inhabitants, the majority of all Belgians... Isoglosses on the Faroe Islands An isogloss is the geographical boundary of a certain linguistic feature, e. ...

Hallmarks

The main differences from Dutch proper are the following: Zeelandic has three rather than two grammatical genders, as a result of which it retained the final schwas in feminine words; it kept the monophthongs [i] and [y] rather than breaking them into [ɛi] and [ɛy]; it umlauted most [aː]s into [ɛː]'s; it renders the old Germanic [ai] and [au] as falling diphthongs ([eə] and [ɔə]), whereas Dutch proper took them together with etymological e's and o's and finally it drops the h. Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ...

The present table illustrates those differences (note: the orthography is Dutch):

Dialects

The province of Zeeland consists of several former islands which were difficult to reach until well into the 20th century. As a result, there is roughly one dialect per island. The respective dialects differ clearly, but only slightly. The Goeree-Overflakkee dialect, for example, does not drop the h, and the Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland dialects have umlauted words where the northern ones don't (for example: beuter [bøtər] against boter [botər]. Within the island dialects themselves dialectical differences also exist: native speakers can frequently tell which village (at least on their own island) a person is from by the specific dialect he or she speaks, even if this is unintelligible to outsiders. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Satellite image of the Scheldt estuary Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. ... The Scheldt delta, including Zuid-Beveland (2) Zuid-Beveland is a part of the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands north of the Westerschelde and south of the Oosterschelde. ... In linguistics the term Umlaut is used in a variety of closely related ways, some narrower, some broader. ...

The Zeelandic Flanders region contains dialects that are largely outside the definition of Zeelandic, but must be considered West Flemish and East Flemish. The West Flemish dialects in this region, hovewer, are yet commonly classified as "Zeelandic". Satellite image of the Scheldt delta Zeeuws-Vlaanderen is the part of the Netherlands on the left shore of the Scheldt river (here called Westerschelde), nr. ... West Flemish (in West Flemish, Vlaemsch) is a group of dialects, spoken in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. ... East Flemish is a dialect of the Dutch language, which is a Low Franconian language. ...

Geographic distribution and social aspects

Zeelandic bears the burden of being strongly associated with the rural population, being chiefly spoken on the countryside. The town dialects of Middelburg and Vlissingen are both much closer to Dutch proper than the rural variants and on the edge of extinction. Surveys held in the nineties showed that at least 60% of the Zeeland population still uses Zeelandic as everyday language. There are an estimated 250.000 people who speak it as mother tongue (taking the West Zeelandic Flemish in the count), and though it is in decline, just as any other regional language, it is in no direct danger of extinction, since in some villages with strong isolated communities even more than 90% of the youngsters would speak Zeelandic. On the other hand, in several villages that have seen much immigration, the local dialect is only spoken by the adult population, as children are not taught it any longer. This is about the city in the Netherlands. ... Flushing (Dutch Vlissingen) is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. ...

There is a lobby for recognising the Zeelandic regional language under the European charter for minority languages. As of 2005, they failed so far to achieve this status. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Zeelandic edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Ethnologue report for Zeeuws