LL-L "Phonology" 2009.03.01 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 01 March 2009 - Volume 06

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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>

Subject: LL-L "Phonology"



Beste Diederik



Just a quick reaction, haven't got much time now unfortunately.



It's nice to hear you're working on a spelling. I guess you know that some
folks in Leuven have tried to introduce one 6 or 7 years ago?



Anyway, traditionally, long "o" is indeed pronounced along the lines of
"oeë" in Brabant (except for the southwestern corner which is an extension
of Eastern Flemish "uuë"). There are words though, that don't follow this
rule and I'm now talking about the dialect of Merchtem, but I'm quite sure
there's other communities too.



   - jeuken is pronounced like "uëken"...note that Kiliaan has "joocken" as
   primary form...noun = uksel
   - stroper becomes "struëper"
   - geloven becomes "geluëven"
   - roven becomes "ruëven"
   - droog is "druëg"
   - a family name like "Van de Moortele" becomes "De Meuter", and a street
   named after him is pronounced "Muëtersweg" (Meutersweg
   officially)...however, nowadays, "moortel" (like the stuff that masonry
   workers are using) and modder are both "moeëter"
   - buigen is of course "boëgen" normally, but if you want to express the
   fact that you're actively causing an object to bend, then it's "buëgen"


Case number 6 (which is like a relic) makes me think that the name of famous
Brabantish painter Breugel, may have been pronounced like "Bruëgel",
"Brugel" or even "Bruul", and indeed quite a number of toponyms are attested
as "Bruul" in Brabant (instead of "Briel", "Breul", "Broel" elsewhere).
Keyword is Celtic "brogilo". The spelling of Breugel's name (both as
Breug(h)el and Brueghel), seems to give away that in the past people were
mixing up "eu" (öö) with "uë". They looked sort of interchangeable.



I remember reading that "uë" instead of "oeë" for long "o" is an
"innovation" (couple of centuries ago) that started out in Ghent (and Ronse)
almost at the same time, and then gradually spread eastward. Maybe the area
used to be bigger than it is now?



That's all for now.



Kind greetings,



Luc Hellinckx

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