Amerikaens
Amerikaens | |
---|---|
Amerikaens | |
Pronunciation | [ˌɑː.meː.riːˈkɑːns] |
Native to | New Netherland |
Ethnicity | Amerikaeners |
Language family | Scythian
|
Early form | Bergen Dutch
|
Dialects | Amerikaens dialects |
Writing system | Latin |
Official status | |
Official language in | New Netherland Tussenland South Tussenland Amerikaens Free State Opdamsland Boschland |
Recognised minority language in | |
Regulated by | Amerikaense Taelkomisie |
Amerikaens (/ˌɑː.meː.riːˈkɑːns/) is a West Germanic language and daughter language of Dutch spoken primarily by Amerikaeners across a vast area of North America. It evolved from dialects of Bergen Dutch spoken in 17th century New Netherland, eventually developing several different varieties as well as a standard register over the following centuries. It serves as a primary and official language in the states of New Netherland, Tussenland, South Tussenland, the Free State, Opdamsland, and Boschland. Amerikaens is also spoken by minority communities in nearby Latino countries such as Mexico and Colombia.
The language developed an independent identity during the course of the 18th century. In the early 20th century, a common literary variety of Amerikaens was formally standardized in New Netherland and Tussenland. As a consequence, this register of Amerikaens is the predominant form of the language used in government, education, and literature today.
History
Geographic distribution
Phonology
Labial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʃ[1] | k | |
aspirated | ph | th | kh | |||
voiced | b | d[2] | g[3] | |||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ[4] | χ[5] | h |
voiced[6] | v | z | ʒ | ɦ | ||
Approximant | w[7] | l | j | |||
Rhotic | r[8] |
Front | Central | Back | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | ||||||
short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | ||
Close | i | iː | yː | uː | |||||||
Close-mid | eː | oː | |||||||||
Mid | ɛ | œ | œː | ə | ʌ | ɔ | ɔː | ||||
Near-open | æ | æː | |||||||||
Open | (a) | ɑ | ɑː | ||||||||
Diphthongs | ɑi æi ɑu ɛu ɛi œu oːi ɔu ɔi |
Vowel shift from European Dutch
The vowel shift in Amerikaens began in the mid-17th century in New Netherland, gradually developing until its conclusion in the late 19th century. Some dialects of Amerikaens, such as the Voor dialects of Tussenland, preserve European Dutch pronunciations.
Dutch | Amerikaens | Example | English | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ɪ | ɛ | [ɪk] ik | [ɛk] ik | 'I' | |
ɛ | æ | [wɛx] weg | [wæχ] weg | 'Road' | |
ɑ | ɑ | [bɑŋk] bank | [bɑŋk] banck | 'Couch', 'bench' | |
ɑː | [ɑxt] acht | [ɑːχt] agt | 'Eight' | ||
ʌ | [pɑt] pad | [pʌt] padt | 'Toad' | ||
ʏ | [lʏxt] lucht | [lʌχt] lught | 'Sky' | ||
o | [os] os | [ʌs] os | 'Ox' | ||
ɔː | [ons] | [ɔːns] | 'Us' | ||
i | iː | [tin] tien | [tiːn] tîn | 'Ten' | |
u | uː | [stul] stoel | [stuːl] stül | 'Chair', 'seat' | |
eː | eː | [ˈne.ɣə(n)] negen | [ˈneː.χə] nege | 'Nine' | |
ɛə, ɛː | [neːr] neer | [nɛːr] nîr | 'Near' | ||
iː | [eːn] een | [iːn] în | 'One' | In dialectal speech. | |
aː | ɑː | [jaːr] jaar | [jɑːr] jaer | 'Year' | |
ɔː | [ˈɦaː.vər] haver | [ˈhɔː.fər] hafer | 'Oats' | ||
ɛi | ɑi | [ˈstrɛi̯kə(n)] strijken | [ˈstrɑikə] strÿcke | 'To iron' | |
æi | [vɛi̯f] vijf | [væif] vÿf | 'Five' | ||
œy | œu | [ɦœy̯s] huis | [hœus] huys | 'House' |
Orthography
Divergences from Dutch
Amerikaens orthography. first recognized as distinct in the mid-18th century, preserves many forms found in early modern Dutch. In 1910, orthography was officially standardized for literary Amerikaens.
