Middle Dutch Explained
Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or,[2] there was no overarching standard language, but all dialects were mutually intelligible. During that period, a rich Medieval Dutch literature developed, which had not yet existed during Old Dutch. The various literary works of the time are often very readable for speakers of Modern Dutch since Dutch is a rather conservative language.
Phonology
Differences with Old Dutch
Several phonological changes occurred leading up to the Middle Dutch period.
- Earlier Old Dutch pronounced as //ie//, pronounced as //ia//, pronounced as //io// merge into pronounced as //iə// already in Old Dutch.
- Voiceless fricatives become voiced syllable-initially: pronounced as //s// > pronounced as //z//, pronounced as //f// > pronounced as //v// (merging with pronounced as //v// from Proto-Germanic pronounced as //b//), pronounced as //θ// > pronounced as //ð//. (10th or 11th century) The allophonic voicing of pronounced as //h// to pronounced as /link/ (also found in modern Dutch) is also likely in that period, by analogy with the rest of the fricatives.
- pronounced as //ft// > pronounced as //xt//
- pronounced as //iu// > pronounced as //yː// or pronounced as //iə//. The outcome is dialect-specific, with pronounced as //iə// found in more western dialects and pronounced as //yː// further east. This results in later pairs such as dietsc pronounced as //diətsk// versus duitsc pronounced as //dyːtsk//.
- Various dialects also show pronounced as //iw// > pronounced as //yw//, while others retain pronounced as //iw//. Compare southeastern Middle Dutch hiwen pronounced as //hiwən// with modern Dutch huwen pronounced as //ɦyʋə(n)//.
- In word-initial position, some northern dialects also show a change from a falling to a rising diphthong (pronounced as //iu// > pronounced as //juː//) like Old Frisian. Cf. the accusative second-person plural pronoun iu pronounced as //iu// > northern jou pronounced as //jɔu// versus southern u pronounced as //yː//.
- Phonemisation of umlaut for back vowels, resulting in a new phoneme pronounced as //y// (from earlier Old Dutch pronounced as //u// before pronounced as //i// or pronounced as //j//). In western dialects (including Hollandic, Zeelandic, Flemish), only short vowels were affected. In eastern dialects (Kleverlandish, Limburgish, most of Brabantian), long vowels and diphthongs were affected as well, as they were in other Germanic languages.
- Insertion of pronounced as //w// between pronounced as //uː// and a vowel.
- Syllable-final pronounced as //uː(w)// > pronounced as //ouw// in some areas. This created pairs such as duwen pronounced as //dywən// versus douwen pronounced as //dou(w)ən//, or nu pronounced as //ny// versus nou pronounced as //nou//.
- Lowering of pronounced as //u// > pronounced as //o// when not umlauted.
- This change did not (fully) occur in the southwestern (Flemish) dialects. Hence, these dialects retain sunne "sun" where others have sonne.
- Fronting of pronounced as //u//, pronounced as //uː// > pronounced as //y//, pronounced as //yː//. In some dialects, pronounced as //uː// remained syllable-finally or before pronounced as //w//.
- This change did not occur in Limburgish.
- In Flemish, this change also affected cases that escaped the lowering in the previous change, hence sunne pronounced as //ˈzynnə//.
- Vowel reduction: Vowels in unstressed syllables are weakened and merge into pronounced as //ə//, spelled (e). (11th or 12th century) Long vowels seem to have remained as such, at least pronounced as //iː// is known to have remained in certain suffixes (such as -kijn pronounced as //kiːn//).
- Diphthongisation of the long mid vowels: pronounced as //eː//, pronounced as //øː// pronounced as //oː// > pronounced as //eɛ//, pronounced as //øœ//, pronounced as //oɔ//.
- Non-phonemic lowering of short pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //y// > pronounced as //ɪ//, pronounced as //ʏ//.
- Open syllable lengthening: Short vowels in stressed open syllables become long. As a result, all stressed syllables in polysyllabic words become heavy. Old Dutch (original) long vowels are called "sharp-long" and indicated with a circumflex (â, ê, î, ô). Lengthened vowels are "soft-long" and are indicated with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō).
- Lengthened vowels initially have the same vowel quality as the short variants, so this produces pronounced as /[aː]/, pronounced as /[eː]/, pronounced as /[ɪː]/, pronounced as /[oː]/, pronounced as /[ʏː]/.
- pronounced as /[ɪː]/ and pronounced as /[ʏː]/ are then lowered to pronounced as /[eː]/ and pronounced as /[øː]/ respectively.
- Lengthened pronounced as /[eː]/, pronounced as /[øː]/, pronounced as /[oː]/ remain distinct from the previously diphthongised long mid vowels.
- In most dialects, lengthened pronounced as /[aː]/ merges with original pronounced as //aː//, but in some, a distinction in backness develops.
- This introduces many length alternations in grammatical paradigms, e.g. singular dag pronounced as //dax//, plural English, Middle (1100-1500);: dag(h)e pronounced as //daːɣə//.
- Dental fricatives become stops: pronounced as //ð// > pronounced as //d//, pronounced as //θ// > pronounced as //t//, merging with existing pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //d//. (around 12th century)
- The geminate pronounced as //θθ// (originating from Germanic *-þj-) develops into pronounced as //ss//: *withtha > Dutch, Middle (ca.1050-1350);: wisse, *smiththa > Dutch, Middle (ca.1050-1350);: smisse.
- L-vocalisation: pronounced as //ol// and pronounced as //al// > pronounced as //ou// before dentals.
- This change does not occur in Limburgish, which retains the distinction but undergoes its own round of vocalisation in modern times, producing pronounced as //ow// and pronounced as //aː// respectively.
