Language Change on the Dutch Frisian Island of Ameland Linguistic and sociolinguistic findings Published by LOT phone: +31 30 253 6006 Janskerkhof 13 fax: +31 30 253 6406 3512 BL Utrecht e-mail: [email protected] The Netherlands http://www.lotschool.nl Cover illustration: VVV Ameland ISBN: 978-94-6093-016-4 NUR 616 Copyright © 2010: Mathilde Jansen. All rights reserved. VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT Language Change on the Dutch Frisian Island of Ameland Linguistic and sociolinguistic findings ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. L.M. Bouter, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de faculteit der Letteren op donderdag 8 april 2010 om 15.45 uur in het auditorium van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Mathilde Maria Jansen geboren te Den Burg, Texel promotoren: prof.dr. F.L.M.P. Hinskens prof.dr. M. van Oostendorp prof.dr. R.W.N.M. van Hout Acknowledgements First of all, I wish to thanks my promotors, who supervised the progress of this dissertation: Marc van Oostendorp (Meertens Institute, Leiden University), Frans Hinskens (Meertens Institute, VU University Amsterdam) and Roeland van Hout (Radboud University Nijmegen). My greatest debt of gratitude is to Marc van Oostendorp, who helped me to draw up the research proposal and was involved in the project from the very start. Marc, you were my constant source of support. Whenever we met, your wonderful stories kept my interest in linguistics alive, and you were always able to inspire me when the research seemed to bog me down. We have also been able to cooperate well outside this particular project, and I hope we can continue this cooperation in the future. Frans Hinskens has also contributed greatly to the completion of this dissertation. Frans, from the moment you became involved you made your mark, and especially the methodological part has benefitted as a result, both in terms of thoughtfulness and in terms of structure. Roeland van Hout did not become involved until the end of the project. Nevertheless, he supervised an essential part, namely the statistics. Roeland: for me this part was often a nightmare, but your vast knowledge and quick thinking turned SPSS into an exciting challenge. I also very much enjoyed our meetings, including the time we took our laptops to the Burger King. This dissertation would not have been possible without the cooperation of 60 Ameland dialect speakers. Here I wish to thank everyone again who agreed to be interviewed: for your patience (because completing the questionnaire took quite a bit of time), your enthusiasm and your hospitality. The moments I felt most immerged in the Ameland community were during the evenings when preparations were made for the Sunneklaas celebrations. That I was allowed to be present was exciting (because they were held at secret locations) and unique (because they were actually forbidden territory for women). I especially wish to thank Anke Nagtegaal for her willingness to supply me with oral stories, all kinds of newspaper clippings and informants. Anke, I wish to thank you again for your endless hospitality: the many visits (and some longer stays) to you and Barend were a source of information and warmth to me. I also have vivid memories of the discussions between Anke, me and Anton Oud, author of the Ameland dictionary. Unfortunately, he died in 2006. A very important contribution to this research project was also made by Pieter Jan and Tineke Borsch, not only as a result of their immense knowledge of the Ameland dialect and history, but also because of their support for my research project. You often replied to my questions, sent by email, within the hour, and I will not forget the many, many hours you spent in selecting the informants. You also took a kind interest in my private life, which I appreciated enormously. And then I wish to thank all my colleagues at the Meertens Institute, as well as the PhD students and other researchers who I met during conferences and research visits (in Joensuu, Uppsala, Newcastle, Limerick, Aberdeen, and Moncton). I thank Leonie Cornips for her support in building up a network in sociolinguistics. Leonie, thank you for your company and support during conferences abroad but also at the Meertens Institute. I wish to thank Jeroen van de Weijer for correcting my English and for some useful suggestions. Piet van Reenen also helped me revising the manuscript. My paranimphs Vivien Waszink and Frank Landsbergen have always been very supportive in many