Differences with Old Dutch

Several phonological changes occurred leading up to the Middle Dutch period.

• Earlier Old Dutch /ie/, /ia/, /io/ merge into /iə/ already in Old Dutch.
• Voiceless fricatives become voiced syllable-initially: /s/ > /z/, /f/ > /v/ (merging with /v/ from Proto-Germanic /b/), /θ/ > /ð/. (10th or 11th century)
• /ft/ > /xt/
• /iu/ > /yː/ or /iə/. The outcome is dialect-specific, with /iə/ found in more western dialects and /yː/ further east. This results in later pairs such as dietsc /diətsk/ versus duitsc /dyːtsk/.
  • Various dialects also show /iw/ > /yw/, while others retain /iw/. Compare southeastern Middle Dutch hiwen /hiwən/ with modern Dutch huwen /ɦyʋə(n)/.
  • In word-initial position, some northern dialects also show a change from a falling to a rising diphthong (/iu/ > /juː/) like Old Frisian. Cf. the accusative second-person plural pronoun iu /iu/ > northern jou /jɔu/ versus southern u /yː/.
• Phonemisation of umlaut for back vowels, resulting in a new phoneme /y/ (from earlier Old Dutch /u/ before /i/ or /j/). Unlike most other Germanic languages, umlaut was only phonemicised for short vowels in all but the easternmost areas; long vowels and diphthongs are unaffected.
• Insertion of /w/ between /uː/ and a vowel.
• Syllable-final /uː(w)/ > /ouw/ in some areas. This created pairs such as duwen /dywən/ versus douwen /dou(w)ən/, or nu /ny/ versus nou /nou/.
• Lowering of /u/ > /o/ when not umlauted.
  • This change did not (fully) occur in the southwestern (Flemish) dialects. Hence, these dialects retain sunne "sun" where others have sonne.
• Fronting of /u/, /uː/ > /y/, /yː/. In some dialects, /uː/ remained syllable-finally or before /w/.
  • This change did not occur in Limburgish.
  • In Flemish, this change also affected cases that escaped the lowering in the previous change, hence sunne /ˈzynnə/.
• Vowel reduction: Vowels in unstressed syllables are weakened and merge into /ə/, spelled ⟨e⟩. (11th or 12th century) Long vowels seem to have remained as such, at least /iː/ is known to have remained in certain suffixes (such as -kijn /kiːn/).
• Diphthongisation of the long mid vowels: /eː/, /øː/ /oː/ > /eɛ/, /øœ/, /oɔ/.
• Non-phonemic lowering of short /i/, /y/ > /ɪ/, /ʏ/.
• Open syllable lengthening: Short vowels in stressed open syllables become long. As a result, all stressed syllables in polysyllabic words become heavy. Old Dutch (original) long vowels are called "sharp-long" and indicated with a circumflex (â, ê, î, ô). Lengthened vowels are "soft-long" and are indicated with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō).
  • Lengthened vowels initially have the same vowel quality as the short variants, so this produces [aː], [eː], [ɪː], [oː], [ʏː].
  • [ɪː] and [ʏː] are then lowered to [eː] and [øː] respectively.
  • Lengthened [eː], [øː], [oː] remain distinct from the previously diphthongised long mid vowels.
  • In most dialects, lengthened [aː] merges with original /aː/, but in some, a distinction in backness develops.
  • This introduces many length alternations in grammatical paradigms, e.g. singular dag /dax/, plural dag(h)e /daːɣə/.
• Dental fricatives become stops: /ð/ > /d/, /θ/ > /t/, merging with existing /t/ and /d/. (around 12th century)
  • The geminate /θθ/ (originating from Germanic *-þj-) develops into /ss/: *withtha > wisse, *smiththa > smisse.
• L-vocalisation: /ol/ and /al/ > /ou/ before dentals.
  • This change does not occur in Limburgish, which retains the distinction but undergoes its own round of vocalisation in modern times, producing /ow/ and /aː/ respectively.
• Lengthening of vowels before /r/ + dental consonant. This did not occur in all dialects, and in some, /e/ was lengthened to /aː/. E.g. farth /farθ/ > vāert /vaːrt/, ertha /erθa/ > āerde /aːrdə/, wort /wort/ > wōort /woːrt/.
• Syncope of schwa /ə/ in certain environments, particularly inflectional endings. This phonemicises the soft-long vowels produced by open syllable lengthening, which can now also occur in closed syllables. E.g. hēvet > hēeft.