- Lengthening of vowels before pronounced as //r// + dental consonant. This did not occur in all dialects, and in some, pronounced as //e// was lengthened to pronounced as //aː//. E.g. farth pronounced as //farθ// > vāert pronounced as //vaːrt//, ertha pronounced as //erθa// > āerde pronounced as //aːrdə//, wort pronounced as //wort// > wōort pronounced as //woːrt//.
- Syncope of schwa pronounced as //ə// in certain environments, particularly inflectional endings. This phonemicises the soft-long vowels produced by open syllable lengthening, which can now also occur in closed syllables. E.g. hēvet > hēeft.
Consonants
The consonants of Middle Dutch differed little from those of Old Dutch. The most prominent change is the loss of dental fricatives. In addition the sound pronounced as /[z]/ was phonemicised during this period, judging from loanwords that retain pronounced as /[s]/ to this day.
For descriptions of the sounds and definitions of the terms, follow the links on the headings.
! Labial! Dental/
Alveolar! Palatal! Velar! Glottal| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | |
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| Plosive | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | |
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| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | |
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| Fricative | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | |
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| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
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| Approximant | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
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| Trill | | pronounced as /link/ | | | | |
|---|
Notes:
- All obstruents underwent final-obstruent devoicing as in Old and Modern Dutch.
- During the first part of the Middle Dutch period, geminated varieties of most consonants still occurred. Geminated pronounced as //ɣ// was a plosive pronounced as //ɡɡ//, retained in modern Limburgish as pronounced as //ɡ//.
- pronounced as //m, p, b// were bilabial, whereas pronounced as //f, v// were labiodental.
- pronounced as //n, t, d, l// could have been either dental pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|n̪}}, {{IPAplink|t̪}}, {{IPAplink|d̪}}, {{IPAplink|l̪}}]/ or alveolar pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|n|n͇}}, {{IPAplink|t|t͇}}, {{IPAplink|d|d͇}}, {{IPAplink|l|l͇}}]/. Laminal pronunciation is likely even in the latter case as it is universally found in modern Dutch, at least for the first three.
- pronounced as //n// had a velar allophone pronounced as /link/ when it occurred before the velars pronounced as //k, ɣ//. In that position, pronounced as //ɣ// was realized as a plosive pronounced as /link/, rather than a fricative found in other positions.
- pronounced as //s, z// were most likely retracted pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|s̠}}, {{IPAplink|z̠}}]/.
- pronounced as //w// could have been a bilabial approximant pronounced as /link/, without the velar element. This is commonly found in modern Southern dialects.
- pronounced as //r// was alveolar, either a trill pronounced as /link/ or a tap pronounced as /link/. Uvular pronunciations pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ were not widespread (as they are in modern Dutch) and were probably considered idiolectal or even a speech impediment.
Vowels
Most notable in the Middle Dutch vowel system, when compared to Old Dutch, is the appearance of phonemic rounded front vowels, and the merger of all unstressed short vowels.
Short vowels
- The exact height of pronounced as //ʏ// is not certain, and may have varied between actual pronounced as /[ʏ]/ and a lower pronounced as /[ø]/ or even pronounced as /[œ]/.
- pronounced as //e// and pronounced as //o// could have also been pronounced as /[ɛ]/ and pronounced as /[ɔ]/, as in modern Dutch. Especially the former is likely as pronounced as //e// could not have been higher than pronounced as /link/ without seriously threatening the contrast with pronounced as //ɪ//.
- pronounced as //a// was a back pronounced as /[ɑ]/ in most varieties, but front pronounced as /[a]/ probably occurred in some western dialects. One likely candidate is Utrechts, in which the short (a) is famously very front in contemporary Dutch.
Long vowels and diphthongs
Long vowels and diphthongs cannot be clearly distinguished in Middle Dutch, as many long vowels had or developed a diphthongal quality, while existing diphthongs could also develop into monophthongs. Sometimes, this occurred only in restricted dialects, other developments were widespread.
Middle Dutch long vowels!! Front
unr.! Front
rnd.! Back| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) |
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| Close-opening | pronounced as /ie̯/ | (pronounced as /yø̯/) | pronounced as /uo̯/ |
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| Mid-opening | pronounced as /eɛ̯/ | (pronounced as /øœ̯/) | pronounced as /oɔ̯/ |
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| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
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| Open | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ |
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| Closing | pronounced as /ɛi̯/ | (pronounced as /œy̯/) | pronounced as /ɔu̯/ | |
|---|
- The rounded front vowels in brackets only occurred in the eastern dialects, where umlaut of long vowels and diphthongs occurred.
- The rounded back vowel pronounced as //uː// only occurred in the Limburgish dialects.
Many details of the exact phonetics are uncertain, and seemed to have differed by dialect. The overall system is clear, however, as almost all the vowels remain distinct in modern Limburgish: pronounced as //iː//, pronounced as //iə̯//, pronounced as //eɛ̯//, pronounced as //eː// and pronounced as //aː// appear in modern Limburgish as pronounced as //iː//, pronounced as //eː//, pronounced as //iə̯//, pronounced as //æː// and pronounced as //aː// respectively.
The vowels pronounced as //ie̯//, pronounced as //yø̯// and pronounced as //uo̯// developed from Old Dutch opening diphthongs, but their exact character in Middle Dutch is unclear. The following can be said:[3]
- In eastern Brabant, and all of Limburg, the pronunciation remained diphthongal.
- pronounced as //ie̯// is frequently found written with just (i), which may indicate a monophthongal pronunciation. pronounced as //ie̯// never merged with the long vowel pronounced as //iː//, however, as no rhyme pairs between these vowels are found.
