'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. This modified style of Standard-Dutch is called 'California Dutch', and is also nicknamed 'Sideways Dutch' or 'Dot 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 suplemented with several colloquial Flemish and Limburgish pronouns.  Traits of the Flemish variant of Dutch that are important in California Dutch include: 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 terminal '-isch' so it is pronounced '-ies', 5. Extensive substitution of 'u' and 'uw' for 'jou' and 'jouw' ('you' and 'yours'- singular-informal), 6. Use of 'du̇'-('you-singular-informal' and pronounced 'duh') in place of 'je' after simple verbs, 7. 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 choices based on rules, rather than on arbitrary speaker preferences (which vary from community to community in Flanders). They also make writtien Dutch nearly 100% phonectic, ie. "what you see, is (almost) always what you say". .         The seven grammatical and/or stylistic differences between 'California Dutch' and both  'Standard ABN Dutch'- (General Proper Dutch) and 'Flemish 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 a reason for the nickname 'Sideways Dutch'),  3. Contraction of the first word in triple-or-more word adjective-noun constructions and the penultimate word in triple or more word verb constructions 4. Reduction of the use of pronoun homonyms (by increasing the overall number of pronouns), 5. Redefinintion of the often ambiguous {male/female) genders of Modern Dutch mono-syllable Common-Gender pronouns which refer to inanimate objects, 6. More extensive and consistent use of commas to set off subordinate clauses, as is done in English, and 7. Spelling modifications to help clairify pronunciations and to help indicate the tempo of speech- (which is the reason for the nickname 'Dot Dutch'}.  Written 'California Dutch' is over 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 preferred before a verb, as opposed to the condensed, post-verb, forms 'je' or 'du̇', as long as the more lengthy pre-verb form 'jij' doesn't impede the flow of a spoken sentence. .       The nine most noticable vocabulary deviations from Standard Dutch are:  1. Elimination of the  two-syllable subject, object, and posessive pronoun 'jullie' (y'all/y'all's).  2. Restriction of the use of the object pronoun 'jou' (you-singular-informal) and the 3. possessive pronoun 'jouw' (yours-singular-informal) to just emphatic, reflexive, abstract.(such as in instructions), or end-of-sentence use. 4. Repurposing of the colloquial Dutch pronoun 'd'r'-(her) to become the object pronoun 'you-plural-informal-object', 5. Reintroduction of the 'Middle Dutch' pronouns 'Dù' (You-singular-object-emphatic where the grave accent indicates slight emphasis), and 6. 'Gîj/gij' (pre-verb) or ' ge/ 'ge ' (post-verb)- ('You-plural subject'- where the circomflex-accent indicates a gutteral 'g+juh' sound,  and where the apostophe indicates the word is slurred onto the terminal consonant of a preceding verb). 7. Use of the Flemish 'you-singular-informal-subject' pronoun 'du̇- which sounds like 'duh'- after simple verbs, 8. Use of the colloquial Flemish 'aai' based, possessive pronoun as: 9. 'æ̇i'- (yours-singular-informal  as a penultimate-word following a consonant-ended-preposition before a neuter one-or-two-syllable noun).  'æ̇i' is pronounced as a single-syllable dipthong, 'aye-ih', and is slurred together with the final consonant of the preceding preposition. 10. Use of the posessive pronoun 'æ̂i' in the same way before common-gender words.  In addition to slurring together with the final consonant of a preceeding verb, 'æ̂i' also has a hint of a 'juh' sound, as if 'eye-jih' were condensed to a single syllable, and 10, Use of the colloquial nominative pronoun 'de/'t æie'-('yours'-singular-informal and pronounced 'eye-uh'), 11. 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. 12. Use of 'u-based', 2nd person, singular and plural, object or possessive, pronouns following prepositions*.  They include 'u̇'-(you-singular-informal-object, with a short 'uu' sound ,, 'u̇w'-(yours-singular-informal-default possessive), 'uẇe'-(yours-singular-informal-penultimate-word posessive before a common-gender one-or-two syllable noun, and , 'ü'- (you-plural-informal- object).  All of them are slurred together with the final consonant of the preceeding preposition*. 13. Use of 'u'- (you-singular-informal-object end-of-sentence following words ending in consonants). 