Consonants

The consonants of Middle Dutch differed little from those of Old Dutch. The most prominent change is the loss of dental fricatives. The sound [z] was also phonemicised during this period, judging from loanwords that retain [s] to this day.

For descriptions of the sounds and definitions of the terms, follow the links on the headings.

Notes:

• All obstruents underwent final-obstruent devoicing as in Old and Modern Dutch.
• During the first part of the Middle Dutch period, geminated varieties of most consonants still occurred. Geminated /ɣ/ was a plosive /ɡɡ/, retained in modern Limburgish as /ɡ/.
• /m, p, b/ were most likely bilabial, whereas /f, v/ were most likely labiodental.
• /n, t, d, s, z, l/ could have been either dental [n̪, t̪, d̪, s̪, z̪, l̪] or alveolar [n͇, t͇, d͇, s͇, z͇, l͇].
  • /n/ had a velar allophone [ŋ] when it occurred before the velars /k, ɣ/.
  • After /n/, /ɣ/ was realized as a plosive [ɡ].
• /r/ was most likely alveolar, either a trill [r͇] or a tap [ɾ͇].

Vowels

Most notable in the Middle Dutch vowel system, when compared to Old Dutch, is the appearance of phonemic rounded front vowels, and the merger of all unstressed short vowels.

Changes during the Middle Dutch period

Phonological changes that occurred during Middle Dutch:

• /mb/ > /mː/, /ŋɡ/ > /ŋː/. This eliminated the sound /ɡ/ from the language altogether.
  • /p/ and /k/ originating from /b/ and /ɡ/ through final devoicing were not affected. This therefore resulted in alternations such as singular coninc /koːniŋk/ versus plural coninghe /koːniŋːə/, singular lamp /lamp/ versus plural lammere /lamː(ə)rə/.
• /sk/ > /sx/ (spelled ⟨sc⟩ or later ⟨sch⟩). It is unclear when this change happened, as the spelling does not seem to differentiate the two sounds (that is, ⟨sc⟩ and ⟨sch⟩ could both represent either sound).
• /ɛ/ > /ɛi/ before /n/ plus another consonant, merging with original Old Dutch /ɛi/ (< Proto-Germanic /ɑi/). E.g. ende > einde, pensen > peinsen (from Old French penser). This change is found sporadically in Old Dutch already, but becomes more frequent in some Middle Dutch areas.
• Epenthesis of /d/ in various clusters of sonorants. E.g. donre > donder, solre > solder, bunre > bunder. In modern Dutch, this change has become grammaticalised for the -er (comparative, agent noun) suffix when attached to a word ending in -r.
• Shortening of geminate consonants, e.g. for bidden /bɪdːən/ > /bɪdən/, which reintroduces stressed light syllables in polysyllabic words.
• Early diphthongisation of long high vowels: /iː/ > /ɪi/ and /yː/ > /ʏy/ except before /r/ and /w/, probably beginning around the 14th century.
  • The diphthongal quality of these vowels became stronger over time, and eventually the former merged with /ɛi/ ei. But the diphthongal pronunciation was still perceived as unrefined and 'southern' by educated speakers in the sixteenth century, showing that the change had not yet spread to all areas and layers of Dutch society by that time.
• Following the previous change, monophthongisation of opening diphthongs: /iə/ > /iː/, /uə/ > /uː/. The result might have also been a short vowel (as in most Dutch dialects today), but they are known to have remained long at least before /r/.
• Beginning in late Middle Dutch and continuing into the early Modern Dutch period, schwa /ə/ was slowly lost word-finally and in some other unstressed syllables: vrouwe > vrouw, hevet > heeft. This did not apply consistently however, and sometimes both forms continued to exist side by side, such as mate and maat.
  • Word-final schwa was restored in the past singular of weak verbs, to avoid homophony with the present third-person singular because of word-final devoicing. However, it was lost in all irregular weak verbs, in which this homophony was not an issue: irregular dachte > dacht (present tense denkt), but regular opende did not become *opend /oːpənt/ because it would become indistinguishable from opent.
• During the 15th century at the earliest, /d/ begins to disappear when between a non-short vowel and a schwa.
  • The actual outcome of this change differed between dialects. In the more northern varieties and in Holland, the /d/ was simply lost, along with any schwa that followed it: luyden > lui, lade > la, mede > mee. In the southeast, intervocalic /d/ instead often became /j/: mede > meej.
  • The change was not applied consistently, and even in modern Dutch today many words have been retained in both forms. In some cases the forms with lost /d/ were perceived as uneducated and disappeared again, such as in Nederland and neer, both from neder (the form Neerland does exist, but is rather archaic in modern Dutch).

