Weert dialect

Weert dialect or Weert Limburgish (natively Wieërts or Weerts, Standard Dutch: Weerts [ʋeːrts]) is the city dialect and variant of Limburgish spoken in the Dutch city of Weert alongside Standard language. All of its speakers are bilingual with standard Dutch.[1]

Weert dialect
Wieërts (in the urban dialect)
Weerts (in the rural dialect)
Pronunciation[βiəʀts]
[βeəʀts]
Native toNetherlands
RegionWeert
Official status
Official language in
Limburg, Netherlands: Recognised as regional language as a variant of Limburgish.
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone

There are two varieties of the dialect: rural and urban. The latter is called Stadsweerts in Standard Dutch and the rural dialect and Stadswieërts in the city dialect.[1] Unless otherwise noted, all examples are in Stadsweerts.

Phonology

Consonants
Consonant phonemes[2]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨nj⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive
affricate		 voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ tʃ ⟨tj⟩ k ⟨k⟩
voiced b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ (dʒ) ⟨dj⟩ ɡ ⟨gk⟩
Fricative voiceless f ⟨f⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ʃ ⟨sj⟩ x ⟨ch⟩ h ⟨h⟩
voiced v ⟨v⟩ z ⟨z⟩ (ʒ) ⟨zj⟩ ɣ ⟨g⟩
Liquid l ⟨l⟩ ʀ ⟨r⟩
Approximant β ⟨w⟩ j ⟨j⟩
  • /m, p, b, β/ are bilabial, whereas /f, v/ are labiodental.[1]
  • /n, l/ are realized as postalveolar [ɲ, ʎ] when they occur before /tʃ, dʒ/.[3]
  • In the syllable onset, /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ can occur only in proper names and loanwords. In that position, their status is marginal.[3]
  • /dʒ/ and /ʒ/ are found only in onsets of weak syllables.[3]
  • /ɲ/ and /ɡ/ occur only intervocalically. Younger speakers tend to merge the latter with /ɣ/.[3]
  • Word-initial /x/ is restricted to loanwords.[3]
  • /x, ɣ/ are realized as pre-velar [x̟, ɣ˖] when they are preceded or followed by a front vowel.[3]
  • /ʀ/ is a voiced fricative trill, either uvular [ʀ̝] or pre-uvular [ʀ̝˖]. The fricative component is particularly audible in the syllable coda, where a partial devoicing to [ʀ̝̊ ~ ʀ̝̊˖] also occurs.[3]

Vowels
Short monophthongs of the Weert dialect, from Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110)
Long monophthongs of the Weert dialect, from Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110). As shown on the chart, the close-mid /eː/, /øː/ and /oː/ are typically realized as centering diphthongs.
Closing diphthongs of the Weert dialect, from Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110)
Centering diphthongs of the Weert dialect, from Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110)
Monophthong phonemes[4]
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long short long
Close i ⟨ie⟩ iː ⟨iê⟩ y ⟨uu⟩ yː ⟨uû⟩ u ⟨oe⟩ uː ⟨oê⟩
Close-mid ɪ ⟨i⟩ eː ⟨ee⟩ ɵ ⟨u⟩ øː ⟨eu⟩ ə ⟨e⟩ (ʊ) ⟨o⟩ oː ⟨oo⟩
Open-mid e̞ ⟨è⟩ e̞ː ⟨ae⟩ œ ⟨ö⟩ œː ⟨äö⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩ ɔː ⟨ao⟩
Open ɛ ⟨e⟩ ɛː ⟨èè⟩ aː ⟨aa⟩ ɑ ⟨a⟩ ɑː ⟨â⟩
Diphthongs closing ɛi   œy   ʌu
centering iə   yə   uə
  • Older speakers may have an additional vowel /ʊ/, which is the back counterpart of /ɵ/. Other speakers have just three short back vowels /u, ɔ, ɑ/, as in Standard Dutch.[5] In orthography, it is not differentiated from the open-mid /ɔ/, being spelled as a bare ⟨o⟩ (instead of ⟨ó⟩, as in e.g. Maastricht). Elsewhere in the article, the difference is not transcribed and ⟨ɔ⟩ is used for both vowels.
  • Some speakers are not secure in the distribution of /e̞/ vs. /ɛ/ as well as /ɵ/ vs. /œ/. In the future, this may lead to a merger of the two pairs, leaving a short vowel system that is exactly the same as in Standard Dutch (phonetic details aside).[5]
  • Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998) claim that Weert Limburgish is an example of a language variety with five phonetic degrees of vowel openness. However, /eː/ is not a pure monophthong as it has a centering glide [eə]. In addition, /aː/, a phonetic front vowel [aː], is clearly not front phonologically as it umlauts to /œː/, as in other Limburgish dialects.
  • /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are phonological open vowels, corresponding to the short /æ/ in other Limburgish dialects. The phonological open-mid vowels are the ones transcribed with ⟨e̞(ː)⟩, and they correspond to /ɛ(ː)/ in other dialects. Here, a phonetically explicit transcription is used.
  • The closing diphthongs /ɛi, œy, ʌu/ contrast with the vowel-glide sequences /ɛj/, /œj/ and /ɑβ/, which begin with more open vowels than the phonemic diphthongs ([æ] and [ɶ] in the first two cases). In addition, /ɛi, œy, ʌu/ are all longer than /ɛj, œj, ɑβ/. Thus, what in tonal dialects of Limburgish is the contrast between /ˈbɛin/ 'legs' (pronounced with Accent 1) and /ˈbɛin˦/ 'leg' (pronounced with Accent 2) is a length difference in Weert: /ˈbɛjn/, /ˈbɛin/.[6]

