Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T01:50:37.719Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dialect change and its consequences for the Dutch dialect landscape. How much is due to the standard variety and how much is not?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2015

Wilbert Heeringa  and
Frans Hinskens
Wilbert Heeringa*
Affiliation:
Institute of German studies, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
Frans Hinskens
Affiliation:
Meertens Institute, The Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: Wilbert Heeringa, Institute of German studies, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, P.O. Box 2503, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany Tel.: +49 441 798 4547, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We recorded older male speakers and younger female speakers of 86 local dialects of Dutch. Using these data, we analyze and visualize the influence of standard Dutch on apparent time changes in these dialects. Focusing for the most part on variation in the sound components, we test whether (I) dialect change is mainly the result of convergence to standard Dutch, (II) sound changes in two dialects which make them converge to standard Dutch also make them more similar, and (III) sound changes in two dialects which make them diverge from standard Dutch also make them less similar. We used three-dimensional (first hypothesis) and five-dimensional Levenshtein distance implementations (second and third hypothesis). These implementations are a novel step in dialectometry and in the study of ongoing processes of language change and their consequences for the dialect landscape. The findings corroborate all three hypotheses.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistic Geography , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 20 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Auer, Peter, Hinskens, Frans & Kerswill, Paul (eds.). 2005. Dialect change. The convergence and divergence of dialects in contemporary societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bellmann, Günther. 1996. Between base dialect and standard language. In P. Auer (ed.), Dialect levelling and the standard varieties in Europe, special issue of Folia Linguistica 32(1/2). 23-34.Google Scholar
Blancquaert, Edgar & Pée, Willem. (eds.). 1925-1982. Reeks Nederlands(ch)e dialectatlassen. Antwerp: De Sikkel.Google Scholar
Boves, Tom & Gerritsen, Marinel. 1995. Inleiding in de sociolinguïstiek. Utrecht/Antwerp: Spectrum.Google Scholar
Chambers, Jack & Trudgill, Peter. 1998. Dialectology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Giesbers, Charlotte. 2008. Dialecten op de grens van twee talen; een dialectologisch en sociolinguïstisch onderzoek in het Kleverlands dialectgebied. Nijmegen: Radboud University of Nijmegen.Google Scholar
Gooskens, Charlotte & Heeringa, Wilbert. 2004. Perceptive evaluation of Levenshtein dialect distance measurements using Norwegian dialect data. Language Variation and Change 16(3). 189-207.Google Scholar
Heeringa, Wilbert. 2004. Measuring Dialect Pronunciation Differences using Levenshtein Distance. Groningen: University of Groningen dissertation.Google Scholar
Heeringa, Wilbert & Nerbonne, John. 2000. Change, convergence and divergence among Dutch and Frisian. In Piter Boersma, Pieter Breuker, Lammert Jansma & Jacob van der Vaart (eds.), Philologia Frisica Anno 1999. Lêzingen fan it fyftjinde Frysk filologekongres, 88-109. Ljouwert: Fryske Akademy.Google Scholar
Heeringa, Wilbert, Nerbonne, John, Niebaum, Hermann, Nieuweboer, Rogier & Kleiweg, Peter. 2000. Dutch-German contact in and around Bentheim. In Dicky Gilbers, John Nerbonne & Jos Schaeken (eds.), Languages in Contact (Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics 28), 145-156. Amsterdam: Rodopi.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heeringa, Wilbert & Hinskens, Frans. 2014. Convergence between dialect varieties and dialect groups in the Dutch language area. In Benedikt Szmrecsanyi & Bernhard Wälchli (eds.), Aggregating dialectology, typology, and register analysis. Linguistic variation in text and speech (Linguae et Litterae 28) 26-52. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hinskens, Frans, Auer, Peter & Kerswill, Paul. 2005. The study of dialect convergence and divergence: conceptual and methodological considerations. In P. Auer, F. Hinskens & P. Kerswill (eds.), Dialect change. The convergence and divergence of dialects in contemporary societies, 1-48. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hoppenbrouwers, Cor. 1983. Het genus in een Brabants regiolect. TABU, Bulletin voor Nederlandse Taalkunde 13(1). 1-25.Google Scholar
Kerswill, Paul. 2002. Koineization and accommodation. In J. K. Chambers, P. Trudgill & N. Schilling-Estes (eds.), The handbook of language variation and change, 669-702. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Oostendorp, Marc van. 2007. Exceptions to Final Devoicing. In J. van de Weijer & E. van der Torre (ed.), Voicing in Dutch. (De)voicing - phonology, phonetics and psycholinguistics, 81-98. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Siegel, Jeff. 1985. Koines and koineization. Language in Society 14. 357-378.Google Scholar
Siegel, Jeff. 2001. Koine formation and creole genesis. In N. Smith & T. Veenstra (eds), Creolization and contact, 175-197. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Scholtmeijer, Harrie. 1996. De nieuwe Winkler; 83 dialectvertalingen van de gelijkenis van de verloren zoon (Meertens Institute Electronic Publications in Linguistics.) Available at: http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/books/winkler/.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter. 1986. Dialects in Contact. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Weinreich, Uriel. 1954. Is a structural dialectology possible? Word 10. 388-400.Google Scholar
Winkler, Johan. 1874. Algemeen Nederduitsch en Friesch dialecticon. ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar