'Flemish for Dummies'

..........................................'Sideways Dutch'.............................

Full Tilt Flemish                                                   (...with training wheels)                                               To help English speakers learn the pronunciation, grammar, and rhythm of Flemish-Dutch, Calidocious Inc. proposes a simplified way to use Flemish pronouns (words that stand for things, like the words 'it', 'he', or 'she'). and gender assignment. The modified style of Standard-Dutch is called 'California Dutch', and is also nicknamed 'Sideways Dutch' or 'Double Dutch'.            The new lingo makes use of several 'old-fashioned' pronouns from 'Medieval, or Middle, Dutch', which was spoken from about 1100 until about 1491, ie. the year just before Columbus returned from the 'New' World.  In particular, the Middle Dutch pronouns for 'you', both singular and plural, (the equivalents of 'thou', 'ye' , and 'thy' in 'Middle'  English), are added back into Modern Dutch. Several of the pronoun changes also mimic pronouns used in various modern-day Flemish dialects of Dutch or in the Limburgish language which is spoken in the Limburg regions of Flanders and Holland. .          'California Dutch' may alternantely be described as 'Standard Dutch, spoken with a Flemish accent, and with several colloquial Flemish and Limburgish pronouns'.  The Flemish variant of Dutch is characterized by 1.Use of (mostly) three genders, 2. Rolling of 'r's' (with one trill) in the French manner, 3. Softening of 'g's so they are less gutteral, 4 Softening of terminal 'tie's so they are pronounced 'sie' instead of 'tsie', and 5. extensive substitution of 'u' and 'uw' for 'jou' and 'jouw' ('you-subject/object' and 'yours', singular-informal), and 6, use of variants of the Middle Dutchl/Limburgish pronouns 'gij/ge' for 'you-plural-informal' pronouns. .         Although the changes to 'Standard Dutch' may initially seem to add, rather than decrease the complexity of Standard Dutch, they allow students to make all pronoun, and almost all spelling, choices based on rules, rather than on arbitrary speaker preferences (which vary from community to community in Flanders). .         The five grammatical and/or stylistic differences between 'California Dutch' and 'Standard ABN Dutch'- (General Proper Dutch) are: 1. Reduction of almost all subject, object, possessive, and reflexive pronouns to one syllable,  2. Increased use of contraction of post-verb subject, object, and possessive pronouns, (which is the basis for the nickname 'Sideways Dutch'],  3. Reduction of the use of pronoun homonyms (by increasing the overall number of pronouns), 4. Simplification of the Common Gender pronouns which refer to inanimate objects (which is the reason for the nickname 'Double Dutch'), and 5. Spelling modifications/hints to help clairify pronunciations and to help indicate the tempo of speech. Written 'California Dutch' strives to be 100% phonetic and ends up being about 99% phonetic (with the exception of capitalized proper names. .        A counter-intuitive feature of the changes is that even though 'California Dutch' in general strives to shorten pronouns, prounouns are usually as long/distinctive as they can be, as long as they don't impede sentence flow.  For example: the subject pronoun 'jij'-(you) is always prefered before the verb, over the condensed post-verb form 'je', as long as the more lengthy 'jij' doesn't impede the flow of a spoken sentence. .       The six most noticable deviations from Standard Dutch are:  1. Elimination of the two-syllable subject, object, and posessive pronoun 'jullie' (y'all/y'all's).  Restriction of  the use of the 2. object pronouns 'jou' (you-singular-informal) and 3. 'jouw' (yours-singular-informal) to just emphatic, (including reflexive), and abstract use (such as: 'you never know.).  4. Reintroduction of the 'Middle Dutch' pronouns 'Du' (You-singular-object-emphatic) and 5. 'Gîj/gij' (pre-verb) and 'ge/ 'ge ' (post-verb) (You-plural subject- where the circomflex accent and apostrophe indicate a gutteral 'g+juh' sound), and  6. Elimination of all uses of 'hem' (he/it) to refer to nouns that used to be feminine in Standard Dutch and are still feminine in Standard Flemish. .          All the changes are meant to be so slight that during speech a Dutch speaker from Holland might not recognize them as being "non-Flemish", and a Fleming would just think you were from some obscure community in south-eastern Holland near the border with Flanders.  