14. Use of  'uw/uẁe/de-het uwe'' as the non-emphatic forms of 'yours-plural-informal' (where uẁe (with a reverse accent instead of an overdot) is pronounced as fast as a monosyllable, with the 'uw' emphasized and the final 'e' demphasized). And 15. Use of 'œu̇r'-(pronounced as a dipthong 'eu-uu-r' and derived from Limburgish) as the emphatic possessive form. .          *Note: In order to simplify discussion about the unique ways California Dutch pronouns work, the term 'preposition(s)*',with an asterisk, will be used from here on to mean 'preposition(s) ending in a consonant'- which is almost all prepositions. Following the exceptional vowel-ended prepositions 'behalve'-(except), 'na'-(after), 'mee'-(with), and 'bij'-(by) pronouns usually behave like they do in Standard Dutch.       .          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 Flemish border.  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 American English evolved from British English.. .         In addition to the 'jullie/jou/jouw' eliminations/abbreviations that are based on 'Middle Dutch' and modern 'Flemish Dutch', several of the other grammatical/spelling changes can be found in "old fashioned" Standard Dutch books written before the mid 1900s..  A 1920 translation of the book 'Smoke Bellew' by Jack London is used as a reference at the end of this web page. .           The most "foreign" sounding of the California Dutch changes to Standard Dutch is the repurposing of the colloquial Dutch (and not Flemish)  pronoun 'd'r' (her) to become 'you-plural-informal-object'.  There are four variants of the pronoun: 1. 'Emphatic form 'dìėr'- (with a grave accent over the 'ì' and which is pronounced as a dipthong 'dih-ur'), 2. Preverb form 'dìer'-(with a grave accent and pronounced like 'dir'- except the 'ih' is a long sound, 3. Post-verb form 'dîr', which is pronounced slightly faster than 'dìer', but not as fast ad 'dir' would be, and 4. the reflexive form 'd'rself'-(yourselves where 'd'r' represents a very fast pronunciation of 'dir'). .          There is a second moderately-foreign-sounding change based on the repurposing of eight pronouns to refer to unisex common-gender things that prior to 1950 were considered to be either male or female, and which are now treated as male in Standard Dutch.  The new unisex pronouns 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 seven unisex pronouns are: 1. Preverb and emphatic-subject-:'dæ̇r'-with aan overdot over the the 'æ̇' which indicates a fast 'ay-uh' dipthoung that is pronounced as quickly as the English word 'dare' would be, 2. post-verb, and post 'dat', subject- 'die',  3. initial-word object and emphatic object- 'diėn'-(with an overdot over the 'ė' and pronounced like a dipthong- 'dee-uhn', except so fast it becomes a single syllable, 4. pre-verb object and terminal-word object- ' den' (with no accent),  5. post-verb object- ' dėn '-(pronounced like 'den', (except as fast as 'd'n' would be pronounced), 6. possessive (including emphatic) ' diėns '-(where the final 's' has a 'z' sound and the dipthong is pronounced so fast the word is a monosyllable), and 7. nominative form 'de/het diën'-(its).  Note: To facilite making these changes, the now rarely used Dutch article 'den' ('the'-male gender) is changed to d'n', as in 'op d'n duur'-(in the long run). It is pronounced like 'din', except faster. The spellings of proper names like 'Den Haag' aren't changed. .           There is one change that doesn't have a background in colloquial or historical Dutch, (except for some Flemish dialects that have similiar words).  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 (dual-vowel-sound) of the Austrian pronunciation of the word 'Adieu'.  There are eight variants of 'yieu' in 'Califoria Dutch'.           The object pronoun has two new 'yieu' variants:  'jìeu' (with a backwards accent) is the pre-verb form and 'jėu'-(with an overdot) is the post-verb form. 'Jìeu' is pronounced as a dipthong 'yih-eu' where the final sound is the same as a German 'ö' or French 'eu'. 'Jėu' is pronouced like 'yuh-eu' but as fast as 'je' would be.          The possessive pronoun (yours-singular-informal) has one new 'yieu' variant: jœ̇u'-(with an overdot and pronounced 'yuh-eu', where 'yuh' has a long 'eu' sound, is the default, pre-and-post-verb non-emphatic form.  Note: 'jœ̇u' is the long-vowel form of 'jėu.           An additional,very condensed, use of the word occurs in the words 'jùself- (yourself) and  'alsjùblief'-(please)- where 'jù' represents an accelerated variant of 'yeu'. .           