Divergence of dialects in a linguistic laboratory near the Belgian–Dutch–German border: Similar dialects under the influence of different standard languages

Abstract

This article deals with divergence on the lexical, phonological, and morphological levels in three dialects that were the same until the mid-20th century (Maaseiks in Belgium, Susters in the Netherlands, and Waldfeuchts in Germany) and that have changed under the influence of three different standard languages (Belgian Dutch, Netherlandic Dutch, and Standard German). The investigation is carried out among girls aged 14 to 16 years and women aged 35 to 50 years. Due to the unique laboratory-like situation, it was possible to gain a detailed understanding of the role of the structure of the dialect and the dialect–standard language situation in the process of dialect change under the influence of a standard language. The data indicate that the linguistic route of the change is largely the same for all dialects. This means that the receiving dialect plays an important part in the linguistic embedding of a change. However, the rationale of the linguistic road is still far from clear. The divergence of the similar dialects occurred relatively recently. Whereas the women of the three places use the old dialect forms almost exclusively, the girls use forms of the standard languages or “mixed” forms, especially in Waldfeucht. The dialect of Waldfeucht is clearly affected much more strongly by Standard German than are the dialect of Maaseik by Belgian Dutch and the dialect of Susteren by Netherlandic Dutch. This can be explained by a number of factors: the position of the dialect at school, comprehensibility of the dialect, attitude towards the dialect, and the use of the dialect.