Dutch Language History

Dutch is a West Germanic language. There are 22 million people registered as native speakers of this language. Most native speakers live in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname. A small population in the United States and Canada speaks Pennsylvania Dutch. This language is not associated with a specific religious group, as Amish and Mennonite individuals only make up a small part of the Pennsylvania Dutch speaking population. Historically, Dutch was spoken in Belgian Africa and in parts of the United States.

Old Dutch (450-500-1150)

Dutch evolved from Proto-German, which also gave rise to German and English. Dutch language history begins around 450-500 C.E. when Old Frankish split by a consonant shift.

The northern dialects did not participate in the consonant shift, and became known as Old Low Franconian. There were two subgroups of Old Low Franconian: Old East Low Franconian and Old West Low Franconian. Old West Low Franconian, also known as Old Dutch, later swallowed Old East Low Franconian. Old Dutch and Old Low Franconian are used synonymously.

Middle Dutch (1150-1500)

Middle Dutch is also called Diets. Middle Dutch actually involved a group of five Dutch dialects, including West Flemish, East Flemish and Zealandic, Brabantian, Hollandic, Limburgish and Low Saxon. These dialects were more similar than they were different.

In the 16th century there was a push to standardize Middle Dutch. This push was a result of an influx of people arriving into Holland from Antwerp, after its fall to Spain in 1585. The 16th century, also recorded the first Dutch translation of the Bible. The translation was written to allow understanding by all Dutch speakers. Middle Dutch used the Latin alphabet, even though it was not a perfect fit. There were some sounds in Middle Dutch that did not occur in the Latin alphabet, like “k”, “v”, “w” and “j.”

Modern Dutch (1500-present)

Modern Dutch has three distinct dialects. Dutch spoken in the northern Netherlands differs substantially from the Dutch spoken in Flanders, which also differs greatly from the heavily-French-influenced Brussels Dutch. Polder Dutch emerged in the 1970’s, originally among upper-middle-class women working in politics or in universities. Polder Dutch speakers pronounce diphthongs differently than those who speak standard Dutch.

Dutch speakers use compounds, uniting two words to create a new word. Unlike English, Dutch speakers do not put spaces between the two connected words.

Afrikaans

Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa, evolved from Dutch in the 17th century. Dutch settlers in South Africa moved away from the coast when the British arrived in the 19th century. This move created many distinct dialects of Afrikaans. Afrikaans became a written language in the 19th century. Dutch regained control of South Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1960’s Afrikaans was used in the justice system and in politics. It is the lingua franca in South Africa and Namibia.

Modern Dutch-Speaking Countries

• The Netherlands
• Belgium
• Suriname
• Aruba

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