Amerikaens

Amerikaens (Dutch:Amerikaans) is a West Germanic language spoken in New Netherland, Tussenland, the Amerikaanse Free State, South Tussenland and, to a lesser extent, Mexico and Opdamsland. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of Holland (Hollandic dialect) spoken by the Dutch settlers in North America, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the 18th century. Hence, it is a daughter language of Dutch, and the youngest of the Germanic languages as well as one of the youngest languages in general.

The Amerikaense Taelkomisie (Amerikaens Language Commission) is the official regulating body of the Amerikaense language, and the central authority tasked with developing, preserving, and promoting Amerikaens.

History

Origin

Early French Influence

During its establishment in the 1620s, the original settlers of New Netherland were not Dutch but French-speaking Wallonians families sent by the Dutch West India Company to settle the claimed lands. The Wallonian community made up a bulk of the early settlers, and Hollandic-speaking inspectors and officers often had to resort to frequent code-switching to communicate more effectively. This code-switching resulted in French-origin words entering the Amerikaense vocabulary, mostly words relating to family and household, such as koetoe (knife; from couteau) and tapie (carpet; from tapis).

It was not until the late 1650s that the first wave of Dutch-speaking settlers arrived in the colony. This immigration wave resulted from the newly-reformed colonial government's efforts to promote settler growth. Hollandic Dutch was the primary variant that these settlers had brought. However, these Dutch settlers had to interact with the French-speaking Wallonian families that had already settled there since the 1620s. These new settlers adopted the French-inspired vocabulary.

English Influence

English settlers began moving in to New Netherland in the late early 1640s, mostly in Lange Island and lands west of the Verse River, mostly coming in from the English colonies .

Orthography

Major changes from Hollandic

In many cases older orthography and spelling is preserved from early modern Dutch. Some regions in Tussenland did not adopt Amerikaner orthography before it was standardized in 1910. As a result, some words of historical value retain their Hollandic spelling. An example of this is the city of Eenheydwyck, which is not written as Înheydswÿck.

• ei → ey (înheid (unity) → înheyd)
• k → ck    (boek → boeck), only when occurring at the end of the syllable
• aa → ae   (Amerikaans → Amerikaens)
• ui → uy   (fruit → fruyt)
• ij → ÿ    (vrijheid → vrÿheyd)
• d  → dt   (stad → stadt), only when at end of syllable
• f → v (kalf → kalv), onlf at the end of words
• In other cases double vowels (long vowels) are reduced and replaced with by a vowel with a diacritic.
• oo → ö (Voorlandt → Vörlandt)
• uu → ue
• ee → î
• oe → ü
• Yet in other cases constants are doubled.
• m → mm (Komen → Komme)
• l → ll

Grammar

In Amerikaens noun genders are removed; the 'The' article in Amerikaens would simply be "De" for all nouns, instead of De/Het in Hollandic Dutch. This occurs without exceptions across all dialects. This corresponds to a series of grammar shifts in Amerikaens where grammatical gender is minimized as much as possible both in nouns and in adjectives which also don't conjugate for gender in Amerikaens.

In Amerikaens Hollandic Dutch words that end in -en (excluding en and een) the n is dropped in most cases (tevreden > tevrede). In Amerikaens, Hollandic Dutch words that end in -de (excluding de) the e is dropped in most cases (zeide > zeyd, zijde > zÿd). In Amerikaens the corruption middle-word consonant corruptions are common such as -tie into -sie (politie → polisie).

Pronouns and Verb Conjugations

Pronouns and Verb Conjugations
English	Amerikaens	Dutch
			Singular	Plural
I	Ik/ äk	Ik	Ik ben	-
You	Jÿ	Jij, U	Jij ben
He	Hÿ	Hij	Hÿ is	-
She	Sÿ	Zij	Sÿ is	-
We	Wÿ	Wij	Wÿ is
It	It	Het	It is

Tenses

In Amerikaens, verbs do not conjugate differently depending on the subject.

ît (eat)
Tense	Amerikaens	Dutch	English
Infinitive	ît	eten	(to) eat
Present	Ik ît.	Ik eet.	I eat.
Past	Ik hab ît.	Ik at.	I ate.
Future	Ik wil/zhal ît.	Ik zal eten.	I will eat.
Past Progressive	Ik dîd ît.	Ik was aan het eten.	I was eating.
Present Progressive	Ik doe ît.	Ik ben aan het eten.	I am eating.
Future Progressive	Ik wil/zhal doe ît		I will be eating.

kück (cook)
Tense	Amerikaens	Dutch	English
Infinitive	kück	koken	(to) cook
Present	Ik kück.	Ik kook.	I cook.
Past	Ik hab kück.	Ik kookte.	I cooked.
Future	Ik wil/zhal kück.	Ik zal koken.	I will cook.
Past Progressive	Ik dîd kück.	Ik was aan het koken.	I was cooking.
Present Progressive	Ik doe kück.	Ik ben aan het koken.	I am cooking.
Future Progressive	Ik wil/zhal doe kück		I will be cooking.

Case system

Amerikaens preserves the possessive genitive case from archaic Dutch; an example of this would be the sentence de vriend van de man in modern Hollandic Dutch becomes des mans vriend in Amerikaens. Historians & linguistics often debate whether the retaining of this case was a direct retention from Archaic Dutch, linguistic feature adopted from English & High German, or a mixture of both.

Vocabulary

Several Words in Amerikaens are borrowed from English, French/Walloon, and Native American origins.

Words of English Origin

1. plänti (plenty)
2. super (supper)

Words of Native Origin

1. Moes (Moose) from Algonquian
2. Wapiti (Elk) from Shawnee/Cree
3. Kwaewon (Woodpecker) from Mohawk
4. Jötenu (Hail) from Mohawk
5. Atÿron (Racoon) from Mohawk
6. Anowara (Turtle) from Mohawk
7. Sewant (Wampum) from Pidgin Delaware

Words of French or Walloon Origin

1. Bufalö (American Bison)
2. Kütü (Knife)

Toungue Twisters

• Ik wil ît it if it is în weynig bît. (I will eat it if it is an small beetroot)