Talk:Flemish dialects

Since this article is really not about a seperate language, I don't see the reason for keeping the title. If no one opposes, I'll move this article to Flemish (linguistics) after a week or so. This title is by far the most neutral, since Flemish dialect is bound to cause protests sooner or later.

Peter Isotalo 12:28, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

Since no one seems to be objecting, I'll make the move.

Peter Isotalo 08:45, May 15, 2005 (UTC)

West Flemish

"...among which the most deviant is West Flemish, which is also spoken in the Zeeland province of The Netherlands."

I thought the most deviant Flemish dialect was West Flemish aka "bachten de kupe" (i.e., "achter de kuip", behind the tub, fig. inside the [river]bend), spoken from the Yser river to the language barrier with French, i.e., in the westernmost part of the province of West Flanders and in all or part of Flemish-speaking France but certainly nowhere in the Netherlands. If the text quoted above is in error, please correct it; if I am mistaken, please explain. - Tonymec 04:31, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Intro

I see that the introduction paragraph has been restored to a version similar to the one before my intervention. The reason I deleted most of this paragraph was because the statements in it were either inaccurate or irrelevant. This is what it says now:

the word "Flemish" may refer as an adjective to the dialects and as a substantive to varieties, spoken more widely in Flanders, of the Dutch language (which is one and undivided, as guaranteed by the Taalunie, an organisation set up by treaty between the governments of the Netherlands and the Flemish region) spoken in Belgium) which are, mainly for political reasons, sometimes referred to as "Flemish".

"as an adjective to the dialects and as a substantive to varieties" - this I just don't understand. As far as I'm concerned, dialects are varieties (vice versa is not necessarily the case). Also, as an adjective it does not refer to anything, but rather specifies something else (Flemish Dutch, Flemish people, Flemish city, whatever). "Spoken more widely" is a rather odd sentence, which can simply be exchanged for "spoken mainly in Flanders" (because this does not imply that no other languages are spoken there). Then the "one and undivided" part, which sounds rather nationalistic and POV to me. I fail to see the relevancy of the Taalunie here, because the Taalunie is only concerned with standardizing written Dutch, not the spoken language which is the basis of any linguistic analysis; suggesting Dutch is "one and undivided" is also misleading because it ignores the substantial dialectial variety. Finally, "the political reasons". Very few people would use "Flemish" for political reasons; if anything, those people would use the word "Vlaams". Also, "Vlaams" is used very widely in the Netherlands to describe one or more varieties of Dutch in Flanders, without any political connotation. So, these are the reasons why I will change the text once more. Junes 23:20, 9 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]