- In the coastal areas (Flanders, Holland), pronounced as //uo̯// seems to have been a monophthong pronounced as /[oː]/ or pronounced as /[ʊː]/. Before velar and labial consonants, the pronunciation was a close pronounced as /[uː]/. This is revealed by the distinction in spelling between (oe) and (ou).
- In western Brabant, the pronunciation of pronounced as //uo̯// was more close, probably monophthongal pronounced as //uː//.
The vowels pronounced as //eɛ̯//, pronounced as //øœ̯// and pronounced as //oɔ̯//, termed "sharp-long" and denoted with a circumflex ê ô, developed from Old Dutch long vowels. The opening diphthong pronunciation was probably widespread, and perhaps once universal, as it is nowadays still found in both West Flemish and in Limburgish, at opposite ends of the Middle Dutch language area. In the general area in between, including standard Dutch, the vowels merged with the "soft-long" vowels during the early modern Dutch period.
- In southern Flanders, southern Brabant and Holland, pronounced as //eɛ̯// appears spelled with (ie) (e.g. stien for steen), while pronounced as //ie̯// appears with (e) (e.g. speghel for spieghel), suggesting a merger between these phonemes.
- pronounced as //oɔ̯// is sometimes found to rhyme with pronounced as //oː//. It is possible that the two vowels merged under some conditions, while remaining distinct in other cases.
- In Brabant, pronounced as //oɔ̯// occasionally rhymes with pronounced as //uo̯//. In western Brabant, this implies a close monophthongal pronunciation pronounced as /[uː]/.
The vowels pronounced as //eː//, pronounced as //øː// and pronounced as //oː//, termed "soft-long" and denoted with a macron ē ō, developed through the lengthening of Old Dutch short vowels in open syllables, but also frequently before pronounced as //r//. They were simple monophthongs in all Middle Dutch dialects, with the exception of western Flanders where pronounced as //eː// later developed into pronounced as //ei̯//. They might have been close-mid but also perhaps open-mid pronounced as /[ɛː]/, pronounced as /[œː]/ and pronounced as /[ɔː]/, as in modern Limburgish.
Bruce Donaldson argues that it is possible that, contrary to the widespread IPA transcription pronounced as /[eː øː oː]/, the outcome of the merger between the "sharp-long" and "soft-long" mid vowels has never been monophthongal in Hollandic dialects; instead, the two series have merged into narrow closing diphthongs pronounced as /[ei øy ou]/. This would mean that the original pronounced as /[ai au]/ diphthongs from which the sharp-long vowels come have never been monophthongized in that area and words like steen pronounced as /[stein]/ 'stone' and boom pronounced as /[boum]/ 'tree' have always contained diphthongs in Hollandic, as the Standard German and Limburgish cognates Stein pronounced as /[ʃtaɪn]/, stein pronounced as /[stɛin]/, Baum pronounced as /[baʊm]/ and boum pronounced as /[bɔum]/ do, with the difference lying in quality.[4] Furthermore, speakers with the Polder Dutch shift nowadays pronounce steen and boom almost indistinguishably from the Limburgish cognates, as pronounced as /[stɛin]/ and pronounced as /[bɔum]/.
There were two open vowels, with "sharp-long" â developed from the Old Dutch long ā, and "soft-long" ā being the result of lengthening. These two vowels were distinguished only in Limburgish and Low Rhenish at the eastern end, and in western Flemish and coastal Hollandic on the western end. The relative backness of the two vowels was opposite in the two areas that distinguished them.
- On the coast, â was front pronounced as //aː// or pronounced as //æː//, while ā was central or back pronounced as //ɑː//.
- In the eastern varieties, â was back pronounced as //ɑː//, while ā was front or central pronounced as //aː//. pronounced as //ɑː// merged into pronounced as //oː// during Middle Dutch, first in Low Rhenish, then later also in Limburgish further south.
- In all dialects between, the two vowels were not distinguished. The phonetic realisation ranged from back pronounced as /[ɑː]/ (in Brabant) to front pronounced as /[aː ~ æː]/ (Holland further inland).
The closing diphthong pronounced as //ɛi̯// remained from the corresponding Old Dutch diphthong. It occurred primarily in umlauting environments, with pronounced as //eɛ̯// appearing otherwise. Some dialects, particularly further west, had pronounced as //eɛ̯// in all environments (thus cleene next to cleine). Limburgish preserved the diphthong wherever it was preserved in High German.
The closing diphthong pronounced as //ɔu̯// has two different origins. In the vast majority of the Middle Dutch area, it developed through l-vocalization from older pronounced as //ol// and pronounced as //al// followed by a dental consonant. In the eastern area, Limburg in particular, it was a remnant of the older diphthong as in High German, which had developed into pronounced as //oɔ̯// elsewhere. L-vocalization occurred only in the modern period in Limburgish, and the distinction between pronounced as //ol// and pronounced as //al// was preserved, being reflected as ów and aa respectively.
Prosody
In Limburgish, pitch accent (known in Dutch dialectology as the distinction between Dutch; Flemish: stoottoon 'push tone' and Dutch; Flemish: sleeptoon 'dragging tone') was phonemicized at the beginning of the Middle Dutch period. It causes pairs like Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: bein pronounced as //ˈbɛin// 'legs' vs. Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: bein pronounced as //ˈbɛ́in// 'leg' to be distinguished by tone (and, secondarily, length, since the push tone shortens the entire syllable). This is also true of Central Franconian, spoken to the southeast.[5]
Changes during the Middle Dutch period
Phonological changes that occurred during Middle Dutch:
- pronounced as //mb// > pronounced as //mː//, pronounced as //ŋɡ// > pronounced as //ŋː//. This eliminated the sound pronounced as //ɡ// from the language altogether.
