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CUEDSPEECH.org > Cued Speech > Language/Dialects cuedspeech.org |
Not to be confused with Maastrichtian Dutch or a Maastrichtian accent which denotes the accent of Dutch spoken in Maastricht.. For other uses, see Maastrichtian (disambiguation).
Maastrichtian or Maastrichtian Limburgish (respectively Mestreechs pronounced [məˈstʀeːçs] or Mestreechs-Limburgs pronounced [məˈstʀeːçsˈlimbœʁʝs]) is the city dialect and variant of Limburgish spoken in the Dutch city of Maastricht alongside Dutch. In terms of speakers it is the most widespread variant of Limburgish, and is a tonal one. The dialect is divided into two sociolects, namely Short Maastrichtian (Kort Mestreechs) and Long/Stretched Maastrichtian (Laank Mestreechs), and historically there have been linguistic differences between various neighbourhouds. Furthermore, like most city dialects Maastrichtian is more conservative then rural Limburgish dialects[citation needed] and therefore kept more Gallo-Romance (or more accurately, French and Walloon) influences in its vocabulary than other variants of Limburgish [1]. This Francophone influence can additionally be contributed to the historical importance of French with the cultural elite and educational systems. Despite being a specific variant of Limburgish Maastrichtian remains mutually intelligible with other Limburgish variants, especially the ones of surrounding municipalities. Whilst Maastrichtian is still widely spoken, regardless of social level, research has shown that it is suffering from a degree of dialect loss amongst younger generations. This is the case in dwindling of speakers but also in development of the dialect (dialect levelling) towards Standard Dutch (e.g. the loss of local words and grammar). [2]
[edit] Geographic distribution, social status and sociolectsBeing a city dialect the terminology "Maastrichtian" (Mestreechs) is practically limited to the municipal borders although with some exceptions of places within the Maastrichtian municipality where the spoken dialects are in fact not Maastrichtian. These exceptions come in the form of previously separate villages and/or municipalities that have merged with the municipality of Maastricht namely Amby, Borgharen, Heer and Itteren. The social status of Maastrichtian speakers is thus decided by the type of sociolect spoken by a certain person with the division being between Short Maastrichtian (Kort Mestreechs) and Long/Stretched Maastrichtian (Laank Mestreechs). Short Maastrichtian is generally seen as being spoken by the upper and middle classes, whilst Long Maastrichtian by the working class. A distinct feature of Maastrichtian is that it gives speakers a certain prestige [3]. Research into the dialect showed that people talking the "purest", i.e. the Short Maastrichtian (Kort Mestreechs) sociolect, form of Maastrichtian were considered by others to be the well-educated ones. [edit] Written MaastrichtianThe oldest known and preserved text in Maastrichtian dates from the 18th century. This text named Sermoen euver de Weurd Inter omnes Linguas nulla Mosa Trajestensi prastantior gehauwe in Mastreeg, presumably written for one of the carnivals-celebrations, incites people to learn Maastrichtian. As from the 19th century, there are more written Maastrichtian texts again mostly oriented towards these carnivals-celebrations. Nowadays however, many other sources display written Maastrichtian including non-carnival song texts but also books, poems, streetsigns etc. [edit] Standardisation of MaastrichtianIn 2001, the municipal government created a standardised spelled version of the dialect. [edit] Dictionaries
[edit] Local anthemIn 2002 the municipal government officially adopted a local anthem composed of lyrics in Maastrichtian.
[edit] WikipediaMaastrichtian is included in the Limburgish Wikipedia. Since there are only standardised 'variants' of Limburgish but no widely accepted/recognised standardised Limburgish itself, each article is tagged as being written in a certain variant of the language. All articles in Maastrichtian can be found here. [edit] Sounds
The phonology of the Maastrichtian dialect, espcially with regards to vowels is quite extensive due to the dialect's tonal nature. As with all other Limburgish dialects, and the Dutch accent area in the region, Maastrichtian uses the so-called soft G. [edit] Vowels[edit] Monophthongs
[edit] Diphthongs
[edit] Consonants
[edit] Orthography[edit] VocabularyMaastrichtian contains many specific words ample or not used in other Limburgish dialects some being creolisations/"limburgisations" of Dutch, French and German words while others cannot be directly subscribed to one of these languages. [edit] (Historical) Vocabulary influences from other languagesMaastrichtian vocabulary, as the language family it belongs to suggests, is based on the Germanic languages (apart from the Limburgish language family this also includes variating degrees of influence from both archaic and modern Dutch and German). However, what sets Maastrichtian apart from other variants of Limburgish is its relatively strong influences from French. This is not only because of geographic closeness of a Francophone region (namely Wallonia) to Maastricht but also because of French being the predominant spoken language of the Maastrichtian cultural elite and the higher secondary educational system of the region in the past. Some examples:
[edit] Other examples of Maastrichtian vocabularySome examples of specific Maastrichtian vocabulary:
[edit] ExpressionsSome examples of Maastrichtian expressions:
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
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