Weert dialect

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Weert dialect
Wieërts (in the urban dialect)
Weerts (in the rural dialect)
Pronunciation[βiəʀts]
[βeəʀts]
Native toNetherlands
RegionWeert
Indo-European
Official status
Official language in
Limburg, Netherlands: Recognised as regional language as a variant of Limburgish.
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone

Weert dialect or Weert Limburgish (natively Wieërts or Weerts, Standard Dutch: Weerts [ʋeːrts]) is the city dialect and variant of Limburgish spoken in the Dutch city of Weert alongside Standard language. All of its speakers are bilingual with standard Dutch.[1]

There are two varieties of the dialect: rural and urban. The latter is called Stadsweerts in Standard Dutch and the rural dialect and Stadswieërts in the city dialect.[1] Unless otherwise noted, all examples are in Stadsweerts.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Consonant phonemes[2]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨nj⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive
affricate 		voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ tʃ ⟨tj⟩ k ⟨k⟩
voiced b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ (dʒ) ⟨dj⟩ ɡ ⟨gk⟩
Fricative voiceless f ⟨f⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ʃ ⟨sj⟩ x ⟨ch⟩ h ⟨h⟩
voiced v ⟨v⟩ z ⟨z⟩ (ʒ) ⟨zj⟩ ɣ ⟨g⟩
Liquid l ⟨l⟩ ʀ ⟨r⟩
Approximant β ⟨w⟩ j ⟨j⟩
  • /m, p, b, β/ are bilabial, whereas /f, v/ are labiodental.[1]
  • /n, l/ are realized as postalveolar [ɲ, ʎ] when they occur before /tʃ, dʒ/.[3]
  • In the syllable onset, /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ can occur only in proper names and loanwords. In that position, their status is marginal.[3]
  • /dʒ/ and /ʒ/ are found only in onsets of weak syllables.[3]
  • /ɲ/ and /ɡ/ occur only intervocalically. Younger speakers tend to merge the latter with /ɣ/.[3]
  • Word-initial /x/ is restricted to loanwords.[3]
  • /x, ɣ/ are realized as pre-velar [x̟, ɣ˖] when they are preceded or followed by a front vowel.[3]
  • /ʀ/ is a voiced fricative trill, either uvular [ʀ̝] or pre-uvular [ʀ̝˖]. The fricative component is particularly audible in the syllable coda, where a partial devoicing to [ʀ̝̊ ~ ʀ̝̊˖] also occurs.[3]

Vowels[]

Short monophthongs of the Weert dialect, from Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110)
Long monophthongs of the Weert dialect, from Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110). As shown on the chart, the close-mid /eː/, /øː/ and /oː/ are typically realized as centering diphthongs.
Closing diphthongs of the Weert dialect, from Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110)
Centering diphthongs of the Weert dialect, from Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110)
Monophthong phonemes[4]
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long short long
Close i ⟨ie⟩ iː ⟨iê⟩ y ⟨uu⟩ yː ⟨uû⟩ u ⟨oe⟩ uː ⟨oê⟩
Close-mid ɪ ⟨i⟩ eː ⟨ee⟩ ɵ ⟨u⟩ øː ⟨eu⟩ ə ⟨e⟩ (ʊ) ⟨o⟩ oː ⟨oo⟩
Open-mid e̞ ⟨è⟩ e̞ː ⟨ae⟩ œ ⟨ö⟩ œː ⟨äö⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩ ɔː ⟨ao⟩
Open ɛ ⟨e⟩ ɛː ⟨èè⟩ aː ⟨aa⟩ ɑ ⟨a⟩ ɑː ⟨â⟩
Diphthongs closing ɛi   œy   ʌu
centering iə   yə   uə
  • Older speakers may have an additional vowel /ʊ/, which is the back counterpart of /ɵ/. Other speakers have just three short back vowels /u, ɔ, ɑ/, as in Standard Dutch.[5] In orthography, it is not differentiated from the open-mid /ɔ/, being spelled as a bare ⟨o⟩ (instead of ⟨ó⟩, as in e.g. Maastricht). Elsewhere in the article, the difference is not transcribed and ⟨ɔ⟩ is used for both vowels.
  • Some speakers are not secure in the distribution of /e̞/ vs. /ɛ/ as well as /ɵ/ vs. /œ/. In the future, this may lead to a merger of the two pairs, leaving a short vowel system that is exactly the same as in Standard Dutch (phonetic details aside).[5]
  • Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998) claim that Weert Limburgish is an example of a language variety with five phonetic degrees of vowel openness. However, /eː/ is not a pure monophthong as it has a centering glide [eə]. In addition, /aː/, a phonetic front vowel [aː], is clearly not front phonologically as it umlauts to /œː/, as in other Limburgish dialects.
  • /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are phonological open vowels, corresponding to the short /æ/ in other Limburgish dialects. The phonological open-mid vowels are the ones transcribed with ⟨e̞(ː)⟩, and they correspond to /ɛ(ː)/ in other dialects. Here, a phonetically explicit transcription is used.
  • The closing diphthongs /ɛi, œy, ʌu/ contrast with the vowel-glide sequences /ɛj/, /œj/ and /ɑβ/, which begin with more open vowels than the phonemic diphthongs ([æ] and [ɶ] in the first two cases). In addition, /ɛi, œy, ʌu/ are all longer than /ɛj, œj, ɑβ/. Thus, what in tonal dialects of Limburgish is the contrast between /ˈbɛin/ 'legs' (pronounced with Accent 1) and /ˈbɛin˦/ 'leg' (pronounced with Accent 2) is a length difference in Weert: /ˈbɛjn/, /ˈbɛin/.[6]