In addition to the above "new" words, there are seven essential stylistic features of 'California Dutch' that are fairly common in Flemish dialects of 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 reduction of the first word of  triple-word noun or verb consturction into a monosyllable,  5. the contraction of the penultimate verb in triple-or-more-word verb-constructions where the final two verbs are multi-syllables, and  6. contraction of the two common-gender possessive pronouns, 'onze' and 'uwe' ('ours' and 'yours) to 'oǹze' and 'uẁe'-(with reverse accents which indicate that the initial syllables are slightly emphasized, the final 'e's are deemphasized, and the words are pronounced as fast as monosyllables). .        Finally, are two changes from colloquial Flemish Dutch.  They are the use of 'du'-(you-singular-informal) reflexively and de/het hulle-(theirs). .         The balance of "new" pronouns consist of new accented spellings designed to indicate colloquial Flemish pronounciations.  These include: 1. accented variants of  'die, dat, and deze'-to distinguish between (díe, dát, déze) preverb-subjects and (dìe, dàt, dèze) preverb-objects, 2. similar use of the reverse-accent to indicate the grammatical role, and slightly emphasized pronunciation, of the emphatic object pronouns 'you-singular-informal'- 'dù'-(initial word) and 'jòu'-(default form), 3. use of the coloquial Flemish 'dæ̀s' ('it'-inital-word neuter-gender object and pronounced as a monosyallable dipthong 'day-us'),  4. compression of several post-multisyllable-verb (or post-'dat') subjects, including ' 've '-(we), ' 'se' '-(they),  and ' 'sie '-(they-reflexive). and 5. compression of the possessive pronoun 'onze' to 'on's'-(pronounced 'onz') as an initial word, modifier of a neuter noun, or when preceding an adjective. .           To recap, 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.) .            The complete list of the "new" three-dozen modified 'California Dutch' pronouns is: gîj, ġe, dìėr, dìer, dîr, ü, œu̇r, uẇe, d'rzelf, dæ̇r, diėn, diėns, dėn, diën, dæ̇s,  jîj, du̇, dù, jòu, jìeu,  jėu, u̇, jȯu̇w, jœ̀u, u̇w, æ̂i, de/’t æ̂ie, oṅze, on's, 'se,  've, 'sie, díe-dát-déze, dìe-dàt-dèze, and my'n-zy'n.  (Note: due to limitations of the type of font used on this web page, prescribed compression/expansion of apostrophes and the letters beside them hasn't been implemented here.) .           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 pre-verb pronoun is used after the verb emphatically, or at the end of a sentence to indicate maximum informality).  .           Conversely, the non-stressed variants of subject pronouns almost never precede verbs in writing, and seldom do in speech- (with two exceptions: 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 condensed to ' 've' or ' 'se ' -(pronounced 'we' and 'ze', except they are slurred onto the '-t' of 'dat'), even though they preceed the verb of the clause. '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 nine 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 in the suffix '-lijk', as in 'mogelijk' ('possible'- pronounced 'mow-ge-lick'). When the 'ij' spelling represents an 'eye' pronunciation, as in 'hij'-(he), it is written without ligation. .         Some computer fonts, such as the one used in this web page, sporadically, and arbitrarily, ligate, 'ij's.  It is o.k. if some 'ij' spellings representing 'aye' sounds are inadvertantly ligated.  However it is important that all spellings representing 'ih' sounds are ligated.         2. Backwards accent marks over vowels. The old fashioned Standard Dutch backwards-accent 'è', which used to be used in the final syllables of French loan words like 'trompèt' is repurposed, and is used over vowels to indicate slight emphasis or slightly altered pronunciations. The backwards accent is nicknamed the 'Fugezi' accent mark. .           The use of the mark to indicate slight emphasis occurs in: 1. the French loan word 'à'-(to),  2. the interjection 'hè'-(pronounced 'heh'), 3. the pre-verb object pronouns 'dèze'/'dìe/dàt/dæ̀s'-('this one/that one' and pronounced as a mono-syllable 'day-us')-, 4. the initial-word object pronoun 'Dù'-(you-informa-singular), and 5. the emphatic object-pronoun 'jòu'-(you-informal-singular). .           In the English loan word 'bàby' the reverse accent indicates that the pronunciation is shifted from an 'aah' to an 'aay' sound. .          