Undernederlandsk

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Undernederlandsk
Undernederlandsk
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|ˌunˀlˈni:ðlˀlæ:nsk]]
Created by	–
Native to	The European Netherlands (Kingdom of the Netherlands); Lower Saxony, Northrhine-Westphalia, Berlin (Germany); Denmark (the Danish Realm).
Native speakers	Approx. 35,000 (2012)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic North Germanic East Scandinavian languages Undernederlandsk
Language codes
ISO 639-1	un
ISO 639-2	unl
ISO 639-3	unl

Undernederlandsk is the language spoken by several thousands of people in the provinces of North Holland, South Holland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Overijssel, Drenthe, Frisia and Groningen in the Netherlands as well as the Kreise of Grafschaft Bentheim, Emsland, Leer, Emden and Aurich in Lower Saxony and Steinfurt, Borken and Münster in North Rhine –Westphalia in Germany. There are also considerable amounts of speakers in Berlin, the capital of Germany, and on the Danish island of Fyn. Communities of no major significance exist especially in southern Sweden and the east of the United States.

Undernederlandsk is considered a North Germanic language with West Germanic influences. There are seven local varieties.

History

The first mention of Undernederlandsk comes from the year 1982, when a small group in the town of Enschede in the Netherlands used it as a language amongst each other. At this time the group, later identified as a group of undercover private investigators, called it “Ænsksk”, named after the town itself in its own local Dutch Lower Saxon dialect.

As of yet unknown reasons the usage of the language spread as people took an interest in it, and by 1992 there were instances of people using it in Amsterdam, Groningen and Münster. Migratory patterns and the spread of the language have not been well-documented, but by 2002 it had spread across much of the north and the east of the Netherlands and across the border into Germany.

In 2009 it was discovered by interested linguists that the language had also arrived in several neighbourhoods in Berlin as well as on the Danish island of Fyn.

Usage

The area where Undernederlandsk is spoken. Blue colours denote the different German-Dutch dialects, red denotes the East-German dialect and yellow denotes the Danish dialect.

Undernederlandsk is currently spoken by an estimated 35,000 speakers in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Of these, 27,450 speakers live in the Netherlands, 5,250 in Germany, and 2300 in Denmark. Major Undernederlandsk linguistic areas include the northern suburbs of Enschede (Ænske in Undernederlandsk) and its close-by village of Lonneker (Lönneker), the Amsterdam and The Hague city centres (Amsterdam and Hågen), the village of Bunnik in Utrecht (Bønnek), the villages of Tynaarlo and Haren (Tynærle and Hårne) and the southern neighbourhoods of Leeuwarden (Ljovert) in the Netherlands (Nederland), the cities of Münster and Nordhorn (Mynster and Nordhörnet), the towns of Gronau, Ahaus, Leer and Emden (Grånav, Åhus, Lér and Emden), the villages of Lohne, Getelo, Itterbeck, Sustrum, Walchum, Dersum and Wirdum (Låne, Getelå, Itterbekk, Systrym, Välkym, Dersym and Virðym), the island of Juist (Jyst) and the Berlin neighbourhoods of Steinstücken and Schöneberg (Stenstykker and Sköneberga) in Berlin (Berlin) in Germany (Þyskland), and the villages of Åstrup, Fjællebroen, Bogense, Fælleden, Harritslev, Kræmmerkrog and Kærby (Åstryp, Fjællebron, Bogense, Fælleden, Harritsliv, Kræmmerkrog and Kærby) on Fyn (Fyn), the villages of Kragnæs and Ommel (Krägnæs and Òmmel) on Ærø (Æreija) and the villages of Tullebølle, Klavsebølle and Stengade (Tyllbölle, Klævsebölle and Stengatan) on Langeland (Långaland) in Denmark (Dænemark). It is further spoken by several people in the communities in between these villages, but without any considerable accumulations of speakers. These areas are known as Þynnsprøddedespröggererlanderne (the lands of thinly spread speakers).

In 2012, linguists working in the field of researching Undernederlandsk classified seven dialects, five of which were spoken in the main area of Undernederlandsk usage in the Netherlands and Western Germany.

Regulation

The Undernederlandsk language area is regulated by two institutions: the Parliament of the Undernederlandsk Language (Undernederlandskparlementet), and its subordinate Department of Language Regulation (Sprogensregulationsdépartmentet). The Parliament is a civil institution consisting of 35 elected representatives, five for each dialect. The Parliament serves as a forum for the speakers of Undernederlandsk to discuss matters present within the language and to protect the interests of the Undernederlandsk speakers. The Department regulates matters like spelling and other language-related aspects that apply to the Undernederlandsk language area.

Classification

Undernederlandsk is most often considered a North Germanic language, and thereunder listed as East Scandinavian. It thus belongs under the same classification as Danish, Swedish, Dalecarlian and Gutnish. The language has also been greatly influenced by Dutch, German and, to a lesser extent, Icelandic. Examples of Dutch influence are, for instance, the words øy "onion", [œy̯] and òjevær "stork" ([ˈujˀʋæ:ˀ]) (ui [œy̯] and ooievaar [ˈoi̯əfa:(r)] in Dutch); examples of German influence are, for instance, the words krænk "ill/sick", [kʀæŋk] and kreis "district", [kʀɛy̯s] (krank [kʀɑŋk] and Kreis [kʀai̯s] in German; examples of Icelandic are the words eija "island", [ˈɛy̯j:ɐ] and ást "love", [ˈau̯sʈ] (eyja [ˈɛi̯jɑ] and ást [au̯st] in Icelandic).