Brabantian

Brabantian was spoken primarily in the Duchy of Brabant. It was an influential dialect during most of the Middle Ages, during the so-called "Brabantian expansion" in which the influence of Brabant was extended outwards into other areas. Compared to the other dialects, Brabantian was a kind of "middle ground" between the coastal areas on one hand, and the Rhineland and Limburg on the other. Brabantian Middle Dutch has the following characteristics compared to other dialects:

• Merger of â and ā, articulated as a back vowel.
• Use of the form g(h)i for the second-person plural pronoun.
• /ft/ > /xt/
• Early diphthongization of /iː/ and /yː/.
• Tended towards Rhinelandic and/or Limburgish in the easternmost areas, with umlaut of long vowels and diphthongs. This in turn led to stronger use of umlaut as a grammatical feature, in for example diminutives.
• Lack of umlaut /a/ > /e/ before /xt/, in western varieties.

Flemish

Flemish, consisting today of West and East Flemish and Zeelandic, was spoken in the County of Flanders, northern parts of the County of Artois and areas around the towns of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer. Though due to their intermediary position between West Flemish and Brabantian, the East Flemish dialects have also been grouped with the latter.^[6] Flemish had been influential during the earlier Middle Ages (the "Flemish expansion") but lost prestige to the neighbouring Brabantian in the 13th century. Its characteristics are:

• Fronted realisation /æː/ for â.
• Unrounding of rounded front vowels.
• Loss of /h/, with the occasional hypercorrection found in texts.
• Opening diphthong articulation of ê and ô, often spelled ⟨ee⟩ and ⟨oe⟩.
• Old Dutch /iu/ developed into /iə/ instead of /yː/, thus giving forms such as vier ("fire") where other dialects have vuur.
• Lowering of /e/ to /a/ before /r/ + consonant, often also with lengthening. The change is generally limited to West Flemish before dentals, while before labials and velars it is more widespread.
• Lack of umlaut /a/ > /e/ before /xt/.
• /i/ > /e/ in some words.
• /o/ > /e/ sometimes before /r/ + consonant in West Flemish.

Hollandic

Hollandic was spoken in the County of Holland. It was less influential during most of the Middle Ages but became more so in the 16th century during the "Hollandic expansion", during which the Eighty Years' War took place in the south. It shows the following properties:

• Strong Ingvaeonic influence from earlier Frisian presence in the area. This became more apparent closer to the coast and further north (West Friesland).
• â and ā merged and had a fronted articulation (which forms the basis for the modern standard Dutch pronunciation).
• Occasional occurrence of the Ingvaeonic nasal-spirant law. Seen in some place names, such as -mude ("mouth") where more southwestern areas retain the nasal: -monde.
• Use of the form ji for the second-person plural pronoun.
• Retention of /ft/.
• Lack of umlaut /a/ > /e/ before /xt/.

