Tweants (Tweants pronunciation: ; ) is a group of non-standardised Dutch Low Saxon dialects of the Low German language.
It is spoken daily by approximately 62% of the population of Twente, a region in the eastern Dutch province of Overijssel bordering on Germany.
Tweants is part of the larger Low Saxon dialect continuum, spreading from the Veluwe region in the middle of the Netherlands to the German-Polish border. As a consequence, it shares many characteristics with surrounding dialects, such as Sallaans and Achterhooks in the Netherlands, and Westmünsterländisch in Germany.
All towns and villages in Twente have their own local, but mutually intelligible variety. Due to this fragmentation and lack of a standard variety, many speakers of Tweants call it by the locality their variety is from (e.g. a person from Almelo would say they speak "Almeloos" rather than "Tweants"). Alternatively, speakers combine the names: a speaker from Rijssen could say they speak "Riessens Tweants".
In less precise circumstances, its speakers mostly call Tweants plat, which may either be an abbreviated form of Plattdeutsch, or a loanword from Dutch that means 'vernacular'. A widespread misconception is the assumption that it is a variety of Dutch. It is a variety of Dutch Low Saxon, recognised by the Dutch government as a regional language according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. As such, institutions dedicated to Tweants receive minor funding for its promotion and preservation.
Its revaluation as a dialect of Low Saxon rather than Standard Dutch is a relatively recent development. Due to ongoing stigmatisation, the use of the language declined in the decades following the Second World War. It was considered an inappropriate way of speaking, and thought to hinder children's language learning abilities and diminish their future prospects. Due to a general rise in regional pride, interests in preserving and promoting the language have risen, resulting in dialect writing competitions, teaching materials, festivals, and other culturally engaging projects.
Classification As a dialect of Low Saxon, Tweants belongs to the Indo-European language family, belonging to the West-Germanic group of Germanic languages. It is a direct descendant from Old Saxon, and as such, it is closely related to English and Frisian. Old Saxon gradually developed into Middle Low Saxon throughout the Middle Ages, and rose to prominence as an international language of trade. Due to close trading ties with the adjacent Münsterland during those days, Tweants adopted many Westphalian traits. When the Tweante region became a fixed part of the Netherlands, and the economic fulcrum of the country shifted towards the western provinces, Standard Dutch gained influence over the language within the Dutch borders, and as a result Middle Low Saxon grew more and more apart into the various modern Low Saxon dialects.
Phonology
Tweants does not have a standardised pronunciation, but all varieties shared a number of characteristics.
The following paragraphs contain IPA symbols.
Vowels +Monophthong phonemes Front Central Back unrounded rounded unrounded rounded short long short long short long short long Close Close-mid Open-mid Open
+Diphthong phonemesStarting pointEnding pointFrontBackCloseMid
+Example words for vowelsShortLongPhonemeIPAOrthographyMeaningPhonemeIPAOrthographyMeaningie'you'rge'row'buul'bag'hoes'house'oel'owl'viske'fish'keend'child'brmmel'blackberries'leu'people'bloom'flower'bek'beak'keark'church'lös'loose'hre'hairs'brumml'blackberries'bos'forest' –road'red'tak'branch'aap'monkey'nij'new'vleis'meat'slouw
This survey of vowels includes only the most general vowels present in (nearly) all varieties, and does by no means give an all-encompassing overview of all varieties, as pronunciation differs per village and town, and may differ even within a town. A striking example of this may be found in the town of Rijssen, where two pronunciation forms of the past tense verb form of go are commonly accepted: gung and gong . As there is no standard variety of Tweants, and there is little or no education in the language, speakers may select their pronunciation based on personal preferences, social circumstance, or peer pressure.
Westphalian vowel break Considered a remnant of Westphalian, some Tweants varieties add a diphthong to a number of vowels that are monophthongs in others. The /eː/, /oː/, and /øː/ are pronounced [ɪə], [ɔə], and [ʏə]. This is called the Westphalian vowel break ( or , lit. Westphalian breaking), and is most noticeable in the dialects of Rijssen, Enter, and Vriezenveen. On some instances in the former two, the break has been lost and the onset vowel has developed into a monophthong. In Enter, for instance the word 'beaven' (to shiver) has developed into 'bieven' (, and in Rijssen, the words 'spoor' (track) and 'vöär' (before) have developed into and .
Consonants * – as in the Dutch word pot, e.g. pot. * – as in the Dutch word tak, e.g. tand (tooth) * – as in the Dutch word ketel, e.g. kettel (kettle) – as in the Dutch word gaan, e.g. goan (go) – as in the Dutch word ja but with more friction, Southern Dutch g, e.g. rieg (impale) – as in the English word yes, e.g. rieg (impale) (local pronunciations may vary). – as in the English word ring, e.g. hangen (hang). – as above but more back. Occurs only before and after ; in the latter case as syllabic . – as in the Dutch word lachen, e.g. lachn (laugh). – as an alveolar, tapped r, e.g. road (council). – as in the English word yes, e.g. striedn (fight, battle) – as in the English word well, in intervocalic position, e.g. oaver (about, over) – as in the Dutch word "wat", in word- or syllable-initial position, e.g. "wear" (weather). – as in the English word man, e.g. moat (mate).
* Slightly aspirated in some varieties.
