37.2413, Books: Spread the New(s)!: de Vos (2026)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2413. Mon Jul 20 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2413, Books: Spread the New(s)!: de Vos (2026)

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Date: 20-Jul-2026
From: Jan Martin [lotdissertations-fgw at uva.nl]
Subject: Spread the New(s)!: de Vos (2026)


Title: Spread the New(s)!
Subtitle: Understanding standardisation of Dutch through
seventeenth-century newspapers
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke
(LOT)
           http://www.lotpublications.nl/
Book URL: https://dx.medra.org/10.48273/LOT0717

Author(s): Machteld de Vos

Paperback
ISBN: 978-94-6093-502-2
Pages: 432
Price: 48,00 euros

Abstract:

Across Early Modern Europe, far-reaching social, political, and
economic changes gave rise to efforts to shape and standardise
vernacular languages. In the Low Countries, these efforts took shape
in the first Dutch spelling guides, grammars, and dictionaries, which
set out tentative norms for a standard written language. At the same
time, printed newspapers emerged as a new and widely read medium,
reaching audiences across social classes, and potentially serving not
only to spread the news, but also newly formulated norms for an
emerging standard variety of Dutch.
To assess this possibility, this dissertation examines to what extent
grammatical norms codified in the first Dutch grammars (ca. 1550–1650)
are reflected in language use in seventeenth-century newspapers
(1618–1699). It combines a theoretical analysis of the early normative
discourse – its approaches to variation, arguments used to justify
selections, and underlying language ideologies – with an empirical
investigation of newspaper language. Using the Couranten Corpus
(Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal), a large collection of
seventeenth-century Dutch newspapers, four grammatical case studies
are examined: strong verbs from the third ablaut class, second-, and
third-person pronouns, and reflexive pronouns.
By exploring the potential for pre-institutionalised language
standardisation ‘from above’ through mediatisation, this study offers
new insights into the relationship between codified norms, media, and
language use in early standardisation processes. Although the
corpus-based findings provide little evidence for the direct
dissemination of codified norms through newspapers, they nonetheless
suggest that newspapers may have contributed to the emergence of new,
more uniform norms of usage.

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics

Subject Language(s): Dutch (nld, dutc1256)

Language Family(ies): Dutch based




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