Phonetic realization[]

  • Among the short front vowels, the difference in height in the case of both the /ɪ–e̞–ɛ/ triplet and the /ɵ–œ/ pair is not very great. In the first case, /ɪ/ is close-mid [ɪ̞], /e̞/ is mid [e̞], whereas /ɛ/ is open-mid [ɛ]. Thus, the Weert dialect is an example of a language variety that contrasts close-mid, mid and open-mid vowels of the same length and roundedness and almost the same backness. In the case of /ɵ/, it is close-mid central [ɵ], whereas /œ/ is mid front [œ̝].[7]
  • The long vowels corresponding to the short /e̞/, /ɛ/ and /œ/ have the same quality: [e̞ː, ɛː, œ̝ː].[7] /œ(ː)/ are transcribed as such (rather than with ⟨œ̝(ː)⟩ or ⟨ø̞(ː)⟩) because the Weert dialect contrasts only three degrees of openness among the rounded front vowels: close /y(ː)/, close-mid /ɵ, øː/ and open-mid /œ(ː)/, which are phonetically mid like /e̞(ː)/.
  • /eː, øː, oː/ are realized as centering diphthongs [eə, øə, oə]. Before nasals, the first two are monophthongized to [eː, øː].[8]
  • The back /ɔ, ɔː/ are the most open among the phonological open-mid vowels, being close in quality to cardinal [ɔ].[7]
  • The closing diphthongs /ɛi, œy, ʌu/ are similar in quality to those found in Northern Standard Dutch.[7]

Phonotactics[]

  • /ə/ occurs only in unstressed syllables.[3]
  • /eː, øː, oː/ are phonological long monophthongs despite their obvious diphthongal nature. That is because they can occur before /ʀ/, unlike any of the six phonological diphthongs and /i, y, u/.[5] However, at least /iə/ sometimes violates that rule, as it occurs in the name of the town itself (/βiəʀt/) and derivatives.
  • /ɪ, ɵ, e̞/ are rare before /ʀ/.[5]
  • Among the open vowels, /ɛː/ and /ɑː/ appear only before sonorants, making them checked vowels. They directly correspond to the short checked vowels /ɛ, ɑ/ combined with Accent 2 in other dialects (in which the vowel corresponding to Weert /ɛ/ is written with ⟨æ⟩). Thus, the phonological behavior of the long /ɛː/ and /ɑː/ is very different to that of /aː/, which is a free vowel like the other long vowels.[9]
  • The closing diphthongs /ɛi, œy, ʌu/ are rare in the word-final position.[7]

Sample[]

The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun.

Phonetic transcription[]

[də ˈnoəʀdəβeːɲtʃ ɛn də ˈzɔn | ˈɦaːjə nən dɪsˈkɵsi | ˈoəvəʀ də ˈvʀɔːx | ˈβeːm vɑn ɦɵn ˈtβiːjə də ˈstɛːʀkstə βoəʀ | tun dəʀ ˈjyst eːməs vəʀˈbeːj kβoəm | de̞ː ənə ˈdɪkə | ˈβɛːʀmə ˈjɑs ˈaːnɦaːj][10]

Orthographic version[]

De noordeweendj en de zon haje nen discussie over de vraog weem van hun twieje de staerkste woor, toen der juust emes verbeej kwoom dè ene dikke, waerme jas aanhaaj.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 107.
  2. ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 107–108.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 108.
  4. ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 107, 109–110.
  5. ^ a b c d Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 109.
  6. ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 110–111.
  7. ^ a b c d e Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
  8. ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 109–110.
  9. ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 108–111.
  10. ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 112.

Bibliography[]

  • Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307
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