LL-L "Review" 2007.04.17 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  17 April 2007 - Volume 06

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From: R. F. Hahn < sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Delectables

*REVIEW*


 Roland Desnerck, *Oostends Woordenboek (Vierde verbeterde en vermeerderde
druk; met een word vooraf van Karel Jonckheere; tekeningen van Albert
Clement, Carlos Daubi)*; De Haan, Belgium : Roland Desnerck (
desnerck.roland at skynet.be), 2006; ISBN: 9080904252; 568 pp., hardback with
colored dustcover, 22x31cm/8.5x12".


Rarely do dictionaries materialize so well and beautifully presented. Even
more rarely does this happen when the languages they describe are not
"major" but fall into the category of "dialect." The fourth incarnation of
Roland Desnerck's dictionary of Ostend West Flemish is a rare exception,
indeed. It is clearly something few devotees of dialects and minority
languages would even dare to dream of producing, let alone dare to aspire
to.

This is far more than a dictionary. Visually it is handsome enough to serve
as a coffee table book. The contents are clearly presented and are
interspersed with various types of drawing, some merely for levity and
entertainment, others enhancing descriptions of culture-specific items
denoted by Flemish terms. This makes this dictionary suitable for hours of
entertaining and educational browsing.

The dictionary is presented in Standard Dutch. It is preceded by
introductions to the language, its speakers and its history with influences
from several languages. Special features are clearly and briefly introduced,
each with several examples.

There is also an introduction to the orthography used here for a linguistic
variety that has no official orthography. Many years of studying this
variety obviously paid off, for the Dutch-based orthography is easy to
grasp. All phonemes seem to be distinguished, and there are compromises
between phonetics, phonemics and conventional orthography, such as retention
of "g" for what in this variety is realized as [h] (or voiced [ɦ]?).
Apparently, there are two types of long "i" sounds that are not
distinguished orthographically. If these turn out to be separate phonemes,
one might want to consider distinguishing them in writing, for instance as
"ie" versus "î".

The glossary part of the dictionary is chock-a-block full of information,
including various derivations and idiomatic expressions.

Appended are a few stories and verses in Ostend West Flemish.

This is far more than a dialect dictionary, more than a dictionary. It
amounts to a detailed description of a West Flemish dialect with an
entertaining twist, a description that is suitable for a wide range of
readers, including those that do not normally peruse dictionaries. Yet, the
entertaining twist in no way diminishes the book's usability as a serious
reference work. As such it is a very important contribution to the
documentation of the Ostend variety and of Flemish in a wider sense,
actually of the entire Low German group of languages. It ought to be
considered a must-have in the library of anyone that deals with these
language varieties and their cultures.

*Reinhard F. Hahn, Seattle, April 17, 2007*
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