Limburgish

Limburgish was spoken by the people in the provinces of modern Dutch and Belgian Limburg. It was not clearly tied to one political area, instead being divided among various areas, including the Duchy of Limburg (which was south of modern Limburg). It was also the most divergent of the dialects.

• Generally, a strong "southeastern" influence, tying it more to Middle High German in some respects ("Colognian expansion"). The effects of the High German consonant shift are occasionally found.
• Umlaut affects all vowels and is morphologically significant.
• Retention of the older Germanic diphthongs /ɛi/ and /ɔu/ where other Middle Dutch dialects have monophthongized these to ê and ô.
• Retention of /u/ (did not merge with /o/) and /uː/ (remained as a back vowel).
• Orthography is also more eastern. ⟨u⟩ represents a back vowel, and vowel length in closed syllables is not marked.
• Full use of du as the second-person singular pronoun.
• Long a in words ending in a single consonant, e.g. blaet for blat, gaef for gaf, etc. and before /l/, /n/, /s/, /x/ + dental,

Rhinelandic

Rhinelandic ("Kleverlands") was spoken around the area of the Duchy of Cleves, around the Lower Rhine. It represented a transitional dialect between Limburgish and Middle Low German.

• Like Limburgish, it had an eastern influence, with a more eastern-tinted orthography. Umlaut was a regular grammatical feature.
• Stronger Middle Low German influence.
• Back and often rounded articulation of â, with a tendency to confuse it with ō, a feature shared with Low German, to the north.

Vowels

The general practice was to write long vowels with a single letter in an open syllable and with two letters in a closed syllable. Which two letters were used varied among texts. Some texts, especially those in the east, do not do so and write long vowels with a single letter in all cases (as is the predominant rule in modern German).

Consonants

Nouns

Middle Dutch nouns inflected for number as well as case. The weakening of unstressed syllables merged many different Old Dutch classes of nominal declension. The result was a general distinction between strong and weak nouns. Eventually even these started to become confused, with the strong and weak endings slowly beginning to merge into a single declension class by the beginning of the modern Dutch period.

Adjectives

Middle Dutch adjectives inflected according to the gender, case and number of the noun they modified.

The Germanic distinction between strong and weak, or indefinite and definite inflection, was fairly minimal in Middle Dutch, appearing only in the masculine and neuter nominative singular. These forms received an -e ending when a definite word (demonstrative, article) preceded, and had no ending otherwise. Adjectives were uninflected when connected through a copula. Thus, even for feminine nouns, no ending appeared: die vrouwe is goet "the lady is good".

Some adjectives, namely the former ja-stems, had an -e even in the strong and copular form, e.g. die vrouwe is cleine "the lady is small".

Pronouns

Middle Dutch pronouns differed little from their modern counterparts. The main differences were in the second person with the development of a T-V distinction. The second-person plural pronoun ghi slowly gained use as a respectful second-person singular form. The original singular pronoun du gradually fell out of use during the Middle Dutch period. A new second person plural pronoun was created by contraction of gij/jij and lui ('people') forming gullie/jullie (literally, 'you people').

Note: There are several other forms.

Determiners

Definite Article
(die, dat = the)

Verbs

Middle Dutch mostly retained the Old Dutch verb system. Like all Germanic languages, it distinguished strong, weak and preterite-present verbs as the three main inflectional classes. Verbs were inflected in present and past tense, and in three moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative.

The weakening of unstressed vowels affected the distinction between the indicative and subjunctive moods, which had largely been determined by the vowel of the inflectional suffix in Old Dutch. In Middle Dutch, with all unstressed vowels merging into one, the subjunctive became distinguished from the indicative only in the singular but was identical to it in the plural, and also in the past tense of weak verbs. That led to a gradual decline in the use of the subjunctive, and it has been all but lost entirely in modern Dutch.