In writing, however, the changes are noticable. The written and spoken changes can be considered to be a hypothetical dialect of Dutch that might have evolved in the Dutch colony of 'New Netherland' (which now is roughly New York State), similarly to how Afrikaans evolved from Dutch in South Africa. .         In addition to the 'jullie/jou/jouw' changes that are based on 'Middle Dutch', several of the  other grammatical/spelling changes can be found in "old fashioned" Dutch books written before the mid 1900s..  A 1920 translation of the book 'Smoke Bellew' by Jack London is used as a reference, and a selection from the book is included at the end of this web page.  Other modifications used in 'California Dutch' occur in modern spoken Flemish, or in dialects/languages such as Frisian or Limburgs, and aren't officially recognized in 'Standard Dutch'.          There is one change that doesn't have a background in historical Dutch.  It is derived from a word in a song in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical 'The Sound of Music'.  In the "So Long, Farewell" song Oscar Hammerstein coined the 2nd-person-singular-object pronoun 'yieu'-(you) to rhyme with the final dipthong of the Austrian pronunciation of the word 'Adieu'.  There are five variants of 'yieu' in 'Califoria Dutch'.           The possessive pronoun (yours-singular-informal) has two variants.  They are written 'jìeuw'-(with a backwards accent) and 'jœu'.  'Jìeuw' is the default common-gender form and contains a dipthong that begins with an 'ih' sound, then morphs into a German umlaut 'ö,' or French 'eu' sound, and ends with a hint of an 'wuh' sound.  'Jœu' is the neuter-gender form, plus the initial and 'accelerated' common-gender form. The 'œu' represents a sound like a long German 'ö' or long French 'eu'.           The object pronoun also has two 'yieu' variants.  'jìeu' (with a backwards accent) is the pre-verb form and 'jèu'(also with a backwards accent) is the post-verb form, except in reverse-order (verb-subject) clauses.  They have similar pronunciations to their possessive pronoun counterparts except that 'jìeu' lacks the terminal 'wuh' aound of 'jìeuw', and 'jèu is shorter than 'jœu'.  The final, very condensed, use of the word occurs in the words 'jùself- (yourself) and  'alsujùblief'-(please)- where 'ù' represents an accelerated variant of 'jœu/jèu'. .          There are two other changes that repurpose seldom-used pronouns from colloquial Dutch.  The first of them is the coining of three monosyllable pronouns for 'you-plural-informal' based on the pronoun 'd'r'-which is used to mean 'her' in some parts of Holland.  They are the: 1.'emphatic object', 2. 'pre-verb object', 'terminal object' after vowels, 'post-verb object' in reverse-order constructions, plus 'reflexive' form, and 3. 'post-verb object'.           The emphatic-object form pronoun is written 'dijr', (where the 'ij' is ligated, or scrunched together, indicating the word id pronouced 'dih-jur' except fast enough so it is a single, long, syllable.). The pre-verb object form, terminal-word object form, post-verb-reverse-order object form, and reflexive form is written 'dîr' (with a circomflex over the 'î' that indicates it is pronounced like 'dih-jur', except faster. The post-verb object form is written 'd'r', and is pronounced like 'dir', with no trace of a 'juh' sound. As with 'jìeu', 'dîr' is used after the verb in inverse-order clauses. .        The second change based on repurposing seldom-used pronouns is the introduction of four 'new' unisex pronouns that refer to ex-female single-syllable common gender nouns that morphed into male nouns in 'Standard Dutch' prior to 1950. The unisex pronouns are also used with historically male nouns that refer to inanimate things, but that don't have an actual, physical, gender  They are further used to refer to human beings of indeterminate gender, such as a generic 'doctor'.  Note: It is always o.k. to use the correct Flemish/Old Fashioned Dutch gender pronouns for inanimate things, as long as a student is sure the gender is correct,          The unisex pronouns are: 1. initial-word and emphatic-subject- 'dér'-with a forward accent, which indicates the word is slightly emphasized and has a slightly rased tone, 2. initial-word-object- 'dìen'-(with a reverse accent over the 'ì' and pronounced like 'dee-in', except so fast it almost sounds like 'dean', 3. 'pre-verb object (and ultimate word) den' (with no accent), and the 4.post-verb object-'d'n', pronounced like 'din', except faster. .           