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.
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'California Dutch' may alternantely be described as 'Standard Dutch', spoken with a Flemish accent, and suplemented with several colloquial Flemish, Limburgish, and Northern Dutch 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', 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, and 8. Reduction of use the pronoun 'die'.
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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 what you say".
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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 of 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'. The Written 'California Dutch' is over 99% phonetic, with the exception of capitalized proper names.
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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.
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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). Restriction of the use of 2. the object pronoun 'jou' (you-singular-informal) and 3. the 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) as the object pronoun for 'you-plural-informal-object', 5. Reintroduction of the 'Middle Dutch' pronouns 'Du' (You-singular-object-emphatic), and 6. 'Gîj/gij' (pre-verb) or ' ge/ ġe ' (post-verb)- ('You-plural subject')- where the circomflex-accent indicates a gutteral 'g+juh' sound, and where the over-dot indicates the word is slurred onto the termianl consonant of a preceding verb). 7. Use of the Flemixh post-simple-verb you-singular-informal-subject pronoun 'du̇- which sounds like 'duh', 8. Use of the colloquial Flemish possessive pronoun 'æ̂i'- (yours-singular-informal post-preposition penultimate-word. It is pronounced as a single syllable dipthong 'ah-ee', except it is slurred together with the final consonant of the preceding preposition and the 'ah' sound has a touch of a gutteral 'j' sound, similar to the corresponding sound in Arabic, ). 9, Use of unique object pronouns for 'you-singular informal' and 'you-plural-informal' when they are sandwiched between the parts of a compound verb, 10. 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. And 11. Use of 'u-based' object and possessive pronouns following prepositions, or preterminal words, that end in consonants. They include 'u̇'-(you-singular-informal-post-preposition- with a short 'uu' sound and slurred onto the final consonant of the preceding preposition), 'u̇w'-(yours-singular-informal post-preposition and slurred together with the final consonant of the preposition), 'u̇e'- (you-plural-informal-post preposition object, with a long 'uu' sound and slurred together with a preceding consonant), u-(you-singular-informal end-of-sentence), 'ùe' (you-singular-informa end-of-sentence) and 'uw/u |