- pronounced as //p// and pronounced as //k// originating from pronounced as //b// and pronounced as //ɡ// through final devoicing were not affected. This therefore resulted in alternations such as singular coninc pronounced as //koːniŋk// versus plural coninghe pronounced as //koːniŋːə//, singular lamp pronounced as //lamp// versus plural lammere pronounced as //lamː(ə)rə//.
- pronounced as //sk// > pronounced as //sx// (spelled (sc) or later (sch)). It is unclear when this change happened, as the spelling does not seem to differentiate the two sounds (that is, (sc) and (sch) could both represent either sound).
- pronounced as //ɛ// > pronounced as //ɛi// before pronounced as //n// plus another consonant, merging with original Old Dutch pronounced as //ɛi// (< Proto-Germanic pronounced as //ɑi//). E.g. ende > einde, pensen > peinsen (from Old French penser). This change is found sporadically in Old Dutch already, but becomes more frequent in some Middle Dutch areas.
- Epenthesis of pronounced as //d// in various clusters of sonorants. E.g. donre > donder, solre > solder, bunre > bunder. In modern Dutch, this change has become grammaticalised for the -er (comparative, agent noun) suffix when attached to a word ending in -r.
- Shortening of geminate consonants, e.g. for bidden pronounced as //bɪdːən// > pronounced as //bɪdən//, which reintroduces stressed light syllables in polysyllabic words.
- Early diphthongization of long high vowels: pronounced as //iː// > pronounced as //ɪi// and pronounced as //yː// > pronounced as //ʏy// except before pronounced as //r// and pronounced as //w//, probably beginning around the 14th century.
- The diphthongal quality of these vowels became stronger over time, and eventually the former merged with pronounced as //ɛi// ei. But the diphthongal pronunciation was still perceived as unrefined and 'southern' by educated speakers in the sixteenth century, showing that the change had not yet spread to all areas and layers of Dutch society by that time. Similarly, the onset of pronounced as //ʏy// eventually became as low as pronounced as /[œy]/, becoming the rounded counterpart of pronounced as //ɛi//.
- Notably, this diphthongization parallels the mutation of long high vowels in the Great Vowel Shift of Late Middle English and Early New High German. However, those languages lowered previous pronounced as //iː// all the way to pronounced as //aɪ//. In Modern Dutch, many speakers from the Randstad region exhibit parallel lowering to pronounced as /[ai, ay]/ from the conservative pronounced as /[ɛi, œy]/ (see Polder Dutch).
- Following the previous change, monophthongization of opening diphthongs: pronounced as //iə// > pronounced as //iː//, pronounced as //uə// > pronounced as //uː//. The result might have also been a short vowel (as in most Dutch dialects today), but they are known to have remained long at least before pronounced as //r//. As the tense pronounced as //i, y, u, eː, øː, oː// often feature a schwa offglide before pronounced as //r// in contemporary Northern Dutch, it is possible that those dialects have never monophthongized pronounced as //iə// and pronounced as //uə// in that position; instead, they became mere allophones of pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// before pronounced as //r//.
- Beginning in late Middle Dutch and continuing into the early Modern Dutch period, schwa pronounced as //ə// was slowly lost word-finally and in some other unstressed syllables: vrouwe > vrouw, hevet > heeft. This did not apply consistently however, and sometimes both forms continued to exist side by side, such as mate and maat.
- Word-final schwa was restored in the past singular of weak verbs, to avoid homophony with the present third-person singular because of word-final devoicing. However, it was lost in all irregular weak verbs, in which this homophony was not an issue: irregular dachte > dacht (present tense denkt), but regular opende did not become *Dutch; Flemish: opend pronounced as //oːpənt// because it would become indistinguishable from opent.
- During the 15th century at the earliest, pronounced as //d// begins to disappear when between a non-short vowel and a schwa.
- The actual outcome of this change differed between dialects. In the more northern varieties and in Holland, the pronounced as //d// was simply lost, along with any schwa that followed it: Dutch; Flemish: luyden > lui, lade > la, mede > mee. In the southeast, intervocalic pronounced as //d// instead often became pronounced as //j//: mede > meej.
- The change was not applied consistently, and even in modern Dutch today many words have been retained in both forms. In some cases the forms with lost pronounced as //d// were perceived as uneducated and disappeared again, such as in Nederland and neer, both from neder (the form Neerland does exist, but is rather archaic in modern Dutch).
Dialects
Middle Dutch was not a single homogeneous language. The language differed by area, with different areas having a different pronunciation and often using different vocabulary. The dialect areas were affected by political boundaries. The sphere of political influence of a certain ruler also created a sphere of linguistic influence, with the language within the area becoming more homogeneous. Following, more or less, the political divisions of the time, several large dialect groups can be distinguished. However, the borders between them were not strong, and a dialect continuum existed between them, with spoken varieties near the edges of each dialect area showing more features of the neighbouring areas.
Middle Dutch has four major dialects groups:[6]
- Flemish in Flanders and Zeeuws in Zeeland,
- Brabantic in Brussels, Leuven, Antwerp, Mechelen, Breda,
- Hollandic in the county of Holland,
- Limburgic in the East.
Flemish, Brabantic and Hollandic are known as West Franconian, while Limburgic is known as East Franconian (not to be confused with the High German dialect East Franconian).
In a finer classification there are:[7]
- Flemish
- West Flemish
- East Flemish
- Brabantic
- West Brabantic
- East Brabantic
- Hollandic
- Utrechts
- Limburgic
Brabantian
Brabantian was spoken primarily in the Duchy of Brabant. It was an influential dialect during most of the Middle Ages, during the so-called "Brabantian expansion" in which the influence of Brabant was extended outwards into other areas. Compared to the other dialects, Brabantian was a kind of "middle ground" between the coastal areas on one hand, and the Rhineland and Limburg on the other. Brabantian Middle Dutch has the following characteristics compared to other dialects:
- Merger of â and ā, articulated as a back vowel pronounced as /link/.
