Middle Dutch
Heterogeneity In A Small Space Quick Review
Old Low Franconian (Hebban olla voglas …)
No Manifestations of the Second Consonant Shift
Ingvæonisms Middle Dutch
A collective name for dialects spoken and written in what is now the Netherlands and Flanders (N. Belgium) between 1150 - 1500
Middle Dutch is therefore a collection of dialects
Vlaams (Flemish), Brabants, Hollands, Limburgs, and East Dutch Middle Dutch
A Middle Dutch author by the name of Jacob van Maerlant described the situation like this: Men moet om de rime te soucken One must in order the rhimes to seek (out)
misselike tonghe in bouken: various tongues in books:
Duuts, Dietsch, Brabants, Vlaamsch, Zeeus, people’s language (x2), Brabants, Flemish, Zeeuws
Walsch, Latijn, Grix ende Hebreeus. French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew General Features
Middle Dutch retains the grammatical features of Germanic, but to a far lesser degree than Middle High or Middle Low German
Morphology begins to break down quickly
Word order becomes more important
Prepositions become much more important
Considerable foreign influence & variation Noun & Adjective Inflection
Masculine Nouns ⇒
Neuter Nouns ⇒
Feminine Nouns ⇒ Personal Pronouns
First & Second Person
1 sg. 1 pl. 2 sg. 2 pl.* Nom. ic wi du ghi Gen. mijns onser dijns uwer, uw Dat. mi ons di u Acc. mi ons di u
*2nd Person Plural forms used for polite address in the 2nd Person Singular Personal Pronouns
Third Person
3 sg. M 3 sg. N 3 Sg. F 3 Sg. Pl Nom. hi het si si Gen. sijns hets haer haer Dat. hem hem haer hem Acc. hem het haer hem Verb Classes
Inf. Pret. Sg. Pret. Pl. Perf. 1 riden reet reden gereden “to ride” 2 gieten goot goten gegoten “to pour” stupen stoop stopen gestopen “to stoop” 3 vinden vant vonden gevonden “to find” werpen warp worpen geworpen “to throw” 4 nemen nam namen genomen “to take” 5 meten mat maten gemeten “to measure” 6 lachen loech loechen gelachen “to laugh” 7 laten liet lieten gelaten “to let” Basic Verb Conjugation
“to turn “to turn Pres. around” “to take” Pret. around” “to take” 1 sg. ic kere ic neme 1 sg. ic keerde ic nam
2 sg. du keers du neems 2 sg. du keerdes du naems
3 sg. hi keert si neemt 3 sg. hi keerde si nam
1 pl. wi keren wi nemen 1 pl. wi keerden wi namen
2 pl. ghi keert ghi neemt 2 pl. ghi ghi naemt keerdet 3 pl. si keren si nemen 3 pl. si keerden si namen
Perfect: ghekeert, ghenomen