Amerikaens
Amerikaens | |
---|---|
Amerikaens | |
Pronunciation | [aːmɛɹ.ɪ.kɑːns] |
Native to | New Netherland |
Region | Northern America |
Ethnicity | Amerikaeners |
Language family | Scythian
|
Early forms | Bergen Dutch
|
Writing system | Latin |
Official status | |
Official language in | New Netherland Tussenland South Tussenland Amerikaens Free State Opdamsland Boschland |
Recognised minority language in |
Amerikaens (Dutch: Amerikaans) is a West Germanic language spoken over a dialect continuum spanning New Netherland, Tussenland, the Free State, South Tussenland and, to a lesser extent, Mexico and Opdamsland. It evolved from Hollandic, Zeelandic, and West Flemish dialects spoken by Dutch settlers in northern America, an example of which is Pavonia Dutch. The language developed a distinct identity during the 18th century and is the youngest of the Germanic languages, along with Afrikaans, spoken in southern Africa.
Today, the language is currently spoken over significant portions of northern America and is an official language of the Association of North American Nations. The Amerikaens Language Commission (Amerikaense Taelkomisie) is the official regulating body and central authority for Amerikaens, responsible for developing, preserving, and promoting the language.
History
Geographic distribution
Phonology
Labial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | |
voiced | b | d[1] | g[2] | |||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | χ[3] | h |
voiced[4] | v | z | ʒ | ɦ | ||
Approximant | w[5] | l | j | |||
Rhotic | r[6] |
Front | Central | Back | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |||||
short | long | short | long | short | long | |||
Close | i | i: | y: | u: | ||||
Close-mid | eː | o: | ||||||
Mid | ɛ | ə | œ | œ: | ɔ | ɔ: | ||
Near-open | æ | æ: | ||||||
Open | (a) | ʌ | ɑ | ɑ: | ||||
Diphthongs | ɑi æi ɑu ɛu œu ɔu ɔi |
Grapheme | IPA | |
---|---|---|
checked | free | |
a | /ɑ/, /ʌ/ | /ɑ:/ |
ae | /ɑ/ | |
e | /ɛ/, /ə/ | /eː/, /ə/ |
o | /ɔ/, /ʌ/ | /o:/ |
ö | /o:/ | |
ai, aei | /ɑi/, /æi/ | |
au(x), eau(x) | /o:/ | |
auw | /ɔu/ | |
ie | /i/, /ə/ | /i:/ |
î | /e:/ | |
îuw, ieuw | /e:u/, /iu/ | |
ey | /ɛi/ | |
eu | /œ:/ | |
oi | /ɔi/ | |
ou. ouw | /ɔu/ | |
ÿ | /ɑi/, /æi/ | |
ü | /u:/ | |
uy, üy | /œu/, /ɛu/ | |
ue | /y:/ | |
uw | /yu/ |
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 | |
---|---|---|---|
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[7] | Komen | Komme |
l | ll | Graal | Graell |
k | ck[8] | Boek | Boeck |
d | dt | Stad | Stadt |
f | v | Kalf | Kalv |
Grammar
Amerikaens grammar gradually shifted from Dutch from the late 17th century up until the mid-19th century.
- In every Amerikaens dialect, noun and adjective genders do not exist.
- The het/de distinction is not present in Amerikaens, with <de> being the sole definite article in the language.
- In Amerikaens, the deletion of the final consonant or final <e> of a syllable (the coda) is formalized. For example, tevreden becomes tevrede, and zeide becomes zeyd.
- Corruption of middle-word consonants are also common, such as -tie into -sie (politie → polisie).
Pronouns and verb conjugations
English | Amerikaens | Dutch | Ik ben | |
---|---|---|---|---|
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.
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. |
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. Its survival may have been influenced by English.
Dutch | Amerikaens | English | French |
---|---|---|---|
De vriend van de man. | Des mans vriendt. | The man's friend. | L'ami de l'homme. |
Vocabulary
Tongue twisters
- Ik wil ît it if it is în weynig bît (I will eat it if it's a small beetroot).
See also
- ↑ /d/ is devoiced at the ends of words as /t/.
- ↑ /g/ is an allophone of [χ] and is also used in loanwords.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ This does not occur at the beginning of a syllable.
- ↑ <ck>, <dt>, and <v> only occur at the end of syllables.