- Use of the form Dutch, Middle (ca.1050-1350);: g(h)i for the second-person plural pronoun.
- pronounced as //ft// > pronounced as //xt//
- Early diphthongization of pronounced as //iː// and pronounced as //yː//.
- Tended towards Rhinelandic and/or Limburgish in the easternmost areas, with umlaut of long vowels and diphthongs. This in turn led to stronger use of umlaut as a grammatical feature, in for example diminutives.
- Lack of umlaut pronounced as //a// > pronounced as //e// before pronounced as //xt//, in western varieties.
Flemish
Flemish, consisting today of West and East Flemish and Zeelandic, was spoken in the County of Flanders, northern parts of the County of Artois and areas around the towns of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer. Though due to their intermediary position between West Flemish and Brabantian, the East Flemish dialects have also been grouped with the latter.[8] Flemish had been influential during the earlier Middle Ages (the "Flemish expansion") but lost prestige to the neighbouring Brabantian in the 13th century. Its characteristics are:
- Fronted realisation pronounced as //æː// for â.
- Unrounding of rounded front vowels.
- Loss of pronounced as //h//, with the occasional hypercorrection found in texts. This allowed pronounced as //x// and pronounced as //ɣ// to eventually weaken to pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ without any threat of a merger with pronounced as //h//, a pronunciation found in modern Flemish.
- Opening diphthong articulation of ê and ô, often spelled (ee) and (oe).
- Old Dutch pronounced as //iu// developed into pronounced as //iə// instead of pronounced as //yː//, thus giving forms such as vier ("fire") where other dialects have vuur.
- Lowering of pronounced as //e// to pronounced as //a// before pronounced as //r// + consonant, often also with lengthening. The change is generally limited to West Flemish before dentals, while before labials and velars it is more widespread.
- Lack of umlaut pronounced as //a// > pronounced as //e// before pronounced as //xt//.
- pronounced as //i// > pronounced as //e// in some words.
- pronounced as //o// > pronounced as //e// sometimes before pronounced as //r// + consonant in West Flemish.
Hollandic
Hollandic was spoken in the County of Holland. It was less influential during most of the Middle Ages but became more so in the 16th century during the "Hollandic expansion", during which the Eighty Years' War took place in the south. It shows the following properties:
- Strong Ingvaeonic influence from earlier Frisian presence in the area. This became more apparent closer to the coast and further north (West Friesland).
- â and ā merged and had a fronted articulation pronounced as /link/ (which forms the basis for the modern standard Dutch pronunciation).
- Occasional occurrence of the Ingvaeonic nasal-spirant law. Seen in some place names, such as -mude ("mouth") where more southwestern areas retain the nasal: -monde.
- Use of the form ji for the second-person plural pronoun.
- Retention of pronounced as //ft//.
- Lack of umlaut pronounced as //a// > pronounced as //e// before pronounced as //xt//.
Limburgish
Limburgish was spoken by the people in the provinces of modern Dutch and Belgian Limburg. It was not clearly tied to one political area, instead being divided among various areas, including the Duchy of Limburg (which was south of modern Limburg). It was also the most divergent of the dialects.
- Generally, a strong "southeastern" influence, tying it more to Middle High German in some respects ("Colognian expansion"). The effects of the High German consonant shift are occasionally found.
- Related to the above, emergence of a phonemic pitch accent, both in Limburgish and Central Franconian.[5]
- Umlaut affects all vowels and is morphologically significant.
- Retention of the older Germanic diphthongs pronounced as //ɛi// and pronounced as //ɔu// where other Middle Dutch dialects (with the possible exception of Hollandic, see above) have monophthongized these to /eː/ and /oː/.
- Retention of pronounced as //u// (did not merge with pronounced as //o//) and pronounced as //uː// (remained as a close back monophthong pronounced as //uː// resisting diphthongization, cf. modern Dutch pronounced as //œy//).
- Orthography is also more eastern. represents a back vowel, and vowel length in closed syllables is not marked.
- Full use of du as the second-person singular pronoun.
- Long a in words ending in a single consonant, e.g. English, Middle (1100-1500);: blaet for English, Middle (1100-1500);: blat, English, Middle (1100-1500);: gaef for English, Middle (1100-1500);: gaf, etc. and before pronounced as //l//, pronounced as //n//, pronounced as //s//, pronounced as //x// + dental,
Kleverlandish
Kleverlandish ("Kleverlands") was spoken around the area of the Duchy of Cleves, around the Lower Rhine. It represented a transitional dialect between Limburgish and Middle Low German.
- It had an eastern influence, with a more eastern-tinted orthography. Umlaut was a regular grammatical feature.
- Stronger Middle Low German influence.
Orthography
Middle Dutch was written in the Latin alphabet, which was not designed for writing Middle Dutch so different scribes used different methods of representing the sounds of their language in writing. The traditions of neighbouring scribes and their languages led to a multitude of ways to write Middle Dutch. Consequently, spelling was not standardised but was highly variable and could differ by both time and place as various "trends" in spelling waxed and waned. Furthermore, a word could be found spelled differently in different occurrences within the same text. There was the matter of personal taste, and many writers thought it was more aesthetic to follow French or Latin practice, leading to sometimes rather unusual spellings.