In order to further decrease the chance of an ambiguous pronoun reference at the beginning of a clause, the new subject pronoun 'díe'-(with a forward accent), and the emphatic/first-word-in-a-clause object-pronoun ' dees' ' (pronounced like the 'dace-uh', except the 'uh' is so abbreviated it is barely perceptible) are introduced.  'Díe' and ' Dees' ' are used with feminine nouns and plural nouns..  (Note: The four 'initial word' pronouns 'díe', 'dér', 'dees' ', and ', 'dìen',  are also used after the 'if, and, or but' words ('òf' (if), 'als' (if), 'en' (and), and 'maar' (but).            To facilitate these changes, the 'old-fashioned' word 'den'-(with a lower case 'd'), -and which today only occurs in ABN (General Standard Dutch) expressions like 'op den duur'-(in the long run) or in proper, capitalized, names, is repuropsed. In the expression 'op den duur', the gender of 'duur' is switched to be neuter, and the expression is changed to 'op het duur'. .           In addition to the above changes, there are four other important stylistic feature of 'California Dutch': 1. the strenghening/shortening of several pronouns when they are the first word in a clause, 2 a. the expansion of several subject and object pronouns at the end of a clause- or 2 b. in the case of possessive pronouns, as the second-to-last word in a clause, 3. the contraction of the new object pronouns 'jèu', jouw, and 'dîr',  to ' ù ', 'ùw', and 'u' after prepositions, and 4. contraction of the two-syllable common-gender possessive pronouns 'onze' and 'uwe' ('ours' and 'yours-informal-plural-post-preposition-possessive') to ' onsė ' and ' uwė ' except if they are penultimate words.  ' onsė '  and ' uvė ' are pronounced like 'onz-uh' and 'uw-uh' where the 'uh' is very brief.  Both are just slightly longer than a monosyllable. .           To summarize, the central change of  'California Dutch' is that several pronouns change, according to where they appear in a sentence and whether they are stressed or not.  These distinctions include use of the pronouns as: 1. the first word in a clause, 2. use in an emphatic way, 3, use before a verb, 4. use after a verb, 5. use after a preposition, and 6. use at the end of a clause, or, in the case of possessive pronouns, as the penultimate word in a clause.  (As a result of these changes, the effort a speaker needs to pronounce pronouns decreases as the sentence progresses. This is similar to how much energy a bicycle rider's leg expends in the course of one revolution of a bicycle pedal. At the beginning of the downward stroke, maximum energy is required, and by the end of the upward stroke little energy is required.)           Note: This web page is meant to be used together with the web page www.zoot.co, which explains how English speakers can master Dutch genders ASAP. .        In Standard Dutch, subject pronouns continuously morph depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed, and depending on how much time they are required to fill. For example, the word for "we" is sometimes pronounced and written "wij" ( pronounced 'why'), and sometimes "we" (pronounced 'wuh').  It is difficult for English speakers to know when to use which option. .        In 'California Dutch', however, the long, stressed, variants of subject pronouns only preceed verbs- except in exceptional cases where a post-verb pronoun needs particular emphasis.  Conversely, the non-stressed variants of subject pronouns almost never precede verbs in writing, and seldom do in speech. .          Note: There two major exception to this rule, namely: 1. when 'wij'-(we) or 'zij'-(they) immediately preceed  multisyllable helping verbs, including passive, past-tense, and modal verbs, they are condensed to 'we' and 'ze' in order to maintain the cadence, or rhythm, of a sentence, and 2. when 'wij' or 'zij' follow the conjunction 'dat' (that), they are also condensed to 'we' or 'ze'. 'Easy Button'- Staples office products Flemish Lingust (and mathematician) Stevin (Pronouns really can be abbreviated after verbs!)         To help clarify the pronunciation of some of the "new" modified pronouns, plus to clarify the pronunciation of some letters which represent multiple sounds, and finally, to help indicate the timing of Flemish-Dutch , 'California Dutch' introduces eight types of enhanced spelling hints to Standard Dutch.          .        1.  