Phonetic realization
  • Among the short front vowels, the difference in height in the case of both the /ɪ–e̞–ɛ/ triplet and the /ɵ–œ/ pair is not very great. In the first case, /ɪ/ is close-mid [ɪ̞], /e̞/ is mid [e̞], whereas /ɛ/ is open-mid [ɛ]. Thus, the Weert dialect is an example of a language variety that contrasts close-mid, mid and open-mid vowels of the same length and roundedness and almost the same backness. In the case of /ɵ/, it is close-mid central [ɵ], whereas /œ/ is mid front [œ̝].[7]
  • The long vowels corresponding to the short /e̞/, /ɛ/ and /œ/ have the same quality: [e̞ː, ɛː, œ̝ː].[7] /œ(ː)/ are transcribed as such (rather than with ⟨œ̝(ː)⟩ or ⟨ø̞(ː)⟩) because the Weert dialect contrasts only three degrees of openness among the rounded front vowels: close /y(ː)/, close-mid /ɵ, øː/ and open-mid /œ(ː)/, which are phonetically mid like /e̞(ː)/.
  • /eː, øː, oː/ are realized as centering diphthongs [eə, øə, oə]. Before nasals, the first two are monophthongized to [eː, øː].[8]
  • The back /ɔ, ɔː/ are the most open among the phonological open-mid vowels, being close in quality to cardinal [ɔ].[7]
  • The closing diphthongs /ɛi, œy, ʌu/ are similar in quality to those found in Northern Standard Dutch.[7]

Phonotactics
  • /ə/ occurs only in unstressed syllables.[3]
  • /eː, øː, oː/ are phonological long monophthongs despite their obvious diphthongal nature. That is because they can occur before /ʀ/, unlike any of the six phonological diphthongs and /i, y, u/.[5] However, at least /iə/ sometimes violates that rule, as it occurs in the name of the town itself (/βiəʀt/) and derivatives.
  • /ɪ, ɵ, e̞/ are rare before /ʀ/.[5]
  • Among the open vowels, /ɛː/ and /ɑː/ appear only before sonorants, making them checked vowels. They directly correspond to the short checked vowels /ɛ, ɑ/ combined with Accent 2 in other dialects (in which the vowel corresponding to Weert /ɛ/ is written with ⟨æ⟩). Thus, the phonological behavior of the long /ɛː/ and /ɑː/ is very different to that of /aː/, which is a free vowel like the other long vowels.[9]
  • The closing diphthongs /ɛi, œy, ʌu/ are rare in the word-final position.[7]

Sample

The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun.

Phonetic transcription

[də ˈnoəʀdəβeːɲtʃ ɛn də ˈzɔn | ˈɦaːjə nən dɪsˈkɵsi | ˈoəvəʀ də ˈvʀɔːx | ˈβeːm vɑn ɦɵn ˈtβiːjə də ˈstɛːʀkstə βoəʀ | tun dəʀ ˈjyst eːməs vəʀˈbeːj kβoəm | de̞ː ənə ˈdɪkə | ˈβɛːʀmə ˈjɑs ˈaːnɦaːj][10]

Orthographic version

De noordeweendj en de zon haje nen discussie over de vraog weem van hun twieje de staerkste woor, toen der juust emes verbeej kwoom dè ene dikke, waerme jas aanhaaj.

References
  1. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 107.
  2. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 107–108.
  3. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 108.
  4. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 107, 109–110.
  5. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 109.
  6. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 110–111.
  7. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
  8. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 109–110.
  9. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 108–111.
  10. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 112.

Bibliography
  • Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307
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