The spelling was generally phonetic, and words were written based on how they were spoken rather than based on underlying phonemes or morphology. Final-obstruent devoicing was reflected in the spelling, and clitic pronouns and articles were frequently joined to the preceding or following word. Scribes wrote in their own dialect, and their spelling reflected the pronunciation of that particular scribe or of some prestige dialect by which the scribe was influenced. The modern Dutch word maagd ("maiden") for example was sometimes written as maghet or English, Middle (1100-1500);: maegt, but also meget, magt, maget, magd, and English, Middle (1100-1500);: mecht. Some spellings, such as magd, reflect an early tendency to write the underlying phonemic value. However, by and large, spelling was phonetic, which is logical as people usually read texts out loud.
Modern dictionaries tend to represent words in a normalised spelling to form a compromise between the variable spellings on one hand and to represent the sounds of the language consistently. Thus, normalised spellings attempt to be a general or "average" spelling but still being accurate and true to the language.
In Limburgish, pitch accent was not indicated in spelling, a practice followed to this day.
Vowels
The general practice was to write long vowels with a single letter in an open syllable and with two letters in a closed syllable. Which two letters were used varied among texts. Some texts, especially those in the east, do not do so and write long vowels with a single letter in all cases (as is the predominant rule in modern German).
| Phoneme | Normalised | Other spellings | Notes |
|---|
| pronounced as //a// | a | | |
| pronounced as //e// | e | | |
| pronounced as //ɪ// | i | j, y | |
| pronounced as //o// | o | | |
| pronounced as //ʏ// | u | v | |
| pronounced as //ə// | e | a (rare and early) | |
| pronounced as //aː// | a (open)
ae (closed) | ai (occasionally, in closed syllables) | In discussions about pronunciation, originally-long a is represented as â, lengthened a as ā. |
| pronounced as //ɛː// | e (open)
ee (closed) | ei (West Flemish) | In discussions about pronunciation, written as ē. |
| pronounced as //eː// | e (open)
ee (closed) | ee (frequently in open syllables, especially in Flanders), (occasionally in some dialects) | In discussions about pronunciation, written as ê. |
| pronounced as //øː// | ue | o, oe, eu (rare), u, uu (both very rare) | and are perhaps the most common, but normalisation uses to avoid confusion with pronounced as //uə//. Normalisation generally undoes the umlaut of older pronounced as //oː//, which was only present in the eastern dialects. |
| pronounced as //iː// | i (open)
ij (closed) | ii (actually graphical variant of ij), (rare, usually before pronounced as //r//) | |
| pronounced as //iə// | | ye (rare), i (fairly rare) | |
| pronounced as //ɔː// | o (open)
oo (closed) | oe, a (Rhinelandic), oi, oy | In discussions about pronunciation, written as ō. |
| pronounced as //oː// | o (open)
oo (closed) | oe, oi, oy | In discussions about pronunciation, written as ô. |
| pronounced as //uə// | oe | ou (Flanders), u, ue (both in Limburg), o (before pronounced as //j//), uo | |
| pronounced as //yː/, /uː// | u (open)
uu (closed) | ue (usually before pronounced as //r//), ui, uy | pronounced as //uː// only in Limburg. |
| pronounced as //ei// | ei | ey | Occurs in place of ê in Limburg. |
| pronounced as //ou// | ou | au (rare) | Occurs in place of ô in Limburg. |
| pronounced as //a(ː)u// | au | aeu | | |
Consonants
| Phoneme | Normalised | Other spellings | Notes |
|---|
| pronounced as //j// | j | i, y, ij (very rare) | |
| pronounced as //w// | w | uu, u, v | |
| pronounced as //l// | l | | |
| pronounced as //r// | r | | |
| pronounced as //m// | m | | |
| pronounced as //n/, [ŋ]/ | n | | |
| pronounced as //p// | p | | |
| pronounced as //b// | b | | |
| pronounced as //f// | f | | |
| pronounced as //v// | v | u | |
| pronounced as //t// | t | th (occasionally) | |
| pronounced as //d// | d | | |
| pronounced as //s// | s | | |
| pronounced as //sk//, pronounced as //sx// | sch
sc (in some normalisations) | sk, ssc(h) (medially), s (occasionally) | |
| pronounced as //z// | s | z (occasionally) | |
| pronounced as //k// | k (before e, i, y)
c (elsewhere)
qu (representing pronounced as //kw//)
ck (for geminated pronounced as //kː//) | ch (Flanders, Brabant), k (eastern, in all positions) | |
| pronounced as //x// | ch | g, gh (when pronounced as //ɣ// devoices) | |
| pronounced as //ɣ//, pronounced as /[ɡ]/ | g
gh (before e, i, y, only in some normalisations)
cg(h) (for geminated pronounced as //ɡː//) | | |
| pronounced as //h// | h | | |
Grammar
Nouns
Middle Dutch nouns inflected for number as well as case. The weakening of unstressed syllables merged many different Old Dutch classes of nominal declension. The result was a general distinction between strong and weak nouns. Eventually even these started to become confused, with the strong and weak endings slowly beginning to merge into a single declension class by the beginning of the modern Dutch period.
Strong nouns
The strong nouns generally originated from the Old Dutch a-stem, i-stem and u-stem inflections. They mostly had a nominative singular with no ending, and a nominative plural in -e or, for some neuter nouns, with no ending. Most strong nouns were masculine or neuter. Feminines in this class were former i-stems, and could lack an ending in the dative singular, a remnant of the late Old Dutch inflection. In some rare occasions, the genitive singular was also endingless. Some nouns ended in -e in the singular also; these were primarily former ja-stems, which were masculine or neuter. A few were former i-stems with short stems. Nouns of this type tended to be drawn into the weak inflection by analogy.
The following table shows the inflection of the masculine noun "day", feminine "deed" and neuter "bread".