The ligated letter 'ij':  Ligiated, (or "thin"), 'ij' is used to indicate a 'short i' sound, as in 'mogelijk' ('possible'- pronounced 'mow-ge-lick'). When the 'ij' spelling represents an 'aai' (eye) sound, as in 'hij'-(he), it is written without ligation. .         Ligated 'ij' also occurs in the word 'bijzonders'-(especially), which indicates the word is pronounced 'bie-zonders', and the new word 'dijr'-(you-plural-informal-object- see above). .         Some computer fonts, such as the one used in this web page, sporadically and arbitrarily, ligate, 'ij's.  It is o.k. if spellings representing 'aai' sounds are inadvertantly ligated.  However it is important that no spellings representing 'short i' sounds are left un-ligated..         2. Backwards accent marks over vowels. In addition to the Standard Dutch use of 'è' in French loan words like 'trompèt',  the backwards accent mark is also used over vowels to indicate a slightly accelerated and/or abbreviated pronunciation. It is nicknamed the 'curt' accent mark. .          An 'ù' at the beginning of a word has a slightly shorter sound than a long 'u', and is always coupled, (elided), to a preceding consonant. Initial 'ù' is used in the California Dutch word: ' ù  '-('you-singular-informal-post-preposition-object).  The new word is always slurred together with the preceding consonant. .           An 'ù' in the middle of a word indicates the 'ù' has sound as in  'pudding' (as opposed to the normal 'u' sound of 'pool').  An example is 'uitgepùt' (exhausted).  Doubling the consonant after an 'u' indicates the same 'ù' sound. .           'ù' is also used in the "new" word (from Linburgish) 'œùr'-(your-plural-informal).  Œùr is pronounced as a single-syllable dipthong 'ù' followed by an 'er' and is used with neuter-gender nouns,  or in accelerated-situations with common-gender nouns..  Old Fashioned Spelling on 'Thank You' gift to President Hoover in WWI. From the Hoover Tower Museum at Stanford.        An '-ù' at the end of a word technically has the same sound as an 'ù' in the middle of a word, however, during speech, it is usually hyphenated to a short 'uh' sound similar to the English schwa sound of 'the'.  It only occurs in the new word 'dù;-(you-singular-postverb-subject).         A 'ùe' in the middle or end of a word, as in 'manùever'- (manoeuver) or 'revùe'- (theatrical dress rehersal) indicates a long, but not emphasized, 'uu' sound.  It is also used in the new word 'jùe' (you-singular-informal-terminal word after a vowel). .         The letter combination '-où-', which usually occurs in French loan words like 'goùverneur'-(governor) also has a long 'uu' sound.  The spelling is also used in the new emphatic possessive pronound 'oùer' (yours-plural!) and the nominative pronoun 'de/het oùre'-(yours-noun). .        A short terminal German umlaut 'ö' or French 'eu' sound is rendered as '-èu'. It is used in the new word 'jèu' (you-singular-informal- post verb). See #7. below for pronunciation details. .        The letter 'è' is additionally used in the words 'wèreld'-(world), 'kèrel' (guy), mènu. and èèn ('a' after a preposition and before an adjective), to indicate a short, strong 'ay' sound, which is pronounced as fast as an 'eh' sound would be. .         The words 'òf '-(if) and 'òp'-(up) are written with an 'ò' which indicates an 'uh' sound similar to the English 'up'- except that it is pure vowel sound. The 'òf/òp' spellings are retained if the words are part of multisyllable words.. (Notes: The words 'of' (or) and 'op'(upon) remain 'of/op' are pronounced 'oof/oop', .         Unlike 'ù', the pronunciation of 'o' doesn't necessarily shift if it is followed by a doubled consonant.  For example, in the case of 'koffie'-(coffee), it doesn't shift, but is just shortened. .         The letter 'ì' is used together with 'u' in words like 'duìvel' (devil) to indicate an 'oy' sound. Dutch Inscription in the 'Dutch Art' wing of Stanford Hospital        In the vowel cluster '-oeì -'  in 'moeìijk' (difficult) the 'ì' indicates the pronunciation of the first syllable is accelerated so it is almost the same length as the final syllable. .         The new pronoun 'jìeu'-('you'-informal-object),is pronouncd as a single syllable dipthong 'yih-euh'. The new pronoun 'jìeuw' (yours-invormal-common gender) is pronounced the same, except '-euh' ending is slightly drawn out into an 'uuw' sound.  The new object pronoun 'dìen' (it-emphatic/initial word-common gender) is pronounced as a dipthong 'dee-en', except so fast it sounds almost like 'dean'.         