Varieties of r Tweants is to a great extent non-rhotic. Speakers do not pronounce final in words consisting of more than one syllable, if no clarity or emphasis is required. In monosyllabic words, the is not pronounced before dental consonants. Similarly to German and Danish, in syllable coda is vocalized to , or .
Tweants, like non-rhotic British English, has a linking -r and an intrusive -r. This is a considered a sign of proficiency, and desirable.
Syllabic consonants Like many other Germanic languages, Tweants uses syllabic consonants in infinite verb forms and plural nouns (the "swallowing" of final -en syllables). This may be compared to British RP pronunciation of mutton, which is pronounced somewhat like mut-n. Tweants applies this to all verbs: The infinite verb etten (to eat) is pronounced .
Lenition Tweants applies extensive lenition in its spoken form. All strong plosives may be pronounced as their weak counterparts in intervocalic position (e.g. "better" can be pronounced either as or ).
Grammar In general, all varieties of Tweants follow a Subject-Verb-Object word order in main clauses, and Subject-Object-Verb in subordinate clauses. For instance, in the two following sentences:
|S- Jan | V- skrivt | O- een book.| (John writes a book.) || Main Clause: |S-Hee | V-sea || Sub Clause: dat | S- Jan | O- een book | V- skrivt || (He said that John writes a book.)
Verbs Tweants follows a number of general Low Saxon rules in verb inflection, including the singular pluralis; plural verb forms receive the same inflection as the second person singular. In present tense, an -(e)t is attached to the verb stem, whereas in past tense, an -(e)n is attached.
Tweants, like many other Germanic languages, distinguishes between strong and weak verbs. Strong verbs receive an umlaut in present tense third person singular and all persons in past tense. In weak verbs, the third person singular is formed like the second person singular in present tense, and in past tense is formed by adding a -ten or -den to the verb stem.
Present tense Tweants English I walk Y loopt You walk Hee / see löpt He / she walks Wy loopt We walk Ylüde loopt You walk (plural) Seelüde loopt They walk
Past tense Tweants English Ik löype I walked Y löypeden You walked Hee / See löyp He / She walked Wylüde löypeden We walked Ylüde löypeden You walked (plural) See löypeden They walked
Plurals Plural nouns are formed according to their gender. Tweants has three-word genders, namely masculine, feminine and neuter
Masculine Plurals for masculine are generally formed by adding umlaut and word-final -e to the noun Tweants English eynen hund one dog twey hünde Two dogs
Feminine Plurals for feminine nouns are generally formed by adding word-final -n to the noun Tweants English eyne kumme one bowl twey kummen Two bowls
Neuter Plurals for neuter nouns are generally formed by adding word-final -er to the noun. Tweants English eyn kind one child twey kinder Two children
If the neuter noun has a back vowel, it also receives an umlaut and -er. Tweants English eyn book one book twey böker Two books
Diminutives and plurals Tweants English een kümmeke one little bowl twee kümmekes two little bowls
Sociolinguistic characteristics Tweants has long been looked down upon, and is generally considered a low-prestige language, often equalled with farm-specific jargon. Speakers report the language to "immediately bring about a more inclusive and informal atmosphere".
Speakers may switch to (their attempt at) Standard Dutch when circumstances indicate a more "socially upward circle". Depending on the perceived distinction those circumstances, speakers may opt to include regionalisms in their Dutch, whether that implies an accent, morphology, underlying grammatical structures or idioms.
Though Tweants is considered a language without class distinctions, speakers tend to look for older words and phrases in language preservation gatherings. Knowledge of the aforementioned farm-specific jargon is often considered a sign (and a test) of proficiency.
Interference in Dutch Native speakers have a distinct accent when speaking Dutch. While the accent is a result of Low Saxon phonetic properties and can vary per person or social circumstance, particularly the distinct pronunciation of the 'O' and 'E' is renowned. It is similar to the Hiberno-English or Scots pronunciation of the 'O' and the 'A'. Another striking feature of Tweants Dutch (and therefore a sign of L1-interference) is the use of a syllabic consonant, which in popular Dutch language is often referred to as "swallowing final -en".
On an idiomatic level, people from Twente may sometimes translate phrases literally into Dutch, thus forming Twentisms. Due to the fact that Tweants and Standard Dutch are varieties of the West Germanic languages, they have many similarities, which may lead speakers of Tweants to believe that a "Dutchified" pronunciation of a Tweants expression is correct and valid:
In English: I have a flat tyre In Tweants: Ik hebbe den band lek In Tweants-influenced Dutch (Twentism): *Ik heb de band lek (lit. I have the tyre flat) In Standard Dutch: Ik heb een lekke band (lit. I have a leak tyre)
On an idiomatic level, Tweants is known for its wealth of proverbs, of which the following are only a fraction: Låt mär külen, et löpt wal lös – Literally: Let it roll/fall, it will walk free – Never mind, it will sort itself out. As de tyd kumt, kumt de plåg – When the time comes, the trouble comes. Don't worry before the trouble starts. Y köänet nich blåsen en den meal in den mund holden – Literally, you cannot blow and keep the flour in your mouth at the same time. 'Blåsen' also means 'to brag', so its real meaning is the same as "put your money where your mouth is" Hengeler weend – Wind from Hengelo, a haughty attitude.