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Hollandic

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

   Hollandic (Dutch: Hollands) is, together with Brabantic, the most
   frequently used dialect of the Dutch language. The other important Low
   Franconian dialects are East Flemish and West Flemish.

   Originally in the later county of Holland the West Frisian was spoken.
   Low Franconian settlers came only in the early Middle Ages. They mixed
   with the original inhabitants and a dialect was created that was partly
   Franconian, partly Frisian. In the 16th century the Dutch language was
   standardized, the Dutch of Antwerp being the most influential. In that
   time the written language of the county of Holland, then the most
   urbanised province in Europe, imitated this Brabantic standard. After
   1585, when during the Eighty Years' War Antwerp was retaken by the
   Habsburg authorities, many Brabantic and Flemish Calvinist (and other)
   refugees settled in Holland proper, which had the result of creating a
   mixture of their Dutch with the Dutch of the residents before this
   immigration. This new language perhaps destroyed most of the original
   Hollandic dialects, and certainly slowed linguistic change through the
   influence on spoken language of the very conservative written standard.
   Hollandic (in blue) within the Low Franconian-speaking area.
   Enlarge
   Hollandic (in blue) within the Low Franconian-speaking area.

   As a result the colloquial Dutch in Holland proper (i.e. the area of
   the old county), spoken in the urban dialects, is today closer to the
   standard than any Dutch spoken elsewhere; traditionally the Dutch of
   the urbanity of Haarlem is seen as the most "pure", though this has no
   basis in linguistic fact. The Dutch in Belgium has diverged more during
   the last centuries, which is partly due to the fact that there the
   Dutch standard language most of the time had no official status between
   the 17th and 20th century. The language of administration was French.
   In Friesland there are areas and cities where Hollandic is spoken,
   strongly influenced by Frisian. In the north of North Holland province
   (especially West Friesland), Scheveningen and other places the original
   Frisian substrate of the Hollandic dialect is still an important part
   of the local West Frisian dialect group. On the South Holland province
   island of Goeree-Overflakkee West Flemish is spoken. In the east and
   south the Hollandic dialects gradate into more Brabantic forms like the
   Zuid-Gelders. Utrechts-Alblasserwaards, spoken in the area immediately
   east of the coastal districts, is variously considered a subdialect of
   Hollandic or a separate dialect.

List of the subdialects

     * South Hollandic
     * Westhoeks
     * Waterlands and Volendams
     * Zaans
     * Kennemerlands
     * West Frisian
     * Bildts, Midslands, Stadsfries, and Amelands
     * Utrechts-Alblasserwards

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