Dutch | Amerikaens | Example | Usage notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
aa | ae | Amerikaans | Amerikaens | |
ei | ey | Înheid | Înheydt | |
ui | uy | Fruit | Fruyt | |
ij | ÿ | Vrijheid | Vrÿheydt | |
uu | ue | Absoluut | Absoluet | |
ee | î | Eenheid | Înheydt | |
oo | ö | Voorland | Vörlandt | |
oe | ü | Daartoe | Daertü | |
m | mm | Komen | Komme | Does not occur at the beginning of a syllable. |
l | ll | Graal | Graell | |
k | ck | Boek | Boeck | Only occurs at the end of a syllable. |
d | dt | Stad | Stadt | |
f | v | Kalf | Kalv |
Spelling to sound correspondences
Vowels | Consonants | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grapheme | IPA | Grapheme | IPA | |||
checked | free | normal | final | |||
a | /ɑ/, /ʌ/, /ɔ/ | /ɑː/ | b | /b/ | /p/ | |
ae | /ɑː/, /eː/ | d | /d/ | /t/ | ||
au | /ɑu/, /ɔu/, /ɔ/ | dj, dsch | /ʒ/, /dj/ | |||
e | /ɛ/, /ə/, /æ/ | /eː/, /ə/ | f, ph | /f/ | ||
o | /ɔ/, /ʌ/ | /oː/ | g, gh | /χ/, /g/ | ||
ö | /oː/ | h | /h/, /ɦ/ | |||
ai, aei | /ɑi/, /æi/ | j | /j/ | |||
au(x), eau(x) | /oː/ | k, ck | /k/ | |||
auw | /ɔu/ | l | /l/ | |||
i, ie | /i/, /ə/, /ɛ/ | /iː/ | m | /m/ | ||
î | /eː/ | n | /n/ | |||
îuw, ieuw | /eːu/, /iu/ | ng | /ŋ/ | |||
ey | /ɛi/ | p | /p/ | |||
eu | /œː/ | r | /r/ | |||
oi | /ɔi/ | s | /s/, /sj/ | |||
ou, ouw | /ɔu/ | sch, sh | /ʃ/, /sχ/ | |||
ÿ | /ɑi/, /i/ | t, th | /t/ | |||
ü | /uː/ | tsj, tj | /tʃ/, /tj/ | |||
uy, üy | /œu/, /ɛu/ | v | /f/, /v/ | |||
ue | /yː/ | w | /w/ | |||
uw | /yu/ | z | /s/, /z/ |
Sound change
Lenition is prevalent in Amerikaens, especially affecting consonants in the middle of words. Most notably, it affects the suffix -tie. Initially, the suffix was read as /tsi/ but has since shifted solely to /si/. It is reflected in modern Amerikaens orthography; for example, Dutch politie has become Amerikaens polisie (/pʌ.ˈliː.si/, lit. 'police').
Deletion of final sounds (coda) in Amerikaens is one of the defining features of the language. Final consonants and vowels, most commonly n and e, are elided and are also represented in writing.
- Dutch tevreden → tevrede (/təˈvreː.də/, lit. content, satisfied)
- Dutch zeide → zeyd (/zæit/, lit. said)
Grammar
Generally speaking, Amerikaens grammar is largely based on the grammars of early modern Dutch, English, and Flemish. It is often considered to have the simplest syntax and morphology of any continental Germanic language.
Amerikaens does not possess grammatical gender. As it was already waning in Dutch, gender was eliminated completely during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, likely sped up due to the language's origin as a lingua franca among diverse settlers as well as English influence.
Plurals
Amerikaens only differs between the singular and plural forms, much like English. The plural form is usually created by adding the suffix -s to a word. If a word already ends in an s, then an -en is added.