Local dialects tend to lean more towards the local language variant. The five Dutch dialects tend to be more influenced towards Lower Saxon, whilst the Berlin dialect leans more towards High German. The Fyn dialect tends to lean a lot more towards Danish, however.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Epiglottal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n					ŋ
Plosive	p b			t d		ʈ ɖ	c ɟ	k g	q			ʔ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s	ʃ	ʂ	ɕ	ɧ		ħ*	ʜ*
Approximant		ʋ					j					h* ɦ*
Trill				r				ʀ
Flap or tap				ɾ		ɽ
Lateral fric.				ɬ
Lateral app.				l		ɭ

• An asterisk behind a consonant indicates that the usage of the consonant depends on the speaker's dialect.

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i y		ʉ		u
Near-close		ɪ ʏ		ʊ
Close-mid	e ø				o
Mid	e̞ ø̞		ə		o̞
Open-mid	ɛ œ				ɔ
Near-open	æ		ɐ
Open	a				ɑ ɒ

Phonotactics

Undernederlandsk words can have, in written form, three consonants at most as onset, a maximum of two vowels as nucleus, and a maximum of five consonants as coda. It can thus be described as CCCVVCCCCC (C = consonant, V = vowel). An example of such a word would be stryontskt [ˈstɾyontskt], the neuter adjectival derivative of stryontsk, meaning "nonsensical language".

In the spoken language, however, in practice it is theoretically possible to have as many consonants or as many vowels follow each other up as one prefers, due to the actual pronunciation of words differing significantly from the way they are written. For instance, the sentence "Hun haver gella ögattar" (She has yellow eyes) would be pronounced [ˈɦʊnɦˀlˀjlˌjlˀə], the four words being phonetically merged into one word which could be described as CVCCCCCCCV, which means that seven consonants can follow each other up. Another sentence would be "Ud øy i ò ærer øyringer" (Out of an onion in a bucket come (are) onion rings), which would be pronounced as [ʉl:ˈœy̯iu̯æəˌœy̯ʀɪŋˀl], the six words being phonetically merged into one word which could be described as VCVVVVVVVVCVCC, which means that in this case eight vowels follow each other up.

Orthography

Undernederlandsk uses the Latin alphabet with seven additional letters: Ð, Þ, Ä, Ö, Å, Æ and Ø. Furthermore, the letters C, Q, W and Z are completely omitted, and any names, loanwords etc. are instead altered and if necessary supplied with the letters used in the alphabet.

The alphabet looks as follows:

Aa Bb Dd Ðð Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Þþ Uu Vv Xx Yy Ää Öö Åå Ææ Øø.

The letters do not necessarily have an inherent pronunciation, and indeed it is possible that what is written down as a vowel is pronounced as a consonant, and vice versa.

An example of a vowel being pronounced like a consonant would be the word stadtillstaund "city management", [ˈsta:ˌtʰ:ilˀstɑɳʈ], where /u/ is realized as [r] and therefore is through retroflexion assimilated into [n] and [t], changing them into their retroflex variants [ɳ] and [ʈ]. So even though /u/ is practically not pronounced, it does fulfill the role /r/ otherwise would.

An example of a consonant being pronounced like a vowel would be the word iðegran "yew tree", [ˈiðˀoɾɐn]. Here the /eg/ is pronounced as [o], as the /g/ takes priority over /e/, and the /g/ is pronounced [o].

There are however a few regulations that hold in the spelling. These are reflected in the usage of strong sounds, stærkljydar, and weak sounds, svågljydar.

Strong sounds

A strong sound is a sound that is, no matter the circumstances, represented by the same letter. The letter when used in writing therefore has no other sound it represents other than that sound. It can also never be omitted in speech.

Consonants

Strong consonants, stærkmedknyster, are: /ð/, /f/, /h/, /j/, /k/, /m/ and /þ/.

These letters are pronounced as follows:

• /ð/ is always pronounced as voiced dental frictative [ð]
• /f/ is always pronounced as unvoiced labio-dental frictative [f]
• /h/ is always pronounced as either as voiceless pharyngeal frictative [ħ], voiceless epiglottal frictative [ʜ], as voiceless glottal approximant [h] or as voiced glottal approximant [ɦ]*
• /j/ is always pronounced as palatal approximant [j]
• /k/ is always pronounced as voiceless velar plosive [k]
• /m/ is always pronounced as voiced bilabial nasal [m]
• /þ/ is always pronounced as voiceless dental frictative [θ].

(*)Pronunciation of /h/ depends on dialect, but is (in general) always consistent within that dialect.

In addition to these, there are also several digraphs and trigraphs that can be considered strong consonants. These stærkmeramedknyster are: /sk/, /skj/, /stj/ and /xh/.