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
|---|
| Nominative, Accusative | dach | dāge | dâet | dâde | brôot | brôot, brôde |
|---|
| Genitive | dāechs, dāges | dāge | dâets, dâdes | dâde | brôots, brôdes | brôde |
|---|
| Dative | dāge | dāgen | dâet, dâde | dâden | brôde | brôden | |
|---|
Weak nouns
Weak nouns were characterised by the ending -en throughout the plural. The singular ended in -e.
The following table shows the inflection of the masculine noun "bow, arc".
| Singular | Plural |
|---|
| Nominative, Accusative | bōge | bōgen |
|---|
| Genitive | bōgen | bōgen |
|---|
| Dative | bōge | bōgen | |
|---|
Adjectives
Middle Dutch adjectives inflected according to the gender, case and number of the noun they modified.
The Germanic distinction between strong and weak, or indefinite and definite inflection, was fairly minimal in Middle Dutch, appearing only in the masculine and neuter nominative singular. These forms received an -e ending when a definite word (demonstrative, article) preceded, and had no ending otherwise. Adjectives were uninflected when connected through a copula. Thus, even for feminine nouns, no ending appeared: die vrouwe is goet "the lady is good".
Some adjectives, namely the former ja-stems, had an -e even in the strong and copular form, e.g. die vrouwe is cleine "the lady is small".
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|
| Nominative | goet (indef)
goede (defn) | goede | goet (indef)
goede (defn) | goede |
|---|
| Accusative | goeden |
|---|
| Genitive | goets | goeder | goets | goeder |
|---|
| Dative | goeden | goeden | goeden | |
|---|
Pronouns
Middle Dutch pronouns differed little from their modern counterparts. The main differences were in the second person with the development of a T-V distinction. The second-person plural pronoun ghi slowly gained use as a respectful second-person singular form. The original singular pronoun du gradually fell out of use during the Middle Dutch period. A new second person plural pronoun was created by contraction of gij/jij and lui ('people') forming gullie/jullie (literally, 'you people').
| Singular | Plural |
|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. |
|---|
| Nominative | ic, icke | du | hi | si | het/'t | wi | ghi | si |
|---|
| Accusative | mi | di | hem/hen/'n | haer/se | ons | u | hem/hen/'n |
|---|
| Dative | haer | hem |
|---|
| Genitive | mijns | dijns | sijns | harer | 'es | onser | uwer | haer/'re | |
|---|
Note: There are several other forms.
Determiners
Definite Article
(die, dat = the)
Verbs
Middle Dutch mostly retained the Old Dutch verb system. Like all Germanic languages, it distinguished strong, weak and preterite-present verbs as the three main inflectional classes. Verbs were inflected in present and past tense, and in three moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative.
The weakening of unstressed vowels affected the distinction between the indicative and subjunctive moods, which had largely been determined by the vowel of the inflectional suffix in Old Dutch. In Middle Dutch, with all unstressed vowels merging into one, the subjunctive became distinguished from the indicative only in the singular but was identical to it in the plural, and also in the past tense of weak verbs. That led to a gradual decline in the use of the subjunctive, and it has been all but lost entirely in modern Dutch.
Strong verbs
The seven classes of strong verb common to the Germanic languages were retained. The four principal parts were the present tense, first- and third-person singular past tense, remaining past tense, and the past participle.
| Class | Present | Past
1/3 sg | Past
rest | Ptcp. | Example verbs |
|---|
| 1 | î | ê | ē | ē | |
|---|
| 2 | , û | ô | ō | ō | , |
|---|
| 3 | e, i | a | o | o | , |
|---|
| 4 | ē | a | â | ō | |
|---|
| 5 | ē, i | a | â | ē | , |
|---|
| 6 | ā | oe | oe | â | |
|---|
| 7 | (any) | | | (any) | | |
|---|
In classes 6 and 7, there was no distinction between the two different vowels of the past tense. In classes 4 and 5, the difference was primarily one of length, since ā and â were not distinguished in most dialects. The difference between ê and ē, and between ô and ō, found in classes 1 and 2, was a bit more robust, but also eventually waned in the development to modern Dutch. Consequently, the distinction was mostly lost. Class 3, which retained a clear distinction that did not rely on vowel length, was levelled in favour of the o of the plural.
In classes with a lengthened vowel in the present, the singular imperative often appears with a short vowel instead, e.g. les, drach. An alternative form, with final -e by analogy with the weak verbs, also occurs.
The eastern dialects occasionally show i in the second- and third-person singular present indicative forms, instead of e. This is a remnant of older i-mutation in these forms. Umlaut is also sometimes found in the past subjunctive in the east.
| Infinitive | bliven |
|---|
| Gerund | blivene |
|---|
| Indicative mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | blive | blêef |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | blijfs, blives | blēefs, blēves |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | blijft, blivet | blêef |
|---|
| 1st plur. | bliven | blēven |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | blijft, blivet | blēeft, blēvet |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | bliven | blēven |
|---|
| Subjunctive mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | blive | blēve |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | blijfs, blives | blēefs, blēves |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | blive | blēve |
|---|
| 1st plur. | bliven | blēven |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | blijft, blivet | blēeft, blēvet |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | bliven | blēven |
|---|
| Imperative mood |
|---|
| Sing. | blijf, blive |
|---|
| Plur. | blijft, blivet |
|---|
| Participle |
|---|
| blivende | geblēven | |
|---|
| | Infinitive | binden |
|---|
| Gerund | bindene |
|---|
| Indicative mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | binde | bant |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | bints, bindes | bonts, bondes |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | bint, bindet | bant |
|---|
| 1st plur. | binden | bonden |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | bint, bindet | bont, bondet |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | binden | bonden |
|---|
| Subjunctive mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | binde | bonde |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | bints, bindes | bonts, bondes |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | binde | bonde |
|---|
| 1st plur. | binden | bonden |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | bint, bindet | bont, bondet |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | binden | bonden |
|---|
| Imperative mood |
|---|
| Sing. | bint, binde |
|---|
| Plur. | bint, bindet |
|---|
| Participle |
|---|
| bindende | gebonden | |
|---|
| | Infinitive | drāgen |
|---|
| Gerund | drāgene |
|---|
| Indicative mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | drāge | droech |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | drāechs, drāges | droechs, droeges |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | drāecht, drāget | droech |
|---|
| 1st plur. | drāgen | droegen |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | drāecht, drāget | droecht, droeget |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | drāgen | droegen |
|---|
| Subjunctive mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | drāge | droege |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | drāechs, drāges | droechs, droeges |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | drāge | droege |
|---|
| 1st plur. | drāgen | droegen |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | drāecht, drāget | droecht, droeget |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | drāgen | droegen |
|---|
| Imperative mood |
|---|
| Sing. | drach, drāge |
|---|
| Plur. | drāecht, drāget |
|---|
| Participle |
|---|
| drāgende | gedrāgen | |
|---|
| |
Weak verbs
Middle Dutch retained weak verbs as the only productive class of verbs. While Old Dutch still had two different classes of weak verbs (and remnants of a third), this distinction was lost in Middle Dutch with the weakening of unstressed syllables.