In the words 'wèreld'-(world), 'kèrel'-(guy),  and the interjection 'hè', the 'è' indicates the pronunciation shifts from an 'ay' to an 'eh' sound- where the 'eh' sound is long. .          In the new word 'bèu'-('fed up with') the reverse accent means the word is pronounced as it would in French (or Flemixh Dutch)- 'jöh'.  This differentiates the pronounciation from that of the four other common words in (old-fashioned spelling) Dutch that end in '-eu', 'keu'-(pool que), 'reu'-(male dog), 'sneu'-(unfortunate), and 'bleu'-(timid) and which are pronounced with an 'uh-uu' sound. Old Fashioned Spelling on 'Thank You' gift to President Hoover in WWI. From the Hoover Tower Museum at Stanford. Dutch Inscription in the 'Dutch Art' wing of Stanford Hospital           The letter 'ì' is used together with 'ù'- 'uì' in words like 'duìvel; (devil) to indicate and 'uh-ih' sound, as opposed to an 'ow-ih' sound is in 'huid'-(skin). .          The new pronoun 'jìeu'-('you'-informal-object), is pronouncd as a single syllable dipthong 'yih-euh', but where the dipthong is quite fast and barely perceptible (instead of as a more pronounced 'ee-uu' dipthong, such as in 'nieuw'-(new). .          The new pronouns 'dìėr' and 'dìer' are pronounced with a long 'ih' sound.  'dìėr' is pronounced with a slight 'dih-ur' dipthong, and 'dìer' is pronounced with just a long 'ih' sound. .           The reverse accent is also used in the colloquial words 'goeìe'- ('good'-common gender and pronounced 'goo-ee') and 'mooìe' (pretty-common gender and pronounced 'moo-ee') the rever differntiate them from the Standard Dutch variants 'goeie'-(pronounced 'goo-ee-uh') and 'mooie'-(pronounced mo-oy-uh). .           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 a 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' and are pronounced like 'oof/oop'-except the 'o' is a short sound.  Unlike 'u', the pronunciation of 'o' doesn't shift if it is followed by a doubled consonant.            A stand-alone '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. .            The mid-word letter combination '-où-', which usually occurs in French loan words like 'goùverneur'-(governor) has a long, and slightly emphasized, 'uu' sound.  .             An 'ùe', which occurs in the middle of a word, indicates a similiar, but slightly more "pointed" 'uu' sound, where the speaker's lips are slightly more puckered.  'ùe' occurs in French loan words like 'parachùet' or 'manùever'.  At the beginning or end of a word, such as in the German loan word 'ueberhaupt'-(above all), or 'revue'-(theatrical review) the same sound is written without an accent. .             Finally, a double-reverse-accent is used in the article 'èèn'- ('a'-after a prepostion and before an adjective) to indicate the pronunciation of the vowel is a. shortened so that it is pronounced almost as quickely as a short 'e' would be, and is b. slurred together with the final consonant of a preceding preposition*.  Normally, such an effect would be indicated with an overdot, however in this case both 'èè's need accents for the word to "look right", and double-overdots are used to indicate slight emphasis.         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}, 'dát' and 'déze' ('that'-neuter' and 'these'-common gender, initial-word-subjects, are similarly accented.). .           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, and as a result, can take a bit longer to be pronounced without impeding sentence flow. .           Forward accent marks are also used over terminal 'é's in English loan words to indicate strong 'ay' pronunciations, such as in 'hé'-(hey) or 'oké'. (Note: In French loan words the same sound is indicated with a double '-ee'., as in 'dictee'-(dictation). 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 of apostrophe usually used in English. The spacing before/after the apostrophes is critical and is explained at the end of this section.   .            The new article 'd'n'-('the') which replaces the old-fashioned 'den' of Dutch, is pronounced like 'din', except faster. .           In the new pronoun 'd'rzelf'-(yourselves), ' d'r ' is pronounced like 'dir' except very fast.        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.) They are also used after the conjunction 'dat'-(that)- more on that later. .         The initial-word, 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 written ' Hans' ' and pronounced 'Hans-zuh'- where the 'zuh' is barely perceptible.)