Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology

This article covers the phonology of the Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect, a variety of Getelands (a transitional dialect between South Brabantian and West Limburgish) spoken in Orsmaal-Gussenhoven, a village in the Linter municipality.[1]

Consonants
Consonant phonemes[2]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Dorsal Glottal
hard soft hard soft
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Stop fortis p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ tʲ ⟨tj⟩ k ⟨k⟩ kʲ ⟨kj⟩
lenis b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩
Fricative fortis f ⟨f⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ʃ ⟨sj⟩ x ⟨ch⟩ h ⟨h⟩
lenis v̥ ⟨v⟩ z̥ ⟨z⟩ (ʒ) ⟨zj⟩ ɣ̊ ⟨g⟩
Approximant β ⟨w⟩ l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨j⟩
Trill r ⟨r⟩

Obstruents
  • The fortis–lenis distinction in the case of plosives manifests itself purely through voicing - /p, t, tʲ, k, kʲ/ are voiceless, whereas /b/ and /d/ are voiced. In the case of the fricatives, the same is true of the /ʃ–ʒ/ pair, though /ʒ/ is a non-native phoneme that occurs only in the word-initial position. It can be affricated to [dʒ], but the /ʃ–ʒ/ contrast is not stable and the two phonemes undergo a variable merger to [ʃ]. In the case of the native fortis–lenis pairs of fricatives, the contrast between /f, s, x/ on the one hand and /v̥, z̥, ɣ̊/ on the other manifests itself mainly through the less energetic articulation of the latter, particularly in the case of the velar /ɣ̊/, which is mostly voiceless. In the case of /v̥, z̥/, they can be partially voiced in the word-initial position, with the second part being voiceless. In the intervocalic position, they are completely voiceless.[3]
  • /p, b/ are bilabial, whereas /f, v̥/ are labiodental.[1]
  • /k, kʲ/ are velar.[1]
  • The exact place of articulation of /x, ɣ̊/ varies:
    • Velar [x, ɣ̊] before and after back vowels and, in the case of /x/, also when it is preceded by a back vowel in an intervocalic position between stressed and unstressed syllable.[3]
    • Palatal [ç, ʝ̊] before and after front vowels and, in the case of /x/, also after /ə/.[3]
  • Word-initial /x/ is restricted to the sequence /sx/.[3]
  • /h/ may be dropped by some speakers.[3]
  • /p, t, tʲ, k, kʲ, v̥, z̥/ may be affricated to [pɸ, ts, tɕ, kx, kxʲ, b̥v̥, d̥z̥]. Peters (2010) does not specify the environment(s) in which the affrication of /v̥/ and /z̥/ takes place, but it may occur word-initially, as in the case of the non-native /ʒ/. In the case of stops, it occurs in pre-pausal position, where voiced fricatives are banned.[3]

Sonorants
  • /m, β/ are bilabial.[1]
  • /n, l, r/ are alveolar.[1]
    • /n/ before /k/ is pronounced as follows:
      • [n], if /k/ belongs to another morpheme (alveolo-palatal [ɲ] before allomorphemic /kj/);[3]
      • [ŋ], if /k/ belongs to the same morpheme.[3]
    • Word-final [ɲ] appears only in loanwords from French.[3]
    • /l/ tends to be velarized, especially postvocalically.[3]
    • /r/ has a few possible realizations:
      • Apical trill [r] or an apical fricative [ɹ̝] before a stressed vowel in word-initial syllables.[3]
      • Intervocalically and in the onset after a consonant, it may be a tap [ɾ].[3]
      • Word-final /r/ is highly variable; the most frequent variants are an apical fricative trill [r̝], an apical fricative [ɹ̝] and an apical non-sibilant affricate [dɹ̝]. The last two variants tend to be voiceless ([ɹ̝̊, tɹ̝̊]) in pre-pausal position.[3]
      • The sequence /ər/ can be vocalized to [ɐ] or [ə].[4]
  • /ŋ/ is velar, whereas /j/ is palatal.[1]
  • /β, j/ appear only word-initially and intervocalically.[3]

Final devoicing and assimilation

Just like Standard Dutch, Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect devoices all obstruents at the ends of words.[3]

Morpheme-final /p, t, k/ may be voiced if a voiced plosive or a vowel follows.[3]

Vowels
Monophthongs of the Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect, from Peters (2010:241).
Part 1 of non-centering diphthongs of the Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect, from Peters (2010:241)
Part 2 of non-centering diphthongs of the Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect, from Peters (2010:241)
Centering diphthongs of the Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect, from Peters (2010:241). /ɔə/ is not shown.

The Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect contains 18 monophthong and 12 diphthong phonemes.[5]

Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long short long
Close ɪ ⟨i⟩ iː ⟨ie⟩ ʏ ⟨u⟩ yː ⟨uu⟩ ʊ ⟨oe⟩ uː ⟨oê⟩
Close-mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ eː ⟨ee⟩ œ ⟨ö⟩ øː ⟨eu⟩ ə ⟨e⟩ ɔ ⟨ó⟩ oː ⟨oo⟩
Open-mid ɛː ⟨ae⟩ œː ⟨äö⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩ aː ⟨aa⟩ ɒ ⟨o⟩ ɒː ⟨ao⟩
Marginal y ⟨uu⟩   o ⟨oo⟩
Diphthongs closing ui ⟨oei⟩   ei ⟨eej⟩   øy ⟨euj⟩   əu ⟨oow⟩   ɛi ⟨ei/ij⟩   œy ⟨ui⟩   ɞu ⟨ou⟩   ai ⟨ai⟩   au ⟨aw⟩
centering iə ⟨ieë⟩   eə ⟨eë⟩   ɛə ⟨aeë⟩   ɔə ⟨oa⟩
  • Most of the long vowels are close to the canonical values of the corresponding IPA symbols. The open /aː/ is phonetically central [äː], whereas /ɒː/ is a near-open vowel [ɒ̝ː]. The short open vowels have the same quality, and the open /a, aː/ are phonological back vowels despite the symbolization.[6]
  • Among the long rounded vowels, /yː, uː, ɒː/ before /t, d/ within the same syllable vary between monophthongs [yː, uː, ɒː] and centering diphthongs [yə, uə, ɒə], which often are disyllabic [ʏy.ə, ʊu.ə, ɒu.ə] (with the first portion realized as a closing diphthong). At least in the case of [yə] and [uə], the tongue movement may be so slight that they are sometimes better described as lip-diphthongs [yɪ, uɯ̽]. In the same environment, /øː/ can be disyllabic [øy.ə].[7] For the sake of simplicity, those allophones are transcribed [yə, uə, ɒə, øə] in phonetic transcription.
  • Among the unreduced short vowels, the close and mid ones are closer and/or more peripheral than their Standard Dutch counterparts: [ɪ̟, ʏ, ʊ̠, ɛ̝, œ̝, ɔ̝], which means that they approach the long /iː, yː, uː, eː, øː, oː/ in articulation. In the neighboring Antwerp Province, the short lax /ɪ/ and /ʏ/ of Standard Dutch have been shown to be considerably less distinct from the tense /i/ and /y/ (i.e. more like [i̞, ʏ], cf. Standard Dutch [ɪ̞, ɵ]) than in other varieties, mirroring the situation in the Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect (save for the fact that tense close vowels in this dialect are long, which reinforces the distinction).[6][8]
  • There are two additional short tense vowels [y] and [o] (realized with more tenseness and stronger lip-rounding than the native short [ʏ, ɔ]), which appear only in a few French loanwords. Their status as phonemes separate from the long tense /yː/ and /oː/ is unclear; Peters treats them as marginal phonemes.[7]
  • The second elements of diphthongs with mid and open starting points (/ɛi, œy, əu, ɞu, ai, au/) are closer to close-mid [e, ø, o̟]; in addition, the starting point of /ai/ and /au/ is near-open central [ɐ]: [ɛe, œø, əo̟, ɞo̟, ɐe, ɐo̟].[9]
  • The quality of the remaining diphthongs /ui, ei, øy, iə, eə, ɛə/ is close to the canonical values of the IPA symbols used to transcribe them. Thus, the ending points of /ɛi/ and /œy/ are close to the starting point of /ei/ and /øy/, reinforcing the phonetic difference between the two.[9]
  • /ɔə/ occurs only before alveolar consonants. Phonetically, it varies between [ɔə ~ ɔu.ə ~ ɔʌ̈], and in that regard it patterns with /yː, uː, ɒː/, though it never surfaces as a monophthong.[7] For that reason, it is treated as an underlying centering diphthong. The exact quality of the starting point of /ɔə/ is unknown, though it is likely that it is higher and more rounded than the cardinal [ɔ], which maximizes the contrast between it and diphthongal allophones of /ɒː/.
  • The functional load of the /eː, øː, oː/–/ei, øy, əu/ opposition as well as the /eː/–/ei/–/eə/ contrast is unclear, but the close-mid /eː/ contrasts with the centering diphthong /eə/ in some environments. In fact, all long front unrounded vowels contrast with centering diphthongs, so that tien /tiːn/ 'ten', beer /beːr/ 'beer' and maet /mɛːt/ 'May' contrast with tieën /tiən/ 'toe', beër /beər/ 'bear' and maeët /mɛət/ 'march'.[7] The fact that this contrast occurs even before /r/ is remarkable from the Standard Dutch viewpoint, where only centering diphthongs can occur in that environment.[10] In the Ripuarian dialect of Kerkrade (spoken further east on the Germany–Netherlands border), the otherwise phonemic distinction between /iː/ and /eː/ on the one hand and /iə/ and /eə/ on the other is completely neutralized before /r/ in favor of the former, mirroring the lack of phonemic contrast in Standard Dutch.[11]
  • The functional load of the /ɛː, œː/–/ɛi, œy/ opposition is also unclear, and so is the exact phonemic status of /ɞu/.
  • Stressed short vowels cannot occur in open syllables. Exceptions to this rule are high-frequency words like wa /βa/ 'what' and loanwords from French.[7]