Dutch | Kinderen | Cijnsen |
---|---|---|
Amerikaens | Kinds | Cÿnsen |
English | Children | Feudal tax |
Determiners
Only two articles, a definitive (de) and an indefinitive (în), exist in Amerikaens. They may be inflected in the genitive form (for example, Koninckrÿck der Nederlands lit. 'Kingdom of the Netherlands').
Singular | Plural | Indefinite | |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | de | în ('n) | |
Genitive | des | der | îns ('ns) |
Demonstratives are words used to distinguish entities being referred to. As grammatical gender does not exist, there are only four demonstrative determiners in Amerikaens. Proximal indicates that the entities are close to the speaker, while distal incidates that they are far away.
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
Proximal | dese | |
Distal | die | |
Possessive | dies | dier |
Dese is equivalent to English 'this' and 'these', while die corresponds to 'that' and 'those'. Dies and dier translate to 'their's' or 'the latter's'.
Genitive case
Amerikaens preserves the possessive genitive case from archaic Dutch declension. Unlike in other varieties from the Netherlands, its survival throughout the late 17th century most probably was influenced by English.
Dutch | Amerikaens | English | French |
---|---|---|---|
De vriend van de man. | Des mans friendt. | The man's friend. | L'ami de l'homme. |
Pronouns
Like English and Dutch, Amerikaens pronouns retain case distinction; subject (nominative), object (accusative), and possessive (genitive). Pronouns occur in a stressed form (often ending with ÿ) and an unstressed form (shown in brackets). The stressed form retains the whole original vowel and is used mainly in formal situations or when distinction is necessary.
Person | Subject | Object | Possessive |
---|---|---|---|
1st singular | Ik ('k) | Mÿ (me) | Mÿn (men) |
2nd singular | Jÿ (je) | Jou (ju) | Jouw (juw) |
3rd singular, masculine | Hÿ (he) | Hem (em) | Hÿs (hes) |
3rd singular, feminine | Sÿ (se) | Her (er) | Hers (ers) |
1st plural | Wÿ (we) | Ons | |
2nd plural | Jul | Juls | |
3rd plural, for a person | Les | Leu | |
3rd plural, for an object | It | Its |
The 3rd person plural forms les (/læ/) and leu (/lœː/) come from French les and leur, meaning 'them' and their' respectively. The practice was brought to New Amsterdam by French immigrants and was popularized in the late 18th century, eventually superceding the original Dutch 3rd person plural forms zij, hun, and huns.
Jul(s), the 2nd plural, comes from the Dutch jullie (from jij 'you' + lui 'people'). It is the equivalent of y'all('s) in English, which is used in parts of the United Kingdom as well as Virginia.
Verb tenses
Amerikaens is considered a tenseless language as verbs do not have morphological tenses (verbs do not conjugate or inflect). The infinitive form of the verb is complimented by a pronoun and an auxiliary verb to indicate different tenses.
Tense | Form | Example: ît(e) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Amerikaens | Dutch | English | ||
Infinitive | Ît(e) | Eten | (To) eat | |
Present | Pronoun + verb | Ik ît | Ik eet | I eat |
Past | Pronoun + hab + verb | Ik hab ît | Ik at | I ate |
Future | Pronoun + zhal + verb | Ik zhal ît | Ik zal eten | I will eat |
Continuous aspect | ||||
Present | Pronoun + dü + verb | Ik dü ît | Ik ben aan het eten | I am eating |
Past | Pronoun + dîd + verb | Ik dîd ît | Ik was aan het eten | I was eating |
Future | Pronoun + zhal dü + verb | Ik zhal dü ît | — | I will be eating |
Vocabulary
See also
- ↑ /c/ and /tɕ/ are allophones of /tʃ/.
- ↑ /d/ is devoiced at the ends of words as /t/.
- ↑ /g/ is an allophone of [χ] and is also used in loanwords.
- ↑ /ɕ/ is an allophone.
- ↑ Merger of /ɣ/ and /x/. Before /j/, it can be fronted to /ç/.
- ↑ Voiced fricatives are generally devoiced by the majority of Amerikaens speakers.
- ↑ Due to influence from French and English, the original Dutch /ʋ/ came to be realised as /w/.
- ↑ [ʁ] and [ɾ] are allophones.