3. Forward accent marks over vowels are used like they are in Standard Dutch to decrease ambiguity between homonymns (words that are spelled or sound alike but mean different things), and/or to indicate emphasis.  However, the use of forward accents is expanded to include: 'díe' ('that one(s)'-female or plural common-gender article plus initial-word female or common-gender subject pronoun}, dít/dát'/déze ('this/that /these initial-word-subjects), and 'dér' (it-unisex inital-word subject).           (Note: 'déze' is one of the rare exceptions to the rule that all subject and object pronouns are monosyllables.  This exception is o.k. because déze is used slightly emphatically-which means it can take a bit longer to pronounce without impeding sentence flow.) The Vingboom seriers of world maps from the mid 1600's includes the first detailed map of Manhattan. This sample of a key from one of the maps includes several of the "new" features of California Dutch. The famous Vingboom map of t' Eyland (the island) Manhattan in 1630.         4. Apostrophes indicating speedy contractions, or 'phantom' vowels, and which may indicate a shift of the sound of an adjacent consonant.  (A simple straight, slightly wedge shaped apostrophe is used in California Dutch, as opposed to the fancy "Number 9' style apostrophe which is common in printed English).  ,           The "new" pronoun ' d'r ' (which is used to mean 'her' in some dialects in Holland) is repurposed in 'California Dutch' as the post-verb form of 'you-plural-informal-object'. It is pronounced like 'dir', except faster. .            The new pronoun 'd'n' is the post-verb object form for unisex-singular nouns .  It is pronounced like 'din', except faster. .             The new pronound ' 'ge ' is a post-verb suject form of 'you-plural-informal'.  It follows present tense, simple verbs ending in '-t' and the apostrophe indicates the '-t' blends with the 'g' to create a 'ge+juh' sound.        In the new word ' zull'n ', ('will'-future tense plural-helping verb-as part of a triple verb construction) the apostrophe indicates the word is condensed into a single, drawn out, syllable (with a tailing 'uh' sound at the end).  It is used in normal-order constructions involving three verbs, of which at least two are multisyllable, for example: 'We zull'n dat morgen moeten doen.' (We'll have to do that tomorrow). Three other two-syllable helping verbs which are used in a three-verb construction and are shortened in the same way are: 'hadd'n ' (had), 'moet'n ' (must-present), and  'moest'n '-(must-past tense).         In rare quadruple verb constructions involving multisyllable verbs, two helping verbs are condensed.       (Note: Due to difficulty in pronouncing a fourth condensed helping verb, 'zoud'n ', 'zoud'n ' is condensed to 'zouw' in normal-order triple-verb constructions.) ,        Two new post-verb pronouns ' 've ' (we- and pronunced like an accelerated 'wuh') and  ' 'se '  (they- and pronounced like an accelerated 'zuh') are used following a multisyllable-verbs that are either part of a multi-verb construction or are parts of a seperable verbs.  For example: 'Dat wilden.'se niet doen' (They didn't want to do that.) .         The neuter, and pre-adjective/adverb-common gender, form of 'ours' is 'on's' (pronounced 'onz') .          Possesive forms made from names like ' Hans ', where the final 's' of the name has an 'ss' sound, are given an ' ...s+'  ' spelling that indicates a a terminal '-s+uh' sound, for example: ' Hans' moeder ' (Hans' mother) is pronounced 'Hans-uh moeder'.          The spelling is also used in the new word ' dees' ' (this one/ones common-gender, initial word), pronounced 'dase-uh'. .         Note: In expressions like ' 's nachts '-(at night), the ' 's ' retains an  's' sound.         Note: In multisyllable words ending in '-e+consonant+s', and where the consonant isn't a 'soft ketchup' consonant, an apostrophy isn't needed to indicate a 'z' sound; for example '-ens ' at the end of a multisyllable word is pronounced '-enz'.        An important note about ' d'r', 'd'n', 've ' ,' 'se ', ' 'ge ', ' on's ', ' zull'n' etc. is that the space between the apostrophies and the initial letter(s) should be increased by about a third of a point, and the space between the apostrophies and following letters should be decreased by about 50%, or 1½ points  This improves the visual flow of written sentences.  Note: This spacing isn't implemented on this web page due to limitations of the font. .       