West Flemish


West Flemish is a Germanic language closely related to Dutch, and sometimes considered a dialect of Dutch, that is spoken in western Belgium and adjoining parts of the Netherlands and France.
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 10,000 in the northern part of the French département of Nord. Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges, Dunkirk, Kortrijk, Ostend, Roeselare, Ypres and Newport.
West Flemish is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's online Red Book of Endangered Languages. The language has its own dedicated Wikipedia.
countries
in France, in 1874 and 1972

Phonology

West Flemish has a phonology that differs significantly from that of Standard Dutch, being similar to Afrikaans in the case of long E and O, and where Standard Dutch has sch, Flemish, like Afrikaans, has sk. However, the best known traits are the replacement of Standard Dutch velar fricatives g and ch in Dutch with glottal h, and the overall lack of diphthongs. 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 nonexistentce of and in West Flemish makes pronouncing them very difficult for native speakers. That often causes hypercorrection of the sounds to a or.
Standard Dutch also has many words with an -en suffix. 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 can also be pronounced as a short u, 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 can turn into a short o in some words spontaneously, another phenomenon called okanye in Slavic languages.
The diphthong ui does not exist in West Flemish and is replaced by a long u or a long ie. Like for the ui, the long o can be replaced by an for some words but a for others. That often causes similarities to ranchers English.
Here are some examples showing the sound shifts that are part of the vocabulary:
DutchWest FlemishEnglish
vol vul full
zon zunne sun
kom kom* come
boter beuter butter
boot boot boat
kuikenkiek'n chick
bruinbrun brown

Plural form

Plural forms in Standard Dutch most often add -en, but West Flemish usually uses -s, like the Lower Saxon Germanic 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.

Verb conjugation

The verbs zijn and hebben are also conjugated differently.
DutchWest FlemishEnglishDutchWest FlemishEnglish
zijnzynto behebbenènto have
ik ben'k zynI amik heb'k èI have
jij bentgy zytyou arejij hebtgy ètyou have
hij isie ishe ishij heeftie èthe has
wij zijnwydder zynwe arewij hebbenwydder ènwe have
jullie zijngydder zytyou arejullie hebbengydder ètyou have
zij zijnzydder zynthey arezij hebbenzydder ènthey have

Double subject

West Flemish often has a double subject.
DutchWest FlemishEnglish
Jij hebt dat gedaan.G' è gy da gedoan.You have done that.
Ik heb dat niet gedaan.'K èn ekik da nie gedoan.I didn't do that.

Articles

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.
DutchWest FlemishEnglish
een stier ne stiera bull
een koe e koejea cow
een kalf e kolfa calf
een aap nen oapan ape
een huis en 'usa house

Conjugation of ''yes'' and ''no''

Another feature of West Flemish is the conjugation of ja and nee 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. There is also an extra word, toet, negates the previous sentence but gives a positive answer.
Ja, nee and toet 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.
DutchWest FlemishEnglish
Heb jij dat gedaan? - Ja / NeeÈj gy da gedoan? - Joak / NinkDid you do that? - Yes / No
Je hebt dat niet gedaan, hé? - Maar jawelG'èt da nie gedoan, é? - BatoetYou didn't do that, eh? - But yes I did.
Heeft hij dat gedaan? - Ja / NeeÈt ie da gedoan? - Joan / NinDid he do that? - Yes / No
Gaan we verder? - Ja / NeeZyn we? - Jow / NiwCan we go? - Yes / No

Vocabulary

West Flemish inherited many words from Saxon settlers and later on had English loanwords from the wool and cloth trades. Both categories differ from Standard Dutch and show similarities with English and so is difficult to separate both categories.
During the Industrial Revolution, the increasing trade with France caused many industrial loanwords from French.

False friends

Even when words exist in both Dutch and West Flemish, their meaning can be different. That sometimes causes confusion for native speakers who do not realise that words are used differently.
DutchWest FlemishEnglish
achterbachtnafter / behind
naachterpast / after