ways. Finally, I wish to thank my dear parents. Gelein for the linguistic genes and Ria for the philosophical genes. And – best comes last – my greatest source of happiness: my darling Sven and of course Silje – who arrived before the dissertation –, with whom I hope to share my love for the Wadden. Abbreviations and styles The phonetic transcription of the Dutch/Frisian/Ameland words is based on Heemskerk & Zonneveld (2000). Spelling of the written Ameland examples: according to Oud (1987). Other abbreviations and styles which are not explained in the text: e.g. for example (Lat. exempli gratia) cf. compare (Lat. confer) i.e. that is (Lat. id est) viz. that is; namely (Lat. videlicet) p. page ps. person sg. singular DIM diminutive du. Dutch Owfr. Old West Frisian Mwf. Modern West Frisian Germ. Germanic MD Middle Dutch NH Noord-Holland FR Friesland US United States UK United Kingdom Italics written form <…> written form […] IPA transcription for phonetic details /…/ IPA transcription to mark off phonemes No responsibility can be assumed for the stability of internet links (URLs) given in the text. Contents Chapter 1. The island of Ameland. The why and how of a sociolinguistic project 1.1. Locating the Wadden Sea Islands 1 1.1.2. The island of Ameland 3 1.1.3. East versus west 4 1.1.4. Rural lifestyle 6 1.2. The present study 6 1.2.1. Related work 7 1.2.2. Structure of the study 8 Chapter 2. Describing dialect change. Developing the research questions 2.1. Dialect change in contact situations 12 2.1.1. Models of language change 12 2.1.2. Linguistic factors influencing contact-induced change 17 2.1.3. Dialect-standard language situation 20 2.1.4. Differences between contact linguistics & contact dialectology 25 2.1.5. Concluding remarks and hypotheses 25 2.2. Dialect change in post-isolated communities 26 2.2.1. The significance of natural change 28 2.2.2. Types of change in remote areas 28 2.2.3. The impact of local and supralocal norms 31 2.2.4. Concluding remarks and hypotheses 33 2.3. Extra-linguistic factors that play a role in dialect change 34 2.3.1. Social networks 34 2.3.2. Attitudes 39 2.3.3. Concluding remarks and hypotheses 41 2.4. Summary of the hypotheses 42 Chapter 3. Ameland and its dialect 3.1. The research area 43 3.1.1. Political history 44 3.1.2. Socio-economic developments 44 3.2. The Ameland dialect 50 3.2.1. Ethnolinguistic vitality of the Ameland dialect 50 Chapter 4. Research design and linguistic variables 4.1. The selection of the speakers 60 4.1.1. Geographical background 60 4.1.2. Age 61 4.1.3. Gender 62 4.1.4. Control variables 62 4.1.5. Number of speakers 62 4.1.6. Sample taken at random 63 4.2. Data collection 64 4.2.1. Fieldwork 2004/2005 64 4.2.2. In-group conversations 64 4.2.3. Sociolinguistic questionnaire 64 4.2.4. The selection of linguistic variables 66 4.2.5. The linguistic questionnaire 69 4.3. The linguistic variables 70 4.3.1. Variable 1: Vowel alternation du. // 70 4.3.2. Variable 2: Vowel alternation du. // 72 4.3.3. Variable 3: Diminutive formation 74 4.3.4. Variable 4: Clitic 3rd sg pronoun 76 4.3.5. Variable 5: Vowel alternation du. // 78 4.3.6. Variable 6 : Vowel alternation du. // 80 4.3.7. Variable 7: The suffix // 82 4.3.8. Variable 8: The distribution of -n in plural verb forms 83 4.3.9. Variable 9: R-lessness 85 4.3.10. Variable 10: D-lessness 88 4.3.11. Variable 11: Prefixless past participle 90 4.3.12. Variable 12: Second ps. sg / clitic pronoun suffix –st 91 Chapter 5. The sociolinguistic context 5.1. Language skills 93 5.2. Language use 97 5.3. Identity 101 5.4. Attitude, evaluative language judgements 106 5.5. Attitudes, function and position of the language varieties 109 5.6. Concluding remarks 113 Chapter 6. The linguistic variables: Results 6.1. Variable 1: TIJD (‘time’) A-type 116 6.2. Variable 2: OUD (‘old’) A-type 120 6.3. Variable 3: Diminutive (DIM) A-type 126 6.4. Variable 4: Clitic 3 singular A-type 129 6.5. Variable 5: HUIS (‘house’) B-type 129 6.6. Variable 6: GEIT (‘goat’) B-type 133 6.7. Variable 7: Suffix –HEID (‘-ness’) B-type 134 6.8. Variable 8: E/EN B-type 140 6.9. Variable 9: HART (‘heart’) C-type 141 6.10. Variable 10: HAND (‘hand’) C-type 145 6.11. Variable 11: Prefix GE- C-type 146 6.12. Variable 12: Clitic 2 singular C-type 150 6.13. Conclusions 153 Chapter 7. Discussion and perspectives 7.1. Summary of the linguistic and sociolinguistic findings 159 7.2. Broader perspective and questions for further research 169 Appendices Appendix I. Linguistic characteristics of the Ameland dialect 173 Appendix II.