As is the case in Modern Standard Dutch, the apostrophe is dropped in possessives where the final " -s " has a a hard 's', instead of a soft 'z' sound, such as after the "hard" (SoFT KetCHuP) consonants, ie. 'Piet's Coffee' is written 'Piets Coffee'. The borough of Harlem in Manhattan was named after Haerlem in Holland (now Haarlem).           5. A circomflex ' ^ ' over a vowel is used to indicate that a foreign 'j-type' sound is assigned to a consonant adjacent to the vowel            The circomflex most frequently occurs in vowels adjacent to the  'g's' of French loan words and indicates the 'g's' acutally are 'j' sounds, such as 'gênant' (bothersome- pronounced 'dzjénant'). The circomflex normally is placed on the vowel following a 'g', however, if the 'g' is the second to last letter in a word, the accent is placed over the preceding vowel, as in 'horlôge'-(watch).  In the case of words like 'sergeant', use of the circomflex enables a simpler spelling- 'sergânt'.            The 'j-type' circomflex is also used in three new words: 'gîj' (you-plural-informal-preverb-subject, pronounced 'gh+jiy'), 'gê' (post-verb subject, pronounced 'gh+juh'), and 'dîr (you-plural-informal preverb-object, pronounced dih+jr'.  All three are pronounced as  monosyllables.             A further 'j-type' use is with English loan words containing a 'j' that are pronounced 'dj', for example: 'jâm', jûry, jôb, etc. .             6.  The letter combinatons 'ae' and 'æ' are used instead of the Standard Dutch, 'aa' in the case of verbs and verb-based words (adjectives, adverbs, and gerunds). 'ae' is used in most cases, however, for past-simple-tense verbs, 'ae' is condensed ot 'æ'., (including past-simple-tense verbs with doubled 'tt's).           The 'ae' spelling is not used in the case of nouns made from verbs. It is not used with initial 'aar-'s or 'aan-'s, or in the dipthong '-aai' of verbs, or verb-based adverbs, adjectives, and gerunds. .           The primary reason for the 'aa'-to-'ae/æ' change is that very few English-speaking students can hear the difference between the Dutch short  'a' and long 'aa' sounds.  The strong visual reinforcement acheived by substituting 'ae' or 'æ' for 'aa' helps English speakers overcome their handicap. A secondary reason for the change is that the 'ae/æ' spellings does indicate a slight increase in the speed of the long 'aa' vowel. The 'ae/æ' mnemonic trick isn't recommend for any non-verb-based words because their 'aa' spellings are usually easier to remember than those of 'aa' verbs. .          The 'æ' spelling is also used in the 'new' words, from colloquial Flemish, 'æie' and 'æìe' ('your' singular-informal penultimate word and noun form).  The words are pronounced 'aa-ee' and 'aa-ie-uh'. .           Note: The long 'aa' sound is still spelled 'ae' in the Vlaemsch-Dutch speaking area of northwest France near Dunkirk and in the Zeelandic-Dutch speaking area of southwest Holland and northwest Flanders.  It is also used in Limburg, but represents a different sound. .            7.  The contracted letters 'œ' are used at the beginning of words where the first syllable would normally be 'oe', as in 'œfen ' (to practice) and the new word 'de/het œre' (yours-plural-informal). 'œ' is also used 'together with 'u' to form 'œu', which indicates a long German 'õ'/French 'eu'/California Dutch 'èu' sound.  It is used in the word 'œuvre' (body of artistic work), and in the new words 'jœu'-(your-singular-informal-short form), and 'bœu'-(fed up with', which is written 'beu' in Flemish). (Note: in the word 'œùr' (your-plural-informal-neuter, emphatic, and accelerated) 'œù' has a dipthong 'uu+uh'' sound).                 Although the 'œu/-èu' sound is hard for English speakers to learn to pronounce, a trick to master it is for sudents to start by saying 'aay' and then rounding their lips as if they were blowing on a flute, or drinking from a straw.             9 .  The final pronunciation tip is used of a single dot over a vowel to indicate a nonstandard type of pronuncition. If the vowel is an 'i', the dot is doubled so it is a diaresis. There are two types of uses of the 'single (ir double) dotted vowel.  The first is to indicate a shift in pronunciation of an adjecent letter.            A dotted vowel next to a 'v,' indicates the 'v' is pronounced either  as 'vuh' or 'wuh' instead of 'fuh'.  In words like 'vėst' (vest), or vïsa, it indicates a 'vuh' sound.  In the new word 'uvė' (yours-plural-informal-common gender) it indicates an accelerated 'wuh' sound, followed by a barely pronounced 'uh' sound).            