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Brabantian

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Languages

   This article is a part of

   the Dutch dialects series.
   The Dialects
   Brabantian
   Hollandic
   West Flemish
   Zealandic
   East Flemish
   Zuid-Gelders
   Dutch Low Saxon
   Limburgish

   Position of Brabantian within the Dutch speaking area
   Enlarge
   Position of Brabantian within the Dutch speaking area

   Brabantian or Brabantic (Brabantic: Braobans; Dutch: Brabants) is a
   dialect of the Dutch language spoken in the Dutch Province of North
   Brabant and in the Belgian provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant and
   small parts in the west of Limburg. In the northwest of Brabant (
   Willemstad), Hollandic is spoken. Conventionally, the Zuid-Gelders
   dialects are distinguished from Brabantian, though there are no
   objective criteria apart from geography to do this.

   Because of the relatively large area in which Brabantian is spoken, it
   can be roughly divided in three sub-dialects:
     * West-Brabantian, spoken in the area west of the river Donge; in the
       west of North Brabant (the area around the cities Breda and
       Roosendaal) and in the north and west of the Province of Antwerp in
       Belgium.
     * East-Brabantian, spoken in the area east of the river Donge; in the
       middle and east of North Brabant (the area around the cities
       Tilburg, Eindhoven, 's-Hertogenbosch and Helmond), the east of the
       Province of Antwerp and the far west of the Province of Limburg.
     * South-Brabantian, spoken in the province of Flemish Brabant and the
       south of Antwerp.

   Brabantian is not recognized as a minority language in the Netherlands:
   as standard Dutch is partly based on Brabantian, there is no need of a
   separate Brabantian standard.

   About one third of the Dutch-speaking population lives in the
   Brabantian dialect zone. In large Dutch towns such as Breda and
   Eindhoven, where many people speak Hollandic dialects, Brabantian
   dialects have been abandoned, whereas in rural areas many people still
   speak the original dialect. Tilburg and 's-Hertogenbosch, however, have
   a large number speaking the Brabantian dialect.

   In Belgium, dialects are still the common spoken language. In the
   capital of Brussels, French largely replaced Dutch in the middle of the
   20th century. Despite this, there are many cultural activities using
   the Brussels dialect. Moreover, use of Dutch is reviving among young
   Dutch-speaking families who are moving back from the suburbs toward the
   old city centre.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabantian"
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