The past tense was formed with a suffix -ed-, which generally lost its e through syncope and thus came to be directly attached to the preceding stem. This triggered voicing assimilation, so that t appeared whenever the preceding stem ended in a voiceless consonant. This phenomenon remains in modern Dutch. Unsyncopated forms, which retain the fuller suffix -ed-, are sometimes found, especially with stems ending in a labial or velar consonant.
Some former class 1 weak verbs retained so-called Rückumlaut. These verbs had undergone umlaut in the present tense, but the umlaut-triggering vowel was syncopated in the past tense already in Old Dutch, preventing umlaut from taking hold there. Thus, senden had the first- and third-person singular past tense sande. These verbs tended to be reinterpreted as strong verbs in later Middle Dutch; sande itself gave rise to the modern zond, mirroring strong class 3.
| Infinitive | māken |
|---|
| Gerund | mākene |
|---|
| Indicative mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | māke | māecte |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | māecs, mākes | māectes |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | māect, māket | māecte |
|---|
| 1st plur. | māken | māecten |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | māect, māket | māectet |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | māken | māecten |
|---|
| Subjunctive mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | māke | māecte |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | māecs, mākes | māectes |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | māke | māecte |
|---|
| 1st plur. | māken | māecten |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | māect, māket | māectet |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | māken | māecten |
|---|
| Imperative mood |
|---|
| Sing. | māke |
|---|
| Plur. | māect, māket |
|---|
| Participle |
|---|
| mākende | gemāect, gemāket | |
|---|
| | Infinitive | senden |
|---|
| Gerund | sendene |
|---|
| Indicative mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | sende | sende, sande |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | sents, sendes | sendes, sandes |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | sent, sendet | sende, sande |
|---|
| 1st plur. | senden | senden, sanden |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | sent, sendet | sendet, sandet |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | senden | senden, sanden |
|---|
| Subjunctive mood |
|---|
| Present | Past |
|---|
| 1st sing. | sende | sende |
|---|
| 2nd sing. | sents, sendes | sendes |
|---|
| 3rd sing. | sende | sende |
|---|
| 1st plur. | senden | senden |
|---|
| 2nd plur. | sent, sendet | sendet |
|---|
| 3rd plur. | senden | senden |
|---|
| Imperative mood |
|---|
| Sing. | sende |
|---|
| Plur. | sent, sendet |
|---|
| Participle |
|---|
| sendende | gesent, gesendet, gesant | |
|---|
| |
Literature
See main article: Middle Dutch literature.
External links
Notes and References
- Klaas van Berkel, Albert van Helden, Lodewijk Palm (eds.): A History of Science in the Netherlands: Survey, Themes and Reference, 1999, p. xvi: "Linguists usually distinguish between Old Dutch (c. 700–c. 1150), Middle Dutch (c. 1150–c. 1550), and Modern Dutch (after 1550)."
- Klaas van Berkel, Albert van Helden, Lodewijk Palm (eds.): A History of Science in the Netherlands: Survey, Themes and Reference, 1999, p. xvi: "Linguists usually distinguish between Old Dutch (c. 700–c. 1150), Middle Dutch (c. 1150–c. 1550), and Modern Dutch (after 1550)."
- Web site: A. van Loey, Middelnederlandse spraakkunst. Deel II. Klankleer · dbnl. DBNL. DBNL. 21 September 2017.
- Book: Donaldson, Bruce . 1983. 17. Historical phonology . https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/dona001dutc02_01/dona001dutc02_01_0020.php. Dutch. A linguistic history of Holland and Belgium. Leiden . Uitgeverij Martinus Nijhoff. 90-247-9166-9.
- Book: Boersma, Paul . 2017 . The history of the Franconian tone contrast . Wolfgang Kehrein . Björn Köhnlein . Paul Boersma . Marc van Oostendorp . Segmental Structure and Tone . Berlin . De Gruyter . 10.1515/9783110341263-003 . 27–97. 978-3-11-034126-3 .
- Colette M. van Kerckvoorde: An Introduction to Middle Dutch. Berlin and New York, 1993, p. 1
- Adolphe van Loey, Altniederländisch und Mittelniederländisch, in: Ludwig Erich Schmitt (ed.), Kurzer Grundriß der germanischen Philologie bis 1500: Band 1: Sprachgeschichte, Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin, 1970, p. 253ff., here p. 255f.
- Book: ed. Keith Brown. Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics. 2007. Elsevier. Amsterdam. 978-0-08-044299-0. 2..