In the new words 'onsė' (ours-common gender) and 'desė' (this- before an adjective), the dotted 'ė' indicates the words are pronounced as 'onz-uh' and 'dez-uh', where the 'uh' sounds are hardly perceptible.            In the new word 'ewïg' (eternal= this pronunciation is fairly common in Flanders) it indicates the 'w' is pronounced as 'vuh'.            The second use of the dotted vowel is to indicate nonstandard pronunciations of English loan words. In the case of 'bėisbal' the 'ėi' is pronounced as a dipthong 'ay-ih'.  In the word bėbie (spelled 'baby' in Standard Dutch) it indicates the 'ay sound is actually an 'ay-ee' dipthong. .          Note: Enhanced spellings for other non-standard pronunciations in long-established loan words, (which are most likely from French, Greek, or Latin), aren't employed bccause they occur in 'vowel+consonant' letter-combinations that rarely or never occur in 'Standard Dutch'. .           Other, more recent ,loan words from English are more problematic. Except for words with the new ' ėì/ė ' spellings, or words with an 'ea' spelling such as 'team', or words with an 'ai' spelling like 'fair', most other new English loan words are considered to be temporary "trial words", and their English spellings are left as-is, even though they may break phonetic rules.          The most conspicuous new uses of the "sideways" technique of condensing and accelerating pronouns after verbs are 1. the use of the "new" subject pronouns 'dù' for 'you'-singular-informal (after simple, present-tense verbs and where the 'ù' has the sound of the 'u' in 'guerilla', except it is pronounced so fast it almost sounds like the similar schwa, 'uh', sound), 2. use of the "new" subject pronouns ' 'ge ' (you-plural-informal after simple present-tense verbs) or 'ge' (after all other verbs), and 3. use of the "new" object pronoun 'd'r' (pronounced like 'dir', except faster), for 'you-plural-informal'. .           The pronouns 'dù' and ' 'ge ' are ONLY used immeditately after present-tense verbs ending in '-t'.  The final '-t's of verbs are not deleted-(unlike what happens in Standard Dutch before 'je').  'Dù' and ' 'ge ' are not used in past, present perfect, past perfect, and usually not used in modal (helping verb) constructions. For example: 'Dat hoef je niet te zeggen' and 'Dat hoeft ge niet te zeggen'. (You don't need to say that). They are also not used with refelexive verbs.          'Dù' is also replaced by 'je'-with the preceding '-t' deleted, and ' 'ge ' is replaced by 'ge'- without the preceding '-t' deleted, after present tense verbs beginning with ge-, be-, ont-, or ver- (because these prefixes cause a shift of emphasis to the final syllable.) The pronouns for 'you plural' that were used 100 years ago to render conversations in the Wild West, such as in the 1920 translation of 'Smoke Bellew', are similar to those of "California Dutch". Other "throwbacks" include use of capital 'U' for 'you formal', and capitalization of months.          After the implementation of 'dù', ' 'ge/ge', and 'd'r', the next most significant difference between "California Dutch" and "Standard Dutch" personal pronouns is use of the colloquial Flemish pronoun "Gîj/gij" for "you-plural-informal-pre-verb subject" (with a circomflex accent over the ' î ' in the primary form indicating a single-syllable, gutteral, 'guh+yuh+eye' pronouunciation.  The 'gij' variant is only used if the final letter of the preceding word is one of the 'SoFT KetCHuP'' letters. .          This change is actually nothing new.  'Gij' (without the circomflex accent mark over the 'ì') was a standard form of 'You Plural-informal-subject' throughout Holland and Flanders until the early 1900s.  The 1920 translation of "Smoke Bellew" (Chechaquo en Old Timers) by Jack London is an example of this- see bottom of page below. It was also the standard 2nd-person-plural form of Middle Dutch.         In "Chechaquo en Old Timers", the modern Dutch word 'jullie' (you plural) never occurs, but is written instead as 'gij', 'ge', 'u', 'je', or 'jelui' instead. .        Also, in the modern Flemish variant of Dutch, 'jullie' is significantly less common than it is in modern Standard Dutch.  There are numerous spoken-Flemish variants for 'jullie' including: 'je', 'julle', 'u', 'gij', 'gîj', 'ge', 'geer', 'gulle', 'ginder', 'gulder', 'gidder', etc. .        