Prosody

Stress location is largely the same as in Belgian Standard Dutch. In loanwords from French, the original word-final stress is often preserved, as in kedaw /kəˈdau/ 'cadeau'.[7]

Sample

The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun. The orthographic version is written in Standard Dutch.[12]

Phonetic transcription

[də ˈnœrdərβɪnt ʔɛn də z̥ɔn ˈʔadən ən dɪsˈkøːsə ˈɛv̥ə də v̥roːx | βi v̥an ən tβiː də ˈstɛrəkstə βas | tʏn dyə ʒyst ˈɛmant v̥œrˈbɛː kɔm bə nən ˈdɪkə ˈβarəmə jas aːn][4]

Orthographic version (Eye dialect)

De nörderwind en de zon hadden 'n diskeuse evve de vroog wie van hun twie de sterrekste was, tun du zjuust emmand vörbae kom be 'nen dikke, warreme jas aan.

Orthographic version (Standard Dutch)

De noordenwind en de zon hadden een discussie over de vraag wie van hun tweeën de sterkste was, toen er juist iemand voorbij kwam met een dikke, warme jas aan.[4]

References
  1. Peters (2010), p. 239.
  2. Peters (2010), pp. 239–240.
  3. Peters (2010), p. 240.
  4. Peters (2010), p. 245.
  5. Peters (2010), pp. 240–242.
  6. Peters (2010), pp. 241–242.
  7. Peters (2010), p. 242.
  8. Verhoeven (2005), p. 246.
  9. Peters (2010), p. 241.
  10. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998).
  11. Stichting Kirchröadsjer Dieksiejoneer (1997), p. 18.
  12. Peters (2010), pp. 239, 245.

Bibliography
  • Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307
  • Peters, Jörg (2010), "The Flemish–Brabant dialect of Orsmaal–Gussenhoven", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 239–246, doi:10.1017/S0025100310000083
  • Stichting Kirchröadsjer Dieksiejoneer (1997) [1987], Kirchröadsjer Dieksiejoneer, (in Dutch and Ripuarian) (2nd ed.), Kerkrade: Stichting Kirchröadsjer Dieksiejoneer, ISBN 90-70246-34-1
  • Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (2): 243–247, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002173, S2CID 146567016
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.