These letters are pronounced as follows:

• /sk/, /skj/ and /stj/ are always pronounced as voiceless coarticulated velar and palatoalveolar fricative [ɧ]
• /xh/ is always pronounced as voiceless uvular stop [q]*.

(*)/xh/ only occurs in compound words like fuxholl "fox den", [ˈfʉq:ɔl:].

Vowels

Strong vowels, stærkknyster, are: /é/, /ò/, /y/, /å/, /æ/ and /ø/.

These letters are pronounced as follows:

• /é/ is always pronounced as mid-front unrounded vowel [e̞]
• /ò/ is always pronounced as close back rounded vowel [u]
• /y/ is always pronounced as close front rounded vowel [y]
• /å/ is always pronounced as mid-back rounded vowel [o̞]
• /æ/ is always pronounced as near-open front unrounded vowel [æ]
• /ø/ is always pronounced as long open front unrounded vowel [a:].

Two strong diphthongs, stærkmeraknyster, exist. These are: /øy/ and /ei/.

These diphthongs are pronounced as follows:

• /øy/ is always pronounced as [œy̯]
• /ei/ is always pronounced as [ɛy̯].

Weak sounds

Weak sounds are sounds that can be represented by different letters, or letters that ambiguously represent sounds.

Consonants

Weak consonants, svågmedknyster, exist in several forms:

• omissible consonants: these are consonants that can be completely omitted in a word, i.e. not pronounced. These are /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /r/, /t/ and /v/;
• consonants with multiple different pronunciations: these are consonants that can represent the same sound that has different pronunciations, i.e. the many ways of pronouncing /r/ (see the R-rule). These are: /d/, /r/ and /s/;
• consonants that can represent other consonants: these are consonants that represent sounds completely different from their usual conventional representation, i.e. another consonant than the letter officially represents. These are: /d/, /g/, /l/, /n/, /r/, /t/, /v/ and /x/;
• consonants that represent vowels: these are consonants that represent a vowel sound, i.e. not a consonant. These are /g/, /n/, /r/ and /v/.

R-rule

The R-rule, R-reglet, describes how and where /r/ is pronounced.

The rule is as follows:

• when /r/ appears before [s], [t], [d] and [l], the pronunciation of /r/ is completely omitted and instead the letters are pronounced in their retroflex forms [ʂ], [ʈ], [ɟ] and [ɭ] (the first R-rule)
• when /r/ appears after /e/, /er/ is pronounced as [lˀ] (the second R-rule)
• when /r/ appears after a long vowel, thus /é/, /ò/, /å/, /æ/ and /ø/, /r/ is not pronounced at all (the third R-rule)
• when /r/ is followed be [a], [ɑ], [ɐ] or [ɒ] it is pronounced [ɾ] (the fourth R-rule).

The fourth R-rule takes priority over the third R-rule, which in its turn takes priority over the second R-rule, which in its turn takes priority over the first R-rule. This means that læra, "to learn", is pronounced [ˈlæɾɑ], but lærer, "teacher", is pronounced [ˈlæ:ˀ]. The plural of lærer, lærerer, "teachers", would however be pronounced [ˈlæ:lˀ], since the second /er/ does not directly follow the /ær/ and therefore /ær/ takes no priority over it. The alternative definitive plural, lærererne, "teachers", on its turn would be pronounced [ˈlæ:lˀn̩ə], since here it is a case of the second R-rule taking priority over the first.

Language samples

A popular sample of the language is the song "Hylende Vilgan", the Undernederlandsk rendition of the English song "O Willow Waly". The text goes as follows:

Undernederlandsk

Hylende Vilgan
Vi lår, minna ást og jag
Under hylende vilgan
Er nu allena jag låe
Og hyle næsta þrén

Sjyngknar "oh hylende vilga"
Till vilgan som hyler med mig
Sjyngknar "oh hylende vilga"
Til minna ást kommer tillbaka till mig

English

The Weeping Willow
We lay, my love and I
Under the weeping willow
But now alone I lie
And weep next to the tree

Singing "oh weeping willow"
To the willow that weeps with me
Singing "oh weeping willow"
Till my love comes back to me

Undernederlandsk IPA

[ˈɦyln̩ˀə ˈʋɪljɐ]
[ʋiˈlo̞:ˀ ˌmin:.ˈau̯sʈojɒg]
[ˈʉnˀɬyln̩ˀə ˈʋɪljɐn]
[lˀˌnʉ.ˈɑl:e:n:ˌjɒg lo̞:]
[oˀˈy:lə ˌnæstɐ ˈθʀe̞n].

[ˈɕyŋknɐɾˌo: ˈɦyln̩ˀə ˈʋɪljɐ]
[tʰɪlˀ ˈʋɪljɐnˌsʊm ˈɦylˀl̩ˌmɪðˀ mɪj]
[ˈɕyŋknɐɾˌo: ˈɦyln̩ˀə ˈʋɪljɐ]
[tʰl̩ˀ ˌmɪn:ˈau̯sʈ ˌkʊmˈtʰɪlˀbɒkɐ tʰɪlˀ mɪj].