California Dutch morphs all these variants into four "new" subject pronouns: 'gîj'- is the primary preverb form and is used as the first word in a clause, plus after any word that doesn't end in one of the 'SoFT KeTCHuP' letters, except before multisyllabic past-tense verbs when 'ge' is used instead, 'gij'-is the third preverb form and is used following 'SoFT KeTCHuP' words,   ' 'ge' is the post-verb form used after simple, present tense verbs and 'ge' is the post-verb form used after all other verbs.   'gîj' can is substituted in place of 'gij', ' 'ge ', or 'ge' to indicate emphatic use. .        The object form is divided into five "new" pronouns: 'dijr' (with a ligated 'ij') is the 'initial word' and emphatic form, 'dîr' (with a circomflex) is the pre-verb form, terminal-word form-after a vowel, and the reflexive form,  'd'r' is the post-verb form, and 'u' (with no accent), is the post-preposition form. except after the prepositions 'behalve' and 'na', and the terminal form after a consonant. Note: an exception to the rules is the expression 'jèu bijden'-(you both). .        The default-neuter, and initial-word common-gender, possessive form  of 'Gîj' is 'œùr', and default common-gender possessive is ' uvė '-( with dotted 'ė' and pronounced 'uw-uh', with a barely audible '-uh'). After a prepostion, the neuter form, as well as the common-gender form if followed by an adjective, is 'uw'. (The forms after 'dat' is 'œùr.'). The penultimate word, common gender form is 'uwe'. The nominative form is 'de/het uwe'. The emphatic form is 'œùr', and emphasis is shown by substituting 'œùr' for ' uw, uvė, or uwe'. .        The verbs for 'Gîj' follow the same pattern as 'jij' (you singular): "Gîj drinkt, drank, hebt gedronken", except final '-t's are retained in reverse-word-order constructions, and the verb 'to be' is 'zijt'/present tense, and 'wart'/past-tense. The past-perfect-tense forms end in '-e', and not '-en'. .         The verbs for the Flemish, and not California Dutch, colloquial 2nd person singular-very-informal pronoun 'Gij' (without an accent) are identical those of 'Jìj'.  In California Dutch, because the word 'Gij' has been repurposed for plural use, the word 'ge' can be substitued for 'jij' (preverb subject) to create a very informal touch similar to that of the Flemish use of 'gij'.. An inspiration for 'Calidocious Inc.' is the teacher- L.L. Zamenhof, who created the language Esperanto. In Esperanto's heyday, it was spoken by more than 6 million people. The picture is an Esperanto sign in the movie 'The Great Dictator'. The sign says "Old Clothes".         The complete list of 'Gîj' pronouns is: 1. 'gîj' (with a circomflex accent) as the emphatic subject, initial-word subject, and "post pre-verb non- 'SoFT KeTCHuP' letter subject, and 2.  gij (with no accent) as the pre-verb subject after 'SoFT KeTCHuP' letters, except for 3. 'ge' (before past-tense multi-part verbs), 4. ' 'gê  ' and 5. 'ge' as the post-verb subjects, except for 6.'gij' (with no accent) as an alternate terminal-subject to give a colloquial touch. 7 'dijr' (with a ligated 'ij') as the initial-word and emphatic object, 8. 'dîr' with a circomflex accent as the pre-verb object, terminal-word object following a vowel, and reflexive form, 9.' d'r ' as the post-verb object, including after the prepositions 'behalve' and 'na', 10. ' u ' as the object after all other prepositions, and the terminal object after a consonant, 11,'œùr' as the default neuter possessive, and also the common-gender initial-word possessive, 12. ' uw ' (with no apostrophe) as the post-preposition neuter-gender possessive and post-preposition common-gender possessive when followed by a adjective, 13. 'uvė' (with a dotted 'ė') as the default, common-gender possessive, 14. ' uwe ' as the penultimate-word common gender possissive., 15. 'œùr' as the emphatic possessive, and 16. de/het 'uwe' as the nominative-posseive. .        Note: Unlike the case of 'je', the preceding '-t' isn't dropped in reverse constructions. For example: "Hebt ge mij dat al gezegd?" (Did you already tell me that?).        Another essential personal-pronoun modification is the replacement of 'jou'  (you- informal-singular-object) with 'dú', 'jìeu', 'jèu', or ' ù ' except if 'jou' is used reflexively, emphatically, or in commands. .        'Dú' is used emphatically, in place of 'jou', at the beginning of a clause and 'jou' is used emphatically elsewhere, . 'jìeu' is the pre-verb form, and 'jèu' is the postverb form, except after prepositions or at the end of a clause where the preceding word ends in a consonant, in which case it becomes ' ù ' (short u). If a penultimate preposition or penultimate-word ends in a vowel, the final-word object is 'jou'.