ELL: Re: Flemish

[Niels Wijnen]

Hi Lucas,

> Not that I'm Flemish, not that I'm Belgian, but as I said, I'm
> originally from Dutch Limburg, and I do wonder if those from Belgian
> Limburg even like to be called Flemish...

I am from Belgian Limburg. And like the most Limburgers: I'm very proud on that!


> Those Belgians that I know (in the literary field, that is) don't regard
> their language as Flemish, they only regard themselves as Flemish from a
> geographical and historical persepective.

Yes, of course. Many Flemish don't.


> Those who believe that standard Dutch should only be regarded as
> Netherlands Dutch (and, admittedly, there are way too many) even simply
> forget that Netherlands Dutch, if taken to mean Holland Dutch, has been
> molded for a great deal by the Flemish protestant refugees after 1580.

I call standard Dutch the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands, because that's the
Dutch everything is based on. But indeed, I have to say that the standard Dutch
language is evaluated by both Flemish and Dutchmen. It is indeed not true that
the Dutchmen 'rule' the Dutch grammar and vocabularity. And yes, the Dutch
spoken in the Netherlands (wich formed the base of standard Dutch) got
influenced by several languages, including the Flemish dialects. But at that
time there was no Flemish language, only some dialects (and one of them was
also called Flemish).


Niels,

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